What Was Xi Hiding—and Why Should Beijing Fear the Senate’s Sanctions Bill?

Beijing, October. The National Day Reception. Mysterious guards in black everywhere. The Trump-Xi meeting left many questions. Now we finally have the answers. Why didn't China's trade delegation travel with Xi? What's the secret behind Xi's unusual height? And the biggest twist of all. The U.S. Senate's gift to Xi stunned the world. Welcome back to Final World with Catherine Hu. October 1st, 2026. Marked 77 years since the Chinese Communist Party took power in China. Beijing held its usual reception, bringing together figures from different political camps. Several politically sensitive figures were there, but many key figures were nowhere to be seen. First, what stood out most was the absence of the CCP elders. Figures who carry enormous weight in Beijing's politics, such as Lirui Huan, none of them attended. Meanwhile, people in black were everywhere in the banquet hall. The atmosphere was eerie, and the guests wore blank expressions. There was no sense of celebration at all. Most of these men in black were young, tall, and physically strong, with crew cuts. Some had been placed at the same tables as the officials attending the reception. Others stood around the hall, expressionless but alert, watching the officials around them. Their main job seemed to be keeping those officials under watch, rather than maintaining order at the event. Xi gave his usual speech, but there was a major change in how he spoke about Taiwan. His National Day speech has long been one of the key signals outsiders watch to see whether his stance on Taiwan is shifting. This time, he stressed that China would firmly crack down on Taiwan independence separatist forces, oppose interference by external forces, promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations, and advance the cause of national reunification. That change drew widespread attention. At last year's National Day reception in 2025, Xi said China must firmly oppose Taiwan independence. This year, firmly oppose became firmly crack down on, a clear shift to tougher language. The international community needs to take this seriously. We all know Xi has completely lost control of the military, but he is cunning and ruthless, and he will not back down. That makes violence and bloodshed inevitable in this final war. Xi's visit to the United States left many unanswered questions. Now let's take a closer look at those questions. Behind every one of them is Xi's deception. Before Xi's visit to the United States, Reuters and several other media outlets reported that Beijing planned to send a large delegation of Chinese business leaders with him. But when the visit got underway, that delegation did not make the trip, and the state dinner guest list released by the White House did not include a single Chinese corporate executive. What really happened behind the scenes? Our old friend Professor Yuan Hongbing has shared some new information. He's a well-known legal scholar living in Australia, and he knows what goes on at the top in Beijing. His account suggests a very different story from what people have been guessing. He says Xi himself called off the trade delegation's trip at the very last minute. Xi does not trust these private enterprises at all. The reason is that, to this day, every one of China's top private entrepreneurs has tried to use the economic power they control to gain a political voice. And Xi cannot tolerate that. He fears these private enterprises will use this joint US-China diplomatic engagement to establish direct ties with powerful political and financial forces in the international community, thereby escaping the control of the CCP's tyrannical regime. This is the fundamental reason Xi cancelled the plan to form a massive economic and trade delegation at the last minute. He wants to keep all political, economic, trade, and financial ties with the United States entirely in his own hands. That's a ridiculous reason. But there's more to this than Xi's desire for control. Beijing made an urgent change to its US strategy. It decided to make this Trump-Xi meeting entirely about politics and Taiwan, and went all out to project an image of Xi's absolute strength to the Americans. The CCP's foreign affairs leading group has a document laying out the party's diplomatic priorities for 2026 and 2027. It has one central goal, to use the frequent exchanges between the Chinese and US presidents in 2026 to create an international political climate that would help Beijing settle the Taiwan issue once and for all. The document points to three conditions that could help strengthen diplomacy between the Chinese and US presidents. First, it describes Trump as a politician who disregards ideology in diplomacy and cares only about strength. It says his past business dealings show that he particularly likes making deals with the CCP sees this as the first condition working in its favor as it seeks closer engagement between the two presidents in 2026. Second, it points to a widely held view internationally. Trump's America First approach has made many of America's traditional allies deeply skeptical of how he conducts diplomacy. It has also left Trump himself feeling diplomatically isolated. The CCP wants to seize on this so-called diplomatic predicament to move US-China relations forward quickly. Third, the United States is in a difficult position over the war in Iran. The CCP wants to take full advantage of what it sees as Trump's weakness to force Washington into major concessions. Based on these assessments, Beijing did everything it could to convince the Americans that Xi was in a position of absolute strength. Even his shoes were part of the message. They had a special pair made for him with extra thick soles to make him look taller. According to Yuan Hongbing's sources, the CCP had a special pair of shoes made for Xi so he would look about as tall as Trump. The extra height came from lifts hidden inside the shoes, which were hard to spot from the outside. But those hidden lifts made Xi less steady on his feet as he went up and down the aircraft stairs. That explains why he seemed to struggle so much each time and why he had to lean on his wife Peng to help him stay steady. Trump is about 190 centimeters tall. When he stood next to Xi in 2017 and at the G20 summit in Osaka in 2019, he was clearly about half a head taller. But look at some of the images from Busan in October 2025, Beijing in May 2026, and their meeting in September. They looked almost the same height with Xi seemingly only about an inch shorter. Even this small detail shows how hypocritical and deceitful the CCP regime is and how far it will go to make Xi look powerful in front of Trump. Of course, Xi cares about his image, so Trump gave him the full treatment. An airport welcome, the red carpet, military honors, and a state dinner. Every honor he could offer, he offered. For Trump, those gestures come cheap. A handshake, a photo together, a few flattering words. They cost next to nothing. But Trump answered with an overwhelming show of power on a whole different level. In other words, those shoes helped Xi look the part. But there were also moments when he had no choice but to play dumb. Trump actually took the top leader of a communist authoritarian regime and his wife straight into the National Archives and personally showed him the original Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution. There, right in front of a totalitarian ruler, were the foundations of constitutional government, documents that stand for natural rights, freedom and democracy, and power that comes from the people. The clash of those two political worlds, the psychological shock, what a masterstroke. A leader used to totalitarian rule and absolute party control was brought face to face with the greatest charter of This showed the world the depth of America's heritage. But it also delivered a silent, devastating blow on an entirely different level. But the truly ruthless blow came just after Xi and his wife left the United States. That was when the US Senate made its move. Xi and his wife had barely left the United States when the Senate made its move. Just one weekend later, on September 28, 2026, it passed the Falun Gong and Victims of Forced Organ Harvesting Protection Act S-4009 by unanimous consent. S-4009, also called the Falun Gong Protection Act, aims to impose sanctions on forced organ harvesting in China. It would also require the US government to investigate the allegations further. The bill's Congressional Findings section says that public and private institutions have raised concerns for years about the CCP's organ transplant policies and allegations of forced organ harvesting. It specifically mentions allegations involving Falun Gong practitioners, Uyghurs, and other groups. Once S-4009 takes effect, its provisions will have a far-reaching impact in three areas, international human rights, diplomacy, and medical ethics. It will also put people's consciences to the test. One, sanctions that hit those responsible. The president must submit a list to the relevant congressional committees within 180 days of the law taking effect. That list must identify foreign individuals or entities determined to have knowingly and directly participated in or assisted forced organ harvesting in China. It must be updated as new information becomes available, and at least once a year. Those on the list could have their assets and property interests in the United States frozen, with related transactions banned. Individuals could also be denied visas, entry, or immigration parole, and any visas they already hold could be revoked. Two, promoting medical and ethical self-regulation, preventing complicity across borders, and allowing conditional exemptions for humanitarian aid and other purposes. Three, requiring an official U.S. government investigative report. The bill gives the Secretary of State a deadline. Within one year of enactment, the Secretary must submit a report to Congress on China's organ transplant policies and practices. To prepare it, the Secretary must work with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Director of the National Institutes of Health, and the heads of the intelligence agencies. That report must state the U.S. government's official determination. Is the CCP carrying out, or has it carried out, systematic forced organ harvesting? It must also examine China's transplant system, where the organs come from, how many transplants take place each year, and how many organs are voluntarily donated. The report must specifically address prisoners of conscience, including Falun Gong practitioners. S-4009 was introduced this March by two Senators from opposite sides of the aisle, Texas Republican Ted Cruz and Oregon Democrat Jeff Merkley. Eleven Senators signed on as co-sponsors, including California Democrat Adam Schiff. For 27 years, Falun Gong has faced a crackdown by the CCP. Now for the first time, the full U.S. Senate has passed a sanctions bill specifically targeting the CCP's crimes of forced organ harvesting. This marks a shift in how America responds to the persecution of Falun Gong and forced organ harvesting, from condemning these abuses on moral grounds to pursuing concrete investigations and sanctions. Once S-4009 becomes law in the United States, it will send a clear message to the world. Forced organ harvesting is real. These crimes cannot be hidden forever, and there will be accountability for every one of these crimes. This is about more than Falun Gong practitioners. It is about the lives of all Chinese people and their basic human dignity. Get the real story behind the CCP's shifting power games and see where U.S.-China relations are headed next. Support the vision of a new China without communism. Subscribe now and join us in bringing the truth to light.