The Military Uses This Method to Publicly Play Down Xi

Zhang Youxia sat in the first row with the full national-level leaders. (Video screenshot)

[People’s News] In fact, more and more signs have long indicated that the current CCP party chief, Xi Jinping, is merely acting on stage; in reality, he has already lost control of the military, and his party power has also been clearly weakened. Some may still question this: if that is the case, why do news reports about Xi continue to appear repeatedly as top headlines?

In response, the author has pointed out in several previous analyses that before the CCP publicly reveals the truth, it will continue to cover things up in various ways, such as using reports that mix truth and falsehood to confuse the outside world. This is because history has proven countless times that the CCP is particularly adept at this.

However, after the CCP’s Fourth Plenum once again emphasized “collective unified leadership,” and especially after the Central Economic Work Conference held on December 11—where the “Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission” was listed separately among the attending senior officials—the extraordinary status of Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia has already become semi-public. According to the author’s observation, subtle changes have also quietly appeared in the CCP’s military websites and military pictorials over the past ten days.

In the newly released 11th issue of PLA Pictorial, a small but notable move to weaken Xi has appeared. At first glance, the cover of this issue features a photo of Xi standing and waving, a picture that seems quite capable of highlighting Xi’s status. This photo was taken when Xi attended the opening ceremony of the National Games held in Guangzhou in November. The military’s choice to use this photo in the pictorial was likely intentional.

Normally, when this Pictorial uses a large photo of Xi on its cover, it adopts a photo of Xi attending an important meeting or event in the same month. According to the content of the November issue, there were two major news items: one was the Fourth Plenum of the 20th CCP Central Committee held in Beijing, with Xi Jinping presiding over the meeting and delivering a speech; the other was Xi attending the commissioning ceremony of the aircraft carrier Fujian in Sanya. The former was a major event within the CCP, and the latter was a major event for the CCP military.

If the intention were to highlight Xi’s status as the “sole authority,” the Pictorial should have fully followed past practice and selected a photo of Xi from one of these two important events for the cover. Instead, the military deliberately chose a photo from the not particularly important National Games opening ceremony as the cover. Is this hinting at Xi’s current status within the party and the military? Readers can ponder this carefully.

In addition, recent headlines on military websites and military newspapers have mostly featured content related to the military itself. For example, the December 20 headline was “Maintaining Constant Vigilance to Weave a Heavenly Net—An Observational Report from a Certain Unit of the Southern Theater Air Force.” It can be said that over the past ten days, except for major CCP meetings such as those of the Politburo, and Xi’s important foreign affairs activities—such as his recent meeting with French President Macron, which could occupy the headline position on military websites and newspapers—other Xinhua News Agency reports involving Xi’s “earnest expectations” and the like have not, as in the past, synchronized with XinhuaNet to occupy the headline position.

Moreover, compared with the front pages of the military newspaper during the same ten-day period last year, the frequency of Xi’s appearances in news coverage has clearly declined.

In the author’s view, the military’s “boldness” on the one hand reflects the consolidation of Zhang Youxia’s position within the military, and on the other hand may be foreshadowing a countdown to the CCP’s unveiling of the truth.

There are overseas reports suggesting that the CCP’s Fifth Plenum may be held in January. The author’s previous analysis also holds that it is more likely to be convened before the “Two Sessions,” because certain personnel issues must be resolved before the “Two Sessions.” One may as well continue watching how things unfold.

(People’s News exclusive)
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