Who in Officialdom Is Waiting for the “Boss” to Fall?

Who in Officialdom Is Waiting for the “Boss” to Fall?

[People News] At the Two Sessions, the supreme leader declared that “there must absolutely be no one in the military harboring divided loyalty toward the Party.” In reality, however, there are plenty of officials with “divided loyalty” toward the Party. Recently, it was reported that during this year’s Lunar New Year, a retired old cadre, while paying a New Year visit to a “former superior,” asked, “Has something major happened in Beijing?” The former superior immediately snapped back: “Are you people hoping every day that the boss will get into trouble?”

On March 9, “New Highland” posted on X that a retired old cadre had made a special trip to Hangzhou on the first day of the Lunar New Year to pay a New Year visit to his former superior, now Zhejiang Governor Liu Jie. While drinking tea and reminiscing about old times, the retired cadre could not help asking what was really on his mind: “Former leader, has something major happened in Beijing? Ever since Zhang Youxia was arrested, military vehicles have often been seen heading north on the highways in groups!”

Just listen to how bold that question was. Liu Jie immediately changed expression on the spot and shot back: “Are you people hoping every day that the boss will get into trouble? What kind of times are these? Almost every day these past few days, people have been asking me whether something has happened in Beijing…”

Who is Liu Jie? He is one of the most typical representatives of the “post-70s” officials of the Xi era. If even he is lamenting that “people are asking every day,” then one can imagine just how anxious Chinese Communist Party officialdom has become.

Why such panic? Because this time, the supreme leader has moved against very different people. Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia and Joint Staff Department Chief of Staff Liu Zhenli are not minor figures, especially Zhang Youxia. He is a princeling, a military commander with real combat experience, and also has deep ties with that group of Chinese Communist Party elders.

Some analysts say that removing Zhang Youxia is equivalent to declaring war simultaneously on the military, the princelings, and the elders — these “three major forces.” Even stranger, after the news was announced, the Chinese Communist Party military and political circles fell into a long period of “collective silence,” with no one hurrying to come out and declare support. Even at the currently ongoing Two Sessions, the names of Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli are still on the list of military delegates to the National People’s Congress.

Liu Jie’s remark that “people have been asking every day these past few days” actually expressed the unspoken thoughts in many officials’ minds: on the surface everyone is shouting slogans, but inwardly they are all waiting for that “final boot” to drop.

Beijing now is like a pressure cooker filled with gunpowder. Rumors of military vehicles moving north and rare vacancies in top personnel arrangements have made everyone feel that “something big is about to happen.” The old cadres are inquiring about news not because they care about affairs of state, but because they are afraid of standing on the wrong side and burning incense to the wrong god.

So this “New Year visit farce” is not accidental at all. It is a microcosm of the deepest tensions in China’s political situation in 2026. When officials are no longer discussing policy, but instead asking every day whether “the boss has gotten into trouble,” what does that show?

(First published by People News)
△