Xi Jinping’s great purge is extremely brutal. He has already controlled the situation; the orderlies of Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli have all been killed.
This is a conversation between former CCP officer X and Canadian writer Sheng Xue @ShengXue_ca (SX).
X: It is over, sigh, Zhang is finished. Xi’s side has fully moved into action, the killing is too severe. All the orderlies of Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli have been killed. It is said not a single one was left alive.
SX: Such ruthless action.
X: In the Southern Theater Command, about more than 200 people have been arrested.
SX: If all the theater commands are being swept like this, many people must have been arrested within the military…
X: He has already divided them and is striking each one separately.
SX: Do you know whether there have been arrests in other military regions or theater commands?
X: Yes. The Eastern Theater Command is also making arrests.
SX: Hmm… do you know the specific situation?
X: I do not know the details. Someone only told me the most core situation today. You can tell this to the outside.
SX: Okay, go ahead.
X: Xi Jinping is completely copying the practices of the Ming Dynasty. First, his Security Bureau, the Central Security Bureau, has now expanded its personnel by four times.
Previously, the Security Bureau had just over 1,000 people; now it has 12,500 people.
Second, Xi Jinping privately established a cross-institution similar to the Eastern Depot (Jennifer’s note: a Ming Dynasty secret police and surveillance agency directly loyal to the emperor) and the Western Depot (Jennifer’s note: a special institution established during the Ming Dynasty to strengthen secret police rule).
Nationwide, this organization has between 200,000 and 350,000 people. Two sources of information, one person put it more exaggeratedly, saying there are 350,000.
SX: Under what name did he establish this Eastern Depot and Western Depot structure?
X: It is done under the name of the Discipline Inspection Commission. Under the name of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.
SX: But the Discipline Inspection Commission is a publicly known institution. If he expanded it on such a massive scale, it should have been reported long ago.
X: But in reality, the Discipline Inspection Commission has layered structures underneath. Each province has a Discipline Inspection Secretary, and at the same time, there is another person monitoring that secretary. They monitor each other, you know? The Discipline Inspection Secretary does not answer to the Provincial Party Secretary; you need to understand this point. The Discipline Inspection Secretary does not answer to the Provincial Party Secretary, nor to the Central Standing Committee.
Nationwide, there are about 27 Discipline Inspection Secretaries. These are divided into the Military Discipline Inspection Commission and the Central Discipline Inspection Commission. These Discipline Inspection Secretaries are directly responsible to Xi Jinping and to no one else.
SX: So is it the Military Discipline Inspection Commission that answers to Xi Jinping, or does the Central Discipline Inspection Commission also answer to him?
X: They are two separate groups, just like the Eastern Depot and Western Depot before—those who carry out the actions. Someone told me today that nationwide there are about 350,000 people; others say 200,000.
SX: With such a large structure, can Xi Jinping handle it all by himself? He is also the head of more than a dozen leading groups.
X: In reality, Cai Qi helps him manage it.
SX: Even if Cai Qi helps manage it, Cai Qi himself has very little foundation within the Party or the military. Why would others obey him?
X: No, he has no foundation, but his current operating model is exactly the same as the Eastern Depot and Western Depot model of the Ming Dynasty. He has completely taken control. The information someone gave me today about how brutal these people are, I will tell you.
When they arrest people, if someone refuses to submit, if someone resists, they are directly killed.
SX: Hmm, are there cases now where people are directly killed during arrest? Were there such cases before?
X: Yes. He said that in the Eastern Theater Command, two people refused to submit and were directly shot on the spot. Shot dead with pistols, right in front of everyone. Their heads were blown apart with pistols, right in front of everyone…
Wasn’t there anyone who raised objections? There were also fearless people at meetings. When they convened meetings of mid- and high-level cadres, arrests were carried out during the meetings. Just like North Korea—look at North Korea’s terror politics—people are arrested during meetings, whoever is named gets taken away. It is the same logic.
If someone refuses to submit, they are shot in the head in front of everyone and executed on the spot, with no attempt to hide it.
SX: Among those previously taken down who were relatively well-known, are there any who are now no longer alive? Looking at his current structure, it is interesting.
Previously, when someone fell, there was usually still information about them outside. Now there is nothing at all.
X: Yes, yes. I told you, this Eastern Depot and Western Depot do the dirty work. This setup is not subject to any local laws or military management. It does not belong to the military police, nor is it called the Discipline Inspection Commission.
Do you understand what I mean? But it has direct first-hand execution authority—it can kill first. This is the authority Xi Jinping has given it.
SX: That is, they completely stand above all local CCP structures, departments, and constraints.
X: All the orderlies of Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli have been killed. Not a single one was left alive. His orderlies and his nanny were all killed. Not a single one was left alive. There should have been close to more than 50 people—all killed. This is real. They have already… they have already reached a point of extreme fear.
SX: Where exactly were Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli arrested?
X: They were arrested inside their compound, not on the way to a meeting.
SX: At midnight? That would mean they were arrested at home?
X: Yes. It should have been that night, around midnight or about 2 a.m. They were arrested at night. Then the orderlies… all the orderlies—didn’t they have machine guns standing guard? Didn’t his own compound have guards? All the orderlies and bodyguards… all of them were killed.
SX: People like them—do they live in something like a military region compound, or do they each have their own compound?
X: He lives in his own compound, a specially designated private compound. A standalone compound with several villas built inside. They are separate units. Military
Commission members at their level all live in independent villas. That is, within one compound, several buildings—like four, five, six, or eight buildings—and there are guard posts. To a large extent, without a word, they were all killed.
SX: I am still thinking—Xi Jinping’s capable manpower under him… You said Cai Qi alone—how could he mobilize so much military force?
X: I am telling you, Cai Qi does not mobilize field armies, but Xi’s own secret police armed forces. Xi Jinping had already arranged this earlier… Didn’t he change seven military regions into five theater commands? When they were changed into five theater commands, all the commanders were replaced, right? You know that. It can be said that all the commanders are his people. When he changed the seven major regions into five, it was actually a conspiracy of his. He wanted to replace people; otherwise there would have been no reason to replace them.
SX: Yes, that was very clear at the time.
X: Yes. About 200,000 people nationwide were affected—200,000.
SX: 200,000 people were affected by the reorganization?
X: Yes. Let me describe an example for you. A deputy-army-level officer in the Southern Theater Command—when they arrested him, I am telling you how terrified he was. His pants and shoes were soaked with urine.
SX: In fact, some of these military officers are extremely cowardly.
X: No one dares to resist. Why can they not resist? Because they are conducting political study sessions, and then teams of armed, helmeted special forces and special operations personnel enter. That shock alone is enormous.
SX: As far as you know, how many troops does one theater command have?
X: One theater command has close to about 200,000 troops.
SX: If calculated that way, with five theater commands, China’s military strength is not very large.
X: He has only seven to eight hundred thousand combat troops. He has cut the military many times. China keeps its standing army below 1.2 million—hasn’t that always been said? It was part of the agreements with the United States—military reduction.
SX: I do not remember that agreement with the United States.
X: You do not know? It was when joining the World Trade Organization. The United States said, if you join, you reduce the military. At that time there were five million troops.
SX: Oh, WTO accession—that was in 2001.
X: Yes. He has always kept it between one million and 1.2 million. And you must know, in all major military regions, bullets and guns are separated. The guns soldiers hold do not have bullets.
X: There is an example. In the 1980s, there was a case where one individual killed 671 People’s Liberation Army soldiers near Tiananmen.
SX: I do not remember when that happened.
X: I will send you that story later; you can just take a look. After that, soldiers’ guns and ammunition were separated.
(Fact check: the prototype was the Jianguomen incident on September 20, 1994. The individual was Tian Mingjian, a deputy company commander of the Beijing Garrison and an elite marksman. The 671 figure mentioned in the conversation is a long-circulated exaggeration. Official and foreign media reports place the actual death toll at 20 to 30 people, including military personnel, police, civilians, and one Iranian diplomat. This incident indeed marked a turning point for the PLA’s gun-and-ammunition separation system. Zhang Zhen and other then-CMC leaders subsequently ordered ammunition to be stored separately and that sentries not be issued live rounds.)
SX: So whoever has both gun and bullets becomes the one in charge.
X: Yes. Even the soldiers standing guard do not have bullets. The soldiers we normally see on guard…
SX: But if the guards do not even have bullets, what is the point of the guard post?
X: But outsiders do not know. Who would dare to move? How do you know whether he truly has bullets or not? No one dares to gamble on that.
(To be continued.)
The above content comes from Sheng Xue.
This image is AI-generated.
