There is some weird stuff happening in China. While Xi Jinping is still the President, he may no longer be running the country. His top generals are all getting knocked off.
Why should you care about what's going on in China? If the US and China ever go to war, according to repeated war games, we lose. Imagine a huge fleet of Chinese ships off the coast of California, sending wave after wave of missiles and kamikaze drones into the infrastructure of our West Coast.
You have heard, of course, about the wildly successful drone attacks by Ukraine against the parked Russian bombers. The Ukrainians trucked huge boxes - disguised as manufactured homes - deep into Russia, threw open the tops, and launched their drones onto the parked Russian bombers. Many of them were worth several hundred million dollars.
Grasp this concept: In this war of drones, it's all about getting your missiles and drones close enough to strike. China is almost finished building a drone mothership with a range of 2,300 miles and which can carry 100 missiles and drones.
I told you two weeks ago that President Xi has watched in horror as many of his top military supporters - the four-star generals and full admirals that helped him to control the PLA - got purged. Once arrested and placed in padded cells, these top generals mysteriously "committed suicide."
Whoever controls the People's Liberation Army (PLA) controls China. Right now, the Chinese general who controls the PLA is a guy named Zhang. He is even more hawkish on Taiwan that Xi. Yikes.
I have started listening to a video blog (vlog) called Lei's Real Talk, which is broadcast daily on YouTube. Lei ("Lay") is a mature Chinese-American lady who collects gossip from inside China on the CCP.
Lei describes a huge power struggle taking place inside the Chinese Communist Party. The faction that is ascending at the moment are the followers of the old Deng Xiaoping (long dead). Deng was the Chinese leader who opened China's economy to outside investment, which led to the Chinese economic miracle.
I think it would be wonderful news if the Deng faction succeeded in restructuring the Standing Committee of the Politburo, replacing Xi's supporters with new ones.
The unfortunate President Trump is trying to negotiate a new trade deal with President Xi, but Xi no longer has any real power. Xi has lost control of the CCP and the PLA. "I thought we had a deal!" complains our president. But then, because of the power struggle, no one from the Chinese side showed up to negotiate.
This past week, five more major generals, each of whom was a supporter of Xi, were purged. I heard one account where Xi was begging for lives of his daughter and family. Things are not looking good for Xi.
I think Xi really blew it when he kept threatening to invade Taiwan. Foreigners rushed to the exists, and the Chinese people stopped spending. They are saving their dough to survive the war.
If you want to follow the developments inside the CCP, visit Lei's Real Talk. I listen daily.
