The Other Boot Drops: Zhang Youxia Ousted From NPC as Xi’s Military Purge Escalates

🚨Breaking: Has the Other Boot Finally Dropped?

Today, the Chinese Communist Party finally announced that the National People’s Congress deputy status of Zhang Youxia, Liu Zhenli, Zhong Shaojun, and nine others—12 people in total—has been terminated. After more than seven months of difficult maneuvering, Xi Jinping’s purge of the military appears to have moved another step forward.

Following these purges, the CCP’s Central Military Commission still has only two members left, including Xi Jinping himself.

Recently, rumors have been swirling about Xi’s weakening political position, his health, and pressure from Party elders for him to step down.

Does the termination of Zhang Youxia’s and Liu Zhenli’s NPC deputy status mean that Xi Jinping has further consolidated his power?

I am not so sure.

It may instead be the result of a compromise—an attempt to “advance in order to retreat.”

I do not believe Xi Jinping would voluntarily relinquish power. But his effort to remain in office for another term is by no means free of resistance. In fact, he may be facing enormous resistance.

Former CCP official Du Wen has said that Xi’s third term was, in fact, already met with fierce opposition, with the strongest resistance coming from former CCP leader Hu Jintao.

According to Du, before the CCP’s 20th Party Congress, an agreement had been reached that Hu Chunhua, Hu Jintao’s preferred successor, would enter the Politburo Standing Committee so that he could eventually succeed Xi Jinping.

But Hu Jintao discovered only at the last moment that Xi had maneuvered behind the scenes to remove Hu Chunhua’s name even from the Politburo. Hu Jintao then objected on the spot, which, according to Du, ultimately led to him being escorted out of the congress hall.

Du Wen has also said that Xi Jinping is currently “holding hostage” the family members and former subordinates of a number of CCP elders in order to force those elders into submission.

By “holding hostage,” he means launching anti-corruption investigations into the relatives and former subordinates of Party elders and keeping evidence of their corruption in hand as leverage.

For now, this “hostage-taking” strategy appears to be working.

But does that mean Xi Jinping can now sit back and rest easy?

8/28/2026