These Are the Signs Xi Is Losing Power in China | Gordon Chang

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"I think that Xi Jinping has lost control of the Chinese military. And I think that he has lost some influence among civilian CCP leaders.

…His number one guy in the military, his number one loyalist, his hatchet man, General He Weidong, has not been seen in public since March 11.

…Everybody says, 'well, Xi Jinping has been sacking his own loyalists,' and that's possible, but I don't think that it is right.

…There have been a series of articles in PLA Daily, the main propaganda organ of the Chinese military, that have praised 'collective leadership.' That's a direct challenge to Xi Jinping's one-man-rule style.

And so these articles were written by people who are aligned with General Zhang Youxia, who is the number one uniformed officer in the military, who is known to not be on particularly good terms with Xi Jinping."

…On the civilian side of things, it's less clear…For basically five weeks, Xi Jinping just dropped out of propaganda. He dropped out of sight for the most part. Those times he did appear in media, he appeared in roles which showed that he had been diminished in stature.

…We also saw the disappearance of a senior Chinese diplomat, Lu Jianchao, and we don't know what's going on there. This follows, of course, the disappearances of other civilian leaders.

Again, this is really murky. Not all of it points to Xi Jinping losing influence, but some of it does.

We will know a lot more after the fourth plenum in October."

China analyst Gordon Chang is the author of "Plan Red: China's Project to Destroy America."