Alex Ritson

It is an interesting question.

Analysts would say it doesn't really matter how real the threat is.

It's how Xi Jinping feels about the threat.

So it's not so much maybe that he would realistically think a couple of generals are going to get together and lay on a coup, but the idea that power could even a little bit be slipping from his hands or that there could be groupings within the party not really listening to him.

He's just so all-powerful.

We've not seen anything like it since Mao.

And he has used, it seems, this anti-corruption crackdown, and that's the kind of official excuse for the more broad crackdown, that this is all about corruption, to take out his political enemies.

And by that, anyone who's not completely on board with the mission...

And who knows what you've got to do to fall foul of this.

I mean, even when the anti-corruption crackdown started, when Xi Jinping first came into power, there was a feeling that, sure, corruption has been a huge problem here.

But really, all of these senior figures are in some way or another corrupt.

The real question is, who's he taking out and why?

And there are people who've been loyal to him, who've avoided the blade swinging.

But even those who seemed like they were very close to Xi, like Zhang Yuxia, he was the head of the military, number two only to Xi Jinping.

He was taken down in the last round before this round of purges.

And so it doesn't matter how senior you are, you can...

you can go down.

And in fact, in some ways, if you become more senior, it's even more dangerous.

Stephen McDonald in Beijing.

After nearly a month of a full oil blockade of Cuba, the US has said it will ease the ban if the oil is sent to the island's small private sector and not the government.