Alice Han

I don't think, I was looking back into previous episodes of this podcast

going as far back into the 1940s.

And the only other real analog is what happened during the Great Leap Forward, as well as the Cultural Revolution, with two key generals, Peng Dehuai and Lin Biao, who were both really close to Mao Zedong, but were effectively purged and killed.

And this was again succeeded by a massive purging of the PLA by Chairman Mao.

So I think history is repeating in certain respects.

And my big takeaway is that this suggests that she feels...

insecure about the combat readiness and about the loyalty of the military advisors and guys around him.

And this should be seen as a sign of weakness, at least from my perspective.

But it certainly, to your point, James, is going to be really, really crucial in terms of the Taiwan probabilities and Taiwan scenarios.

I think we may disagree there.

I think it probably gets delayed by a couple of years, but certainly we need to keep our ears to the ground in terms of seeing who comes in as the new guard.

Yeah, exactly.

Okay, we'll be back with more after a quick break.

Stay with us.

Welcome back.

After six years of bans, court fights, and superpower brinkmanship, TikTok finally has a deal.

ByteDance is spinning off a new US TikTok controlled by American and non-Chinese investors led by Oracle and Silverlake, just in time to avoid a congressionally mandated ban.

The agreement is meant to sever Beijing's influence, safeguard user data, and settle national security fears.

Well, James, this is a big victory for ByteDance and TikTok, and I would say Trump, who was definitely in support of this deal.

Effectively, it creates a joint venture structure, which is funny because you often hear about this in the Chinese context.