Captain Jim Fennell

Also,

Xi's not having control of the party.

If you go back to June and July, these rumors were existing that Xi was losing control of the PLA, yet who was leading the big PLA parade in Beijing this last month?

It was Xi.

So I would...

put that in the leadership bucket, and then in the military capabilities bucket, as I mentioned in the morning segment, we are seeing a continual uninterrupted trajectory, a strategic trend line of PLA modernization, growth in capabilities, and in expanding operations.

Now, Jim mentioned that maybe that's to show the flag and to be kind of aggressive because they got these problems at home.

It's possible.

But my assessment is, looking at their military, that this is a natural progression to meet Xi's global defense initiative, or global security initiative, that he wants to have a global military.

So we'll find out in the next week.

If Xi is still in power a week from today, we'll know that maybe these rumors weren't true.

If he's gone, then that'll be something that we'll have to face.

It's possible that that's part of it, but I think it's more endemic.

I think Jim talked about the thousand years of history and there's an old saying that in the center is the rule and out in the hinterlands, they can't control everything.

And so what I think is what Xi is running up against is thousands of years of dynastic evolution where people make money through corruption.

and clinging to bits and pieces of power.

We see it in our own country.

It's part of human nature.

And so what I think is, is that Xi is having to continue to continually find and root out corruption in the party in order to achieve his global initiatives.

And so I think he has a global Marxist-Leninist view of how he wants the PRC to rule the world.