James Kynge

And this person has exclusive and supreme authority over the whole of the People's Liberation Army.

In other words...

Whatever Xi Jinping says goes in the Chinese military.

He has the final say.

And it was this that General Jiang trampled on and damaged.

Just as a little follow-up, there was another senior military official called General Liu Zhenli, who was also put under investigation.

And he was also a member of the Central Military Commission, which previously had seven members and now only has two.

Xi Jinping and another man called Zheng Shengming.

But Zheng Shengming is merely an anti-corruption officer.

He really has no say over military matters.

So this means, as you said, Alice, that really we have Xi Jinping in charge, in sole charge, of the world's largest military.

Let me just give a few metrics on the People's Liberation Army because it really is huge.

The PLA

has over 2 million soldiers and 4 million if you include paramilitary and reserves.

The PLA Navy has the world's largest navy with over 780 ships and vessels.

And the Chinese military has around 600 nuclear missiles, including those that are launched by land, sea, and air.

And some of these missiles are powerful enough to reach the entire territory of the United States.

So like I say, I don't want to exceed what we know, but what it seems to be the case here is that we have one man in charge of the world's largest military.

And this military is obviously a rival to the US and to other countries in the West.

So I'd leave it at there, Alison, throw it back to you for your take on this.