Xi’s Giant Parade Sparks Fury—Zhang Youxia Exposes $274B Embezzlement?

Parade or power proclamation? 40,000 troops, rows of newly unveiled weapons hidden under tarps, and an estimated one million security personnel guarding every bridge, underpass, and station in Beijing, all for one night of full-scale military parade rehearsal, stretching until dawn. Yet beneath the roar of engines came waves of online mockery, and behind the spectacle lurks a different story. Unverified rumors of a vanished two trillion yuan, signs of escalating power struggles, and calculations over Taiwan ahead of the 21st Party Congress. On the world stage, the promised friends from all directions dwindled into a sparse showing of leaders. Can such displays mask weakness, or do they only expose a China straining under pressure both at home and abroad? Join us as we peel back the layers, from parade to power play, what is real strength and what is just smoke and mirrors. 40,000 troops on parade? One million security staff? The Chinese Communist Party, CCP, carried out its second large-scale military parade rehearsal from 5.30 p.m. on August 16th to 3.30 a.m. the next morning. According to state media, this round was bigger in scope, covered a wider area, and lasted longer than the previous one. Beyond mobilizing some 40,000 personnel, the CCP also showcased several new types of weapons. Clips shared on X showed a variety of equipment. Unmanned mini-tanks, unmanned armored vehicles, a 40-ton medium tank armed with a 105-mm main gun, intercontinental ballistic missiles launched from land and submarines, surface-to-air missiles, and what appeared to be FK-3000 air defense systems, laser weapons, and torpedoes. Most of the weapons were heavily covered, and some were entirely new models, making them hard to identify. There's no doubt that the CCP wants to use this parade to flex its muscles, signaling to the West that it cannot be easily pushed around. But while the West may not be intimidated, online comments were filled with ridicule. One user remarked, This is mainly for the livestock, meaning ordinary people, to watch. It has nothing to do with the West. Another said, It's just a message to the Chinese people. Be obedient. The tanks are far more advanced now than in 1989. Someone else joked, At the very least, the Chinese people are being harvested again this time. Others pointed out, The CCP's army exists mainly to control its own citizens. So the deeper the economic downturn, the more they need these parades. Political commentators also suggested the deployment of military vehicles was not just for the parade. It also hinted at power struggles behind the scenes. Commentator Chen Pocong asked, Is there some kind of upheaval going on? In the past, the CCP also held rehearsals, but usually in the middle of the night, unannounced and unreported. This time, they made it public. A journalist from a major international outlet noted that the scale of disruption caused by this rehearsal was far greater than before. A total of 156 bus routes were shut down, well above the And 10 subway lines had stations closed, compared to just four previously. Because of this, many shops closed early. Along Chongan Avenue near Tiananmen Square, military police were stationed everywhere. Soldiers every few steps, checkpoints every few meters, and undercover officers spread throughout. Every overpass, tunnel, and intersection was guarded. Many security personnel carried riot shields, closely watching passersby. A staff member from the Taiyangong Sub-District Office in Chaoyang District revealed that authorities had hired large numbers of temporary security workers and even mobilized retirees as volunteer guards to patrol at night. He estimated that 200,000 to 300,000 people were mobilized in Chaoyang alone, and across Beijing, as many as a million. Their duties ranged from guarding bridges, utility poles, and pedestrians to even monitoring public restrooms. One Beijing resident said residential compounds now strictly check IDs. Even residents must show papers to get in and out. In Daxing, farther from the city center, locals reported that security staff were stationed every 10 to 20 meters around apartment buildings. Authorities also deployed more undercover police and guards at train and bus stations to intercept petitioners and arbitrarily search people they deemed suspicious. Experts estimate the cost of this year's parade at no less than 20 billion yuan. To put that in perspective, if divided equally among China's 1.4 billion citizens, that's 14 yuan each. With that money, the government could build or upgrade dozens of small to mid-sized hospitals or provide medical subsidies for millions. Meanwhile, the CCP has just made social insurance contributions mandatory. One law graduate intern broke down crying on social media, saying her monthly salary was 2,500 yuan. But after mandatory deductions, she only took home about 700 yuan. That works out to roughly 30 yuan per workday. And after paying for transportation and food, she was essentially paying out of pocket just to go to work. In such harsh economic times, with many struggling to put food on the table, Xi Jinping's government is not focused on reviving the economy, but instead pouring an enormous sum into staging a military parade. Rumor. Did Jiang Yuxia accuse Xi Jinping of embezzling 2 trillion yuan from the military budget? Parades aside, the power struggle inside the CCP never stops, especially when it surfaces through rumors. On August 18th, the site Wanwei published a piece from the blog Heaven's Compass, claiming that Senior General Jiang Yuxia directly accused Xi Jinping of corruption, alleging that he embezzled 2 trillion yuan from the military budget and funneled the money into overseas personal accounts. Of course, the claim has not been verified. Still, the rumor reveals several important things. Commentator Li Dayu pointed out that the speech contained three striking details. One, it said the massive sum came from embezzled military funds. Two, it mentioned that the money appeared in Australia. Three, the figure was close to the 1.3 trillion yuan uncovered in the case of Yang Wenlan in Australia. This immediately led many to link the two cases, suggesting that Yang's scandal might be tied to Xi's family and that its exposure was a deliberate strike by Jiang Yuxia and the anti-Xi faction. But Li also highlighted three suspicious aspects of the claim. First, the idea that Xi personally embezzled 2 trillion yuan strains credibility. Since 2020, the CCP's annual defense budget has been around 1.5 trillion yuan, with real spending closer to 3 trillion. For Xi to divert 2 trillion, he would have had to skim about 200 billion a year between 2013 and 2023, an enormous operation that would almost certainly have been detected. Moreover, Xi does not directly control day-to-day military finances, and no one in his immediate family holds a direct military position. Second, the statement said the money should be seized back and redistributed to the people. Li argued this is uncharacteristic of CCP rhetoric, where the people is usually just a flowery pretext for corruption. A princeling like Jiang Yuxia would know better than to make such a statement openly. Third, former party chief Zhao Ziyang once observed that senior CCP leaders almost never confront each other head-on. Instead, they prefer covert accusations or planting rumors abroad, using outside opinion as a weapon in their internal battles. Taken together, the rumor underscores the extremely tense relationship between Jiang Yuxia and Xi Jinping. Whether the 2 trillion claim is true or not, it highlights how bitter the struggle has become. And in any case, it's not unthinkable that Xi has hidden vast sums by other means. Earlier this year, U.S. intelligence publicly disclosed Xi's overseas assets worth billions of dollars, likely just the tip of the iceberg. Power struggles between the second red generation and Xi Jinping, will they affect the timing of a Taiwan invasion? In the midst of such fierce internal infighting, many are wondering, will China still attempt to seize Taiwan? Professor Yuan Hongbing first emphasized, I believe there is now a certain consensus within the international community that the CCP's authoritarian regime could launch a war in the Taiwan Strait. However, the real question, why the CCP would start such a war, or in other words, what the true driving force behind it is, remains poorly understood. According to Yuan, Xi Jinping's personal dictatorship has provoked anger among the entire second red generation, descendants of the party's founding elites. In the fall of 2027, the CCP will hold its 21st Party Congress. Xi intends to use this Congress to achieve the goal he has long craved, not just securing a fourth term as top leader, but also cementing his status as a communist emperor who rules for life. The princeling faction sees the 21st Congress as their last chance to block Xi from ruling indefinitely. Their goal is to restore the collective leadership system of Deng Xiaoping's era, a republic of the party aristocracy, rather than one-man rule. This clash of power surrounding the Congress has become unavoidable. Yuan pointed out that as early as 2018, when Xi pushed through constitutional changes, it already showed that he regarded conquering Taiwan as the bargaining chip for elevating himself to emperor status. If he faces a re-election crisis due to attacks from the princelings, Yuan argued, Xi would almost certainly launch a Taiwan Strait war before autumn 2027. If, on the other hand, Xi defeats them, secures re-election smoothly, and becomes ruler for life, then he would likely initiate war in early 2028, just before Taiwan's presidential elections. Yuan further stressed that history shows the CCP's decision to go to war has never depended directly on economic conditions. For example, in 1950, the CCP entered the Korean War. At that time, China's civil war had just ended, the economy was devastated, industries lay in ruins. Yet Mao Zedong still chose to intervene in Korea, and to do so on a massive, all-out scale. Next came 1962. The CCP had just gone through the Great Leap Forward, which triggered a famine that killed 40 million people. China's economy was on the verge of collapse. Many Indian politicians and military strategists at the time believed that under such conditions, the CCP could not possibly launch a large-scale counteroffensive along the border. But reality proved otherwise. Mao Zedong, even with the economy on the brink of disaster, decided to wage what he called the China-India border counterattack. The core reason behind Mao's decision was this. He wanted to use the war to firmly reassert his grip over the military, compensating for the severe decline in his prestige caused by disastrous economic policies. Put simply, Xi Jinping, with the mindset of a dictator, has no way back. Whether the military is advanced or victory-likely, he may act recklessly. For that reason, his struggle with Jiang Yuxia inside the military is a matter of survival and cannot be reconciled. It is the springboard for both his ambition to reunify Taiwan and to secure absolute power. Military showmanship cannot mask weakness on the world stage. Xi Jinping may dream big, but we also need to look at reality. Recently, the South China Morning Post claimed that China's influence is rising, with many Southeast Asian nations expected to attend the September 3rd parade at a high level, and numerous heads of state will be present. But in fact, the confirmed list only includes Russian President Vladimir Putin, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, no leaders from major Western powers. The level of influence is clearly not what it once was. Several Southeast Asian leaders are expected to attend, but most remain at the level of tentative or possible, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar. Some of them will first stop in Tianjin for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization CO summit, making the parade visit seem more like a side trip. Many countries are sending number twos, or special envoys, rather than their top leaders. Even nations that once participated, such as Thailand and Singapore, show little sign of engagement this time. Meanwhile, Beijing has tried to use U.S. reciprocal tariff tactics to argue that Southeast Asia is increasingly dependent on China. But rather than showing strength, this only highlights China's isolation and lack of solid backing. Worse still, China's key ally in its Taiwan plans, Russia, may be shifting. The recent cordial meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin sent positive signals toward peace in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. If Putin holds to this line and leans closer to the U.S., then Xi Jinping's ambition to strike Taiwan could end up a lonely war without international support. As the old saying goes, man proposes, heaven disposes. When the tides of history shift, no human effort can stand against them. And what do you think of Xi Jinping's ambitions? Share your thoughts in the comments below. Thank you and see you in the next program.