Comparing NYT coverage of China vs. the US is pretty entertaining. US (from November)
Hegseth Is Purging Military Leaders With Little Explanation
The moves to fire or sideline generals and admirals are without precedent in recent decades and have rattled the top brass.
China, today:
In Xi’s Purge of the Military, a Search for Absolute Loyalty
By reaching back to Maoist tactics of “rectification,” the Chinese leader is signaling that control over the gun requires a state of perpetual cleansing.
...
Like Mao, Mr. Xi is pursuing a kind of spiritual renewal of the party and the military he commands, what he calls constant “self revolution.” And like Mao, that has taken the form of constant purging of enemies, associates and now, those in his inner circle, too. It is a new level of ruthlessness for a man who has already concentrated power in himself to a degree not seen since Mao.
Over the past three years, Mr. Xi has essentially ousted five of the six generals in China’s top military body, the Central Military Commission, which controls China’s armed forces. Only two members are left: Mr. Xi himself and a vice chairman who has overseen Mr. Xi’s purges.
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The sudden removal of senior officials with no explanation has become a hallmark of Mr. Xi’s rule, inspiring uncertainty and fear among Chinese officials in what analysts say is either a sign of his increasing paranoia or a tactic to keep the leader’s enemies, as well as his allies, guessing.
US, a couple of days ago:
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Friday that the Defense Department would sever its academic ties with Harvard University, the latest broadside by the Trump administration in its pressure campaign to force the university to cut a deal with the government.
China, today:
When Mr. Xi talks about the spirit of Yan’an, he glosses over details of the purging of thousands of party members at Yan’an through psychologically brutal sessions of self-criticism that led some to suicide. Mr. Xi uses some of those methods of political indoctrination, including mandating study sessions of his personalized doctrine, Xi Jinping Thought, and encouraging the reporting of one’s peers or superiors for violating Mr. Xi’s edicts, according to Wen-Hsuan Tsai, a scholar of elite Chinese politics at the Institute of Political Science at Academia Sinica in Taiwan.
“It turns the whole party into a trial of mutual reporting, so no one can be trusted — not your parents, not your superiors, no one,” Dr. Tsai said.
“His type of regime needs constant enemies and purges to maintain fear,” he said.
