This is John Batchel, speaking with colleague Charles Burton of Synopsis, the author of the new book,

The Beaver and the Dragon, about Canada's relations with China.

But here, Charles comments on the news from the gathering of the fourth plenum in the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing,

that seven top generals have been removed all at once for corruption.

What does it mean?

It means that there's turmoil and the leadership of China, but what else?

Here's Charles to explain.

Much more of this tonight.

Charles Burton.

All of these are senior communists.

The party is loyal to the Chinese Communist Party. The party is not

loyal to the Chinese state, but perhaps these military who, you know, as they say, have a total

collapse of their beliefs as party members, are seeing themselves as representing the interests

of China and the Chinese people in the face of the disastrous

leadership of Xi Jinping, both in terms of domestic economics and the terrible downturn in

relations with the United States, which has all sorts of negative impacts on China as a whole, and I think

is inconsistent with what Chinese people want their government to be doing for them.

So regardless of whether this is a sign that Mr. Shee is successfully cracking down on corruption

and dissent, it does indicate that there are serious problems between the party leadership,

which is really Mr. Shee himself and a large coterie of sycophants, and the military who

may be, one hopes, patriotic and loyal to the overall interests

of China rather than sustaining a declining rule of a Chinese communist elite headed by Mr. Xi,

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