I'm John Batchel with my colleague and friend Gregory Copley Defense and Foreign Affairs,

the People's Republic of China. Over these last days, we've had the report again and again and

again that Xi Jinping, the third term general secretary, president of the People's Republic of

China, ordered the removal from the table of the senior military officer in the

country and four others responsible on the military commission for the defense of the Chinese

Communist Party, the PLA, the People's Liberation Army, is sworn to the party, not the nation, not the people, to the party,

leaving the seven members of the military commission, the top decision maker, with only two at the

table. Xi Jinping, no military man sitting at the head, and at the other end is the accountant

who provides details when there's a charge

of corruption. That's what has been repeated for five, six, seven days. Looking through that,

we have remarks by Xi Jinping about the economy that seem uninformed. For example, he wants

the Renminbi to become a world reserve currency,

despite the fact that he exercises capital controls on the Renminbi. There's only so much

that anyone can take out of the country without being castigated or jailed. And that does not

describe a world reserve currency.

So it would appear that Xi Jinping is either poorly briefed or regards the serial presentation of seekers to endorse his decision-making.

What seekers?

Well, there was Anthony Albanyese of Australia,

traveling to Beijing looking for business with his hat out. There was the man named,

very carefully Mark Carney, the new Prime Minister of Canada, traveling to Beijing with his

hat out. There certainly has been Mr. Starrmer recently, the Prime Minister of Great Britain,

the mother country of the Commonwealth, with his hat out. Perhaps this has persuaded Xi Jinping that he doesn't

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