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Another top figure in China has suddenly disappeared

https://hotair.com/john-s-2/2023/09/15/another-top-figure-in-china-has-suddenly-disappeared-n578415

Excerpt:

Back in June China’s foreign minister, Qin Gang, suddenly disappeared. By mid-July he hadn’t been seen in weeks and rumors began circulating that he must have done something to displease or embarrass the communist party. Some suggested the married foreign minister was having an affair with a Chinese TV presenter who had also suddenly disappeared. Qin Gang was removed from his position about a week later. To this day, no one knows the precise nature of his career-ending mistake.

Now it seems to be happening all over again, this time with China’s Defense Minister, General Li Shangfu. No one has seen him in about two weeks.

As is the norm in China’s opaque system of government, little is known about why Li Shangfu, 65, has not been seen in public since Aug. 29. But a rush of reports in the Western media, as well as public comments by a top U.S. diplomat, have fueled growing speculation.

His future is of great interest in the West, which will be eager to see if Li might be the latest target of a crackdown by the increasingly powerful President Xi Jinping.

So what did happen to General Li? The Washington Post is reporting that he is under investigation for corruption.

.....It sounds like Gen. Li was lining his pockets. China is unlikely to ever say publicly why he was removed but, regardless, this is a big deal. Gen. Li’s title of defense minister isn’t really the equivalent to the US post of that name. However, he was one of just five state councilors to Xi Jinping, placing him at the very top of the the Chinese government. Qin Gang, the foreign minister who got dumped last month, was another one of those five state councilors. So whatever is happening in China is causing a great deal of disruption. It’s also another big embarrassment for Xi Jinping.

Mr. Xi still appears politically unassailable, with the Communist Party leadership, military top brass and security services packed with his loyalists. Even so, the sudden downfall of such high-ranking officials has exposed the pitfalls in a system so dominated by a single leader and has raised questions about Mr. Xi’s judgment because the officials in question had been promoted by him.

Su Tzu-yun, an expert on the People’s Liberation Army at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, a think tank in Taipei that is funded by the Taiwanese government, said he was more than 90 percent sure that General Li had been removed from his post.

“For Xi Jinping, this is a loss of face, and in the Chinese military and across China, people will notice, even if they don’t say so openly,” Mr. Su said. “It’s not going to force him from power, but it will erode his prestige as ruler.”
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Interesting events but all written with a western viewpoint, so we will see as things unfold.

Ovidio Guzman-Lopez, aka ‘El Raton’, Eldest Son of El Chapo Extradited to the United States

https://www.infobae.com/mexico/2023/09/16/que-se-sabe-de-ovidio-guzman-y-su-extradicion-a-eeuu/

Translated Excerpt:

15 Sep 2023 Toluca (TLC) Teterboro (TEB) (XB-NWD) 4:13 Flight Time Departed 11:07 AM Landed 5:20 PM

This reads the flight tracking data of the Bombardier Challenger 605 jet XB-NWD that was used to extradite Ovidio “El Ràton” Guzman-Lopez to the United States. Ovidio is currently the only son of “El Chapo” in custody on either side of the border. The plane, owned by the Mexican FGR, was the same that flew the now-imprisoned for-life former leader of the Sinaloa Cartel back in 2016.