Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping has not traveled abroad this year and has significantly reduced the number of times he has left Beijing. Experts have analyzed Xi Jinping’s facial expressions through AI and found a notable increase in feelings of sadness and disgust, suggesting a possible connection to the crackdown on senior military officials.
Xi Jinping has not made any foreign visits for over half a year, and his domestic inspections in China have mostly been limited to nearby trips, with rare departures from Beijing. His most recent overseas visit was in October to November 2025 to South Korea. In late April, Xi attended a symposium in Shanghai to strengthen basic research.
According to a report by Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun, researcher Cai Wenxuan from the Taiwan Academia Sinica believes that Xi Jinping’s limited travel may be related to political changes within China.
Cai Wenxuan, who studies Chinese politics, utilized AI to analyze Xi Jinping’s emotional changes in footage from the CCTV reports. By comparing Xi’s expressions during military parades in 2015 and 2025, it was observed that the proportion of “sadness” emotion increased from 17.3% to 48.6%, while “disgust” emotion rose from 5.8% to 13.6%, both showing a significant increase.
Cai Wenxuan has long used AI to analyze public footage such as CCTV’s “News Simulcast,” studying Xi Jinping’s emotions, physical form, health, and has given numerous academic speeches in recent years.
Cai Wenxuan suggested that during the 2025 military parade, Xi Jinping may have felt some potential risks within the military. To consolidate power, Xi has shown a tendency to purge even high-ranking military officials he personally promoted. Due to Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission Zhang Youxia’s subordinates spread across the country, Xi Jinping is concerned about increasing dissatisfaction within the military and fears retaliation, which is not surprising.
On the eve of the September 2025 military parade, Xi Jinping’s close military associates, former Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission He Weidong, and former Director of the Political Work Department of the Military Commission Miao Hua were expelled from the Party and discharged from the military, then transferred to the military procuratorate for review and prosecution on the same day. At that time, it was widely believed that Xi Jinping’s nine military confidants were taken down before the sensitive period of the military parade under the leadership of Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia. Zhang Youxia was once considered Xi’s iron rod in the military. However, in Xi’s crackdown on the military, Zhang Youxia himself was also affected and had to strike back.
By January 24, 2026, Zhang Youxia and Chief of the Joint Staff Department of the Central Military Commission Liu Zhenli were both taken down. The Communist Party official notification regarding Zhang Youxia stated that he had “seriously trampled and destroyed the system of responsibility of the Chairman of the Military Commission.” Multiple analyses view this as Xi’s ultimate counterattack against Zhang Youxia.