Is Xi Jinping exercising his agency as the (only) kingpin, or is he the victim of a cabal of opponents led by Generals Zhang Youxia and Liu Yuan, supported timidly by Hu Jintao and a faction of Xi-appointed self-made technocrats who have been largely purged? In other words, is Xi the last man standing or a pet canary in a golden cage? China analysts do not seem to agree.
Many of the more robustly anti-CCP crowd like "Lei" from Lei's Real Talk, the "Decodong China" and "China Uncensored" podcasts, and Gordon Chang, assert that the ZCCP is in chaos and that Xi is being undermined, steadily stripped of power and influence. and on the verge of ouster by the opposition. Mike Baker seems to lean in this direction in his President's Daily Briefing podcast. But much like Lucy withdrawing the ball from Charlie Brown at the last moment, most of these happy talk warriors have been predicting the CCP's ultimate demise for quite some time, with disappointing results. At least they are willing to explain their analyses and discuss some of the details regarding those who have been purged. China Analyst Steve Yates from Heritage makes the notable observation that all the top CCP leaders [except, perhaps, for the self-made technocrats] are subject to purge for corruption due the the criminal nature of the CCP "mafia-like" criminal enterprise, which requires a criminal act to "join the club," but Yates claims that he has seen no reason to conclude that Xi himself is in danger or being purged.
On the other hand, the Wall Street Journal's LingLing Wei and Biden-era CIA analyst Jonathan Czin (now at Brookings), seem to support Xi's preferred narrative, that he remains in total control as the second coming of Mao. ISW appears to lean in this direction. They seem to credit Xi alone for the recent dramatic purges.
For most of us, the inner workings of CCP politics remain a mystery, wrapped in a riddle, inside an enigma.*** Are we like the Cold War analysts who could not see the collapse of the Soviet Union until it actually happened? My observation is that Chinese CCP internal politics are even more nuanced, sophisticated, secretive and mysterious than those of the Soviets.
*** Note: the "mystery-riddle-enigma" concept was used by Churchill to refer to WWII in a 1939 radio address.