With a military purge in Beijing before a major political meeting this week some analysts ask: whom can leader Xi Jinping trust?

China has just concluded its Fourth Plenum, a key meeting for the country’s ruling Communist Party. Several top apparatchiks were purged, prompting speculation that China’s ruler, Xi Jinping, might be next.

The officials were accused of major financial crimes, sparking intense speculation about instability within Xi Jinping’s regime. Reports suggested that President Xi might be under internal pressure after loyalists were removed from power.

Trump's Asia summit tour includes meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and other regional leaders as trade tensions with Beijing escalate.

China's top leaders have pledged to boost the country's self-reliance in advanced technologies and spur stronger domestic demand over the next five years.

Xi Jinping seems to believe that only his continued rule can secure China’s rise. But as he ages, choosing a successor will become riskier and more difficult.

Trump said he has “a good relationship” with Xi and is confident their meeting will be “great.” “I think we’re going to do some good things. One of the topics we’ll talk about concerns Russia and Ukraine.

FILE — President of China Xi Jinping arrives in the Kremlin for a gala concert held for heads of foreign delegations, in Moscow, Thursday, May 8, 2025, ahead of celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany during the World War II. (Alexandr Kryazhev/Photo host agency RIA Novosti via AP)

Nearly one in six officials who had Central Committee seats were absent from a major conclave, many of them now disgraced.

Tensions between the U.S. and China escalated in the weeks leading up to a possible meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping