Disappearance of Chinese Defense Minister and Rocket Force Commanders: Implications for Xi Jinping and PLA Performance

On Thursday, October 5, 2023, the China Power Project held its eighth annual conference. The conference consisted of five separate debates by leading experts each taking a side on core issues underpinning China’s power. We will be releasing each of these debates as their own podcast throughout the holiday season. We will be back with our regularly scheduled debates in Mid-January, 2024.

For this discussion, the proposition is “Xi Jinping has signaled that reunification with Taiwan is a legacy issue that he must achieve during his term in office.” The first speaker for this discussion is Ms. Bonnie Glaser, who is the managing director of the Indo-Pacific Program at the German Marshall Fund. The second speaker is Mr. Chad Sbragia, who is a research staff member at the Institute for Defense Analysis and is the former deputy assistant secretary of defense for China at the Department of Defense. 

To watch the debate recordings, read the transcripts, or view the live or twitter polling, visit our website at https://chinapower.csis.org/chinas-power-up-for-debate-2023/.