The Escalating U.S.-China Confrontation: A Leaked CCP Document Reveals Xi Jinping’s Secret War Plan

AI summary of transcript from the Lei's Real Talk podcast commentary on reporter, Li Jingru's (Watch China) article published here.

A leaked classified directive from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), exposed by Chinese dissident Professor Yan Hongying, a former CCP insider now in exile, sheds light on Beijing’s secret strategy to counter Trump’s tariffs and preserve Xi Jinping’s regime. This 7,000-word document, titled Win the Initiative in Historic Upheaval Through Decisive Struggle, outlines a chilling blueprint for what the CCP calls a “total war” against the United States. Here’s what it reveals, how it’s shaking China’s political elite, and what it means for the future.

The Leaked Document: A Glimpse Into Xi’s Strategy

Xi with Chinese goods piling up at ports

The tariff war caught Beijing off guard. While some preliminary planning had been done, the CCP was unprepared for the scale of Trump’s economic strike. In response, the Politburo Standing Committee issued this highly sensitive directive, so secretive that it could only be read in designated “secrecy rooms” under surveillance. From April 7 to 9, 2025, CCP officials at provincial, municipal, and county levels were summoned to these rooms across China. No phones, cameras, or note-taking were allowed—officials could only memorize the contents. The CCP feared that any leak would expose Xi Jinping’s strategic blueprint to the U.S.

Despite these precautions, conscientious insiders memorized key points and passed them to Professor Yan, who made the document public. The directive frames the tariff war as the opening salvo in a broader U.S.-led “total war” encompassing politics, economics, military force, and ideology. It calls on the party, military, and nation to rally behind Xi’s vision to break U.S. global dominance and establish China’s “community of common destiny” as the world’s guiding path.

Five Strategies to Counter the U.S.

The document outlines five strategies to confront the U.S.:

1. International United Front Strategy

   Beijing aims to build a global coalition to isolate the U.S., leveraging international frustration with Trump’s trade policies. Target countries include Germany, France, the UK, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and China’s neighbors. If Trump persists, the CCP plans to pull India, Vietnam, and other “swing nations” into this coalition to push the U.S. out of the globalization process. The United Front Work Department and Foreign Ministry are tasked with coordinating this effort.

2. Financial Warfare

   This strategy includes two plans:

   • Targeting Elite Assets: The CCP will track foreign bank deposits exceeding $200,000 held by party officials and state-owned enterprise executives. If decoupling with the U.S. occurs, these funds must be transferred out of the U.S. to China or neutral countries, with family members handling the transactions. Non-compliance is deemed treason, punishable harshly.

   • Destabilizing U.S. Markets: Officials are preparing to dump $1 trillion in U.S. Treasury bonds and sell $2 trillion in U.S. corporate equity and debt securities on short notice to destabilize U.S. financial markets if necessary.

3. Domestic Economic Resilience

   To prepare for a prolonged economic war, the CCP is prioritizing self-reliance and strengthening domestic market systems. In response to Trump’s national emergency declaration, officials are instructed to brace for severe hardship, including partially or fully reinstating a rationing system for essentials like grains, vegetables, meat, and cooking oil. The document calls rationing China’s “secret weapon” to win the economic war, though Professor Yan warns it reflects a retreat to total control, reminiscent of the post-Cultural Revolution era.

4. International Political Maneuvering

   The CCP aims to deepen ties with Russia, Iran, and North Korea while expanding influence in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand across political, military, economic, and cultural domains. It also seeks to exploit anger in Europe and Canada over Trump’s tariffs to weaken NATO and undermine U.S. ties with Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand. The goal is to isolate the U.S. economically and diminish its role as the “global police,” ending the 80-year American dominance that began after World War II.

5. Military Confrontation Over Taiwan

   The document asserts that an intensifying economic war could lead to inevitable military conflict, with Taiwan as the likely battlefield. Xi believes a war in the Taiwan Strait would give China a geographical advantage. The envisioned conflict is described as a “new type of conventional war fought under full-spectrum information warfare, backed by a credible nuclear deterrent.” If the U.S. intervenes, China plans to destroy U.S. military bases in Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, and Guam, forcing U.S. forces to retreat east of Hawaii and reducing America to a regional power. This scenario aligns with a doomsday prediction in a 2025 1945 article, which warned of an imminent war within six months.

   
   

Internal Fallout: Anxiety and Dissent

The CCP hoped the directive would rally officials and stabilize morale after the tariff shock. Instead, it sparked widespread anxiety. When delivered to officials at county and division levels, it “poured cold water into boiling oil,” triggering panic across the bureaucracy. Many officials, particularly those with assets or children in the U.S., face a dire choice: disclose and relocate their wealth or face treason charges. Professor Yan estimates this affects 80-90% of officials, potentially turning them against Xi’s leadership.

Whispers in Beijing’s political circles suggest Xi’s “decisive great struggle” could become his “final unfinished project”—a catastrophic failure that might collapse the regime. Economic and foreign policy technocrats privately ridicule Xi’s plan to build an anti-U.S. coalition with Europe, Japan, and Australia as delusional, comparing it to Mao Zedong’s failed dreams during the Cultural Revolution. Beijing’s political atmosphere is steeped in despair, with officials warning that Trump’s tariffs could trigger a “tsunami of unemployment” by summer 2025. With only one-third of 2024 college graduates finding jobs and 12 million more entering the market, combined with millions of unemployed migrant workers, the CCP fears social unrest could overwhelm its control mechanisms.

Xi Jinping’s Biggest Fear

Why has Xi responded so aggressively to the tariff war? According to Professor Yan’s sources, Xi’s think tanks have convinced him that backing down could prompt the U.S. and allies to reopen investigations into China’s role in the COVID-19 pandemic. This could lead to charges of crimes against humanity against Xi or the CCP leadership, along with demands for economic reparations. Xi’s direct role in delaying public health responses in Wuhan in early 2020, which allowed the virus to spread globally, is his Achilles’ heel—a liability he fears most.

The Taiwan Gambit and Internal Threats

Xi’s fallback strategy involves reviving a Cultural Revolution-style command economy, reinstating wartime rationing, and potentially launching a war over Taiwan to escape economic collapse. However, insiders warn these moves could be political suicide. Rationing would deepen public hardship and fuel suppressed fury, while a Taiwan war carries risks from within the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Mid- and high-ranking PLA officers, frustrated by ongoing purges, reportedly see a wartime scenario as an opportunity to stage a coup against Xi, using the chaos to eliminate him.

Recent developments support Yan’s revelations. A Reuters report on April 13, 2025, noted that Beijing has placed civilian officials on “wartime footing,” canceling leave and requiring 24/7 standby to address trade tensions. New policies on military recruitment and wartime medical supplies, alongside “reunification” slogans at Beijing’s Capital Airport, signal preparations for a Taiwan conflict. However, the PLA’s recent struggles with military exercises suggest it’s far from ready for war in 2025, though Yan predicts a possible invasion by 2027.

Credibility and the Bigger Picture

The information comes from a single source—Professor Yan’s contacts within the CCP—and is difficult to verify independently. However, it aligns with recent developments and the CCP’s known playbook. Mainstream media often lag in uncovering China’s internal dynamics due to their entanglements with the CCP or reliance on U.S. intelligence leaks. Dissidents like Yan, trusted by whistleblowers, offer a rare window into Beijing’s opaque system.

The ideological clash between Xi’s authoritarian expansionism and Trump’s “Make America Great Again” vision is irreconcilable. The U.S. holds the upper hand with its economic size, military strength, and growth potential. Xi’s only card, if cornered, is a military gamble on Taiwan—a move fraught with risks, both external and internal. For now, Beijing’s war rhetoric and “reunification” propaganda may be psychological warfare to justify rationing and project inevitability. But as economic pressures mount and internal dissent grows, Xi’s regime faces a precarious future.

What’s Next?

The coming months will be critical. Will Xi’s coalition-building succeed, or will nations resist China’s pressure? Can the CCP maintain control amid economic hardship and unemployment? And will Xi risk a Taiwan war, knowing the PLA’s disloyalty could be his downfall? Stay tuned as this historic showdown unfolds.