Welcome back to The Restricted Handling Podcast, where we break down the world’s most intense geopolitical moves with energy, clarity, and just the right touch of fun. Today’s episode, “RH 8.29.25 | China Parade, Purges, Hackers, Soybeans & Texas Bans” dives into one of the busiest weeks in U.S.-China relations and global security. 

We start with Beijing’s big show: Xi Jinping’s first military parade in six years. This isn’t just marching soldiers and shiny tanks—it’s hypersonic missiles, uncrewed turret tanks, directed energy weapons, drones, and a whole lot of theater designed to make Washington and Taipei sweat. Add Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, Iran’s president, and Myanmar’s junta leader to the front row and you’ve got what analysts are calling the “Axis of Upheaval.” No Western leaders in sight, just a lineup of sanctioned strongmen looking to stick it to the West. 

But it’s not all clean lines and fireworks in China’s ranks. We dig into the massive purges inside the People’s Liberation Army, with over 20 senior officers removed since 2022, including the top general of the Rocket Force. The message: Xi demands loyalty—but the reality is corruption, fear, and a military that looks powerful but has cracks beneath the surface. 

Then there’s the vanishing act in Beijing’s foreign ministry. Liu Jianchao, once a rising star and likely future foreign minister, hasn’t been seen since July. His disappearance, just like former FM Qin Gang’s in 2023, shows how unstable China’s diplomatic front really is—even as Xi prepares to host Putin, Modi, and Kim at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit. 

Meanwhile, the U.S. is keeping the pressure on. We break down the FBI’s warning of a Chinese state-backed cyber campaign, “Salt Typhoon,” which hit 200 American organizations and 80 countries. We also cover the U.S. Marine Corps extending its MQ-9A Reaper drone deployment in Okinawa indefinitely, tightening surveillance around the First Island Chain. 

On the economic front, Beijing is cutting into American farmers’ wallets, boosting soybean imports from Argentina and Uruguay instead of buying from the U.S. Add in a Chinese push to dominate brain-computer interface technology and Xi’s own criticism of subsidy-driven industrial chaos, and you’ve got a picture of a country sprinting into the future while tripping over its own feet. 

And right here at home? Texas has passed SB 17, banning property ownership by Chinese, Russian, Iranian, and North Korean nationals. Critics say it’s discriminatory, supporters call it national security. Either way, it’s a flashpoint in the U.S.-China rivalry that’s now reaching into state politics. 

If you want a fast, sharp, and entertaining breakdown of the week’s biggest global stories—from parades and purges to hackers and soybeans—this episode is it. 

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