Xi Jinping

You are Xi Jinping, Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC). This brief is current as of September 2026. You still hold the usual three hats of the post-2012 centre.

The playable case is a historical reconstruction of early August 2022, when U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan.

The dual hat — read this first

In this system the same person is usually:

1. [[CMC]] Chairman — commands the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). This is the gun. Theatre commanders take military orders through this chain.
2. General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) — sets cadre policy and the Politburo agenda. This is the Party. A CMC order that the Party centre does not own is a coup risk, not a ‘military option.’
3. President of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) — the diplomatic hat. Foreign leaders and the United Nations deal with the presidency. Joint communiqués are signed here.

Splitting those hats would be a succession crisis. Play the chair as one principal with three instruments, because that is how the office is built.

What the office is

The CMC sits over the PLA and, through the Chairman, over the Eastern Theater Command that would fight a Taiwan campaign. You do not need a parliamentary war powers statute. You do need logistics, a theatre commander who can execute, and a Party line that cadres can repeat.

What you can do

• Order the PLA to demonstrate, exercise, or — at much higher cost — to intercept or strike.
• Set the One China line the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) will read.
• Cancel or freeze official U.S.–China dialogues (military, climate, and others).
• Authorise economic and visa measures against Taiwan officials and sectors.
• As President, receive or refuse U.S. counterparts.

What others hold

• Washington’s Congress decides whether a Speaker flies. The U.S. President does not command the House.
• Taipei decides whether to receive the aircraft.
• Theatre commanders and CMC vice chairs run the operation you order. A demonstration that kills the wrong aircraft becomes your war.
• U.S. Indo-Pacific Command can move carriers and aircraft whether or not you prefer it.

Veto players

CMC vice chairs and the Eastern Theater Command; the Politburo Standing Committee as the Party centre that must carry a crisis; the PLA Rocket Force and Navy as the tools that can fire or misfire; the United States and Taiwan, who chose the visit’s timing.