On May 29, 2024, Chinese defector Yao Cheng, who served as a lieutenant-colonel in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and defected to the U.S. in 2016, shared a video to his YouTube channel.

In the video, he claimed that Xi Jinping's wife Peng Liyuan has for eight years been holding a concealed and unofficial position which grants her significant authority over the promotion and dismissal of generals in the PLA.

This gives her the ability to control the constituents of the Central Military Commission and to make it like a "family-run business."