2012 and implemented measures that Cai saw as going in the wrong direction. In 2013, she wrote an essay defending Charles Xue (Xue Manzi) after Xue was arrested on charges of soliciting a prostitute and forced to make televised confessions. In the piece, which widely circulated on the microblogging site Weibo, Cai opined that the offence was a private matter of no consequence to the public, and called for a discussion of the protection of individual rights. In 2016, she wrote an article in defence of Ren Zhiqiang, who was put on probation after the latter's heavy criticism of the statements by CCP leader Xi Jinping about the role of Chinese media. These and other essays were later removed by internet censors. In an August 2020 interview, after her move to the United States, Cai said that the incident that had erased all her remaining faith in the party was the Chinese authorities' handling of the death of environmentalist Lei Yang in police custody. In an essay dated 25 July 2020, published by Radio Free Asia, she denounced the treatment of Xu Zhangrun, who had been detained earlier that month, as "openly intimidating all in the Chinese scholarly community". Expulsion from the CCP On 17 August 2020, Cai's membership in the CCP was rescinded and her retirement benefits were stripped. This was presumed to be in relation to a leaked audio recording in which she denounced CCP general secretary Xi Jinping as a "mafia boss" who ought to be replaced slamming the CCP as a "political zombie". Cai, who was residing in the United States at the time of the expulsion, told The New York Times that she had contemplated resigning from the CCP since much earlier, and welcomed no longer being a party member, saying that it had allowed her to regain freedom. Views On 23 August 2020, in an interview with CNN, Cai Xia expressed support for the U.S. government's ban on Huawei and proposed that the U.S. government impose sanctions on CCP officials, while asking the international community to prevent the CCP from infiltrating international organizations. Cai Xia has urged the U.S. to abandon "naive" hopes to engage with Beijing, while warning that China's leadership is more fragile than what appears. In June 2021, Cai published a long paper about Sino-US relationship at the Hoover Institution, arguing that "Wishful thinking about 'engagement' must be replaced by hardheaded