Hu Jintao's removal from the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party

Last updated

Hu Jintao's removal from the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party
Date22 October 2022
Time(Beijing Time)
Venue Great Hall of the People
Location Beijing, China
CauseUncertain
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese 胡锦涛二十大离场事件
Traditional Chinese 胡錦濤二十大離場事件

On October 22, 2022, Hu Jintao, former General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, was escorted out of the hall at the closing ceremony of the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. He was pulled from his seat by two men following the incumbent General Secretary Xi Jinping's instructions. [1] [2] [3] As media from across the world had entered the venue at the time of the incident, it quickly became the focus of international coverage. [4] [5] [6]

Contents

Process

In the middle of the closing meeting (after the three personnel votes ended and the media entered the venue), according to the photos taken by reporters from ABC and the videos taken by reporters from Channel News Asia, Hu Jintao, a member of the Standing Committee of the Presidium of the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, was to check the documents on his table. For unknown reasons, Li Zhanshu and Wang Huning, allies of incumbent Party General Secretary, blocked the documents beside the red ballot folder, and then took the documents away from Hu.

According to the lip-language analysis of an anonymous Taiwanese political expert, Li said to Hu: "Don't look at it, it's all decided". [7] This also attracted the attention of Xi Jinping, who was next to Hu. After Xi signaled, [8] [9] according to the scene footage taken by reporters from The Straits Times , Agence France-Presse, Associated Press, and other media, Director General of the Bureau of Secretaries  [ zh ] of the General Office of the CCP, Kong Shaoxun (Chinese: 孔绍逊), a representative of the 20th National Congress (from a constituency named "CPC central committee and state organs"), and Xi's personal bodyguards came one after another, [10] intending to take Hu away. Hu appeared unwilling to leave. [11] [12] [13]

The two sides were deadlocked for about a minute and a half. During this period, Hu repeatedly tried to get the ballot folder and documents back but failed. He also tried to open the document beside Xi but it was held down by Xi himself. Hu was pulled up by the staff, and before he left his seat, the documents were also handed over to the bodyguards to take away. Finally, Hu capitulated. Before leaving, he said a few words to Xi. Xi responded briefly. At the same time, Hu patted Li Keqiang, the Premier of China and a key figure of Hu's faction Tuanpai, who was sitting on Xi's right. [14] [15] No Politburo members at the front row visibly reacted to Hu's removal. [16]

About half an hour later, Kong Shaoxun returned to Xi and left after a brief conversation.[ citation needed ]

The incident occurred before the congressional voting on the report of the 19th Central Committee, the work report of the 19th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, and an amendment to the CCP constitution. Hu was absent from the voting due to this incident. [17] [18] Subsequent official voting results showed that all proposals passed unanimously with no abstentions or negative votes. [19] The 20th Central Committee was also elected on the same day. Xi Jinping and Wang Huning were among the members of the new Central Committee while Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, and Wang Yang were not. [20] [21] [22]

Media coverage

World

CNN reported that Hu left reluctantly. [23] The New York Times wrote that, as with many other things in Chinese politics, the truth may never be revealed. [24] Foreign Policy wrote: "Around 2013, China watchers began to joke about the 'golden age of liberalism under Hu Jintao'. At the time, it seemed absurd that an era so politically conservative, even as civil society slowly and falteringly advanced, could be considered in that way. Over the next decade, it became far less of a joke." [25]

Kenji Minamura (Japanese: 峯村健司), a longtime Asahi Shimbun journalist, published a series of articles on the matter in Yūkan Fuji Magazine (Japanese: 夕刊フジ) of Sankei Shimbun . [26] One of them, on November 4, quoted an anonymous U.S. government official saying that on the morning of that day, Hu was informed that the number of Politburo members had been reduced from 25 to 24, and the one who had been reduced was Vice-premier Hu Chunhua, a protege of Hu Jintao. [27] [7] [28]

The Economist said that while it is possible the act was deliberate, it was more likely that Hu was not feeling well, saying that the event "looked consistent with a sudden episode of mental confusion". [29] Jude Blanchette, an expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that the event "didn't have the stage-managed feel of an orchestrated purge", [30] while Bill Bishop, a China expert, noted that the China Central Television would likely not show Hu during the news footage of the event if he was purged. [31] Chris Buckley, writing for The New York Times , said that Hu being ill was more likely than theories of him protesting against Xi. [32]

James Palmer, a deputy editor at Foreign Policy, interpreted the incident to have been political, suggesting that it could have been Xi's intention to "deliberately and publicly humiliate his predecessor." [33] Xi had been harshly critical in his previous speeches, speaking of "the problem that the party's leadership had been weakened, blurred, diluted, and marginalized" (Chinese :"党的领导弱化、虚化、淡化、边缘化问题") before his leadership. [33] [34] [35] Xi said in his report:

Ten years ago...There were many problems of having a vague understanding of upholding the party's leadership and lack of action, and there were many problems of weakening, falsifying, and diluting the implementation of the party's leadership, and some party members and cadres had shaken their political beliefs...some people lacked confidence in the socialist political system with Chinese characteristics...money worship and hedonism, wrong thoughts such as extreme individualism and historical nihilism appeared from time to time, and online public sphere was chaotic, which seriously affected people's thinking and social public opinion environment...there were many weaknesses in the modernization of national defense and the military; the institutional mechanisms for implementing "one country, two systems" in Hong Kong and Macau was not perfect; national security was facing severe challenges, and so on. At that time, many people in the party and society were worried about the future of the party and the country.

China state media

Xinhua News Agency, China's official press agency, learned some information from Liu Jiawen and wrote in English on Twitter: "When [Hu] was not feeling well during the session, his staff, for his health, accompanied him to a room next to the meeting venue for a rest. Now, he is much better." [36] [37]

The incident was not broadcast in China, and both Hu's name and that of his son, politician Hu Haifeng, were blocked online by Chinese censors. [38] [39] [40]

Academics Steve Tsang and Olivia Cheung write that the ban on images and reporting of the incident suggests that Xi did not intend to humiliate Hu. [41] : 1 

Aftermath

Hu appeared in public alongside Xi on 5 December 2022, attending the state funeral for Jiang Zemin before his body was cremated in Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery. [42] During the farewell ceremony, Hu was accompanied by an aide.

See also

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References

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  7. 1 2 峯村健司 (2022-11-04). 「胡錦濤」が中国ネット制限ワードに 共産党大会〝途中退席〟病気説に異論 卓上の新指導部名簿の確認制止、語りかけた「決まったこと」. 夕刊富士 (in Japanese). Retrieved 2022-11-11.
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  10. ↑ Wen, Teng Yu (2022-10-23). "架走胡锦涛黑衣人 习近平亲信孔绍逊". 马来西亚诗华日报新闻网 (in Chinese (China)). Retrieved 2022-10-24.
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  19. ↑ "中共二十大 通過十九屆中央委員會報告決議". Oriental Daily News (in Chinese). 2022-10-22. Archived from the original on 2022-10-22. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
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  26. ↑ 矢野将史 (2022-11-07). 「ニュース裏表」がスタートして２カ月 峯村氏による中国共産党大会での胡錦濤前総書記「途中退席」事件の寄稿など今後も注目される連載へ. 夕刊富士 (in Japanese). Retrieved 2022-11-13.
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  29. ↑ "Xi Jinping has surrounded himself with loyalists". The Economist. ISSN   0013-0613 . Retrieved 2022-10-28.
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  32. ↑ Buckley, Chris (2022-11-30). "For China's Leader, Another Dilemma: How to Mourn Jiang Zemin". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2022-12-01.
  33. 1 2 Palmer, James (2022-10-22). "What the Hell Just Happened to Hu Jintao?". Foreign Policy . Archived from the original on 2022-10-22. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  34. ↑ "毫不动摇坚持和加强党的全面领导（学习习近平总书记重要讲话精神，迎接党的二十大）--党建-中国共产党新闻网". dangjian.people.com.cn. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
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  38. ↑ "Hu Jintao argued about official papers before being escorted out of congress". the Guardian. 2022-10-25. Retrieved 2022-10-26.
  39. ↑ 自由時報電子報 (2022-10-23). "胡錦濤子胡海峰在台下目睹「被離場」全程 微博封鎖父子2人 - 國際". 自由時報電子報 (in Chinese (Taiwan)).
  40. ↑ "越描越黑？二十大閉幕胡錦濤「被離場」 新華社英文推特罕見給解釋". 新頭殼newtalk. 2022-10-23. Archived from the original on 2022-10-23.
  41. ↑ Tsang, Steve; Cheung, Olivia (2024). The Political Thought of Xi Jinping. Oxford University Press. ISBN   9780197689363.
  42. ↑ "江泽民遗体北京八宝山火化 习近平胡锦涛等到场送别" [Jiang Zemin's Body Cremated in Babaoshan, Beijing, Xi Jinping, Hu Jintao and Other Officials Attended the Farewell]. Zaobao. 5 December 2022. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
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