Posted on 10/24/2022 11:01:42 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
An extraordinary thing happened in China at the final meeting of the party congress over the weekend. Hu Jintao, the previous president of China, was sitting next to President Xi Jinping when two men approached from the rear. Hu rose and appeared increasingly surprised and then alarmed. A few others sitting at the lead table also appeared openly surprised, while most seemed unconcerned or were blank-faced out of discipline. Hu was escorted behind Xi, who appeared as if nothing significant was happening. It seemed to me that Xi did finally glance at him, I think with a look of contempt, but that is likely not the case, as the point of this drama seemed to be that dismissing Hu was routine. Although videos of Hu’s departure could be viewed around the world, they did not appear in China. The Chinese now have said, however, that Hu was not feeling well.
This is not the way party congresses have typically been covered in China. In the past, they were a carefully framed portrayal of the absolute unity of the Chinese Communist Party. Every public element was controlled, with no spontaneity permitted, let alone drama of this sort.
Hu may have had to go to the bathroom and needed help, or it may have been some other prosaic event. But I doubt that would require a national blackout. It is always difficult to interpret actions involving individuals. My view of the world is that individuals are defined by the world, not the other way around. So let me take a shot at seeing how China created the television drama we all saw.
The economic crisis of the past two years had to have created political divisions. After Mao, China was defined by consistent and massive growth. There was an expectation in China, shared by much of the world, that the Chinese economic miracle would continue for a long time, making China a great power.
A second problem was the South China Sea and the inability of the Chinese military to break out of America’s effective blockade. There was much talk in China and elsewhere about the surging power of China’s military and particularly its navy, but there were no actions taken that demonstrated that power. The alliance with Russia proved another serious misjudgment.
Xi came to power at the height of the Chinese growth surge. He also came to power on what appeared to be the dawning of Chinese military power. In all of this, he was attempting to surpass his predecessor, Hu Jintao. Hu had built the economy and the military and had made China into an economic presence. Xi was going to make China an economic, military and global force. It didn’t happen. During Xi’s most recent term, all of these hopes seemed to shatter.
Hu was a symbol of what China was going to become. Xi is the symbol of what China did not become. Hu, as a former successful leader of China, hovered over him, and every time Hu spoke, Xi felt the tremors. I don’t know what went on in the Chinese Politburo. Hu may have criticized Xi, as a president who succeeded when success was easy. Xi may have rejected what was said, claiming that success had become more difficult to achieve and that Hu, in his place, would do very poorly indeed. Or perhaps no words had to be exchanged, because Xi understood that he was being measured against Hu. Perhaps Hu was organizing a coup or allowing himself to become the coup’s symbol, and Xi felt he had to contain him with a very public act so that the country knew where power lay. And more important, maybe Xi wanted to frighten any enemies from acting, by showing them what could happen.
It’s hard to understand precisely what happened, but it’s easy to understand what brought us to this place. This is politics, and failure, no matter how good the excuse, is unforgiving. Xi chose to act where success would redeem him. Of course, it is possible that a battle is now raging in secret over Xi’s action. He acted, it seems, without the senior staff being told. If so, they may fear for themselves next and move on Xi. But then Xi may have anticipated this. And so the murky world of Chinese politics has yielded us a coup against a retired president. It was the act of a worried man. He will be worried until the next act.
Hahaha...that is the second time in as many days I have had that exact quote posted to my attention in the forum!
It IS appropriate to a degree. The difference is, Tom might have WANTED to find a way to let Tessio off the hook, but Xi is the one who PUT that guy on the hook!
One less Communist is never a bad thing.
Stalinists vs Trotskyites.
He’s lucky. In Putin’s Russia he would have fallen out of a window or been given poison tea.
Based on the link below which I saw a few weeks ago, I suspect 2). This article describes the warnings from a 105 year old Chinese political actor. He supported the Hu just removed, and if you read the entire article not just the top of what is posted, you will also find described information about “the 2 Hus” and their political importance. Based on this article I think this definitely was a Xi power play as the centenarian urged Xi to go in a very different direction. Reading this article gives a clear idea of two important veins of political thought in China. One comment there suggests we should hope Xi wins, because the other view would probably result in a stronger China if followed.
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4096746/posts
Here are more details on the 2 views mentioned in my previous comment,
“In a congratulatory message for an event on Sept. 12, the centenarian said that the policy of reform and opening-up “has been the only path to the development and progress of contemporary China and the only path to the realization of the Chinese dream.”
These are words that President Xi Jinping himself spoke nearly five years ago. Song cleverly used Xi’s own words to send a message to the top leader. But Xi has rarely repeated the remark.
More recently, Xi has switched to his own economic policies, such as “common prosperity” and “the prevention of the disorderly expansion of capital.”
Entering his third term, Xi wants to show that he has overtaken Deng Xiaoping in terms of achievements. It is crucial to pave the way for a fourth term and possibly being leader for life.
Song has raised a red flag. Born in 1917, even before the Chinese Communist Party was established, the centenarian has signaled that Deng’s reform and opening-up policy is to be defended at all costs.”
RE: “In a congratulatory message for an event on Sept. 12, the centenarian said that the policy of reform and opening-up “has been the only path to the development and progress of contemporary China and the only path to the realization of the Chinese dream.”
Some people just live too long for their own good and the good of the world at large.
Xi’s mistake - China now had some 30% of their economy ties up in real estate, which under Xi’s new edict “the 3 red lines” makes it impossible for builders and reals estate companies to refinance their properties, which are largely ghost cities - poorly constructed, unlivable concrete shells. Where each apartment sells in the neighborhood of US$1 million. But the buildings themselves cannot meet their debt and are US$60 Trillion liabilities.
The Secret Behind China’s Ghost Cities: SerpentZA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ8JBTIVUVw
Xi’s on first?
China the manufacturing superpower. Turns out to be degenerate gamblers. Real estate speculation has been propping up their GDP numbers. Their real estate is now in collapse
The Secret Behind China’s Ghost Cities: SerpentZA (great guy)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ8JBTIVUVw
I just posted that link also.
I cribbed the link from you. In fact I have watched it on y-tube one and a half times
Around the year 2000 we would drive each year to visit my son and family in Miami. We came in the back way driving down from Lake Okachobi. There were more and more houses each year being built from the edge of Miami westward into the brush. I would think, who is building all these houses? Were are they going to get buyers for so many houses? Could this be laundering drug money? There were just so many empty nice houses.
Then I saw a movie, I think it was called The Big Short. These 2 guys figured out there was something strange going on with the housing market. They traveled around doing research. They visited one of those vacant west Miami new houses with an alligator in the swimming pool. They did a very large short sale on some aspect of that market just as it crashed in 2007-8 and made a fortune. Will the Chinese be as clever?
But Hu let the dogs out.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.