The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) holds a congress every five years. This time, the main agenda was to cement Xi Jinping’sgrip on power for a rare third term as the paramount leader of China, a position he has held since 2012.
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Dramatic ending
According to CNN, the CCP congress is usually highly rehearsed and does not offer surprises, however, this time the world witnessed a dramatic live ending after the former leader of China, Hu Jintao, was escorted out from the plenary session, seemingly reluctantly.
Hu had been seen in frail health ever since he completed his tenure in 2013.
Similarly, according to the Chinese state media, Xinhua, Hu's deteriorating health condition is the reason why he was escorted out of congress.
Xinhuanet reporter Liu Jiawen has learned that Hu Jintao insisted on attending the closing session of the Party's 20th National Congress, despite the fact that he has been taking time to recuperate recently.
— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) October 22, 2022
The 79-year-old HuJintao’s tenure at the helm of Chinaextended from 2003 to 2013 and marks the so-called period of 'collective leadership', a time throughout Hu's power was vastly limited by his predecessor.
It is also largely regarded as the ‘golden age of liberalism’, not because of Hu’s ways but rather due to the rise of corruption amid the upper echelons of the Chinese Communist Party who were busy making moneyrather than following the party line.
This period also saw a rise in the reporting of government corruption, in parallel, freedom of expression online flourished, and to a limited extent so did civil society, and NGOs, Foreign Policyreports.
Power politics on display
However, experts believe that citing health reasons is just a cover-up excuse, rather what has taken place is a strong power display of politics in China.
Xi Jinping is continuing to purge his opponents and sending a vivid message to other leadership figures that they need to fall in line with his views.
Resultantly, Xi is cementing his power by ‘eliminating rivals and dampening the lingering influence of party elders’, CNN reports.
Sources used:
-CNN: ‘Former Chinese leader Hu Jintao unexpectedly led out of room as Party Congress comes to a close’
-Foreign Policy: ‘What the Hell Just Happened to Hu Jintao?’
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