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Xi Jinping: Signs of discord
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Beijing, Sept. 14: With still no sign of China’s designated new leader, Xi Jinping, who has not been seen in public since September 1, many insiders and well-connected analysts say the Chinese political ship is adrift, with factions jockeying to shape an impending Communist Party conclave.
The government has maintained its official silence about Xi’s absence. After an initial burst of chatter, blog posts alluding to Xi have been effectively smothered on China’s social media platforms, and China’s beleaguered foreign ministry spokesman says on a daily basis that he has no information, despite a barrage of questions from the foreign news media.
By yesterday, a number of ranking party members with years of experience following Chinese politics were generally in agreement that Xi, 59, had suffered either a mild heart attack or a stroke, forcing him to cancel his appointments.
“The most reliable information we can find is that it’s his heart,” said a senior Chinese newspaper editor who spoke only on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue among the party hierarchy. Li Weidong, a former editor of a government-sponsored reformist journal, agreed.
Yesterday, Xi’s name appeared in the Chinese press for the first time in days, as he offered condolences over the recent death of a veteran party member. But that terse report only mentioned him among several leaders and did not imply anything more than a formal expression of sorrow.
Even if Xi does soon show up in public, he will be re-entering an unexpectedly contentious political arena. Planned years in advance, the 18th Party Congress is slated to be the most sweeping government reorganisation in a decade, with scores of leaders scheduled to retire. It was still expected to take place next month or soon after in Beijing, where Xi was to take over as leader from Hu Jintao.
The Communist Party has numerous factions, but the overall framework of the transfer was thought to have been mostly ironed out over the past year. But recent developments, including Xi’s mysterious cancellation of several public appearances, suggest that may not be the case.
The most obvious sign of discord is that the dates for the congress have not been set. Most political experts here expected it to be held in mid-October, but without an official announcement, some are predicting it will be delayed.
Instead, according to information that is slowly leaking out, the Beidaihe meeting and other sessions beforehand in Beijing were especially tense. “The atmosphere was very bad, and the struggles were very intense,” said a political analyst with connections to the party’s nerve centre, the General Office. Hu, who has been criticised as having been an overly cautious and ineffective leader during his decade in power, was also seen as defensive and gloomy.
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