I'm not saying it wasn't important. Fighting for environmental protection and supporting technological development was also important. But listening to Xi's own words I get the impression that strengthening the ideology was his biggest priority. There was a perception that all of China's achievements were because of dumping socialism and embracing capitalism and he wants to change that to say that the achievements were because of "socialism with Chinese characteristics", because otherwise there's no point in having a communist party and China might as well introduce elections like in America. Of course fighting against corruption also strengthens ideology, so the two are related
Chinese Internal Politics
- Thread starter FairAndUnbiased
- Start date
Hm, yea I can see your point.
And overall also agree that the messaging/strengthening of 'socialism with chinese characteristics' is also one of Xi's biggest achievements.
Because he listen to Wang Huning and it jive with his experience at what he saw when he visited the US. China is decoupling from the Collective West cause the fly is getting bigger and becoming an annoyance, so they go back to basic ,the De-Westernization and the focus is on rejuvenation of Chinese nation and its culture.
IF China plan to send student to study in the US, they should follow what Deng does, send cadre with working experiences instead of fresh high school graduates. The experience will guarantee fresh impetus for CCP longevity and ideology.
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I do think that the list was known before the voting by most. Even if it was not known by Hu, his behavior was inappropriate at the closing. My theory explains why Xi needed to remove Hu. Even if the guy is senile, you don't want to set the precedence that someone can challenge you in front of everyone. Removing him at that time served to remind everyone that this type of behavior is not allowed. I don't think Hu will receive further punishment, but it was necessary to demonstrate control and leadership in front of everyone.
They most likely had the choice of letting him have a Biden moment on live TV or just moving him away until he recovers.
Neither option would look too good but really Xi doesn't give too much about looks, so he went for what would cause less disruption and more importantly, be better for his past colleague. Also if Hu does a live residentsleeper impression it will be extremely memed among the Chinese Internet.
Hu is not very actively seen during last 10 years for a reason. Going on TV next to Xi was probably a favor they came up with so Hu can see the changes for himself in what may be the last 5 years he will be in good enough health to attend, only it wasn't quite good enough to keep him awake through the entire session.
its not a favor, Hu is actually a member of the presidium. if he was indeed brought off due to health reasons, i think at some point down the road the chinese media will close that loop by having him appear on tv in some form, even if just a name mention. but i also would not be surprised if this episode is used as an excuse to preclude all retirees from getting involved in ccp politics in the future.
with hu chunhua my observations are this:
1. he is still younger than most of the politburo members, and the current politburo is short one, it is unlikely but still not out of the realm of possibility to promote him back into the politburo sometime before the next party congress. in the past there has been cases where someone was purposely demoted with the intention of being promoted back again. whatever the case it is obvious that Xi's control over the CCP is now very firm.
2. the very fact that his demotion seems like such a huge deal reflects an issue that Xi is trying to address. tom ricks wrote a book "the generals" and in it he talked about the inability for the US military to hold its leaders accountable. when mattis fired dowdy it also was seen as hugely controversial. but in a healthy organization, demotions should be common because underperformance is bound to happen. the fact that a politburo member now can be demoted for something other than breaking the law is not a bad thing for the CCP.
This is best explanation by far or what went down. For those who do not speak Chinese, there are several points made here.
1. The vote Hu made was done in the morning, so he would have already seen the list. This happened at around noon.
2. It is likely Hu was confused and think that he needs to vote, which explained the confusion and all the help the guy sitting next to him was trying to give.
3. The young man who manhandled him was his own body guard for ten years, since he fully retired. Even though he bore some resemblance to an aide from Xi, the aide was 1.9 m tall and this guy was only 1.8 m. They all deferred to him to help Hu. Maybe he felt close enough to Hu to help him this way.