Xi Jinping absent for 10 days: illness, purge or attack
Beijing (AsiaNews) - The conspicuous 10 day absence of Vice-President Xi Jinping has unleashed a cloud of rumors and speculation, while on the internet any search under his name is blocked.
Xi Jinping did
not show up to a meeting yesterday with the Danish Prime Minister, who is visiting
the country. Yet
the press office had long before announced his presence. Four
days ago, Xi did not participate in a meeting of the leaders of the Party nor a
planned meeting seven days ago with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Meetings
with the Prime Minister of Singapore and Russian diplomats have also been
canceled.
The
1st September is the last time that Xi Jinping was seen in public, at the
Central Party School, where he gave a speech. Since
then, even with all these pre-arranged meetings, there has been no official
information on his whereabouts.
Xi
Jinping has been widely designated as the future president and general
secretary of the Party, successor to Hu Jintao at the next Communist Party
Congress to be held in October. The
passing on of power and reshuffling of the Central Committee of the Politburo -
the real power in China - have been shaken by the scandal involving Bo Xilai
and his wife, as well as the tensions between the "cracks" of
leadership, so that the date for the Congress has not yet been set.
The
uncertainty and infighting lead many to speculate on the disappearance of Xi
from the public eye for so long.
Some
people think that Xi being one of the Party "princelings," the wealthy
children of former party greats, has run into serious problems with Hu Jintao,
and his Communist Youth group. Others
assume that he is sick, perhaps suffering from back pain - of which he suffers
- after a football game or a swim.
But
there are those who even hypothesize that Xi Jinping has become the victim of
an attack by militants loyal to Bo Xilai, who is also one of the
"princelings", excluded from the race for power and forced to resign as
party chief in Chongqing.
Boxun
website - not always reliable - claims that Xi was admitted to the Military
Hospital 301 in Beijing with a back wound. He
was apparently attacked on the orders of Bo's allies and the national security
chief Zhou Yongkang: Xi's car was crushed between two other cars. But after a few hours the
article was removed.
Hong
Lei, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, said that cancellations of meetings
are a "normal adjustment" and that he had "no information" to provide on Xi.
Hong's
comments are unconvincing likely to fuel speculation. Adding to rumors yesterday's censorship of Sinaweibo
search engine which blocks any results for 'Xi Jinping" motivated by"
laws and regulations "of China.
Journalists
and academics have criticized the style of secrecy that the Chinese leadership
is surrounded itself with for decades.
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02/04/2016 09:49
13/11/2017 08:54
