[China Watch]Hu Jintao’s departure and the revision of the party constitution | The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China | Xi Jinping

[Epoch Times, October 25, 2022](Reported by Epoch Times reporters Ning Haizhong and Luo Ya) The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China ended a few days ago, and the incident of former party leader Hu Jintao being “framed” has aroused international attention. The “two establishments” that were previously rumored to be about Xi Jinping’s stable power would be incorporated into the party constitution, but it seems that they have not been clearly implemented, leading to speculation about a power struggle at the top of the CCP. The CCP’s revision of the party constitution has also been criticized.

It is unclear whether the “two establishments” will be written into the party constitution after the 20th National Congress

The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China closed on October 22 and passed the amendment to the CCP constitution. As of the afternoon of October 25, the official version of the revised CCP constitution has not yet been released.

Before the 20th Congress, “Ming Pao” and other Hong Kong media released news that the “two establishments” representing Xi Jinping’s stable power may be written into the party constitution. After the opening of the 20th National Congress on October 16, “two establishments” have become a must-have word for official loyalty.

The “two establishments” are the so-called establishment of Xi Jinping’s core position of the CPC Central Committee, the core position of the whole party, and the guiding position of Xi Jinping’s thought.

The Voice of America reported on the 23rd that Wang Zhisheng, secretary-general of the China-Asia-Pacific Elite Exchange Association in Taipei, said that “Xi Thought” had been incorporated into the party constitution as early as the 19th National Congress, elevating Xi Jinping to a historical position on a par with Deng Xiaoping and Mao Zedong. The party constitution adopted by the 20th National Congress now surpasses the tone of the 19th National Congress. Through the synergistic effect of “two establishments” and “two maintenances”, Xi Jinping’s status is unshakable, and the “first year of Xi Jinping” has taken shape.

However, according to the content of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China’s resolution on amendments to the party constitution, The Epoch Times found that only the so-called “new development” of Xi’s thought was mentioned in the party constitution, and the “deep comprehension” and “two establishments” were mentioned. decisive significance”, but did not indicate that “two establishments” should be written into the party constitution. At the same time, the title of “people’s leader”, which has attracted much attention, has not been written into the party constitution.

The official media “Beijing Daily” published a report on the 22nd titled “Heavy! The 20th National Congress made these changes to the party constitution”, which listed the content of the amendments in the party constitution, and did not clearly state that the party constitution added “two establishments”. “.

Analysis of Party Constitution Amendment or Power-related Struggle: Is it Related to Hu Jintao’s Departure?

The end of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, which was a labor-intensive process, and outside observers, Xi Jinping seems to be a complete victory in personnel. Except for Zhao Leji and Wang Huning, who have Jiang faction backgrounds, all the members of the Standing Committee are members of the Xi family. During the meeting, the delegates expressed their loyalty to the “two establishments” enthusiastically, but after the meeting, they did not clearly indicate the party constitution. What is the reason? Since Hu Jintao was suspected of being forced to leave the venue in the middle of the closing ceremony of the 20th National Congress, Li Keqiang and Wang Yang quit the Standing Committee, and Hu Chunhua did not join the Politburo, speculation has aroused whether the revision of the party constitution involved a power struggle.

The Singaporean media Channel News Asia (CNA) on Tuesday released the full video of Hu Jintao being invited out during the closing ceremony of the 22nd National Congress of the Communist Party of China on the 22nd (click here for the video link).

The video shows Li Zhanshu taking a set of documents from Hu Jintao, putting it back on the table, and leaning over to talk to Hu. Li Zhanshu slid a stack of documents away from Hu Jintao and said something to him, while Wang Huning made a gesture to Hu Jintao. While Xi Jinping seemed to be trying to greet his attendants, Kong Shaoxun, deputy director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee, came in to talk with Xi and left.

Another staff member came in and picked up Hu Jintao’s documents on the table. The staff supported Hu Jintao’s arm, as if trying to lift him up from the chair. When Hu got up, Kong Shaoxun, deputy director of the Central Office, stepped forward to help move the chair, but Hu Jintao seemed to turn around and returned to his seat, and at one point reached for the documents in the hands of the staff. Finally, with the help of the staff, Hu Jintao started walking towards the exit. He stopped to say something to Xi Jinping, who nodded and answered briefly. Hu also patted Li Keqiang on the shoulder as he left.

Professor Feng Chongyi of the University of Technology Sydney, Australia, told The Epoch Times yesterday (24th) that Hu Jintao was “invited” out of the conference, and it was obvious that anti-Xi factions wanted to use this conference to resist. But in personnel arrangements, they lost a mess. The reason is that on the one hand, they are not strong enough, and on the other hand, Li Keqiang and Wang Yang’s subjective efforts are not enough.

Feng Chongyi believes that “the revision of the party constitution has not been written into two establishments, that is, the elders are resisting, and Xi Jinping has made concessions in the party constitution in exchange for his victory in personnel.”

Akio Yaita, director of the Taipei branch of Japan’s “Sankei Shimbun”, posted on Facebook on the evening of the 22nd that although the specific reason for Hu Jintao’s departure is still to be confirmed, based on the video of the scene, he made a preliminary assessment, “It may be that Hu Jintao once said that he was right. Dissatisfaction with the amendment to the party constitution. In order to prevent him from not raising his hand during the vote and destroying the harmony within the party, he was invited out first.”

However, Wang Juntao, a doctor of political science from Columbia University and chairman of the China Democracy Party National Committee, told The Epoch Times on October 25 that the “two establishments” will actually be written into the party constitution, but they are usually written in the preamble, not the text. “It can’t be a clause. It can only be placed in the preamble. This thing is also valid, but there is no way to say what if you violate it.”

Current affairs commentator Hui Huyu told The Epoch Times on the 24th that the expression “two establishments” itself does not need to be directly written into the party constitution, because one of the “establishments”, that is to establish the guiding position of Xi’s thought, has been written into the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. Party constitution. In addition, at the Seventh Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee, the “two establishments” and “two safeguards” have been established as the resolutions of the whole party.

“In this case, there is no need to write it in the party constitution. Generally, the party constitution will not write who is the core, but only whose thoughts will be written for guidance.” Hui Huyu said.

The revised content of the CCP constitution was criticized badly

Regarding the addition of the party constitution to the so-called resolute opposition to and containment of Taiwan independence, as well as common prosperity, whole-process democracy, dual circulation, and “carrying forward the spirit of struggle and enhancing the ability to struggle”, Feng Chongyi said that these are all the CCP’s falsehoods, and the facts are the other way around. of.

“The whole process of democracy is the whole process of autocracy. Totalitarians use grand-sounding terms to cover up autocracy. The people’s government is the party government, the People’s Army is the SS, and the People’s Bank is the party’s bank. To fully control the society, it is necessary to re-establish the leader’s overall control of the party. This is its line of party constitution organization.” Feng Chongyi said.

Hui Huyu said that the CCP has written the whole process of democracy into the party constitution to control the ideological discourse power and try to get rid of the label of autocratic dictatorship through this newly created concept.

“The CCP is clearly engaging in autocracy in all areas of society, including politics, economy, and culture, but the leaders of the CCP and the imperial literati can open their eyes and talk nonsense, depicting their most severe form of autocratic rule in human history. Achieving democracy in the process is an insult to the intelligence of all human beings.” Hui Huyu said.

Feng Chongyi said that the common prosperity that the authorities want to do is common poverty, not really making the people rich. “It uses state power to suppress private capital, which is the embodiment of the party’s control in the economy. Common prosperity is to suppress the middle class and eliminate wealth. , grabbed it in the name of the people, but did not divide it up.”

Zheng Xuguang, a scholar living in the United States, told The Epoch Times on the 23rd that the CCP has written “speeding up the construction of a new development pattern with the domestic cycle as the main body and the domestic and international dual cycles promoting each other” into the party constitution. On the other hand, they are unwilling to give up foreign trade and economic cooperation completely. Because many raw materials and many technologies still need to be imported. But from the perspective of taking citizens as a kind of resource control, it hopes to have less contact with foreign countries.

“Because the more foreign exchanges are allowed, the resulting effects will have an impact on the stability of the regime. The more people interact with foreign countries, the more truth they know, and their thinking will definitely change, but its income depends on foreign trade, so it hopes to double The cycle is under its nose.” Zheng Xuguang said.

Feng Chongyi believes that dual circulation is the rhetoric of the Communist Party. But it is currently unable to close the country’s door. It has to be covered with double loops. “If all foreign trade and foreign investment are shut down, technology can’t be stolen, and outside capital can’t get in, it will collapse faster, so it still has to leave a hole, and it has to do deals with international capital, and it has to engage in a united front. If there is no double circulation, how can there be money to buy foreign countries and engage in big publicity? It wants to absorb the blood of the world to maintain its life.”

Zheng Xuguang also said that the CCP also included “carrying forward the fighting spirit and enhancing the fighting ability” into the Party Constitution to strengthen the Party’s fighting nature, and the Party’s struggle is of course first and foremost at home, including external “wolf warriors”. Like the consul general in Manchester, who directly beats people, it has the greatest impact on the domestic struggle, especially the inner-party struggle.

As for the CCP’s inclusion of “a great self-revolution leading a great social revolution, etc.” into the party constitution, Zheng Xuguang said that this is to rectify the party and change the consciousness of cadres at all levels. It feels that the market economy, the capitalist market model, which allows people to naturally develop ideas about constitutionalism and democracy and freedom, is corrosive and destructive to the Communist Party, so it wants to return to the system of the past. “Just like Hu Jintao said that North Korea has made no mistakes in politics, because the three generations of the Kim family are living well, the people are poor, but the people love the leader so much, so why can’t it be done in China?”

Feng Chongyi said that “resolutely opposing and containing Taiwan independence” was also written into the party constitution. This is the CCP’s attempt to create public opinion and lay a theoretical foundation for attacking Taiwan. After the revision of the party constitution, some weight will be added.

The CCP held 20 party congresses, and the party constitution was revised 20 times. Feng Chongyi said that, in fact, it is the CCP’s practice to change the party constitution. Every party leader can change it according to his own needs. The CCP uses the party to govern the country.

Responsible editor: Sun Yun#