[Famous Columnist]Is humiliating Hu Jintao a warning from Xi to the United States? | Xi Jinping | The Epoch Times

[Epoch Times, November 03, 2022](The Epoch Times columnist Austin Bay wrote / Qu Zhizhuo compiled) Hu Jintao, the former leader of the Communist Party of China, was mysteriously taken away from the Chinese Communist Party Congress on October 22, sparking heated discussions and speculations around the world . Such intense discussions and speculation are normal given the current leader Xi Jinping’s war goals.

So far, tens of millions of people have seen at least part of the video of Hu Jintao’s departure. My summary: Former leader Hu Jintao sits at the front desk of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, in the VIP table next to his successor, Xi Jinping.

Action: Approached by two senior staff members wearing surgical masks. Confused, Hu Jintao stood up, reached for a document, and seemed to be talking to Xi Jinping, then patted Premier Li Keqiang on the shoulder.

Then Hu was taken away.

China’s state news agency, Xinhua, the Communist Party’s leading global propaganda agency, claimed that Hu Jintao, 79, was “escorted” out of the VIP seat after “feeling unwell.” CNN, a less reliable source, said Hu Jintao seemed “unwilling to leave.” Well, I agree with that.

According to the BBC: “The two most likely reasons for his (Hu Jintao’s) departure are that either it was part of the CCP’s power politics, a leader representing the past was symbolically removed, or Hu Jintao had serious health problems. .

Outside of the BBC’s “either-or”, both could be true, disease and game of thrones. Other commentators believe that Hu Jintao may not have a physical health problem, but a psychological shock.

So why are the former CCP bosses shaken? In dictatorships, symbolic ouster often precedes physical annihilation. Did this thought freeze Hu Jintao’s brain?

Before Hu Jintao was forced to leave, Xi Jinping had removed Hu Jintao’s political disciples and policy supporters from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. Denying the decision-making status of Hu Jintao’s supporters cements Xi’s personal grip on power.

Hu Jintao led China from 2003 to 2013, and his two five-year terms were ratified by party congresses every five years. His presidency is seen by many Chinese as an “era of opening to the world“. Chinese citizens have reasonable access to the Internet. Hu Jintao’s opening echoed Deng Xiaoping’s “reform and opening policy,” which aimed to build a market economy within China’s authoritarian socialist state.

After Deng Xiaoping’s death, CCP leaders were re-elected for up to two terms, reflecting the CCP’s commitment to collective leadership. The dictatorship’s claim is that the system takes into account the authority of the senior dictator and balances the interests of the various factions within the party.

Hu Jintao stepped down and ceded the position to Xi Jinping.

But, ahead of this year’s National Congress, Xi Jinping revised the party’s term-limit rules. He ousted supporters of Hu Jintao and changed the rules, all but guaranteeing Xi Jinping a lifetime as the top leader of the Communist Party.

China has a face culture. “Face” is important in every culture. Consider American politicians denying a blatant lie in order to “save face” to avoid humiliation.

However, Asia’s “face culture” goes further. The CCP’s face culture has a mafia tinge. The CCP’s systemic incompetence and authoritarian narcissism often screw things up, but it doesn’t want the world to know. The CCP’s face police treat Wuhan’s conscientious doctors as criminals and suppress their warnings about COVID-19.

Charles Custer of ThoughtCo.com wrote: “Chinese society places great emphasis on hierarchy and reputation among social groups. People with good reputations can improve others’ social status by ‘giving face’.”

In front of the world, Xi Jinping staged a “face-assassination” of Hu Jintao. This murder has no bodies to deal with. In China, Hu Jintao’s smeared reputation shows Xi Jinping’s strength.

Revitalizing China’s economy is not Xi Jinping’s game. War is Xi Jinping’s goal, a major war to seize Taiwan and lead to war with the United States. Xi’s calculation is that the war will end in a stalemate due to the incompetence of the Biden administration. With U.S. weakness exposed, U.S. allies in Asia will kowtow to Beijing, and Xi Jinping’s China will dominate East Asia.

The word kowtow is too apt here, with Hu Jintao being murdered in face, Xi Jinping is effectively the emperor of China.

About the Author:

Austin Bay is a U.S. Army Reserve Colonel (Ret.), author, co-columnist, and teacher of strategy and strategic theory at the University of Texas at Austin. His latest book is Cocktails from Hell: Five Wars Shaping the 21st Century.

The original text “Xi Jinping’s Face Assassination of Hu Jintao Is a Strategic Warning for America” ​​was published in The Epoch Times

This article represents the views of the author alone and does not necessarily reflect the position of The Epoch Times.

Responsible editor: Gao Jing#