[The Epoch Times, December 28, 2022]From December 26 to 27, the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China held a year-end democratic life meeting. In the video released by Xinhuanet, 3 of the 24 Politburo members seemed to be absent, and 3 others attended the meeting, which seemed strange. The theme of the meeting is of course “loyalty”, but Xi Jinping proposed to listen to the “truth”, “truth” and “heart”.
Who was absent from key occasions?
After Xi Jinping came to power, there will be a so-called Politburo life meeting at the end of each year, and everyone will report to Xi Jinping on their work and carry out “self-criticism”. Today’s Politburo members, except for Zhao Leji and Wang Huning who remain on the Standing Committee, are all selected by Xi Jinping himself. On this critical occasion, everyone will naturally show their loyalty with all their strength.
The order of speeches in the video is strictly in accordance with the order of Politburo Standing Committee members and members. Li Qiang, a member of the Politburo Standing Committee, spoke first, followed by Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, and Li Xi.
Ma Xingrui, a member of the Politburo, spoke first, followed by Wang Yi, Yin Li, Shi Taifeng, Liu Guozhong, and Li Ganjie; Li Shulei was supposed to be next, but he did not appear in the video, so he switched to Li Hongzhong and He Weidong; He Lifeng did not appear after that , directly switched to Zhang Youxia; Zhang Guoqing did not appear after that, and directly switched to Chen Wenqing; followed by Chen Jining, Chen Miner, Yuan Jiajun, and Huang Kunming.
Except for Xi Jinping himself, everyone else was wearing a mask to read the manuscript, which seemed rather funny. Although it was not so easy to identify, the name plate with the name on it was clearly visible in front of them, and the names of Li Shulei, He Lifeng, and Zhang Guoqing were indeed not seen.
For such an important loyalty meeting, the party media should dare not ignore any speaker on the spot. This is also the rule of the CCP’s officialdom. It is estimated that these three people did not participate in the life meeting of the Politburo.
Li Shulei is one of the secretaries of the Central Secretariat, concurrently serving as the head of the Central Propaganda Department and the office director of the Central Steering Committee for Spiritual Civilization Construction. He should not have any urgent business, and there is no reason to be absent from the Politburo meeting. In CCTV’s Politburo report column, the latest news under the names of most people is that they participated in the life meeting of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China from December 26 to 27, but Li Shulei’s latest news is that he participated in the founding of the National History Society in Beijing on December 8. The 30th anniversary conference has not been updated for 19 days.
He Lifeng is currently vice chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and party secretary and director of the National Development and Reform Commission. His latest news is that he attended the Central Rural Work Conference on December 23 and 24. There should be no reason to miss the Politburo meeting.
After Zhang Guoqing became a member of the Politburo, at the end of November he no longer concurrently served as secretary of the Liaoning Provincial Party Committee, but he may still be concurrently serving as the chairman of the Standing Committee of the Liaoning People’s Congress. His most recent piece of news was his participation in Jiang Zemin’s memorial service on December 6, and there was no update for more than 20 days.
The reason for the absence of these three people is unknown, but the epidemic situation in Beijing is severe, and the number of severe cases and deaths has increased significantly. It should not be uncommon for officials to be infected with the epidemic. .
There are 3 more people in the Politburo meeting
The party media video shows that besides the members of the Politburo, there are three other people sitting in the back row. Two of them have nameplates clearly visible. They are Chen Xi and Jiang Jinquan. The other person is vague, but the surname Wang seems to be identifiable. The guess is very likely. It’s Wang Xiaohong.
Chen Xi is no longer a member of the Politburo or a member of the Central Committee, but he should still be the head of the Organization Department of the Central Committee, go to various places to announce new personnel appointments, and continue to serve as the principal of the Central Party School.
Jiang Jinquan is currently the director of the Central Policy Research Office. He has always been Wang Huning’s direct subordinate and served Jiang, Hu, and Xi. It seems that he has not lost his power and continues to be reused. He is not a member of the Central Committee, and he can still attend Politburo meetings, which should be unusual.
Wang Xiaohong’s participation in the Politburo meeting does not seem to be a surprise. He is one of the secretaries of the Central Committee Secretariat, concurrently the Minister of Public Security, and a trusted confidant of Xi Jinping. There are currently 24 members of the Politburo. He may have the opportunity to be a member of the Politburo. If other members of the Politburo change, his chances will be even greater. I just hope that he will not be a cruel official like his former colleagues, otherwise he will end up the same.
Those who attended the meeting were not necessarily free from the virus, and may have had mild symptoms or recovered. It is even more difficult for ordinary people to seek medical treatment, but high-level CCP officials can enjoy the best medical services at any time. Members of the Politburo all spoke wearing masks, which may also prove this point.
Xi Jinping wants to hear the “truth” and “truth”?
Showing loyalty is of course the core content of this meeting. Xi Jinping said in his speech that to maintain the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee, “first of all, we must firmly maintain the authority of the Party Central Committee”, “at any time and under any circumstances, we must maintain a high degree of consistency with the Party Central Committee”; Out of tune”; “At any time and under any circumstances, we must insist on absolute loyalty to the party.”
“Loyalty” should be an absolute requirement that Xi Jinping put forward to the Politburo. After the 20th National Congress, it is finally not what it used to be, and the Xi camp dominates. However, the “blank paper revolution” broke out suddenly, and the CCP regime was facing an end, and protecting the party became the top priority; therefore, Xi Jinping emphasized “truly love the party, always worry about the party, and firmly protect the party.”
Are there any members of the Politburo who don’t “truly love the party”? This is indeed hard to say. If the CCP is in danger one day, some people may want to be Yeltsin-like characters, and some people may run away early. At this time, the Politburo of the CCP had to “worry about the party,” but not everyone would “protect the party” at critical moments.
Xi Jinping also stated that implementing the spirit of the 20th National Congress “is the primary political task of the entire party at present and in the future.”
It’s a cliché, but a little embarrassing. At the Central Economic Work Conference that ended on December 16, “self-reliance” in the report of the 20th National Congress was no longer mentioned; “internal circulation” was changed back to “dual circulation”; “reform and opening up” was brought out; Enterprises have been recognized again, and “common prosperity” has disappeared. After the slogan “Communist Party step down” was chanted, these are probably the CCP’s emergency measures, and they are also temporary measures to “worry about the party” and protect the party. Xi Jinping also said that “insist on calculating big accounts and long-term accounts”, which is probably a similar statement.
Xi Jinping also requested that “more people should go to the frontline of the grassroots in the field of management, and more places where there are many difficulties, where the opinions of the masses are concentrated, and the work cannot be opened up.”
In the past few years, the top leaders of the CCP seldom went to various disaster-stricken areas, and basically adopted an attitude of avoiding vicious incidents and incidents with strong repercussions from the people, and eventually nothing happened. Today, Xi Jinping’s demands are high enough that it is really difficult for the current Politburo members. Many of them should be rejoicing that after the 20th National Congress, they stepped down from the original provincial and municipal Party committee secretaries in time, so that they no longer have to face the difficult epidemic situation.
Xi Jinping has known for a long time that he seldom hears the “truth”, “truth” and “heart-to-heart”, but he puts higher demands on the members of the Politburo, which is probably difficult to meet. Even if they heard some truths, they might not dare to tell Xi Jinping. In the past three years, they should have known the true attitude of ordinary people towards “zeroing” and whether “zeroing” is really effective, they should have known, but no one dared to speak out, and they probably didn’t want to hear it.
CCP officials have been unwilling to listen to the truth for a long time, and they do not tell the truth, forcing the common people to shout out the last truth, which is “the Communist Party is stepping down.” CCP officials can hear it if they want to; Protect the party. In fact, CCP officials do not need to go to the grassroots. As long as the Internet is released, most of the truths of ordinary people can be heard without going out.
The people selected by Xi Jinping may be more loyal than others, but they may not have the ability to do serious and practical things, and they may not have relevant qualifications and experience. If they are expected to “concern about the party” and “protect the party”, there are nine out of ten chances Frustrated. These people may be more likely to accidentally create “gray rhino” and “black swan” incidents.
The truth of the common people is that “the Communist Party is stepping down,” but the CCP has done the opposite, and will continue to protect the party. The more sinister end of the CCP regime is not far away.
The Epoch Times
Editor in charge: Gao Yi