BEIJING – Black jacket and tie, a large white chrysanthemum pinned to the chest as a sign of mourning, Xi Jinping paid tribute to the former communist general secretary Jiang Zemin, who died last Wednesday at the age of 96. The Chinese leader extols the “right decisions” that ensured the Party’s survival amid the “political storms” he has had to face. Xi praises the grand old man of the Pccbut his is a speech to be seen loud, in total control of a united country, and also a message to the demonstrators who have taken to the streets in dozens of cities in recent days to protest against his health policies on Covid.
At ten in the morning, for three minutes, all of China stops. Silence. Inside the Great Hall of the People overlooking Tiananmen Square – highly armored for the occasion – the Communist Party stages the funeral ceremony in honor of Jiang: the body of the former president had already been cremated yesterday and taken to the revolutionary cemetery in Babaoshan, here in Beijing. In the front row, in a wheelchair, the widow Wang Yeping. There is today’s leadership and yesterday’s great old men, like Wen Jiabao e Zeng Qinghong. Instead, Jiang’s former right-hand man is missing, Zhu Rongji – who hasn’t been seen in public for a long time – e Hu Jintao (he was present at the cremation in the cemetery on Monday, however). Two large black banners adorn the hall, with the inscription: “Comrade Jiang Zemin, sincerely loved by the whole Party, the army and the people of all ethnic groups, will live forever!”. In the background is a large portrait of the former secretary, smiling, with his iconic glasses.
Xi speaks for an hour. “Jiang was a great leader, a great Marxist, a great communist warrior”. It calls on the country and the Party to “inherit Jiang’s will and write a new chapter of socialism with Chinese characteristics.” It urges CCP cadres to rally around its leadership and the entire Party leadership, stating that the latter is the hope of the country He recognized in Jiang, who came to power soon after the Tiananmen massacre, that he made the “right decision” in helping to resolve a period of “serious political turmoil”. While Xi’s remarks reaffirmed the Party’s point of view on the events of ’89, they also served as a warning in light of the protests in recent days.“Comrade Jiang has firmly supported and carried forward the right decision of the government on his outright opposition to the unrest, upholding the socialist state power and safeguarding the fundamental interests of the people.” It demonstrates the determination of the Party to show that it is united and that the leadership at the top speaks with one voice.After those events over thirty years ago, the Party is determined, in any case, to prevent similar crises from happening again.
“The courage to fight and win is the great spiritual strength of the CCP and China,” Xi said, quoting Jiang’s words: “The clashes and struggles – at home and abroad – between different social systems and different ideologies, always test party members. We must be heroic to overcome all enemies. Men cannot bow our noble heads.”
It was feared that Jiang’s death could constitute an extra moment of aggregation, a boost, for new demonstrations. There were small protests on Sunday night at the University of Wuhan, others this night at a university in Nanjing, where the kids ask to be able to go home and no longer be in lockdown on campus. But thanks to the massive police presence in the streets of the main Dragon metropolis and the easing of restrictions in recent days, there are currently no new demonstrations.
Speaking of slack. Important news comes from the capital Beijing. A negative test will no longer be needed to enter the airport, supermarkets, shops and offices. Instead, it will still be used for bars, schools, karaoke, gyms. “Beijing is ready to come back to life again” triumphantly headlines the China Daily. People remain quite cautious: there are far fewer people than usual on the vehicles, and above all many more now wear N95 masks and no longer surgical ones.