| Cracks in China's Great Politburo Wall |
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| Written by Willy Lam | |
| Tuesday, 13 October 2009 | |
 Vice-President Xi Jinping drops strong hint at big rift with President Hu Jintao
Now we know what Vice-President Xi Jinping must have felt when he failed to make it to the Chinese Communist Party's Central Military Commission at a plenary session of the Central Committee last month. The supposed front-runner to succeed Party Chief and President Hu Jintao apparently blamed the supremo for not inducting him into the policy-setting military commission, which has been headed by Hu since 2004. During his current trip to five European countries, Xi, 56, has departed from protocol and hardly given Hu a mention. According to long-standing diplomatic custom, a senior Chinese cadre on tour would first convey to his hosts the greetings of President Hu. Xi's failure to acknowledge and salute Hu's leadership was most obvious when he met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on Monday. Before the official discussion began, Xi handed to Merkel the English editions of two books – on energy and on information technology – written by ex-president Jiang Zemin. According to the official Xinhua News Agency, Xi then "passed along Comrade Jiang Zemin's greetings and good wishes" to the German leader. Merkel reciprocated by asking Xi to send her greetings to Jiang. There was no reference to Hu throughout the two leaders' tete-a-tete. This was the first time in less than two weeks that ex-president Jiang, 83, appears to have upstaged the 67-year-old Hu. During celebrations to mark the 60th birthday of the People's Republic of China on October 1, the official Chinese media gave Jiang pretty much the same prominence as Hu. For example, he appeared 20 times on CCTV's coverage of the all-important military parade. And Hu was caught a couple of times on TV assuming a humble posture next to the talkative and high-spirited Jiang. The next day, the People's Daily put two same-sized pictures of Hu and Jiang side by side on its front page. As the highest-ranked Fifth-Generation politician in the supreme Politburo Standing Committee, Xi is slated to succeed Hu as party general secretary at the 18th CCP Congress in October 2012 – and as state president a few months later. Yet it is well-known among political circles in Beijing that Xi does not come from Hu's Communist Youth League faction. Instead, the son of former vice-premier Xi Zhongxun is the putative head of the powerful Gang of Princelings, a reference to the offspring of party elders. Moreover, it was partly due to support rendered by ex-president Jiang, himself a princeling, that Xi was virtually designated Hu's heir-apparent at the 17th Party Congress in 2007. Xi's failure to be inducted into the CMC last month, however, was a signal that he might not enjoy a cosy relationship with his boss. Instead, Hu is believed to be pulling out all the stops to improve the political fortunes of Youth League stalwarts such as Politburo Standing Committee member and First Vice-Premier Li Keqiang, who at this stage is expected to take over the premiership from Wen Jiabao in early 2013. Xi watchers are not surprised by his strange demeanor in Berlin. During his tour to Latin America early this year, the vice-president aroused controversy by using earthy language to attack a certain country – widely thought to be the US – for alleged interference in China's domestic affairs. While talking to diplomats and Chinese representatives in China's embassy in Mexico City, Xi intoned: "There are people who seem to have nothing to do after filling their stomachs. They like to point their fingers at China's internal affairs." The vice-president's remarks were not reported by the Chinese media. In any event, Xi's apparent decision to openly side with Jiang – and his failure to appear deferential to Hu – is a good indication that factional rivalry and jockeying for position has begun some three years before the 18th Party Congress. At that all-important conclave, a new corps of party and state leadership will be picked as at least half of the current PSC and Politburo members are set to retire. Comments
(10)
Rational Lampoon!, Lowly rated comment [Show]
Willy Nilly
written by One Up , October 15, 2009
Western leaders also disagree all the time. Obama too have differing views with Hilary and Biden. If Willy's theory is applied to the west, then USA would have collapsed long ago. It is no different in China. Surely with close to 2 billion people, you cannot expect everybody to share the same views. And certainly leaders from the same party need not share the same views. That is only natural. Willy's wet dream of China falling apart will not come true, and China will continue to grow and advance. But Willy is entitled to his opinion. But it is already an established fact that Asia Sentinel is an anti-China website, and they churn out anti-China articles like a doughnut machine. Why do I use a doughnut example? Because the stories are hollow in the centre, just like doughnuts. And like I suggested, Asia Sentinel could be a CIA sponsored site.
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The Soured Mouths Babble Again, Lowly rated comment [Show]
Cracks? I thought China is an absolute authoritarian government. No more? Go China go!
written by Jiang , October 15, 2009
It's OK to have different views and different stances on things, no? It's like a semi-democracy as long as they talk things out and compromise for the sake of prosperity of China. It's Chinese type of democracy.
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Thanks Mr Lam
written by Jacques de Goldfiem , October 14, 2009
I completly disagree with Mr Lai comment.
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We learn so much on China since a so long time from Willy that we have to be thankful. Regarding the date when Hu Jintao took the head of the CMC. He was already General secretary since more two years because Jiang Zemin who was no more even a member of the Central Commitee since 2002 refused to give up the position. report abuse
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written by Lal , October 14, 2009
The premise of the article assumes that because Hu made it to the Central Military Commission before taking over as President the same hold true for Xi. But, there is no pre-defined succession process as it's still being debated. Nonetheless, the author, Mr. Lam has already presented his assumption of the succession process to the CMC as fact. Obviously, Mr. Lam's assumption is wrong so you get articles like this claiming something's gone wrong, but since Mr. Lam's assumption of how the succession process works has no merit, best advice is stay tuned!
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written by Tenzin , October 13, 2009
This is sign of coming collapse of the chinese communist party. when you hear the word like powerful gang of princelings, it sounds somewhat like mafia and bunch of thugs, hungery for their own interest and powers. China is off to be better with consience leaders with true democratic values.
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Danger of Party Factions
written by Oneparty , October 13, 2009
True, in a system built for the coexistence of factions. Unfortunately, the public emergence of powerful factions, neither of which is willing to submit for the sake of the one party, has led to dangerous territory for China in the past, and it is likely to happen in the future. Those who argue that cult-of-personality, strong-arm leadership is a thing of the past for the CCP should look a little closer at what Hu Jintao has become...http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_id=14569466
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Good check and balance
written by Twoparty , October 13, 2009
Since China is ruled by only one party, it is good to have two factions in the party to act as check and balance. At least everybody has to be one their toes. If there are no factions, then the one party government will become like those of North Korea and Burma.
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