Absence of Communist party leaders from public view piques interest of observers
Feb 15, 2022
Beijing [China], February 15 : As of February 14, Chinese President Xi Jinping and six other members of the Politburo Standing Committee (PBSC) have not appeared in public for eight consecutive days which seems a bit unusual and has gathered attention by observers.
Apart from Wang Qishan attending the "One Ocean" summit online while many other countries had their head of state attending it.
Interestingly, Li Keqiang the second-ranking PBSC member made remarks in a national work conference on Spring agricultural production held in Dezhou, Shandong on Sunday.
But Li Keqiang's remarks were in the form of written instructions and he was not present there. Both these incidents together show that the seven PBSC members are indeed collectively absent from public events. One possibility that comes to mind is, all of them going to undergo quarantine after Xi met world leaders during the winter Olympics and after that, he met might have met other PBSC members?
Vice Premier Hu Chunhua attended the national work conference on Spring agricultural production and delivered a speech. Hu's speech referred to Xi Jinping 's important speeches and spirit of instructions and Li Keqiang's instructions and requirements to go all out to ensure "the production and supply of grain and important agricultural products" to "stabilize the overall situation of economic and social development."
Last week, a state media outlet named "Jintai Information" published an 8,600 character long article that emphasizes that reform and opening up was a "great awakening" in the history of the CPC, which seems contrary to the line Xi tried to put forward in the third historical resolution.
The article does not forget to repeatedly mention Xi Jinping and the Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee, especially when it emphasizes the importance of reform and opening up. In the way of quoting Xi Jinping's speech, the article tries to make the point that "reform and opening up is the key move to determine the future and destiny of contemporary China".
Since the Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, there have been multiple signals that Xi Jinping has downplayed the political legacy of his predecessors.
