China - Geostrategic & Geopolitical.

[STURM]

I'm sorry to say this, but this is just pure treason. How could they do this!?

Putting aside the morality issues technically they haven't done anything wrong unless or until they share certain types of information. I would expect that like it was during the Cold War with various players; the Chinese will attempt to recruit or hire as many people as they can from various backgrounds; whether ex submariners, ex policy makers, intelligence people, etc.

 

[Sandhi Yudha]

Spokesman Wang Wenbin of the Foreign Ministry in Beijing said people had "illegally entered" the grounds and any country's diplomats would have taken "necessary measures" to protect their premises.

But according to the Greater Manchester Police:
"Shortly before 4pm a small group of men came out of the building and a man was dragged into the consulate grounds and assaulted," the statement said.
Also video footage shows that the chinese government is completely lying.

Mr Khan and other MPs called for the consul-general to be declared a "persona non grata" - meaning a person who is unwelcome in the country.

Chinese diplomat involved in protester attack, says UK MP

It follows speculation that a man who fought UK protesters was China's consul-general.

www.bbc.com

 

[Musashi_kenshin]

China congress: Beijing delays key economic figures as leaders meet

Closely-watched growth data for the world's second largest economy was due to be released on Tuesday.

www.bbc.co.uk

The CCP's delay of GDP figures (according to some reports "indefinitely) suggests more bad news for the Chinese economy. Clearly Xi's growth target has been completely missed. The only question is whether the CCP changes the figures to what it wants, or doesn't release them and pretends that's perfectly normal.

At the end of last month the Economist ran an article about how oppressive regimes, including China, appear to be significantly fiddling their economic growth figures. The article concerns research by the economist Luis Martinez, who used satellite imagery of lighting to consider how accurate the figures are. He estimated there was virtually no error in figures from countries like the USA, UK and Japan from 2002 to 2021. However, for autocratic countries their reported average growth of 147% was actually 76%.

For China, the research indicates that instead of a near 400% increase, the Chinese economy grew by less than 200%.

If true, it would explain why so many Chinese people remain poor and why the CCP has been desperate to fiddle China's GDP. It's not just for propaganda reasons, it helps encourage foreigners to invest in China's economy and hides the fact that it is probably spending way more on "defence" and "national security" than other countries including democracies, rather than helping poor Chinese who really need help.

 

[John Fedup]

Even if China wasn’t lying about GDP performance it is no longer a desirable choice for investment for many foreigners. The CCP’s actions of late don’t make for stability, something that is essential for investors who aren’t interested in sanctions and trade wars.

 

[Vivendi]

Somebody suggested that China was not delaying the economic indicators because they look so bad but because they did not want to display how much they are currently exporting to Russia. Not sure if that makes any more sense than the hypothesis that they want to hide the current poor economic performance?

Why can't they just hide it by fiddling the numbers as they have done in the past? Perhaps because the gap between reality and what they want to communicate becomes too big? If so, then the situation must be very bad.

 

[STURM]

If true, it would explain why so many Chinese people remain poor and why the CCP has been desperate to fiddle China's GDP.

According to a source I read somewhere; about 10 percent of China's population lives below the poverty level. That's a lot of people based on the total population but percentage wise is still lower than various Western countries.

Although this talk is mostly about Russia [Stephen Kotkin is the author of a 3 volume work on Stalin] there is also brief but interesting mention of China. Kotkin talks about Hollywood being complicit in spreading the CCP message. He also mentions Richard Gere who hasn't appeared in any movies recently and coincidently being very pro Tibetan. When asked about his favourite what if scenario Kotkin mentions how in 1945 the U.S. had proposed that Japanese forces in Hong Kong surrender to Chang Kai Shek's forces. This was vehemently opposed by the Brits who vehemently insisted that they take the surrender. Kotkin points out that history would have been very different had the Brits not taken the surrender because Hong Kong would have been lost to the communists in 1949 and wouldn't have played a major role role in later enabling China to become an economic power.

I have no idea if the only reason the Americans initially wanted Chang Kai Shek to take the surrender of Hong Kong was because it was/is part of China but it's a known fact that the American had a very anti colonial outlook. The standing joke amongst them was that Britain's ''South East Asia Command' [SEAC] actually stood for 'Save England's Asian Colonies'.

 

[Musashi_kenshin]

According to a source I read somewhere; about 10 percent of China's population lives below the poverty level. That's a lot of people based on the total population but percentage wise is still lower than various Western countries.

The CCP's figures on poverty shouldn't be trusted either. There was an article from Brookings last year that explained why China's poverty figures have no real value.

Deep-sixing poverty in China | Brookings

Indermit Gill fact checks Chinese claims of having eliminated poverty.

www.brookings.edu

Abolishing extreme poverty via temporary grants isn't really ending poverty because the money is not going to stay in place.

If we go by the World Bank's poverty line for an upper-middle income country like China, according to the BBC about a quarter of the Chinese population are in poverty. Also, even some elements of the CCP hinted at higher poverty than is admitted:

"Li Keqiang said China still had 600 million people whose monthly income was barely 1,000 yuan ($154). He said that was not enough to rent a room in a city."

There are many people that would argue if you don't even earn enough to rent a room in a city, let alone eat, put children through school, etc, then you're in poverty.

 

[weaponwh]

the extreme poor folk are almost always live in rural area, mostly are older people, the young one live in cities as migrant worker or if they got college degree, then better jobs.

in the rural area, food is cheaper, ppl inherit the housing from their parents, most these housing are just mud/brick house without sewer system, may not even have clean water line connect to it, but there is no property tax, so the housing is free for them. utility is also cheap in those area.

education is free for all chinese upto 9th grade, all public high school and college are subsidized so its very cheap.

majority of ppl living in 3rd tier cities on avg made about 3000-5000yuan ish, 1st tier cities probably 5000 to 10000 yuan per month.

 

[ngatimozart]

Xi Jinping gave his report to the CCP 20th Congress, on its opening day. WRT to poverty Xi said that the CCP intends to reduce poverty but no real details were given.

"We have achieved moderate prosperity, the millennia-old dream of the Chinese nation, through persistent hard work. With this, we have elevated China to a higher historical starting point in development. By galvanizing the entire nation to carry out targeted poverty alleviation, we have won the largest battle against poverty in human history. A total of 832 impoverished counties and close to 100 million poor rural residents have been lifted out of poverty, and, among them, more than 9.6 million poverty-stricken people have been relocated from inhospitable areas."​

I would take those figures with a degree of caution because CCP / PRC statistics are not known for their accuracy.

In the opening parts of the report Xi said that:

"Over the past five years, we have continued to strengthen the overall leadership of the Party and the centralized, unified leadership of the Central Committee. We have devoted great energy to finishing building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. We have fully and faithfully applied the new development philosophy on all fronts, focused on promoting high-quality development, and worked to create a new pattern of development. We have pursued reform at a swift and steady pace, made solid progress in developing whole-process people's democracy, and advanced law-based governance across all fields of endeavor. We have actively developed advanced socialist culture. We have ensured and improved public wellbeing as a matter of priority and pooled resources to wage a critical battle against poverty. We have made a big push to enhance ecological conservation. We have worked with firm resolve to safeguard national security, fended off and defused major risks, and ensured social stability. We have devoted great energy to modernizing our national defense and the armed forces. We have conducted major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics on all fronts. And we have made sweeping efforts to advance the great new project of Party building. ...​

​

"In response to separatist activities aimed at "Taiwan independence" and gross provocations of external interference in Taiwan affairs, we have resolutely fought against separatism and countered interference, demonstrating our resolve and ability to safeguard China's sovereignty and territorial integrity and to oppose "Taiwan independence." We have strengthened our strategic initiative for China's complete reunification and consolidated commitment to the one-China principle within the international community. Confronted with drastic changes in the international landscape, especially external attempts to blackmail, contain, blockade, and exert maximum pressure on China, we have put our national interests first, focused on internal political concerns, and maintained firm strategic resolve. We have shown a fighting spirit and a firm determination to never yield to coercive power. Throughout these endeavors, we have safeguarded China's dignity and core interests and kept ourselves well-positioned for pursuing development and ensuring security. ..."​

​

Source: Hold High the Great Banner of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics and Strive in Unity to Build a Modern Socialist Country in All Respects. Report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China October 16, 2022.​

https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000183-e6a2-d425-a58b-e6ebcc840000

You will note that he has used an almost bombastic phrasing and the wording is definitely nationalistic. The reading of the document which is 66 pdf pages involved copious quantities of black tea. There is an art and skill to reading and deciphering communist, and more specifically, CCP writings, media etc., and it is something that I don't have. Lei from Lei's Real World has summed up Xi's speech in this short video by comparing keywords from his 2012 speech and this one. Her quick analysis showed that words such as economy and peace featured far less this time whilst words such as security and fight were far more prominent.

HOW EVENTFUL the next 5 years will be? @LeisRealTalk #shorts

Where is China heading? Let me sum up Xi Jinping's speech at the 20th Party Congress in one minute for you. @leisrealtalk How did Xi Jinping obtain absolute ...

youtube.com

 

[Musashi_kenshin]

Hu Jintao: ex-president escorted out of China party congress

The former president is led off stage during the Party Congress, with no explanation given.

www.bbc.co.uk

China's former leader Hu Jintao was publicly removed from the CCP's Party Congress. One theory is that he was having a medical emergency, but that seems implausible. He was able/allowed to take his seat, and a sudden removal from the room was going to ask questions. He also didn't appear to want to go, putting his hands down on the table.

Looks like a very public purge to me, a sign from Xi that he's now a dictator with total power. (Probably not formal charges, maybe a limited form of house arrest with limited public contact.) What better way than to humiliate your predecessor on TV.

 

[STURM]

Yes but why do it in front of the cameras and why when the Congress was ending? He could have done it before the Congress even started and away from the cameras.

 

[Musashi_kenshin]

Yes but why do it in front of the cameras and why when the Congress was ending? He could have done it before the Congress even started and away from the cameras.

Because doing it in front of the cameras is a not-so-subtle way of showing his power, and sending a message to any officials or party elders who think they could find ways to challenge or show displeasure regarding his policies. It was not so brutal as to motivate sentiment against Xi, but it was just public enough so people couldn't help but notice. Doing it at the end of the meetings ensured it didn't create a scandal that tainted the rest of the event.

It's conceivable that Hu was opposed to Xi's power grab behind closed doors, or had indicated he would cast a vote against the final proposals in public. In either case Xi could have decided to make an example of him rather than he was just a handy target.

Also worth noting is that Li Keqiang is no longer a member of the Standing Committee. The fact he was no longer going to be Prime Minister doesn't mean he had to go. But he was seen as not fully supporting Xi, not least because he's made various comments about the real state of poverty in China rather than just repeating the guff about it being eliminated.

 

[STURM]

I recall how Saddam once handled a so called plot. He organised a meeting which was attended by numerous Baath officials. He then read a list of names who were involved in the plot. As their names were read the individuals were escorted out to be executed.

In the video Hu didn't look well and he seemed in shock [to be expected of course]. As he was leaving he said something to Xi and touched his shoulder.

 

[John Fedup]

I recall how Saddam once handled a so called plot. He organised a meeting which was attended by numerous Baath officials. He then read a list of names who were involved in the plot. As their names were read the individuals were escorted out to be executed.

In the video Hu didn't look well and he seemed in shock [to be expected of course]. As he was leaving he said something to Xi and touched his shoulder.

Hopefully a message his friends will avenge him.

 

[Musashi_kenshin]

In the video Hu didn't look well and he seemed in shock [to be expected of course]. As he was leaving he said something to Xi and touched his shoulder.

He did briefly touch Xi, but it was Li Keqiang he firmly touched on the shoulder. Some people have jokingly said Hu was trying to tell Li he was probably the next to be purged or humiliated. Li looked very uncomfortable.

Hopefully a message his friends will avenge him.

No, Xi's power is total now. He's stacked the Standing Committee with yes-men and just demonstrated that even being a retired top leader isn't immunity from being treated like a peasant. There is no one left in a position to challenge him. Yes, when Xi dies or if he becomes incapacitated by illness, those that followed him may be punished by the next wave of leaders. But no one will dare to even try to touch Xi whilst he's alive, for fear of what happens if they fail to remove him.

EDIT: I just noticed that the votes were done by a show of hands for any dissent, and predictably no one put a hand up. If Hu had indicated he was willing to object, it would also explain the last minute forced removal.

 

[ngatimozart]

Xi Jinping, the CCP, & the Future Direction of the PRC.

Part One.

Xi Jinping has his third term and the Politburo Standing Committee (PSC) of his choice, possibly bar one, but we’ll come to that later. According to PRC law the roles of the new PSC aren’t formal until they are approved by the Legislative Assembly of the PRC which meets next March (2023). However, that’s a rubber stamp because, IIRC, the PRC Legislative Assembly comprises of the Central Committee of the CCP, all 2,000+ members of it. The important point to remember is what the CCP decides is what will happen, and everyone is required to fully support it regardless. However, what this means is that I Jinping is now the most powerful CCP leader since Mao Zedong and he may eventually eclipse Mao in the CCP pantheon of gods.

Xi Jinping is a princeling, one who’s father was a founding member of the CCP or who was on the Long March with Mao. The princelings are the royalty of the CCP, they carry considerable influence and sway and most importantly they are an elite group that support each other and the raison d’etre of the CCP. Notably both Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao are not princelings so whilst they reached the top, they didn’t command the respect of the princelings. Palace politics. Xi’s rise to the top was almost surreptitious because he did what was required and in 2012 was the compromise candidate for the General Secretary position because the factions couldn’t agree on the other two candidates. Jiang supported him because he saw him as pliable and not a threat whilst Hu and the other factions saw him as someone that could be persuaded. Lei explains it in the following video on Xi’s rise to power.

That turned out well for them with the Jiang faction being hunted and purged and Hu probably purged.

Now Xi has the PSC of at least five of his own people, with the sixth Wang Huning being a member of the Jiang faction.




Of the old PSC above only three made it through to the new PSC, Xi, Zhao Leji, and Wang Huning. Of the rest it was thought that Han Zheng would’ve have been the Premier and both Li Keqiang and Wang Yang had a good chance of getting through. However, both Li and Wang Yang were demoted with Li being demoted completely out of the Central Committee. Some believe this may have led to Hu Jintao being rather forthright in either the Saturday morning closed session or at some stage prior which resulted in Xi purging him in public at the media session. If this was the case, then it was a very good way of sending a message that no one was untouchable. That leads to another question. Where was Jiang Zemin all week? Yes, he’s 96 and most likely frail but he would’ve made every effort to have been present. There’s one old senior leader who’s 105 and makes himself known in public now and again. So I think that Jiang Zemin was prevented from attending which is very possible, is genuinely in poor health, or has been purged. I am leaning towards the latter.



The new PSC is:

Li Qiang​

Li, 63, was elevated from Shanghai party chief — a position that has almost always meant a promotion to the standing committee. He will succeed Li Keqiang as premier next March. According to his official bio, Li started off as a technical worker at just 17 years of age. He later studied at various institutions and obtained an EMBA from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 2005. Li’s career path overlapped with Xi’s in the eastern coastal province of Zhejiang, when Li was a city party boss and later a secretary-general in the provincial party committee directly under Xi. He spent his entire career in Zhejiang before Xi promoted him to head Jiangsu Province in 2016. Li’s career advanced despite criticism for his handling of Shanghai’s chaotic two-month COVID-19 lockdown earlier this year. His likely promotion to the premiership will break the convention that the premier must have first served as a vice-premier. But a revised law last year made it possible for the standing committee of the National People’s Congress — China’s rubber-stamp parliament — to appoint Li as a vice-premier before it sits in March to meet the requirement, the South China Morning Post previously reported.​

​

Zhao Leji​

Zhao Leji, 65, will serve a second term on the committee and will likely head the NPC. Zhao spent his adolescent years in Qinghai Province but his family is originally from Shaanxi Province, the ancestral home of Xi. Zhao speaks with a Shaanxi accent, and some accounts claim that his father was a friend of Xi’s. Zhao went on to study philosophy at Peking University. He later returned to Qinghai, where, at 42, became China’s youngest provincial governor in 2000. Although not a well-known figure in the party at the time, Zhao in 2012 was chosen to head its organizational department, where he helped promote Xi supporters to top positions in important places like Beijing and Chongqing. Zhao became a close aide to Xi while helping to build the foundations of the leader’s first term. When former Chongqing party chief Sun Zhengcai was brought down in July on corruption charges, it was Zhao who made the trip to explain the situation to local officials.​

​

Wang Huning​

Wang Huning, 67, is one of China’s top thinkers on both domestic and foreign affairs, having served under every party chief since Jiang Zemin. He is also serving a second term on the Politburo Standing Committee and is expected to head China’s top political advisory body. Wang is perhaps best known for drafting Jiang Zemin’s “Three Represents” political theory and Hu Jintao’s “Scientific Outlook on Development.” He also helped flesh out Xi Jinping’s “Chinese Dream,” which the president promoted upon taking office. His idea that authority must be concentrated at the top to promote reform is central to Xi’s political ideology. Although Wang’s family is from Shandong Province, he was born in Shanghai in 1955. He began to make his mark in 1985 when he became an associate professor at the prestigious Fudan University at the age of 30. Wang is fluent in French and has studied in the U.S. He is known for not hesitating to speak up to his superiors. Known for his quick temper, he gave up on studying in Japan when he was asked to provide a detailed list of his prior schooling.​

​

Cai Qi​

Cai, 66, is promoted from Beijing party chief, and has worked under Xi in both Fujian and Zhejiang. He worked in rural areas for a couple of years during the Cultural Revolution before going to study and work at Fujian Normal University. Cai may have forged a close relationship with the future president when they worked together in the Fujian provincial party committee in the 1990s. In 2014, Cai moved to Beijing to work at the newly established CCP National Security Commission, headed by Xi. He became party leader of the Chinese capital in 2017 and was made the chairman of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics Organizing Committee.​

​

Ding Xuexiang​

Ding, 60, is one of Xi’s key aides. The trained engineer, who spent the first 17 years of his career at Shanghai Research Institute of Materials, has been promoted from director of the Central Committee’s General Office. Ding, who on trips to Hong Kong and Xinjiang this year, worked under China’s leader as a secretary-general in Shanghai in 2007. He had spent his career in the financial hub before winning a promotion in 2013 as the director of the President’s Office in Beijing.​

​

Li Xi​

Li, 66, joins the standing committee as the head of corruption watchdog the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. Li is a native of Liangdang County in Gansu Province, where Xi’s father Xi Zhongxun led an uprising in 1932. He worked in Gansu for 25 years, including a stint as a secretary of the then provincial party chief Li Ziqi, who was a former subordinate of the elder Xi. Li got to know Xi when he accompanied Li Ziqi on visits to the elder Xi in Beijing and Shenzhen, according to Hong Kong’s Ming Pao newspaper. Li spent the next seven years in Shaanxi Province working under No.3 Zhao Leji. He impressed Xi by trying to make Liangjiahe, the village where Xi spent his youth during the Cultural Revolution, a “sacred place.” Li later held leadership positions in Shanghai and Liaoning before replacing Hu Chunhua as Guangdong party chief in 2017, when he also became a Politburo member.​

Source: Team Xi: China's new leadership lineup​

Li Qiang will be the new Premier and this is a break from tradition because the Premier has always been a Vice Premier. The only exception to this was when Chou En Lai was the first Premier. It can be seen why Xi has kept Wang Huning on. In the old CPSU Politburo he would be the Party theoretician, the High Priest so to speak.

 

[ngatimozart]

Xi Jinping, the CCP, & the Future Direction of the PRC.

Part Two.

During the 20th CCP Congress Xi managed to have three amendments to the CCP Constitution approved and I suspect that approval was unanimous. These are important because the CCP Constitution is like the 10 Commandments, and nothing supersedes it. Lei from Lei’s Real Talk compares the CCP to a religion and she says that it replaces religion and spirituality in the PRC, so it has the hallmarks of religion with Marx and Mao being the supreme deities. It, like all communism, intends to supplant all religions and spiritualism because it requires absolute loyalty and brooks no competitors of any kind.

Lei says that these three amendments are the direction that Xi is taking both the CCP and the PRC. The first amendment is



Xi Jinping has himself firmly embedded in the constitution so if you oppose Xi, then you are opposing the Party as a whole. It makes him a core leader alongside Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping elevating him above Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, both previous leaders who had served 10 years each. It also enshrines Xi Jinping Thoughts alongside those of both Mao and Deng. Whilst Ziang and Hu have each had a major policies added to the constitution, neither have had named thoughts that cross the spectrum of socialism with Chinese characteristics added.



This amendment is the first time that Taiwan has been specifically added the Constitution. It specifically states that the CCP WILL UNIFY TAIWAN with the motherland, BY FORCE if necessary. Note that it mentions fighting twice and “… strengthening the military through political ideas and reforms, comprehensively, accurately and firmly.” This means that the CCP is doubling down on its control of the PLA, ensuring that no officers have any ideas not consistent with the new Party direction under Xi and that they don’t branch out into private enterprise. It will definitely strengthen the political commissar in each unit meaning that every military decision will have to be politically correct in accordance with Xi Jinping thought. This is going to cause delays in the C2 environment, especially when decisions have to be made near instantaneously. Ultimately this amendment means that the CCP / PRC has upped the ante on Taiwan. Whilst some claim that will invade in the next five years, there is nothing in this amendment to suggest that. All it does is increase the probability.



The third and final amendment and one that speaks the most on where the PRC is heading. Lei says that this is the death knell for Deng’s economic reforms, and I tend to agree. It means that the PRC is returning to a planned economy with the domestic market taking priority over the international market. This is Xi’s “Common Prosperity” policy and it will kill Chinese entrepreneurs along with small to medium enterprises. The common prosperity policy is already impacting on PRC rich individuals by forcing them to make large donations government charities who are reportedly required to redistribute the wealth to those who are worse off. As time goes by the old communist tool of a planned economy will return with all the ensuing problems.

When you look at the three amendments together, it appears that the PRC is going to become the Hidden Kingdom again, isolating itself from the world, much as it did through Mao’s time. However, Xi is a smarter operator and more travelled, and intelligent than Mao, so this time it will be more oppressive and dangerous. He has a surveillance capability and internal security force that would make both Stalin and Heydrich supremely jealous; plus a large modern military, along with the ambition to ensure that the PRC assumes what he believes is its rightful place in the world.

Source:

We must take the people's security as our ultimate goal, political security as our fundamental task, economic security as our foundation, military, technological, cultural, and social security as important pillars, and international security as a support. Xi, P.44,​

​

China stands firmly against all forms of hegemonism and power politics, the Cold War mentality, interference in other countries' internal affairs, and double standards. Ibid, P.51​

​

Xi Jinping 16/10/22. Report to 20th CCP Convention, Beijing. https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000183-e6a2-d425-a58b-e6ebcc840000​

​

Xi has changed the direction of the CCP and the PRC. In his report at the beginning of this Congress he used the word security numerous times, far exceeding the words peace or economy. This was a Congress about security, force, and power. Taiwan is very firmly in Xi's sights and he is almost target fixated on it. By fair means or foul he intends to have Taiwan as part of the motherland come hell or high water. A war with the US won't deter him and western economic sanctions won't either. He will have been taken aback by the quick western solidarity behind Ukraine and how it hasn't wavered, but he is planning to make the PRC independent of western economic and financial systems. It appears that he intends to do this by running the PRC domestic economy as a closed loop system separate from the PRC's international economy. Undoubtedly he has a Marxist Maoist theoretical foundation upon how such a system will work, that will also explain any failures that will undoubtedly occur. The Marxist scientific explanation would be an elucidating read.

Whilst this points to a PRC that will be inwards looking as it returns to Maoist isolation, it would be foolish to think that Xi and the CCP would ignore the wider world. Far from the truth. They know that in order to succeed in conquering Taiwan they have to keep the US well behind the Second Island Chain, preferably the Third Island Chain. They also have to eliminate South Korea, Japan, Australia, and probably Singapore as threats. Once they have been eliminated threat wise, then the rest of Asia except India will fall in line. They require subservient nations on their borders and within the near regions. Some think that the CCP / PRC will go the way of North Korea except that it will become a superpower hidden hermit kingdom. Either way we have a large angry foe in the region now.

 

[ngatimozart]

Yes but why do it in front of the cameras and why when the Congress was ending? He could have done it before the Congress even started and away from the cameras.

One scenario is that Hu may have made some rather pointed comments in the Saturday morning session prior to the media gig. It may have been then that he found out that Xi had side lined his two protégés Li Keqiang and Wang Yang. If that is the case then instead of doing something about it then Xi waited until the media event and purged him in public as an example - pour encourge les autres.

Hopefully a message his friends will avenge him.

Never going to happen. Xi has total control now. If Hu's friends even thought about it the MSS would be onto them like hawks and off for re-education they would go.

He did briefly touch Xi, but it was Li Keqiang he firmly touched on the shoulder. Some people have jokingly said Hu was trying to tell Li he was probably the next to be purged or humiliated. Li looked very uncomfortable.

No, Xi's power is total now. He's stacked the Standing Committee with yes-men and just demonstrated that even being a retired top leader isn't immunity from being treated like a peasant. There is no one left in a position to challenge him. Yes, when Xi dies or if he becomes incapacitated by illness, those that followed him may be punished by the next wave of leaders. But no one will dare to even try to touch Xi whilst he's alive, for fear of what happens if they fail to remove him.

EDIT: I just noticed that the votes were done by a show of hands for any dissent, and predictably no one put a hand up. If Hu had indicated he was willing to object, it would also explain the last minute forced removal.

Definitely on all counts. Xi's more powerful than even Deng Xiaoping was and he has every possibility of becoming more powerful than even Mao.

 

[Vivendi]

Reports of illegal Chinese "police stations" in Rotterdam and Amsterdam: Illegal Chinese ‘police stations’ uncovered in the Netherlands, reports say – POLITICO

The Dutch government say they will investigate and take "appropriate actions".

In Canada, the RCMP will investigate Chinese police stations in Canada: RCMP to investigate Chinese police ‘service stations’ | CBC.ca

This follows a report from back in September which says that China has established 54 police stations on 5 continents: 230,000 Chinese "persuaded to return" from abroad, China to establish Extraterritoriality | Safeguard Defenders

It puzzles me that the authorities in Western countries have not acted on this already...

In other news, an ex US military pilot who worked in China has been arrested in Australia: Australia arrests former US military pilot who worked in China | CNN

 

[Sandhi Yudha]

Reports of illegal Chinese "police stations" in Rotterdam and Amsterdam: Illegal Chinese ‘police stations’ uncovered in the Netherlands, reports say – POLITICO

The Dutch government say they will investigate and take "appropriate actions".

In Canada, the RCMP will investigate Chinese police stations in Canada: RCMP to investigate Chinese police ‘service stations’ | CBC.ca

This follows a report from back in September which says that China has established 54 police stations on 5 continents: 230,000 Chinese "persuaded to return" from abroad, China to establish Extraterritoriality | Safeguard Defenders

It puzzles me that the authorities in Western countries have not acted on this already...

In other news, an ex US military pilot who worked in China has been arrested in Australia: Australia arrests former US military pilot who worked in China | CNN

|"Het ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken gaat onderzoek doen naar de activiteiten van Chinese politiebureaus in Nederland, zegt een woordvoerder..."|
Het is indeed strange that, like in this case, the Netherlands government just start to investigate now, while the bureau in Amsterdam already started operations in 2018.

'China heeft illegaal politiebureaus in Nederland, aanwijzingen voor intimidatie'

Een politiekorps van de regio Lishui opende in 2018 een bureau in Amsterdam, meldt RTL. Ook in Rotterdam zou sinds begin dit jaar een Chinees bureau zitten.

nos.nl