Chinese Party Congress
Former President Hu Jintao surprisingly taken away at closing ceremony
STORY: Incident at the end of the XX. Chinese Communist Party Congress in Beijing. Former party leader Hu Jintao was led off the podium on Saturday by hall stewards, apparently against his will, next to state and party leader Xi Jinping. The frail-looking 79-year-old Hu Jintao is not necessarily seen as a supporter of current party leader Xi Jinping. The central role of President Xi Jinping was cemented at the party congress on Saturday. The CP approved corresponding constitutional amendments on Saturday. They aim to manifest the primacy of Xi and his political ideas within the CCP and secure the party’s central authority in the People’s Republic of China. The congress also elected the new central committee of the party. According to state media, 205 people belong to it. Xi is expected to receive a third five-year term as CCP general secretary on Sunday. This would consolidate the 69-year-old’s position as the most powerful head of state since Mao Tse-tung. Mao was a co-founder of the Chinese Communist Party and proclaimed the People’s Republic of China in 1949.
Former Chinese President Hu Jintao was escorted out of the hall during the party congress. He is said to have felt uncomfortable, state media report. But the former head of state seemed reluctant to leave his seat.
At the closing ceremony of the Communist Party Congress in Beijing, former Chinese President Hu Jintao was escorted out of the hall in a sensational incident. Shortly before the 2,300 delegates voted on an amendment to the party constitution that would consolidate the power of Hu’s successor Xi Jinping, Hu was forced to vacate his place on the podium on Saturday, led by ushers.
China’s state media justified this with the 79-year-old’s health problems. However, Hu appeared reluctant to leave his seat next to Xi.
When an usher grabbed his arm, Hu initially fended off the man, as well as a second attempt by the man to lift him from his seat with both hands under his armpits. At the same time, Hu grabbed papers on the podium table, but Xi held them. Finally, with difficulty, the usher and a colleague managed to get Hu to stand up.
After a one-minute exchange of words with Xi, the ex-president was finally led out of the room. He briefly patted Prime Minister Li Keqiang on the shoulder while most of his party colleagues stared straight ahead. Shortly thereafter, the delegates unanimously decided to enshrine Xi Jinping’s “central role” within the CP in the constitutional charter.
According to state media, Hu Jintao is said to have felt unwell
A report published on Twitter by the state news agency Xinhua said that the 79-year-old did not feel well and was then led out of the room. The team taking care of the ex-president’s health took him to a side room so that he could rest there.
Hu is now doing “much better,” it said. The ex-president insisted on attending the party’s final meeting on Saturday, even though he is still recovering.
The week-long party congress in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People was largely held behind closed doors, but international journalists had been admitted to the hall for the closing ceremony shortly before the incident.
Whether Hu left the room involuntarily or not, “the effect is the same,” China expert Alex White wrote on Twitter. For the last generation of leaders before Xi, the incident meant “total humiliation”.