Chinese Premier Li Keqiang visited Yunnan University yesterday (18) to encourage students’ employment. Under Xi Jinping’s policy of “clearing” the epidemic, Li Keqiang publicly did not wear a mask and did not let people around him wear masks. The media found that Li Keqiang did not wear a mask when he showed up recently. Whether Li Keqiang himself, his team, or the inspected local officials and local people, almost all did not wear a mask. Not only that, on April 11 and April 12, when Li Keqiang inspected Nanchang, officials around him also asked others to take off their masks.
At present, in China, absolute “clearing” is Xi Jinping’s top political event. Li Keqiang’s move is to show that he is a distinct “coexistence faction” and a completely different camp from Xi Jinping’s “clearing faction”. Li Keqiang has advocated that economic development is better than epidemic prevention several times, which are considered to be anti-Xi, and it also means that Li Keqiang sings once morest Xi Jinping in public. This happened just a few months before the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China decided on the next successor, especially the timing sensitive.
Li Keqiang went to Yunnan this time to inspect Kunming, Qujing and other places, and inspected government agencies, schools, private enterprises, and ethnic minority families. Wherever he went, he intended to appease enterprises, workers and ethnic minority families. Among them, the students who have been hit the hardest by various policies of Xi Jinping are college students.
The number of college graduates this year reached 10.76 million. At the same time, due to the epidemic and China’s crackdown on the Internet and education industries, there have been large-scale layoffs and wage cuts in many industries. This makes the fresh graduates who have not yet fully stepped out of the school face the situation of unemployment following graduation. Many people lamented that this class of college graduates encountered the worst employment environment in history.
Qin Peng, a political commentator of The Epoch Times, pointed out today (19) that the day before Li Keqiang arrived in Yunnan, Xi Jinping-related slogans were removed on Dianchi Road in Kunming overnight, “holding high Xi Jinping’s new socialist ideas in the new era”, “four Persistence”, “Two Maintenance”, etc.
Chinese experts pointed out that rumors of a soft coup d’état within the CCP, the reduction of Xi Jinping’s power, and the rise of Li Keqiang’s status are rampant. Although there is no clear evidence that Xi Jinping has lost the power of the party, government and military, it is clear that dissatisfaction forces within China are gathering, and there are many people who support Li Keqiang and hope that Li Keqiang will replace Xi Jinping.
All kinds of dissatisfaction at home and abroad and all kinds of unfavorable news once morest Xi Jinping have been fermented in China and spread to Zhongnanhai. At the senior level of the Communist Party of China, many people also hope that Xi Jinping will change his ways, or not be re-elected, so that China’s economy and society can recuperate. Duowei News, one of the CCP’s major propaganda campaigns, was recently shut down for publicly talking regarding Xi Jinping’s “successor”.
The Xinhua News Agency, the official media of the Communist Party of China, recently published the opinions of the General Office of the Central Committee of China on strengthening the party building of retired cadres in the new era, and also published an article by the head of the Central Organization Department to answer reporters’ questions on the opinions. These two articles are obviously aimed at retired party cadres of the CCP. According to the regulations on retired cadres in China, retirement refers to general officials, while retirement refers to senior officials. It is quite rare for the General Office of the Central Committee and the Organization Department of the Central Committee to come forward and warn senior cadres to be obedient and not to criticize the Central Committee.
Qin Peng pointed out that this also illustrates the following 4 points:
1. China’s power does not come from elections, but from the private recommendation and power exchange of the CCP elders from generation to generation. This is true from Deng Xiaoping to Jiang Zemin to Xi Jinping now. So some people say that China’s problem is the problem of 500 core powerful families. The struggle, cooperation and exchange of interests between these families constitute the main reason for the high-level politics of the CCP. Although Xi Jinping is now the core and was approved for re-election before, following all, his power comes from the elders. There is also a problem at the 20th National Congress, that is, can the core team in his own mind be replaced by those party representatives and their backers? The power family accepts it, so Xi Jinping is still very afraid of these veteran cadres, and the high-level infighting and turmoil have reached a very serious level, so he will make an exception to do so. In this way, Xi Jinping warned the elders not to talk too much, and also warned others not to spread relevant news, so as to protect himself and his cronies.
2. Within the CCP system, there are organizations such as the General Office and the Veteran Cadre Bureau to greet veteran cadres. The top level of the CCP also has private communication mechanisms such as group visits. If conflicts can be resolved, there is absolutely no need to put these matters on the table, but now it is not a private conversation. Or work, but openly shouted, asking retired cadres to clearly stand in line with Xi Jinping. Obviously, this was resolved because of the inability to communicate privately.
3. Dissatisfaction within the party has surfaced on a large scale. If it is only found that there are problems “following individual party members and cadres retire”, the top leaders of the CCP can deal with them individually. Now it is obvious that dissatisfaction within the party has spread, and the notice from the Central Office is not just a simple shout, but actually to control the retired cadres, prohibit them from talking nonsense, especially not to question Xi Jinping, let alone play the opposite.
4. Threats to cancel the interests of veteran cadres. The threat to cancel the interests of veteran cadres was published on May 15, which may impact the interests of veteran cadres within the CCP, which also means that the political struggle within the CCP is getting more and more serious.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang visits Yunnan University
And Li Keqiang didn’t wear a mask
Officials around him also asked others to take off their masks
The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China will be held in the second half of the year, and the relationship between Xi Jinping (center), Wang Yang (bottom right) and Li Keqiang (bottom left) is attracting attention. Photo: Feng Yin / Synthesis (file photo)
He is currently a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. The pictures from left to right are Han Zheng, Wang Huning, Li Zhanshu, Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Wang Yang and Zhao Leji, of which Xi Jinping is the President of China. Photo: Dazhi Image/Associated Press (file photo)
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said a few days ago that the domestic employment situation in China is “complicated and precipitous” and that various government departments must increase the implementation of the employment priority policy. Figure: Reprinted from Xinhuanet (file photo)