Chapter 03 From Bun Xi to Emperor Xi (2)

The Hong Kong media analyzed that because Hu Jintao had too deep a grudge against Jiang Zemin, it was difficult to cooperate with him anymore. The first thing that happened was that Hu Jintao did not participate, and some of the original supporters of the Standing Committee to participate in the fall of Xi also backed out. This led to the failure of bringing down Xi Jinping by Jiang and Zeng. The first thing Xi Jinping did when he later on learned of the attempted coup plot was to pay a visit to Hu Jintao to express his “sincere gratitude” for saving him from being stepped down.

Xi Jinping’s crazy personal worship and crackdown on dissent within the party provoked a fierce resentment within the party. In March 2016, 170 loyal party members wrote an open letter demanding the immediate removal of Xi Jinping. The letter pointed out Xi Jinping’s 5 major mistakes : one, to create a cult of the personal worship; two, to destroy the rule against the law of personal dictatorship; three, to disregard for people’s livelihood spilling the country’s wealth to the outside country; four, to combat dissidents using the military; five, his corrupt life having affairs. Xi Jinping sent people to kidnap the bookstore owner in Hong Kong because he had published a book about Xi’s affairs. The open letter ended with a request to elect the general secretary for 80 million party members with each one casting their vote.

Xi Jinping’s frenzied personal worship and the use of anti-corruption crackdown on political opponents to seize power had provoked a strong backlash within the party. Overseas media published a joint letter from a number of top members of Communist Party’s central committee, demanding a meeting to deal with Xi Jinping’s problems and rumors that the seniors intended to let Standing Committee member Wang Yang take over from Xi Jinping, with Vice Premier Hu Chunhua replacing Xi’s over-hyped cultural and propaganda Standing Committee member Wang Huning.

The media in Hong Kong continued to report that a number of retired members of the Standing Committee were unhappy with Xi Jinping’s use of anti-corruption to crackdown on Politburo members and were disgusted with Xi Jinping’s statement that “anti-corruption is always on the way” and that “tigers and flies are beaten together,” saying that he was engaged in a major internal conflict that continued on a large scale. They took the opportunity to appear in public to express their discontent or to conspire with each other to cause panic to Xi Jinping. Some media reported that Jiang Zemin personally visited Hu Jintao in the South China Sea where he was on vacation and visited Li Ruihuan in Tianjin in an attempt to dispel past prejudices and seek cooperation against Xi. Fearing that the patriarchs were colluding to overthrow him, Xi kept rotating their guards, assigning the guards to monitor their activities further provoking the patriarchs’ resentment and increasing conflicts.

Xi Jinping’s grasp of power and sole control of everything is unprecedented in the history of the Communist Party of China. In addition to the three highest titles of General Secretary, State President and Chairman of the Military Commission, he is also the Chairman of the National Security Council, head of the Leading Group for Deep Reform, head of the Leading Group for Military Reform, head of the Central Leading Group for Taiwan Work, Chairman of the Committee for Civil-Military Integration and Development, and the Chairman of the Network Security Committee. The State Council Premier Li Keqiang has been marginalized, the State Council Premier has been put under his leadership of the Central Leading Group of Finance and Economics. The other six Standing Committee of the Politburo have to report to him, the collective leadership is denied and the Standing Committee no longer has the right to vote. If Xi Jinping visits abroad, the Standing Committee is suspended, they don’t dare decide anything, they must wait for his return to the country to deal with the board.