Hu Jintao’s Exit From China’s Communist Party Congress Causes a Stir

Choreography of the congress that extended Xi Jinping’s rule of China was briefly disrupted over the weekend by a highly unusual and unceremonious exit from the proceedings by Mr. Xi’s predecessor, 79-year-old Hu Jintao.To get more news about china party congress, you can visit shine news official website.

The midmeeting departure of Mr. Hu on Saturday highlighted 69-year-old Mr. Xi’s supremacy and served as a reminder of a generational shift in power at the top of the Chinese Communist Party.

Also, Jiang Zemin, the 96-year-old who preceded Mr. Hu as party chief and president, was among notable retired party stalwarts who didn’t appear along with the almost 2,300 delegates in the Great Hall of the People for the opening of the congress on Oct. 16. Former Premier Zhu Rongji, who turns 94 on Monday, also was absent.

The party on Sunday handed Mr. Xi a mandate to rule into a second decade and announced a new slate of leaders under him as rivals head toward retirement. The congress provides a rare vantage point to observe party elders, who tend to disappear from public view once retired, even as they retain a behind-the-scenes role in power-maneuvering.
Midway through the otherwise carefully choreographed closing session of the congress on Saturday, Mr. Hu was helped out of his chair next to Mr. Xi and inexplicably led out of the hall. Mr. Hu’s ashen look and gray mop of hair had already made him stand out during the congress’s opening session on Oct. 16, and to some China watchers the image seemed to illustrate his faded relevance in the Xi era.

Footage shot by foreign media in the hall, which wasn’t included in the official China Central Television broadcast, showed Mr. Hu seemingly reluctant or unable to stand up when an aide tried to lift him off his chair.

In the commotion, Mr. Xi leaned toward Mr. Hu and appeared to speak with him, pulling back a document Mr. Hu set his hand upon. Mr. Hu was ushered off the center dais, briefly looking back at Mr. Xi and patting outgoing Premier Li Keqiang on the shoulder as he walked out, unsupported.

Other senior leaders remained seated but appeared dumbfounded. As the meeting continued, Mr. Xi presided next to an empty chair.It wasn’t clear why Mr. Hu left or where he went. The incident has gone unmentioned in China’s domestic media coverage and no trace of it could be found on the Chinese internet. China’s State Council didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

On Twitter, Xinhua news agency suggested Mr. Hu’s issue was health-related. In English, indicating the report was aimed at an international audience, the government-run agency said Mr. Hu “was not feeling well during the session” and left to rest in a room next to the meeting venue. “Now, he is much better,” the account said.

Mr. Hu’s decadelong tenure as party leader and president was notable for a collective leadership of China that Mr. Xi abandoned after taking power in 2012. Mr. Hu hails from a faction of the party known as the China Youth League that lost importance under Mr. Xi. A number of Mr. Hu’s protégés were also targeted in Mr. Xi’s anticorruption investigations.
CCTV’s nightly news broadcast on Saturday carried video of Mr. Hu alongside Mr. Xi during the meeting and voting with other delegates, but ignored his departure.

Party secrecy about Chinese leaders, including their health, tends to fuel rumors. In the absence of details, Mr. Hu’s departure was a major topic of debate online outside China over whether it reflected health issues or power politics.

Mr. Hu’s removal didn’t have the stage-managed feel of an orchestrated purge, said China expert Jude Blanchette of the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. Though he said that interpretation is understandable given the otherwise “raw demonstration of [Mr.] Xi’s dominance and disregard for the norms, rules and compromises that have guided Chinese politics for several decades.”

Retired party elders rarely appear in public, but they retain influence in China, and their presence at major party events can signal regime continuity. Mr. Jiang in particular had sometimes also been a counterweight to his successors, Messrs. Hu and Xi, according to political analysts.