A new video released by Singapore-based TV channel Channel News Asia puts in a different light what happened on Saturday 22nd October at the conclusion of the XX. Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Congress happened. The official Xinhua News Agency reported that Hu Jintao’s unexpected departure was caused by health problems, but pictures released on Tuesday provide a new insight into what happened. While they don’t entirely deny the official line that the ex-president was dismissed due to illness, they do suggest that the package of documents in front of him played a role in the incident.
The video begins with Jintao’s neighbor on the podium of the Great Hall of the People, Li Zhanshu, taking a document from his hands and putting it back under a red cover, the kind found in front of all other top leaders while he is with Who argues.
A thread on key moments:
1/ The current head of the Chinese Legislature, Li Zhanshu, is seen taking papers from Mr. Hu’s hand, arranging them and placing them back on the table while leaning forward and speaking to him pic.twitter.com/UsZv6Kk5Ny– Olivia Siong (@OliviaSiongCNA) October 24, 2022
First he leaves the documents in front of the confused-looking former leader. Then, perhaps worried that Hu might try to pull the document out again, Zhanshu pulls the stack of papers towards him and holds it in his hand.
Xi Jinping glances to the side of the stage, most likely to ask someone for help, as a senior assistant approaches and speaks to him briefly before walking away.
Li Zhanshu continues talking to Hu Jintao while Xi looks straight ahead with his eyes fixed. The young assistant, who will soon escort Hu off the stage, comes in, talks to Hu and Li for a moment, then goes and talks a little more with Xi.
At this point, the film shows the images that we have all already seen. The assistant takes former President Jintao’s arm to help him stand up. At the exit, Hu tries to take Xi Jinping’s notes that were on the table between them, but Xi raises his hand and holds the papers.
It is unclear whether this is actually a political purge. In the video, Hu Jintao appears confused – which would confirm his alleged health problem – but at the same time he doesn’t seem to want to leave when asked to get up. In addition, footage of the incident was not broadcast in China, and the names of the former president and his son Hu Haifeng were censored on the internet within the country’s Great Firewall. What is certain is that Hu Jintao’s departure carries political weight and has a humiliating effect on the former president’s figure, while Xi Jinping emerges strengthened. Prominent on the stage, like now in Chinese politics.