He also oversaw the Beijing Olympics and a decade of double-digit economic growth. His leadership style was more consultative - the result of a balance of party factions in the top leadership. Hu, who led China from 2003 to 2013, represented a different, more open era. “With Xi, he doesn’t do these things for nothing,” Mr. They included weakness in the Party, in the economy, and in national security, as well as the Party’s posture toward Hong Kong and Taiwan. Xi went down a list of dissatisfactions, those accumulated during the decade before his rule. Last Sunday, in his keynote speech at the opening of the Party Congress, Mr. “Given how carefully these meetings are rehearsed and arranged, the fact that they let this happen in front of everyone, in front of the media, is the most important thing,” said Henry Gao, a law professor at Singapore Management University. But the timing, moments after reporters were allowed to enter the hall, was at least suggestive.

The truth, like much else with Chinese politics, will probably never be revealed. Observers cycled through possible explanations: A positive Covid-19 test? Something else health-related? Or a scripted political gesture for international cameras to capture and frame? Xi, who gave the elder leader an expressionless nod, and Li Keqiang, who as China’s premier is the nation’s second-ranking official.

Hu, who appeared hesitant and possibly confused, said a few words to Mr. But then he stood up by himself, as the attendants continued standing behind him, while some of the senior officials nearby looked on in apparent concern.Īfter a brief exchange with the attendants, Mr. One tried to lift him out of his chair, an effort Mr. Hu, 79, was sitting in the front row next to his successor, Xi Jinping, when two attendants approached his table. China’s frail former leader, Hu Jintao, who presided over one of China’s more open and prosperous periods, was shepherded out of the closing session of an important political meeting on Saturday, a rare disruption in a highly choreographed proceeding.

Instal the new for mac Chang jin hu