next // (Scott Johnson).
Reuters has a good story about the forcible removal from Saturday’s closing ceremony of Communist Party Congress of Hu Jintao, the former Chinese President.
Hu, 79-year-old Hu Jinping, was seated to the right of Xi. Two stewards led him off the main stage of the Great Hall of the People’s Beijing auditorium, a witness to the congress told Reuters.
AFP published video footage showing a steward repeatedly lifting Hu from his chair. This drew concern looks from officials sitting nearby. Hu then placed his hand on a piece of paper that was placed in Xi’s folder. Xi quickly took the sheet.
Reuters continues the story by adding this: “Video footage of the incident, highly uncommon given the meticulous stage-management of most such events was shared widely on Twitter, but could not be found in China’s heavily censored Social Media platforms.”
This is a case of persecution and the art to write — i.e. communication between the lines under illiberal circumstances: “On China’s Twitter-like Weibo,” a few social media users alluded the incident by commenting old posts featuring Hu. It’s a common tactic used evade cyberspacecensors. It’s a lesson that may come in handy for us.
President Xi Jinping concludes the Communist Party Congress with a bang. Hu Jintao, his predecessor, is seated next to him. He resigned in 2013. Xi watches passively as his goons frogmarch Hu from the auditorium. Who is in charge? No, Xi is. (I couldn’t resist.) pic.twitter.com/HHK1N1J6Qi
Mike (@Doranimated October 22, 2022
