Hu Jintao escorted out of China party congress

Authored by reuters.com and submitted by heyrandomredditor
image for Hu Jintao escorted out of China party congress

BEIJING, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Chinese former President Hu Jintao was unexpectedly escorted out of the closing ceremony of a congress of the ruling Communist Party on Saturday.

Hu, 79, Xi Jinping's immediate predecessor, was seated to the left of Xi. He was led off the stage of the main auditorium of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing by two stewards, a Reuters witness at the congress said.

Video footage published by AFP showed a steward repeatedly trying to lift Hu from his seat, drawing concerned looks from officials seated nearby. Hu then put his hand on a sheet of paper placed on Xi's folder but Xi quickly put his hand on the sheet.

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China's top legislator Li Zhanshu, seated to Hu's right, gave the former president's folder to a steward, wiping his own head with a cloth after Hu finally stood up.

Looking distressed, Hu appeared to resist leaving as the stewards escorted him out, turning back to his seat at one point. On his way out, he exchanged words with Xi and patted Premier Li Keqiang, seated to the right of Xi, on the shoulder.

1/5 Former Chinese president Hu Jintao leaves his seat next to Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang, during the closing ceremony of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China October 22, 2022. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang Read More

Video of the incident, highly unusual given the meticulous stage management of most such events, was widely shared on Twitter but could not be found on China's heavily censored social media platforms.

On China's Twitter-like Weibo, a few social media users alluded to the incident by commenting on old posts featuring Hu, a common tactic used to evade cyberspace censors.

By Saturday evening, however, the comments section of almost all Weibo posts containing Hu's name were no longer visible, according to a Reuters review.

State media coverage of the ceremony did not include the scene, which occurred as journalists were entering the hall.

Hu had appeared slightly unsteady last Sunday when he was assisted onto the same stage for the opening ceremony of the congress.

The once-in-five-years congress concluded with amendments to the party's constitution that cements the core status of Xi and the guiding role of his political thought within the party.

Reporting by Eduardo Baptista and Ryan Woo; Editing by Lincoln Feast, William Mallard and Edmund Blair

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

David_Buzzard on October 22nd, 2022 at 08:14 UTC »

Well, you won’t see him no more.

chemhelpthrowaway323 on October 22nd, 2022 at 07:52 UTC »

That’s crazy. Hu wasn’t even some sort of pushover in politics, he used to be the head of the Youth League faction that was, at one point, one of the most influential faction in the Chinese politics, including the Shanghai clique once headed by Jiang Zemin, and the Princeling faction with Xi Jinping.

If any of you have the time, try to read more about Chinese politics. Some of the scandals would make the House of Cards look like a high school drama series.

heyrandomredditor on October 22nd, 2022 at 06:34 UTC »

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TFaG3EpFM8A

Based on the video here, it seems he was uninformed for this.

Edit:

Transcription from r/china_irl:

0:00 - 领导,您站起来一下 Young guy: Leader, please stand up. - ⁠你想干嘛 Hu: What do you want?

0:28 - ⁠我不去 Hu: I don’t want to go.

1:00 - 要干什么 Hu: For what? - 我跟您去趟会议室 Young guy: I will accompany you to the conference room first.