Beijing denies Hu Jintao was purged at Xi Jinping’s coronation

Extraordinary scenes of Xi Jinping’s predecessor being escorted out of the Great Hall of the People have overshadowed the closing of the 20th Party Congress.

China's President Xi Jinping, right, sits beside Premier Li Keqiang, left, as former president Hu Jintao, centre, is assisted to leave from the closing ceremony of the 20th China's Communist Party's Congress. Picture: AFP

Beijing has denied that Hu Jintao was purged from a Communist Party conclave overseen by Xi Jinping, claiming instead that China’s former leader was forcibly removed because “he was not feeling well”.

The extraordinary scenes of Mr Hu, 79, being escorted out of the Great Hall of the People on Saturday have overshadowed the closing of the 20th Party Congress, the most important political gathering in the Chinese political calendar.

It triggered speculation that Mr Hu’s removal — by a man believed to be one of General Secretary Xi’s personal bodyguards — may have been a power move by China’s leader to underline his total dominance of the Communist Party before he began his precedent-breaking, third five-year-term.

China’s official news agency Xinhua tried to scotch the purge theory in a tweet late on Saturday clearly directed at an international audience.

Xinhuanet reporter Liu Jiawen has learned that Hu Jintao insisted on attending the closing session of the Party's 20th National Congress, despite the fact that he has been taking time to recuperate recently.

— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) October 22, 2022

“Xinhuanet reporter Liu Jiawen has learned that Hu Jintao insisted on attending the closing session of the Party’s 20th National Congress, despite the fact that he has been taking time to recuperate recently,” Xinhua said using its Twitter account, a platform banned in China.

“When he was not feeling well during the session, his staff, for his health, accompanied him to a room next to the meeting venue for a rest. Now, he is much better,” Xinhua said.

Video of the eviction showed Mr Hu apparently resisting removal from his seat, right next to Mr Xi, who succeeded him as the Party’s general secretary in 2012.

The scenes have not been broadcast in China. No Chinese media has reported it. Social media posts about his removal have been promptly censored.

Last week, Mr Hu sat through the entirety of Mr Xi’s almost hour long opening speech to the Party Congress.

Looking confused, Mr Hu said something to Mr Xi as he was escorted out of the Great Hall of the People. Mr Hu also patted China’s departing Premier Li Keqiang, Mr Xi’s main leadership rival a decade ago.

I’m seeing a lot of speculation about what just happened in Beijing.

Let’s all just calm down and wait until Xi Jinping explains what on earth just happened at his next press conference. https://t.co/6LkXaQZE9S

— Will Glasgow (@wmdglasgow) October 22, 2022

Both Mr Hu and Mr Li began their political careers in the Communist Youth League. Unlike Mr Xi, neither were the sons of senior Communist Party figures.

Mr Hu’s son, Hu Haifeng, was in the audience as a delegate to the Congress in his role as party secretary of Lishui in Zhejiang province.

The incident — which clearly surprised Mr Hu — has been the only unexpected moment in the week-long event that has been meticulously choreographed by Mr Xi.

Victor Shih, a Chinese politics expert at the University of California, San Diego, said the manner of Mr Hu’s removal was “simply astonishing”, although he cautioned that it was unclear what had taken place.

Bill Bishop, author of the influential Sinocism newsletter, said he was sceptical about claims that Mr Xi had ordered the purging of his predecessor in front of the cameras.

But Mr Bishop said, whatever the reason for his removal, the “scene was humiliating”.

“The image of Hu Jintao being led out is a perfect symbol of Xi’s absolute decimation of the ‘Communist Youth League’ faction,” he said.

The private lives of the Communist Party’s current and former leaders are treated as top secrets in China.

Gui Minhai, who previously wrote and published books in Hong Kong about senior Communist Party figures, was snatched by Chinese secret police while on holiday in Thailand in 2015.

The Swedish citizen reappeared in China where he gave a forced confession. Mr Gui is currently serving a 10-year sentence in a Chinese prison.