Song Ping, 105, calls for the reform and opening-up policy launched by Deng Xiaoping to be upheld. Xi points to a new centralization of the economy. Most of the president’s critics remain cautious. New purge among the executors of Xi’s anti-corruption campaign.
Beijing () – The “old guard” of the Chinese Communist Party disagrees with Xi Jinping and makes their voices heard. In a video message broadcast since mid-September, later censored, Song Ping, 105, affirms that the reform and opening-up policy inaugurated 40 years ago by Deng Xiaoping “is the only path that ensures China’s development and prosperity. , and guarantees the realization of the Chinese dream”.
As noted in Asian Nikkei, the former member of the Politburo Standing Committee under Deng cleverly used the same words as Xi in the past. But the Chinese supreme leader’s orientation is to abandon Deng’s economic openings and re-centralize the economy more. This is evidenced by his campaign for “common prosperity”: according to critics, the promises of redistribution of national wealth actually hide a tightening of the private sector, especially the large high-tech groups that could become an internal “counterpower” .
With his appeal, Song aims to keep Deng’s political legacy alive on the eve of the 20th Party Congress, which opens on Oct. 16. Xi will most likely get a third (and possibly fourth) term in office. Along the same lines as Song would be his political “godsons,” former President Hu Jintao and former Premier Wen Jiabao, as well as current Premier Li Keqiang.
In his 10 years at the helm of the country, Xi has managed to concentrate a lot of power in his own hands, placing his men in the strategic ganglia of the regime. He has created his own group within the CCP (the word faction in Communist China is associated with the disgraced): it includes comrades from Tsinghua University in Beijing and those who collaborated with him in the provinces of Fujian and Zhejiang, and in Shanghai.
In theory, Xi’s group is opposed by Premier Li’s (and former President Hu’s) Communist Youth, Jiang Zemin’s Shanghai “clique”, the Tsinghua clan and the “princes”, the sons of early Party leaders (originally Xi’s fringe group).
Bo Zhiyue, president and founder of the China Institute, points out in Think China that, in reality, these “factions” have come together in a kind of single group with very tenuous links, where most of the members remain on guard to avoid possible persecution, and to see if in the end Xi will be the true winner of the contest.
Song sent a message that smacks of defiance, given that months ago the Party’s disciplinary bodies threatened severe punishments against retired leaders who criticized the general secretary’s line. And this also applies to Xi’s former allies. Prosecutors have just called for the prosecution of Liu Yanping, who headed the anti-corruption bureau of the Ministry of State Security under the Xi government.
Last week, a court sentenced former Vice Minister of Public Security Sun Lijun to life in prison “for seriously damaging the Party’s unity.” However, the most serious accusation is that of being the head of a circle of political leaders “disloyal” to Xi, including former Justice Minister Fu Zhenghua, who was also sentenced to life imprisonment.
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