Chinese Communist Party Vice President Wang Qishan appeared at the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) on 20 May.
A few days ago, Wang Qishan appeared at the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia organized by the Chinese Communist Party, calling himself an “impromptu host” and announcing for Xi Jinping. Wang’s touting of Xi but trembling performance has sparked speculation. Some experts believe that this indicates that Wang is in a difficult situation, but also that Xi and Wang private communication channels are gone.
Boao Forum for Asia 2021 annual meeting, held in Boao, Hainan, from April 18 to 21. According to official announcements by the Communist Party of China, this year’s forum was attended by participants from more than 60 countries, 40 dignitaries and former dignitaries, and dozens of leaders of international organizations. But except for South Korea and New Zealand, the rest are representatives of Asian and African countries.
At the opening ceremony on the 20th, after Ban Ki-moon, Chairman of Boao Forum for Asia, delivered a speech, the emcee of the conference introduced Wang Qishan, Vice President of the Communist Party of China, to the stage. And Wang came on stage, the first sentence off the script said, “First of all, I am not a speech, …… speech is our head of state, President Xi Jinping.”
Then, Wang Qishan said that according to his understanding, his role is a “temporary host”, only for Xi Jinping’s speech to make a “curtain call”, doing so reflects China’s “high respect for our President The president of the People’s Republic of China, Mr. Wang, said that he was “highly respectful of our president.
After this clarification, Wang Qishan officially entered the “curtain call” session, which was less than 200 words in total.
Wang Qishan’s speech sparked a lot of public attention and debate.
Qin Peng, an economic and current affairs commentator for several English and Chinese media, forwarded a video of the scene saying that Wang Qishan was trembling on thin ice! Some netizens also said that this is a statement that Wang Qishan is in trouble these days.
Civic Power Vice President Han Lianchao also tweeted that Wang Qishan called himself a temporary host to report for Xi Jinping, just short of calling himself a lackey and bowing down three times. The relationship between Xi and Wang has long been reduced to that of ruler and subject, but it was not expected that Wang Qishan would publicly bow down and call himself a servant. This also reflects the perversity and distortion of the relationship within the CCP, which is completely dead.
Cai Xia, a former professor at the CPC Party School, retweeted this tweet by Han Lianchao, praising the brilliant commentary.
Some netizens asked Cai Xia, a China expert, Wang Jian, said this shows that Wang Qishan is in a bad situation with the phenomenon and needs to use public self-deprecation to get out of it, and also shows that Xi and Wang are out of private communication channels ………
Cai Xia replied that Mr. Wang Jian shares my view. I said this in earlier years. It was at one of the two sessions before the 19th Communist Party Congress. Wang Qishan spoke in one of the delegations, which was very surprising. I posted a comment: Wang’s seniority status position, would not have needed such a gesture. The two are in a precarious relationship, and it looks like private communication has broken down, so Wang had to “shout through the air” to show his loyalty publicly.
Wang Qishan cleared obstacles for Xi along the way
The 73-year-old Wang Qishan was the secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection during Xi Jinping’s first term, in charge of anti-corruption, assisting Xi in his “anti-corruption” campaign against the tigers, taking down Bo Xilai, Su Rong, Zhou Yongkang, Xu Caihou, Guo Boxiong, Ling Plan and many other Jiang faction members.
The fact that Wang Qishan has been clearing the way for Xi for many years is a great credit to him. In March 2018, Wang Qishan became a vice-president without real power and has been keeping a low profile since then.
In May 2018, at the beginning of the US-China trade war, the Wall Street Journal said that Wang Qishan had publicly denied that he was “in charge of managing US-China relations” when he met with US businesspeople. Wang said his job as vice president is to do whatever Xi Jinping tells him to do.
On July 1, 2019, during a meeting with Mexican Foreign Minister Ebrard in Zhongnanhai, Wang said, “I am now responsible for assisting the president in a little bit of ceremonial diplomacy.
Wang Qishan’s change of role from “tiger-fighting” to “ceremonial diplomacy” is seen as a spin-off of the “Xi-Wang system” and Wang’s marginalization.
In 2020, Wang Qishan was at the center of a power struggle, and on September 22, Ren Zhiqiang, a Red Duo close to Wang, was sentenced to a heavy prison term for criticizing Xi, and on October 2, Wang’s top butler, Dong Hong, former deputy head of the Central Inspection Group, fell.
On January 29, 2021, HNA Group, which has deep ties to Wang Qishan, was taken over by the government. At the same time, Wang Qishan’s old ministry, former Haikou secretary Zhang Qi, was also named and criticized by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. All signs indicate that Wang Qishan is in a rather bad situation.
However, at this year’s Communist Party’s two sessions, Wang Qishan made a rare effort to hail Xi Jinping and show his loyalty to him, but Dong Hong was still formally filed for investigation on April 12. The story of Xi and Wang’s bad blood has become a topic of discussion again.
Experts analyze the inside story of Xi’s bad blood
The government’s first five years in power were a “Xi-Wang system,” but in the last five years, it entered a system of Xi Jinping and Wang Huning, according to China expert Chen Bukong, who said that although Wang Qishan and Xi Jinping had a friendship and later cooperated at the top, especially in the first five years of Xi’s rise to power.
Why has it come to this situation? According to Chen, Xi Jinping has the mentality of an emperor, so he is afraid of being overwhelmed by his success; he is also afraid of others snoring on his side. Many figures from the princeling party have been sidelined by Xi Jinping, leaving Xi as the only red bloodline of the princeling party left in power.
Wang Qishan, on the other hand, meets both of these criteria: he is the son-in-law of former Vice Premier Yao Yilin; he is very senior in the party and has experience in the economy, finance, and at the provincial and ministerial levels. This is the main reason for the rift in Xi-Wang relationship.
Current affairs commentator Lin He Li also previously analyzed that although Wang Qishan pulled down many political enemies for Xi during Xi Jinping’s first term by fighting corruption, and stabilized the kingdom, Wang Qishan’s ability is very strong, which also makes Xi Jinping wary, so Xi and Wang’s relationship has been cracked in recent years.
The commentator, Wang He, analyzed that Wang Qishan was the right man for Xi to “cleanse his political enemies” and that Xi’s political enemies, the Jiang faction, were bent on instigating a fight between Xi and Wang to separate the two. If the relationship between Xi and Wang deteriorates, of course, his political enemies will be happy.
Moreover, there is also an anti-Xi force in the U.S. political arena, such as the Wall Street Journal, which said late last year that one of the biggest strategic miscalculations of the U.S. in the post-Cold War era was the misjudgment of Xi Jinping. On Jan. 28 this year, the Atlantic Council, a leading U.S. think tank, anonymously released a longer 80-page cable on U.S. strategy toward China, emphasizing the reversal of Xi.
Once anti-Xi forces at home and abroad combine, Xi will be in even greater danger, Wang said.
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