Wang Zhonglin, secretary of the CPC Wuhan Municipal Committee, asked the people to be grateful to the General Secretary and the Communist Party. It triggered an online bombardment. (Photo source: video screenshot)
A few days ago, Wang Xiaodong, the governor of Hubei Province, who is said to be one of the “Hubei F4”, was rumored to have left his post. According to the pro-Beijing Hong Kong media Sing Tao Daily, Wang Zhonglin, a member of the Standing Committee of the Hubei Provincial Committee and Secretary of the Wuhan Municipal Committee, will replace Wang Xiaodong as the governor of Hubei Province. In September last year, Wang Xiaodong was rumored to have suffered a stroke and was once “missing” for many months. Wang Zhonglin has also been involved in official scandals.
The outbreak of the Communist Party virus (Xin Guan) in Wuhan the previous December has been the focus of criticism from key officials in Hubei province and Wuhan city over questions about underreporting and late reporting of the outbreak. Chinese netizens have sarcastically dubbed four of these key officials the “Hubei F4. They are Jiang Chaoliang, secretary of the CPC Hubei Provincial Committee, Wang Xiaodong, governor of Hubei Province, Ma Guoqiang, secretary of the Wuhan Municipal Committee, and Zhou Xianwang, mayor of Wuhan.
Jiang Chaoliang, then secretary of the Hubei Provincial Party Committee, and Ma Guoqiang, secretary of the Wuhan Municipal Party Committee, were removed from their posts following the outbreak of the epidemic in February last year. Former Shanghai Mayor Ying Yong and Jinan Party Secretary Wang Zhonglin took over as Hubei Secretary and Wuhan Secretary, respectively. Zhou Xianwang was transferred to the Hubei People’s Political Consultative Conference in January this year, and his duties were taken over by Cheng Yongwen, director of the Hubei Provincial Development and Reform Commission. Hubei Governor Wang Xiaodong continues to serve, but is expected to be transferred soon.
In an interview with CCTV, Wang said Hubei had “sufficient supplies” at a time when the epidemic was at a critical stage and many hospitals in Hubei were publicly appealing for donations of protective supplies. He was also questioned for not wearing a mask at a press conference on the epidemic.
In September last year, Wang, 61, was rumored to have suffered a stroke and was hospitalized due to the stress of fighting the epidemic, and disappeared from public view for a while. It was not until November last year that he made another “appearance” in the official media and resumed public activities from this year.
Wang Zhonglin, 59, who is rumored to have taken over as governor of Hubei province, was formerly director of the Development and Reform Commission of Shandong province, mayor of Jinan, and secretary of the municipal party committee before taking over as secretary of the Wuhan municipal party committee early last year.
The Chinese Communist Party’s concealment of the truth has led to the spread of the epidemic around the world. The people of Wuhan, Hubei, and all Chinese and people around the world are the victims. But a month after he took office last year, Wang Zhonglin asked the people to be “grateful to the Party and to Xi Jinping” for his visit to Wuhan, which triggered a public backlash and led the authorities to pull the story and change the tone.
In an article in the Taiwanese newspaper Shangpao, commentator Zheng Zhongyuan said that the “Hubei F4”, who originally held real power in Hubei and the provincial capital Wuhan, were beaten up by Xi Jinping’s central government on the grounds that they were responsible for the out-of-control epidemic. The unspoken rule of the Chinese Communist Party system is that these four people are destined to be thrown out, but because Xi Jinping himself is actually responsible, and because they may have their own backers in the official circles, Xi Jinping has gone to great lengths to deal with these four people.
Zheng Zhongyuan also said that under the state system, from hospitals, local health departments, disease control departments, central and State Council-level departments, all the way to the top of the Communist Party, all conspired to hide the epidemic. Xi Jinping, in particular, is full of extreme stability maintenance thinking, which could make things worse due to his own sense of protecting the party.
Official information so far shows that these four people were not really punished for concealing the epidemic, and that the Hubei officialdom as a whole was on the rise before the 20th Communist Party Congress.
Wang Lishan, a former member of the Standing Committee of the Hubei Provincial Party Committee and Secretary of the Discipline Inspection Commission, was recently found to have moved to Beijing as head of the Discipline Inspection and Supervision Group of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection in the People’s Congress and a member of the party group of the Standing Committee of the CPC Central Committee.
During the outbreak of the virus last year, Wang was parachuted into Hubei as a member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Hubei Provincial Committee and director of the Provincial Health and Wellness Commission, but is still the deputy director of the National Health and Wellness Commission. Wang left Hubei recently and returned to Beijing to serve as the first director of the newly formed National Bureau of Disease Control and Prevention.
Ying Yong, the current secretary of the Hubei Provincial Party Committee, has been seen as a favorite to join the Politburo at the 20th National Congress because he is a former member of Xi Jinping’s party.
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