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Hu Xijin Boldly Interpreted Why Xi Jinping Was not on the CCP’s Core Media

Recently there have been many discussions on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) infight. One hot discussion was the fight between Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the CCP, and the faction of Jiang Zemin, former CCP head; and another one is the fight between Xi and Li Keqiang, China’s Premier. Chinascope is not able to verify the validity of these reports.

The Epoch Times reported that on May 17 and 18, People’s Daily, one of the CCP’s main mouthpiece, listed Li Keqiang, Wang Yang, and Li Zhanshu, one after the other, on its front page but didn’t cover Xi Jinping. That was unusual, since Xi usually receives the most coverage on the media. In the CCP’s internal factions, Li Keqiang and Wang Yang, ranked number 2 and 4 of the CCP Politburo Standing Committee members, are in the Communist Youth League faction; Li Zhanshu, ranked number 3 of the Politburo Standing Committee member, is Xi’s ally.

Hu Xijin, the former chief editor of the CCP’s mouthpiece Global Times, made an comment on his Weibo account. He highlighted in a red box an article on promoting China’s economy (which is Li Keqiang’s position) on the front page of the May 17 People’s Daily, and commented, “This is a very important signal. Follow this signal, put aside your doubts and uncertainties, and embrace new opportunities. Then you will be proved to be real business heroes and a hero of these times.” Next to Hu’s red box, were two other articles reporting Li Keqiang’s and Wang Yang’s activities. So Hu’s comments could be interpreted as having double meaning.

There are other reports on the power balancing as well. On May 11, the Wall Street Journal published an article titled, “Li Keqiang steps out of Xi Jinping’s shadow.”

On May 14, both Xinhua News Agency and the People’s Daily published the full text of Li Keqiang’s 9,000-word speech given on April 25. It is not very common to report something 20 days ago, especially publishing the full text.

On the other hand, the front pages of People’s Daily on May 15 and 16 reported Xi Jinping, without the appearance of any other senior CCP leaders.

No article about Xi Jinping appeared on the front page of the Xinhua website on May 18. Nor did the PLA Daily have one on May 18 either.

Source: Epoch Times, May 18, 2022.
https://www.epochtimes.com/b5/22/5/17/n13739454.htm

RFI Chinese: The Chinese “Yiwu Index” Points to a Trump Win

Radio France Internationale (RFI) Chinese Edition recently reported that China’s unofficial “Yiwu Index” is spreading a wave of indicators across the Chinese language Web (the Mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore), pointing to a Trump win. Yiwu is a Chinese town in the Zhejiang Province. It is where most of the world’s small goods are manufactured and wholesaled. This includes campaign goods like flags and buttons that are used across the world’s political landscape. According to reports from major Mainland (Tencent News), Singapore (Lianhe Zaobao) and Taiwanese (CNA) news media, just counting a single 5-square-meter wholesale counter, the owner Li Qingxiang has sold over 100,000 “Trump 2020” 5 inch x 3 inch flags alone. Only a couple of thousand same-size Biden flags have been sold. Li said, “The orders don’t lie.” Another Yiwu salesman, Zhou, revealed that, since the winter of 2019, he has been receiving “continuous Trump flag orders” with more than ten patterns. Biden flags have only one pattern with less than one fifth of the order volume, and the orders only started coming in since February. Fairly early, the Yiwu Index had correctly predicted the 2016 U.S. election result.

Source: RFI Chinese, September 1, 2020
https://bit.ly/2ZaGvdy

CCP Special Forces Used Dim Mak Technique to Kill Hong Kong Protesters

Epoch Times reported that an Internet posting stated that the special police forces in China were responsible for a number of the “floating corpses of protesters” in Hong Kong. After comparing many pictures, the author, who said he is in the special police forces, concluded that the Chinese special police forces did the killing with a special killing technique that only they know, called Dim Mak.

Dim Mak (点穴 or 点脉), is a mysterious Chinese martial arts technique. It was invented by Master Zhang Sanfeng (born in the 12th century) as part of his Wudang martial arts and healing system. Chinese medicine theory stresses the flow of “qi and blood (气血).” The Dim Mak technique is to press or hit a person’s acupoint to block the qi and blood flow either immediately or slowly, which can give that person great pain, slow or hinder his movement, or,  in the severe cases, lead to his death. This technique is also called “Touch of Death.”

Dim Mak may sound foreign and incredible to Westerners, but, thanks to martial arts novels, the concept is widely known to Chinese. Many Chinese martial arts practitioners know or believe it.

Since the “anti-extradition” movement in Hong Kong started in May, the conflict between the police and the protesters has become more and more brutal. Since June, more than one hundred protesters have been found to have mysteriously committed “suicide.” A number of “floating corpses” were found in water or in the seas, including that of Chan Yin-lam, a 15-year-old female student who had been a diving team member and was a good swimmer. One reporter observed that, when being arrested, it is not unusual for protesters to shout their name and yell that they are not suicidal. “If they aren’t heard from again, they want to make sure it’s clear who’s to blame.”

The Hong Kong police have failed to provide a satisfactory explanation in those cases. Many times, the authorities did a quick examination of the dead body and then sent it to be cremated.

Since the dead bodies did not have any sign of a clear fatal injury or convincing drowning signs, the author of the posting argued that the Chinese special forces used the “Dim Mak” technique to put the victims in a state of near death and let them die “naturally” in the water over a period of time.

The author pointed out, “The training of special forces in any country in the world is focused on controlling and killing suspects. Only China has another kind of training to put the apprehended in a near death state that can last for some time via Dim Mak.”

“The bodies that were pulled out from the waters had obvious bruises, which were likely to be the result of the special forces staff hitting or pressing the acupoints on the person’s arms, chest, abdomen, thighs, ankles, and back.”

The author claimed that “this is the most secretive murder method of the Chinese special forces” and is “killing without evidence.” “Even the professional forensic doctors cannot find, through an autopsy, what the real cause of death was and where the fatal blow was.”

Epoch Times said that it is not able to verify the accuracy of the claim.

Sources:
1. Epoch Times, November 2, 2019
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/19/11/2/n11628953.htm
2. Taiji World website
http://www.taijiworld.com/Dim-Mak.html
3. Atlantic, November 12, 2019
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2019/11/escalating-violence-hong-kong-protests/601804/

A Former Politburo Member Rumored to Retire in the United States

According to Hong Kong based Apple Daily, a senior Chinese official is now retiring in the United States. Jiang Chunyun once served as a member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee, Vice Chairman of the National People’s Congress, and Vice Premier of China’s State Council. He has now settled in the United States. The Politburo, or Political Bureau, is the leadership organization of the CCP Central Committee, a collection of the top 25 some most powerful senior CCP cadres in China. The news was widely spread via the Internet and was not confirmed. There have been quite a few rumors about former Chinese officials living in the United States, but the exact number is not known.

Jiang became the secretary of the Shandong Provincial Party Committee during the period in of Student Movement in 1989. After the 14th National Congress of the CCP, he was promoted as a member of the Politburo of the CCP Central Committee, while still serving as CCP secretary of Shandong. In 1994, he became a member of CCP Central Committee Secretariat. A year later, he was appointed as the vice premier of the State Council in charge of the agricultural economy.

Source: Radio France International, December 2, 2018
http://rfi.my/3Ol.T

Internet Posting: Deng Xiaoping’s Political Will

A message about Deng Xiaoping’s political will was spread over the Internet in China. It said that a book called Will was recently published in China. The book revealed a great deal of inside information about Deng Xiaoping and Zhongnanhai. The highlight of the book was the last part, in which Deng Xiaoping gave his political will to Hu Jintao, Zeng Qinghong, and Wang Ruilin (then military General; he had served as Deng’s political secretary for a long time). The following are several points made in the book:

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HK Frontline: Wang Huning Reveals Direction of Political Reform

The Hong Kong magazine Frontline reported that, from early March to March 13, Wang Huning, Xi Jinping’s top think tanker and advisor hosted a secret forum with over 40 other think tankers in attendance to discuss China’s political structure.

People from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Policy Office, the State Council’s Policy Office, the CCP Central Party School, the Academy of Social Science, and some ministry and provincial policy offices participated in the forum.

The meeting reviewed how the CCP Central Committee and Politburo of each CCP Party Congress, from 1990s to the present, followed the Constitution and how each exercised its decision-making power.

Wang Huning pointed out, "The status and operations of the CCP Central Committee and Politburo exhibit large gaps and obstructions to the implementation of the rule of law. The Party Central Committee’s policies and measures sometimes were ‘severely interfered with, twisted, or given only lip-service.’ Divisions of opinion within the Party have existed for a long time."

Xi Jinping gave three talks at the forum. He asked for participants to provide "opinions and suggestions that suit China’s situation and are in line with the world’s trend and progression." He also emphasized, "[We] can’t wait any longer! Our generation has to live up to the people’s expectations and appeals."

Source: Aboluowang.com, May 17, 2016
http://www.aboluowang.com/2016/0517/739834.html

Second Letter Calling for Immediate Impeachment of Xi Jinping Appeared on the Internet

On March 29, a second letter circulated on the Internet calling for the Impeachment of Chinese President Xi Jinping. At the time, Xi was attending the Nuclear Summit in Washington D.C. The letter titled “An Open Letter to the Entire Party, the Army, and the People, Calling for the Immediate Impeachment of Xi Jinping and His Removal from All Posts Inside and Outside of the Party.” 171 Chinese Communist members purportedly proposed the letter, which first appeared on the blog of MingJing (Der Spiegel), a weekly magazine, and has since been removed from the website. The article is currently circulating on a number of other Chinese websites. The letter alleges Xi has committed five categories of crimes and demands his immediate dismissal. The letter also asks all Party members to vote for a new Party leader at the 19th CCP Congress. 

Source: China Digital Times, March 31 
https://chinadigitaltimes.net/chinese/2016/03/【立此存照】就立即罢免习近平同志党内外一切职/

South Korean Newspaper: Cancellation of North Korean Performance Could Impact Relations with China

The South Korean daily newspaper JoongAng Ilbo was among the first to report the cancellation of well publicized North Korean performances scheduled for the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing from Dec. 12 to 14. Two North Korean troupes, the Moranbong Band and the State Merited Chorus, were scheduled to perform. However, on December 12 they suddenly cancelled.


Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s paramount leader, selected the members of the Moranbong Band. Its performance was supposed to restore relations between North Korea and China. The unexpected cancellation could negatively impact relations between Beijing and Pyongyang. China’s official Xinhua News Agency cited "communication issues at the working level" as the cause. 

A Chinese official in charge of North Korean issues, who watched the rehearsal, gave JoongAng Ilbo his take on the term "working level." He said the Moranbong Band had numerous missile launching images in its backdrop. The Chinese noticed this on December 11. Since Kim gave a speech last Thursday about his country’s development of a hydrogen bomb, the Chinese believed the backdrop was a problem, and asked that the images be removed. The North Koreans could have refused. JoongAng Ilbo acknowledged in the report that this was an unconfirmed interpretation. 

Another Chinese official told the newspaper, "It was not the Chinese side that cancelled the performances." This could be corroborated in Xinhua‘s report which indicated that China is "ready to continue to work with [North Korea] to promote bilateral exchanges and cooperation in culture and in all other areas." 

Sources: JoongAng Ilbo, December 14, 2015 
http://chinese.joins.com/gb/article.do?method=detail&art_id=144869 
Xinhua News Agency, December 12, 2015 
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2015-12/12/c_1117441343.htm