Beijing Has No Way Out of the Crises It Faces: Chinese Scholar

Beijing Has No Way Out of the Crises It Faces: Chinese Scholar
Leng Jiefu, professor and former director of the political department of Renmin University. (Provided to The Epoch Times by interviewee)
Nicole Hao
9/20/2020
Updated:
9/23/2020

Nothing can help the Chinese communist regime as it battles with crises on multiple fronts, according to a Chinese scholar who earlier this year called on Chinese leader Xi Jinping to step down.

Leng Jiefu, a retired professor and former director of the politics faculty of Renmin University, a prestigious Chinese university, in April wrote a letter to Wang Yang, Chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, a political advisory body, in which he suggested that Xi should resign in response to growing calls from the international community that the regime be held accountable for its role in causing the global spread of the CCP Virus.

He also urged the regime to adopt a democratic federal system, creating a “United States of China” to solve issues relating to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Uyghurs, and Tibetans.

The letter began circulating online in early September, attracting widespread attention among Chinese netizens.

Leng, in a recent interview with The Epoch Times, confirmed he sent the letter, but lamented that the recommendations were now “out of date” given a range of worrying developments in recent months.

“Now it’s too late! Probably even federalism and Xi’s regime can’t solve the issues,” he told The Epoch Times in a phone interview.

Leng pointed to a series of crises resulting from the regime’s aggressions in Hong Kong and Taiwan, its repression of ethnic minorities, and deteriorating relations with other countries.

In Hong Kong, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) imposed a national security law which took effect in July, prompting sweeping international condemnation, sanctions from the United States, and broad backlash from the city’s residents, he said.
The Chinese regime has also ratcheted up military activity in the Taiwan strait, spurring increased U.S. naval moves in the region.
In Inner Mongolia, the CCP recently introduced a policy eliminating Mongolian language teaching in classrooms, sparking widespread boycotts among locals and angering ethnic Mongolians around the world.
Overseas, Leng said the regime has seen worsening relations with a range of Western countries including the United States, Australia, Canada, and the Czech Republic.

April Letter

In his April letter, Leng wrote about how the regime should respond to rising demands from around the world calling for billions in compensation for Beijing’s coverup of the CCP Virus resulting in its global spread.

“How shall we deal with the compensation? Shall we fight all these countries?” Leng said in the letter. “[If we fight], we won’t have any friends [in the world] but have a burden—North Korea.”

“The best strategy is to let Xi Jinping resign from all his positions … Then the pressure from the international community will be minimized … At that time, the new regime leader can handle the foreign affairs easily,” Leng added.

Leng also addressed the Taiwan issue, saying, “It’s more and more impossible that we [mainland China] can unify Taiwan because Taiwan has the support from the United States.”

The CCP sees Taiwan as part of its own territory, even though the democratic island is self-ruled with its own government, military, and currency.

Leng said the reason why the United States supports Taiwan is because it supports democracy. He then suggested: “Adopting a democratic federal system is the best solution to solve Taiwan issue.”

Such a federal system would see China divided into several regions, with each region governed by an autonomous regime. Each of these autonomous regimes would also fall under a federal administration in Beijing. By setting up a federal government, issues in Hong Kong and Xinjiang would be resolved, Leng said.

“Granting Hongkongers autonomous rights can restore Hong Kong’s status as a free port and develop its economy,” Leng wrote. “The federal system can solve China’s ethnic conflicts because the ethnic conflicts only can be solved by conciliation, not by suppression.”

In contrast with official Chinese positions opposing the United States, Leng considers the country as China’s “best friend.”

“It hasn’t invaded any of our land. The support we have received from the U.S. is more and bigger than the support from any other country [in history],” he wrote.

Leng also broached China’s domestic issues, such as agriculture. In the last two decades, a growing number of Chinese farmers have become migrant workers flocking to the cities because Beijing didn’t have policies to support farmers, he wrote.

Leng suggested that the regime create incentives to encourage farmers to stay in villages and spur agriculture.

This year, the CCP virus pandemic, flooding, droughts, and pests have devastated crops in the country. China is now grappling with food shortage and stepping up agriculture imports to feed people.
Nicole Hao is a Washington-based reporter focused on China-related topics. Before joining the Epoch Media Group in July 2009, she worked as a global product manager for a railway business in Paris, France.
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