Xi Jinping Focused on Unity in His Chinese New Year Address

Chinese leader Xi Jinping waves during a ceremony to mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party at Tiananmen Gate in Beijing on July 1, 2021. (Ng Han Guan/AP Photo)

Commentary

In his 2022 Chinese New Year address, communist regime leader Xi Jinping talked about unity. He mentioned it 12 times. He twice mentioned the reform and opening-up.

Xi also touted his achievements, such as the adoption of a third historic resolution, the alleviation of poverty, and building a socialist prosperous society.

In fact, the third historic resolution was a compromise of political line struggle; the issue of poverty was only hidden under the regime’s propaganda; and the socialist prosperous society was simply a communist ideological term to cover the misery that average Chinese endure every day.

Take two incidents as examples: A pregnant woman lost her baby over the strict pandemic measures in Xi’an; the July floods in Zhengzhou proved to involve official negligence and concealment of casualties.

Xi claimed the Party’s success in restoring order in Hong Kong, and efforts to facilitate national reunification. He also mentioned that the Party will continue its diplomacy of Chinese characteristics—which we can say is the all too familiar “wolf-warrior diplomacy.”

Protesters gather during clashes with police at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), in Hong Kong on Nov. 12, 2019. (Dale De La Rey/AFP via Getty Images)

Focus on ‘Unity’

The wording of a leader’s speech is always carefully crafted. To the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), it’s focused on the political needs within the Party. “Unity” seemed to be the core of Xi’s new year talk.

I believe Xi was calling for unity within the CCP.

The internal power struggle has escalated to a new level. The adoption of the Party’s third resolution on historical issues promised Xi’s sole leadership in the Party, and concluded the era of his predecessors Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, and Hu Jintao. However, he could not negate the restrictions on individuals due to the centralization of power adopted in the second historic resolution during Deng’s era.

Xi’s true intention was to return to the one man rule just as Mao Zedong did. But, the anti-Xi factions within the Party brought their resistance to civil society, as shown in early January when placards, such as “Down Xi Jinping, Up Reform and Opening-Up,” appeared on the streets of Shenzhen, an economic development zone in south China.

Yuan Hongbing, a Chinese dissident and law expert, said that there are three major forces against Xi: the staunch supporters of Deng’s reform and opening up, CCP elite families who benefited from a market economy; the princeling faction, descendants of prominent or influential CCP echelons; and Jiang’s clique, corrupt officials who shared the same interests during Jiang’s rule.

Yuan believes that Xi’s priority was to stop all three forces from uniting against him.

Therefore, his twice mentioning of reform and opening-up in the latest address seemed to correspond to Yuan’s analysis: It was a strategic talk to comfort Deng’s supporters.

While appeasing one, Xi is attacking another.

Hitting the Tigers

The recent talk by public security chief Zhao Kezhi on purging remaining gang members associated with Sun Lijun, a former deputy minister of Public Security, seemed to demonstrate Xi’s determination to attack.

The purging effort is led by Xi’s confidant, Wang Xiaohong, the incumbent party secretary and deputy minister of Public Security.

Sun, alleged “political ambition,” was known to be backed by Zeng Qinghong and Meng Jianzhu, loyalists of former Party leader Jiang Zemin.

Economist He Qinglian said in her Chinese language commentary on the regime’s “signals” that Xi indeed targeted the Jiang faction in his latest political moves.

As usual, Xi delivered his new year’s greetings to the retired senior cadres, including Jiang and his loyalists, but that doesn’t mean the older tigers can be complacent.

Take Xu Caihou, a former powerful military commander, as an example. He joined Xi in a military festivity in Beijing on Jan. 20, 2014, but was sacked less than two months later on March 15.

Xi’s emphasis on unity in his latest address indicates that the upcoming national meeting of the Party is his major concern. It is important for his third term as Party leader. He demanded that there be preparations for the meeting in  three aspects—economy, society, and politics. He surely knows that unity is only on the surface, and even forced; internal fighting is the core of the regime.

He put it bluntly in a talk on Jan. 18 to his anti-corruption task force, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection: Corruption and the fight against corruption are still raging. Guard against the “key few,” particularly those in command and the leading bodies.

The Year of the Tiger: Mighty or Worried?

In Xi’s new year address, when referring to the Year of the Tiger, he cited the tiger as the king of animals and a symbol of strength. But, he probably hadn’t paid attention to the Chinese New Year stamps issued by the Chinese postal service.

Chinese netizens commented that the zodiac image looked like “a worried tiger.”

Chinese netizens are also saying that the stamps “reflect the real society” in China today.

I believe the worried tiger reflects a worried Xi, a worried regime, and a worried Party, despite touting a “stable and healthy economy” in his address for the Chinese New Year.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has for years stressed the need for tightened budgets at all governmental levels. In 2018, there were already Chinese public servants who hadn’t received a paycheck for months. Recently, even the wealthy city of Shenzhen has not paid its public servants for three months.

Of course, the well-being of the general public is never the concern of the Party, winning the power struggle during the upcoming national meeting is what it is most worried about.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.