Hu Jintao Removed from Chinese Congress Amid Purge Rumors

Hu Jintao Removed from Chinese Congress Amid Purge Rumors

Two aides escorted Hu Jintao out of the closing ceremony of the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, and the incident was captured on video. The former president, general secretary from 2002 to 2012, did not get up immediately, pulled his arm away when they tried to hold him, and reached for documents on Xi Jinping's table. He was 79 years old. The question is not what is seen, but what it means.

What the expulsion video shows

The sequence, released by international agencies, has three moments. A staff member removes glasses from the table before touching the former president. When two companions grab him to help him up, Hu pulls his arm back and tries to sit down again. Once standing, he touches Li Keqiang's arm—a gesture interpreted as support—and reaches for the papers on Xi's table, which are immediately moved away. Xi turns his head away and does not look at him again.

A second video, recorded minutes earlier, appeared later. In it, Hu seems to be discussing documents. The same recording allows for two interpretations: a genuine disagreement or a health episode.

The two conflicting interpretations of the same frame

One line of analysis suggests it was a staged purge. The argument: a former president is not removed live unless a message is intended. Hu's allies, according to this reading, left the venue knowing they could be next. One comparison circulating is the JFK assassination: a public, televised act with a clear target.

The opposing version sees no calculation. It suggests a 79-year-old man needed to be escorted to his seat, and two people gently moved him because he was not in condition. From this perspective, talking about a purge is seeing what one wants to see, and the video, in this reading, does not deny it.

The third term and zero-ELbichito: the missing context

What no one disputes is the context. Xi Jinping is the first Chinese leader to break the two-term norm and secure a third. His China is increasingly viewed as a personalist regime reminiscent of Mao, rather than the tacit pact of previous decades: prosperity in exchange for freedom. The zero-ELbichito policy, with lockdowns and queues in the snow for daily PCR tests, is the other open front. Neither of these explains the video on its own. Both fuel suspicion.

Taiwan, war, and nationalism replacing communism

The incident has also been interpreted as a purge preceding a move on Taiwan. Some argue that Xi considers his predecessor a Washington mole and ordered the parade so no one would object when the time comes. Countering this is an inconvenient fact: current China continues to promote "one country, two systems," and its leader is more nationalist than communist, a thesis circulating even in Western financial media. And the bloc supposedly opposed, the West, is far from unified.

A curious detail that summarizes the tone: in the front row of the conclave, some attendees wore masks, while others did not. No one has explained the criteria.

The prediction, with reservations: if it was a purge, we will know by the absences. Who disappears from official photographs in the coming months. If it was a health issue, there will be none. The only certainty is that there will be no official explanation. Not one.