A new Chinese leadership is to be announced next month, but the man
expected to take the main reins of power is nowhere to be seen.
Vice President Xi Jinping, widely
tipped to replace Hu Jintao as the country’s next president, hasn’t been seen
in public since September 1, notable in a country where the media reports with
gusto on official activities deemed appropriate for air by the Communist Party.
The mystery of Xi’s whereabouts
began when he cancelled planned meetings with US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton and Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, among other
dignitaries, on September 5. Since then, the rumour mill has been working
overtime ― fuelled, no doubt, by the Chinese government’s refusal to provide an
explanation for Xi’s absence. The reasons speculated have ranged from a back
injury ― among the more credible of offerings given the citing of Chinese
government sources ― to an assassination attempt.
The debacle has also exposed the
limits of state secrecy. Even in authoritarian China, blogs and social
networking services have weakened the government’s monopoly on information. The
authorities’ stonewalling of inquires about Xi has appeared jarringly out of
step with Chinese citizens’ growing economic clout and cosmopolitanism. When
Sina Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, blocked the use of Xi’s name,
users quickly began referring to the “crown prince” to continue their musings.
As China’s standing has risen in
recent years, much has been made of its failure to democratise, with an
economically-sated middle class, cultural leanings toward hierarchy and a
desire for political stability among the many explanations proffered.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao made
headlines in 2007 when he remarked that China would be socialist for another
100 years. As Korea’s experience has shown, however, a population’s patience
with political repression is rarely limitless. China’s incoming leadership,
whoever it is to be made up of, would be wise to remember that.
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