Tag: Jiang Zemin

China’s Leader Emphasizes Unity at Jiang Zemin’s Funeral

Chin@Strategy

China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, heaped praise on the late former president, Jiang Zemin, on Tuesday in a show of unity among the ruling elite just over a week after nationwide protests challenged Beijing’s authority. Despite its atheism, the ruling Chinese Communist Party sends off its deceased leaders with a near-religious solemnity, and its ceremony to commemorate Mr. Jiang, who died Wednesday at 96, was no exception. Mr. Xi delivered a 51-minute eulogy for Mr. Jiang that was full of accolades while avoiding hints of any personal and political differences…

China Appears to Loosen Covid Rules After Protests

Chin@Strategy

In the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, residents returned to work on Thursday for the first time in weeks after Covid-19 lockdowns were lifted. In Chongqing, in the southwest, some residents were no longer required to take regular Covid tests. And in Beijing, a senior health official played down the severity of current Omicron variants, a rare move for the government. The developments suggest that the ruling Communist Party may be starting to back down on unpopular Covid restrictions in response to a wave of mass protests that have been…

Xi Jinping Faces Another Dilemma: How to Mourn Jiang Zemin

Chin@Strategy

The deaths of Chinese Communist leaders are always fraught moments of political theater, and especially so now with the passing of Jiang Zemin soon after a wave of public defiance on a scale unseen since Mr. Jiang came to power in 1989. China’s sternly autocratic current leader, Xi Jinping, must preside over the mourning for Mr. Jiang, who died on Wednesday at 96, while he also grapples with widespread protests against China’s exceptionally stringent Covid-19 restrictions. The demonstrations have at times also boldly called for China to return to the…

Jiang Zemin, China’s Leader After Tiananmen Square Protests, Dies at 96

Chin@Strategy

The feral capitalism that Mr. Jiang and Mr. Zhu fostered created a wide rich-poor divide even as it lifted vast numbers from poverty, and it nurtured a culture of official corruption and cronyism. “In some ways, that was the start of this live-and-let-live attitude toward corruption that Xi Jinping now finds himself attacking,” said Joseph Fewsmith, a professor at Boston University who studies Chinese leadership politics. Wielding Influence By the time Mr. Jiang retired from the party leadership in 2002 and from the presidency in 2003, his influence and self-regard…