Western media left breathless over Hu’s exit
- If nothing out of the ordinary happens at the party congress, it is invariably described as “carefully scripted” or “highly choreographed”. But if something unexpected occurs, however minor, reporters and commentators go to town with wild speculations
For many party elders, sitting through China’s party congress can be a physical endurance test. Going through long sessions and party rituals is not anyone’s idea of fun, especially when you are not in the best of health. It appeared 79-year-old Hu Jintao, the former president, couldn’t keep up till the end.
Visibly frail, he was helped out. Well, not according to many Western reports. Here’s a breathless commentary from the ever-objective BBC, practically suggesting a mini-purge.
“There are a lot of questions and no answers so far from the Chinese government,” it said. “The two most likely reasons for his departure are that it was either part of China’s power politics on full display, with a leader representing a former time being symbolically removed, or that Hu Jintao has serious health problems.”
The BBC and likewise Canada’s Globe and Mail have described the incident as Hu’s “mysterious exit”.
I am no professional sinologist but I think that of the two possibilities suggested, only one was likely. But that’s the way the mainstream media have been reporting on the now-closed party congress. If nothing happened, it was described as “carefully scripted” or “highly choreographed”. If something unexpected occurred, however minor, reporters and commentators went to town with wild speculations.
There was supposed to be a news blackout on the incident, according to some reports. The Telegraph claimed: “Hu’s departure was left unexplained, and the nation’s censors appeared to scrub any recent references to him from the internet.”
Never mind that Xinhua soon tweeted: “Xinhuanet reporter Liu Jiawen has learned that Hu Jintao insisted on attending the closing session … despite the fact that he has been taking time to recuperate recently.”
The Doha-based Al Jazeera was more circumspect with the headline: “‘Not feeling well’: China’s ex-leader led out of party congress”.
Forced out or helped out? The news clip was shot shortly after reporters were let into the Great Hall of the People, which showed a frail and confused-looking Hu needing help. Some elderly former leaders such as Jiang Zemin, 96, who is Hu’s predecessor, and his premier Zhu Rongji, 93, notably skipped the marathon. But party elder Song Ping, who is 105, sailed through wide awake.
Maybe Hu was in danger of dozing off, and that would make terrible television. The foreign press would absolutely go riot. Well, so what if the septuagenarian was mercifully given his beauty sleep?
