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Xi Jinping ‘told China’s top echelon’ to tackle coronavirus outbreak in early days
- Communist Party mouthpiece releases internal speech given to Politburo Standing Committee on February 3 with presidential orders to contain disease
- Xi makes ‘rare’ disclosure move as he comes under heavy domestic and international pressure, analyst says
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President Xi Jinping told the Communist Party’s top echelon to tackle an outbreak of a previously unknown coronavirus almost two weeks before Chinese authorities announced that there had been human-to-human transmission of the disease, according to an internal speech released on Saturday.
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In the speech to the party’s most powerful body, the Politburo Standing Committee, Xi outlined a contingency plan to respond to a crisis that he said could not only hamper the health of people in China, but also jeopardise the country’s economic and social stability – even its open-door policy.
The speech was delivered on February 3 and published in the party’s bimonthly journal Qiushi on Saturday. It was also featured on state television and other official mouthpieces.
The release comes as Xi tries to rally support to counter the biggest crisis in his tenure, including an outpouring of public anger over the death a week ago of ophthalmologist Li Wenliang, who was reprimanded by police for alerting his friends about the virus in its early days.
In his speech, Xi also accused local officials of not carrying out edicts from the central government, vowing to punish incompetent officials.
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