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Coronavirus pandemic
ChinaPolitics

Why Chinese President Xi Jinping called 170,000 cadres about the coronavirus epidemic

  • Xi addressed officials and military personnel around the country to make sure his words reached the provinces directly, observers say
  • Lower-level officials are used to interpreting Beijing’s edicts in their own way, insider says

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Community volunteers wearing protective face masks and gloves take the temperature of a man on a street in Beijing. Photo: AFP
William Zheng
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s address in a massive national teleconference on Sunday reflects the urgency among the country’s leadership to stop the coronavirus crisis and ensure that Beijing’s orders are strictly followed in the provinces, according to observers.
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In the teleconference, which involved as many as 170,000 cadres and military personnel, Xi outlined Beijing’s battle plan to stop a pathogen that has infected almost 80,000 people and killed nearly 2,600, with most of them in China.

Xi warned that the epidemic, which was first reported in the city of Wuhan in central China, would have an impact on the country’s economy – the second largest in the world.

“This is a crisis and it is also a major test,” Xi said adding that the situation remained acute but positive changes had happened.

“The effectiveness of the prevention and control work has once again showed the significant advantages of the leadership of the Communist Party of China and the socialist system with Chinese characteristics,” said Xi, who is also the general secretary of the Communist Party.

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It was the second time Xi had spoken to cadres in a mass teleconference – he used the same platform to address the rank-and-file in January as part of a campaign to stress political loyalty and party values.

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