For Wei Jingsheng, Xi Jinping’s parade is a sign of weakness, not strength
Washington (AsiaNews) – Wei Jingsheng, one of the original participants in China’s Democracy Wall movement, and currently head of the Overseas Chinese Democracy Coalition, talked to the Chinese service of the Voice of America about the military parade the Chinese government held yesterday in Beijing to mark China’s victory over Japan seventy years ago.
Citing a Chinese proverb that says, “Rats carrying guns only dare to be brave at home”, he explained that yesterday’s show of force is not a show of strength but proof that Chinese President Xi Jinping lacks self-confidence.
For the well-known dissident, the upcoming reorganisation of the armed forces hides certain weaknesses. Xi Jinping has not really seized control of the military, which is in chaos, hit by the anti-corruption campaign, with very corrupt officers at every level.
With regards to China’s former Communist leaders like Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao, Li Peng, Zhu Rongji, Wen Jiabao, Zeng Qinghong, etc. who appeared together on Tiananmen, Wei Jingsheng said that it was "harmonic on the surface, but not in their hearts."
“I think Xi Jinping is going to step on his brakes. If he deals with the bureaucratic class without the support of the people, he could meet his end very tragically and he might be frightened of that.”
“Recently, Wang Qishan said that anti-corruption campaign is at a stalemate, which means that they were unable to attack. Now what shown at the Tiananmen gate building means that the anti-corruption campaign is taking a pause and will stop for now."
What is certain though is that the parade drew domestic and foreign media attention away from China’s recent disasters, like the stock market plunge. Wei noted that tens of millions of investors suffered heavy losses. The Chinese stock market crash is the inevitable result of China’s democracy and human rights disaster.
For him, the Overseas Chinese Democracy Coalition found a solution at its meeting in The Hague, which is to bring “the rule of law and democracy” to the country in order to help people “weather the storm” and get China’s economy out of its “quagmire”.
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