Party acclaims, the people criticise Xi's first visit to Wuhan

Xi encouraged everyone to be confident that the epidemic will be overcome. The visit was prepared as a "campaign of gratitude " towards the Party. An avalanche of criticism on social media, all canceled by the web police. The silence of the authorities on Party's interference in launching the alarm and the gag imposed on doctors and journalists who denounced the epidemic.

Beijing (AsiaNews) - Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Wuhan this morning, the epicenter of the coronavirus epidemic, which has been experiencing an ever-decreasing number of cases for over a month. Yesterday, the authorities recorded only 20 new cases of infection, bringing the total to 80,924. There were also 17 deaths, all in the province of Hubei.

According to the People's Daily, Xi's visit serves to verify the prevention and control of the epidemic, meeting medical and military personnel, volunteers, patients and residents.

According to Xinhua, Xi encouraged everyone to be confident that the epidemic will be overcome.

The visit by the president "heart"  of the Party (as he likes to call himself), was prepared two days earlier by a "campaign of gratitude" towards the Party led by the provincial secretary Ying Yong and the city secretary Wang Zhonglin. While praising the "heroic" behavior of the population of Wuhan, which has lived in compulsory isolation for almost two months, he invited them to "be grateful to the party secretary general [Xi] and the Communist Party ... We must listen to the Party, follow the party".

The invitation was badly received with fierce comments on social media, immediately canceled by the web police. The Party is guilt of having kept silent at the first signs of the epidemic and imposing silence on doctors and journalists, thus delaying the awareness of the population for over a month. Added to this was the leaderhsip's delay in deciding to launch the epidemic alarm was fatal for the global spread of the virus.

Xi defended himself by saying that on January 7 he had given instructions on how to deal with the emergency. But the alarm did not arrive in Wuhan until January 23rd. Doctors from Wuhan, including the late Li Wenliang, had warned of the epidemic since early December.

Many intellectuals - some of whom are now in prison or under house arrest - demand that freedom of speech and press freedom be guaranteed to the population. Others demand that Xi Jinping "leave".

Five days ago, during a visit by Deputy Prime Minister Sun Chunlan to the Qingshan district of Wuhan, while his group walked through the buildings, several voices shouted from the top of the apartments: "Fake! Fake! Everything is fake!"

• china
• economy
• pneumonia
• coronavirus
• epidemic
• wuhan
• hubei
• care
• doctors
• xi jinping
• xu zhangrun
• xu zhiyong
• li wenliang
• censorship
• gratitude to the party