Xi Jinping gags old guard critics

The Communist Party is banning the old guard from making "negative political speeches" before the 20th Congress next autumn. Former premier Zhu Rongji reportedly criticised Xi's third term in power. Lockdown for Covid: Beijing University students protest.

Beijing (AsiaNews) - President Xi Jinping wants to gag the old guard of the Chinese Communist Party who criticise him. In a newly announced set of regulations, the General Office of the Party Central Committee has banned retired leaders from making "negative political speeches" before the 20th CCP Congress in the autumn.

The decision appears to have come after former premier Zhu Rongji, the real architect of the 1990s economic reforms, criticised Xi's bid for a third term in power. According to the Wall Street Journal, in March the 94-year-old Zhu reportedly expressed dissatisfaction with the current Party general secretary's reappointment, when since Mao Zedong all leaders have been limited to two terms each.

Xi's new coronation seems a foregone conclusion. However, the re-emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic in recent months, together with the consequent worsening of the national economic picture, could weaken his position, forcing him to make concessions to his opponents - most likely on the choice of the new premier.

Zhu would not be alone in opposing Xi's line. Other old leaders, such as former president Jiang Zemin, would be on the warpath. Hence the Party leadership's grip on the comments of domestic critics.

Also in the crosshairs of opponents is Xi's 'zero-Covid' policy, regarded by various observers - and the World Health Organisation - as 'unsustainable'. After sounding the alarm about the imminent economic slowdown in China and having his social profiles blocked, the well-known economist Hong Hao resigned as chief researcher of BoCOM International, the investment arm of the state-owned Bank of Communications, one of the country's largest.

Discontent with the leadership's rigid policies is also spreading among the population, highlighted by the many protest videos of segregated residents in Shanghai over Covid. Another striking case occurred over the weekend, when hundreds of Beijing University students rioted after the authorities quarantined them in their dormitory for health reasons, but left the rest of the campus open. In protest, they broke down the metal barriers used to segregate them, later circulating pictures on the web.