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Is an anti-Jinping wave gaining traction in the Chinese Communist Party?

WION Web Team
New Delhi, IndiaEdited By: Bharat SharmaUpdated: Mar 25, 2020, 08:20 PM IST
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The issue is highly sensitive for China, which considers Taiwan a renegade province, and Beijing expressed 'serious concern' about Trump's remarks. In photo: Chinese President Xi Jinping. Photograph:(Getty)

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Many researchers and analysts have reiterated that China has displayed grave negligence in handling the virus

More than 2.6 billion people are currently under lockdown, around one-third of the global population.

The reason behind this all: the coronavirus pandemic, which began in Wuhan, China.

Many researchers and analysts have reiterated that China has displayed grave negligence in handling the virus.

Recently, a faction within the Chinese Communist Party has displayed dissatisfaction over Xi Jinping’s response of the virus.

Based on a message circulated on the popular Chinese platform “WeChat”, the bloc was ready for a revolt!

The open letter in question calls for a meeting of the politburo to assess Jinping’s performance.

The politburo comprises 25 individuals that run the Communist Party.

This faction against the Chinese president wants to reflect on "Xi's wrongs", and evaluate whether he should carry on as the leader of China.

However, challenging his authority is not that simple, for besides being the President of China, he serves as the Chief of the Communist Party. He additionally enjoys support among the political elite in China.

The man, who is referred to as the most powerful leader of China since Mao is facing backlash from within his party.

Over the last few weeks, China has worked hard to retain its image both globally and at home.

Earlier this month, Wuhan’s top party official came up with the idea of a “gratitude education programme”, centred around thanking Xi Jinping and The Communist Party for the efforts they have made to fight the coronavirus.

“We must through various channels carry out gratitude education among the citizens of the whole city as well as cadres”, the official had told a local newspaper.

The rationale behind this was to extend gratitude to Jinping and to the Communist Party.

However, the public reaction to the idea was not very nice. People immediately slammed the idea of this programme, with a local journalist asking the party official to first “educate himself”.

To avoid collateral damage, the Chinese authorities covered up the criticism and dropped the idea of the programme itself.