Wall pass n°96 – ice tanks, corruption and semiconductors

Since several weeks, speculation is rife about a possible “division” in the Chinese leadership and in particular at its summit, entre Xi Jinping et Li Keqiang. Of course, remember that we have no way of verifying this information, which is ultimately only speculation and extrapolation.

Thereby, rather than speculating in our turn, let's go back to some of the elements that fueled these hypotheses. David Bandursky (China Media Project) returns in particular to thecurious signalsof the last days, especially in economic terms. In effect, if Li Keqiang's lecture in front of nearly 100.000 frames can legitimately be considered an “emergency” session, his treatment in the Chinese media was considerably smoothed, even thwarted by an editorial in the Economic Times newspaper, which puts the crisis into perspective.

Another question mark, Xi Jinping's absence from the front page of People's Daily for several days in May, despite occupying most of the headlines on the first page for years. In another article, the China Media Project returns and relativizes the importance of this supposed disappearance. Not that she didn't surprise the experts, but simply that it does not necessarily indicate a resistance delivered to Xi.

Finally, the signals emerging from the provinces are clear : and article of the Guangdong Congress published on 31 May dissertations on the national importance of the “two establishments” (two established). The two establishments, decided in 2018, clearly express that Xi Jinping is the heart of the Party and his political thought the guiding principle of the Party. Such demonstrations of loyalty cannot be improvised in a context where the leadership would be “divided”.