Former Chinese premier Li Keqiang died of a heart attack on Oct. 27, with many questioning whether his sudden death was the result of an internal struggle within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Several CCP’s top retired officials absented themselves from Mr. Li’s funeral. However, a few days later, these party elders presented wreaths of flowers at another funeral for a provincial-level cadre, evidently signaling their discontent with the authorities’ handling of Mr. Li’s death.
Political analysts believe that the sudden death of Mr. Li has become a trigger and that the authorities handling of his death and funeral has aroused the discontent of political seniors and party princelings (children of prominent founding figures of the CCP).
The internal struggle between CCP’s top leader, Xi Jinping, and the political seniors and party princelings groups is escalating and becoming more visible.
On Nov. 8, a ceremony was held in Guiyang to bid farewell to Zhang Yuhuan, the former head of the Standing Committee of the Guizhou Provincial People’s Congress of the CCP.
Television reports read out the names of retired CCP officials such as Hu Jintao, Wen Jiabao, Zhang Dejiang, Li Zhanshu, Li Lanqing, Wang Qishan and others, and the camera showed the wreaths of flowers presented by each of them.
This is in stark contrast to the scene at the official funeral of Mr. Li on Nov. 2, with all retired officials absent. Even Mr. Hu, who had a deep relationship with Mr. Li, did not show up. The Xinhua News Agency said Mr. Hu sent a wreath of flowers to express his condolences, but none of the names of the other political elders appeared in the report.
Lu Tianming, a U.S.-based commentator on current affairs, told The Epoch Times on Nov. 11 that the party elders were using the opportunity to show their stance and express dissatisfaction.
Mr. Lu said that Zhang Yuhuan is not of a high rank, and political elders should not have come forward in the first place, yet their names were mentioned in the media reports. This created a stark contrast.
“When such a high-ranking person as Li Keqiang passed away, these political elders should have attended the funeral in person, but none of them went, which shows an attitude. They deliberately chose not to attend because they were dissatisfied with Li Keqiang’s death and the way the authorities handled the aftermath,” Mr. Lu said.
Xi Absent from Princeling’s Gathering
Shortly after Mr. Li’s funeral, a number of leading party princeling figures gathered in Beijing on the evening of Nov. 6, to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the birth of former Chinese chairman Liu Shaoqi.However, Mr. Xi, who attended the symposium and delivered a speech on the 120th anniversary of Mr. Liu’s birth, did not appear at the memorial concert this time, causing public concern.
Mr. Lu pointed out that almost all these party princelings are now on the opposite side of Mr. Xi.
“In the past, this kind of confrontation was not obvious. After all, Xi Jinping is the party leader, so people still give him some respect to a certain extent, so they did not openly oppose him. At that time, Xi Jinping was also trying to draw in the princelings, which is why he attended the 120th anniversary of Liu Shaoqi’s birthday,” Mr. Lu said.
According to Mr. Lu, the situation is now very different, especially since the beginning of Mr. Xi’s third term, as he ended the power-sharing consensus among the red families and different factions and became more dictatorial than any of his predecessors.
“In the past, although the CCP was a one-party dictatorship, internally, it still emphasized so-called collective leadership. But now it’s almost as if Xi Jinping is the only one in charge, and it’s even more dictatorial, so these princelings are definitely unhappy with him,” Mr. Lu said.
“In addition, the regime has been in an economic crisis in the past few years, which has affected the stability of the regime, and many of the so-called anti-corruption campaigns of the authorities have also affected the interests of the second-generation Red families, who will certainly start to oppose him.”
Current affairs commentator Li Linyi shared similar views with The Epoch Times.
He specifically mentioned that Liu Shaoqi’s son, Liu Yuan, published an article criticizing individual arbitrariness.
“Putting all these things together, we can see that the princelings are very dissatisfied with the current situation under the Xi administration,” he said.
Internal Conflicts Intensify
Mr. Lu also pointed out that Li Keqiang was a key person of the CCP’s Youth League faction. At the regime’s 20th National Congress last year, all politicians in this faction were removed from seven-member Politburo Standing Committee as well as other important positions.“After the ‘annihilation’ of the Youth League faction, even retired people like Li Keqiang died in the internal struggle, and those who remain will have no sense of security. Moreover, it is widely believed that the cause of Li Keqiang’s death is suspicious, coupled with the authorities’ hasty cremation of his body, which is definitely a fumbled move, making people dislike and distrust Xi Jinping even more,” Mr. Lu said.
He believes that, triggered by Mr. Li’s mysterious death, the officials are thinking it would be better to overthrow Mr. Xi.
“Xi Jinping has not only offended the party princelings but also retired senior officials and political elders. Except for the incumbent officials who obey him for the sake of keeping power, almost everyone around him is against him. Therefore, the internal struggle in the CCP is definitely becoming more and more intense,” Mr. Lu said.
