Chinese Leader Has Left No Space for Any Contender: Former EU Trade Group Chief

The opening of the first session of the 14th National People's Congress at The Great Hall of People on March 5, 2023 in Beijing, China. Lintao Zhang/Getty Images

News Analysis

Joerg Wuttke, a China hand who wrote a letter to former Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua, believes Mr. Hu, has become “deposed crown prince” of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and that Chinese leader Xi Jinping has left no space for any contenders to his reign.

In April 2022, as the CCP’s zero-COVID policy damaged foreign business operations, Joerg Wuttke, then president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, wrote a letter to Hu Chunhua, then vice premier of the CCP, urging the relaxation of strict control measures.

“Current measures taken to try and contain the recent COVID-19 outbreak in China is causing significant disruptions, extending from logistics and production all the way along the supply chain within China,” reads the letter, which stated that 51 percent of German companies’ logistics and warehousing and 46 percent of their supply chains were “completely disrupted or severely impacted by the current COVID-19 situation in China.”

The Chamber suggested that Beijing relax epidemic prevention measures, including allowing asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic people to isolate at home and allowing Chinese people access to mRNA vaccines.

Mr. Wuttke, who currently serves as Chief Representative of BASF China, said that he wrote the letter “because the lockdown in Shanghai suggested that many more cities would be in a similar situation.”

He chose to write to Mr. Hu because he “was responsible for foreign investment in the state council,” and they “met several times before,” he told The Epoch Times on April 12.

Mr. Wuttke has been dealing with China for nearly 25 years, serving as chairman of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China for ten years. Since 2019, he has been Vice Chairman of the CPCIF International Cooperation Committee, a group representing multinational companies in China’s Chemical Association. He was also a founding member of the German Chamber of Commerce in Beijing and served as Chairman of the Board from 2001 to 2004. He has lived in China for over 20 years,

Hu Chunhua Stripped of Heir Apparent Status

Six months after Mr. Wuttke wrote the letter, the 59-year-old Mr. Hu failed to be elected to the 20th Central Political Bureau of the CCP and eventually resigned as Vice Premier, leaving the core of power. His predicted position as the “heir apparent” was thus stripped away.

Mr. Wuttke, who was not surprised by the change, said that Mr. Hu “was never, nowhere close to being a contender.”

“There is no contender,” he continued. “Xi Jinping has left no space for any contender. It did not matter what the former leadership wanted. The last ten years have shown what a deft politician Xi Jinping is.”

It is widely believed that following the CCP’s tradition of intergenerational designation of successors, former CCP leader Hu Jintao designated Mr. Hu Chunhua, a member of the Political Bureau, as the next General Secretary and Sun Zhengcai as Premier.

However, a few months before the CCP’s 19th National Congress in 2017, Mr. Sun was arrested on charges of corruption, and Mr. Hu Chunhua was sidelined and failed to be promoted to the Standing Committee as planned, only retaining the position of “member of the Political Bureau.”

At the CCP’s 20th National Congress in 2022, Mr. Hu Jintao was forcibly removed from the venue, an incident widely seen as Xi consolidating power. Li Keqiang and Wang Yang, who were seen as members of the “Youth League” faction or Tuanpai with Mr. Hu Jintao, also stepped down from the Political Bureau at the Congress. At this time, Xi officially deposed Mr. Hu Chunhua as the “crown prince.”

Xi’s purge of the Youth League faction did not stop at Mr. Hu Chunhua, but extended to the military.

Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua attends the opening session of the regime’s rubber-stamp legislature’s conference in Beijing on March 5, 2019. Wang Zhao/AFP via Getty Images

Xi’s Political Purge of Military

On Oct. 26, 2023, six months after stepping down as CCP premier, Mr. Li suddenly died from a heart attack while swimming.

The sudden death of Mr. Li, who had been healthy and was rumored as the second-generation leader of the Youth League faction to succeed Hu Jintao, triggered widespread speculation that he was assassinated.

In the months before and after Mr. Li’s sudden death, Xi launched a major purge of the CCP political arena, further cementing his control within the Party.

In July 2023, Qin Gang was dismissed from his duty as Minister of Foreign Affairs. Shortly after, Xi indirectly replaced Li Yuchao and Xu Zhongbo, the former commander and political commissar of the Rocket Force, by promoting Wang Houbin and Xu Xisheng to the rank of general.

Prior to this, Mr. Li Yuchao and his deputy Liu Guangbin, as well as Zhang Zhenzhong, former deputy commander of the Rocket Force, were investigated by the Central Military Commission.

In October 2023, Defense Minister Li Shangfu was declared removed from office. In December 2023, nine generals from multiple branches of the military and three senior executives from military-industrial enterprises were removed from the National People’s Congress, confirming rumors of their downfall.

Regarding the series of purges centered on the leadership of the Rocket Force, Yuan Hongbing, a former law professor at Peking University and a renowned dissident living in exile in Australia, told the Epoch Times, “This stems from a small group suspected of being disloyal to Xi Jinping.”

“Li Yuchao’s secretary reported to the Central Military Commission that Li and the entire upper echelon of the Rocket Force are ’two-faced.' That is, they were politically disloyal. Specifically, they publicly supported Xi Jinping’s strategy of launching a war in the Taiwan Strait, but in private discussions, they agreed with the views of former National Defense University Political Commissar Liu Yazhou, who opposes launching a war,” he said.

Mr. Li Yuchao’s secretary also reported to the Central Military Commission that Mr. Li Shangfu and Mr. Qin had close ties to the leaders of the Rocket Force and lacked confidence in Xi’s strategy for a war with Taiwan.

The frequent incidents involving senior officials of the Rocket Force, including those appointed by Xi, show that the CCP leader still harbors suspicions about his surroundings and is clearing out dissidents, including former “heirs apparent,” to consolidate his position.

Mr. Wuttke said Mr. Hu Chunhua was “insignificant in power seeking” within the CCP.

Asked about speculation that his writing to Mr. Hu Chunhua, as a Westerner, may have been the catalyst for Xi’s handling of Mr. Hu Chunhua and the subsequent destruction of the Youth League faction, he said, “My letter had zero impact on his career.”