2016-03-17

China Social Mood: Negative

WaPo: Chinese website publishes, then pulls, explosive letter calling for President Xi’s resignation
Two weeks after China’s President toured state media offices and called for absolute loyalty from the press, a website with links to the government published an explosive letter asking him to resign “for the future of the country and the people.”
Also for the "security of his family."

Some have drawn parallels to the Cultural Revolution, but I don't see it. The political faction most likely to bring about another Cultural Revolution was Bo Xilai's, and it has been completely taken apart over the past few years. Of all institutions in the world, American universities are the closest to the spirit of the Cultural Revolution. There's almost nothing comparable in China outside of the online mobs that organize into "human flesh search engines."

Instead of fomenting internal revolution and the total breakdown of civilization, Xi is concentrating power at the top. He is not abrogating the rights of Chinese citizens, but the power of Communist Party insiders, many of whom are corrupt and do not want the current system to change. If anything, Xi's regime could be classified as the exact opposite of the Cultural Revolution, a reactionary consolidation of power in order to maintain political control as economic control is loosened.

The complaints about censorship from the people are legitimate. The media does not like to be censored, but there is no first amendment in China. Media is regulated like electricity. This letter may simply be protest from the media. If it is something more, it represents an internal power struggle or the desire for one. Insiders aren't happy about the economy because oxes will be gored. If your ox is gored, you no longer have power, plus you might make a good scapegoat. Why did the SOEs under your political patronage go bust, dear comrade?

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