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Morning Clicks | Xi Jinping's opposition to political reforms laid out in leaked internal speech

"[A]s communists," Xi is quoted as saying, "we should have a higher ideal, and that is, communism."

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Xi Jinping addresses a meeting of the Communist Party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection in Beijing on Jan. 22, 2013. Photo: Xinhua
The big thing over the weekend was this analysis by Beijing-based writer Gao Yu, writing on a speech made by Xi Jinping during his "southern tour" last month, translated at Seeing Red in China by Yaxue Cao.
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The text of the speech, which apparently was only circulated within the Communist Party last week, is presented by Gao in a way which suggests Xi, who blames those not "man enough" to do what had to be done to save the Soviet Communist Party from itself, has even less intention of initiating political reforms - namely, nationalisation of the military - than Hu Jintao did when he took over as chairman of the Central Military Committee in 2004.

Writes Gao:

I believe Xi Jinping’s new south tour speech will shock many party members, let alone outside observers and the public in general. As the son of one of Communist China’s founding generals, Xi’s speech reflects a lot of his mindset and highlights his political ambition.

On the one hand, he wants to maintain the life of the CCP regime; on the other, he wants to revamp the house in the hope of restoring the kind of authority and legitimacy Mao Zedong enjoyed at the beginning of the communist China. Such are the guiding principles, and the destination, of his “road to renewal.”

In Guangdong where in preparation for the NPC/CPPCC sessions in March local politicians continue to debate public declaration of their assets - pushed by some in the Party as an alternative to fixing systemic defects - the mayors of Guangzhou, Foshan and now Shenzhen have all come out expressing willingness to make the first move. All they need, they say, is for Beijing to say the word.
Meanwhile, up in Beijing, anti-corruption efforts have recently seen the arrest of more than 1,000 private investigators nationwide who play a key role in exposing corrupt local officials.
Even last night, some sort of manhunt was underway for high-profile indie journalist Zhu Ruifeng - whose investigation singlehandedly brought down 11 government officials - led by Chongqing police who had travelled all the way to the capital.
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