Hong Kong
CNN
—
Former Chinese top leader Hu Jintao was unexpectedly led out of the closing ceremony of a major meeting of China’s ruling Communist Party Saturday, in a moment of drama during what is typically a highly choreographed event.
Hu, 79, was seated in a prominent position at the front table in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, directly next to his successor, current leader Xi Jinping, when he was approached by a staff member, according to images and video of the meeting, including from CNN staff.
While seated, Hu appeared to talk briefly with the male staff member, while Politburo Standing Committee member Li Zhanshu, who was seated to his other side, had his hand on Hu’s back.
Hu then appeared to rise after being lifted up by the staff member, who’d taken the former leader by the arm, while Kong Shaoxun, deputy director of the General Office of the Communist Party and head of its secretariat came over. Hu spoke with the two men briefly and initially appeared reluctant to leave.
He was then escorted by the two men from his seat, with one holding his arm, as other party members seated behind the main table looked on. The circumstances surrounding Hu’s exit are not clear.
On his way out, Hu was seen to pause and appeared to say something to Xi and then patted Premier Li Keqiang on the shoulder. Both Xi and Li appeared to nod. It was not clear what Xi said in reply.
At one point, while Hu was still seated Xi appeared to place his hand over a document that Hu was attempting to reach for.
In another moment, after Hu was standing and discussing with the two men before making his exit, Li Zhanshu appeared to try and rise from his seat, but was directed back down by a tug on his suit jacket by fellow Politburo Standing Committee member Wang Huning, seated next to him.
Hu, who retired in 2013, has been seen in increasingly frail health in public in recent years. CNN was censored on air in China when reporting on Hu’s exit.
Hu’s departure made for a dramatic moment within the otherwise procedural closing day of the Communist Party’s National Congress.
The week-long event, which included some 2,300 delegates, ended Saturday with the rubber-stamping of a reshuffle of the party’s elite, roughly 200-member Central Committee and the approval of changes to the Party Constitution, where several phrases linked to Xi Jinping’s policies and ideology were inscribed.
The closing event comes one day before the reveal of the party’s new top leadership. Xi, who is widely seen to have cemented power around himself by eliminating rivals and dampening the lingering power of party elders, is expected to be re-confirmed as party chief, breaking the two-term norm for the top leader observed in recent decades.
