A former member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and a prominent Professor at China’s elite Central Party School, Cia Xia, has stood by her criticism of President Xi Jinping, following leaked audio of her calling the head of the state a “mafia boss”. In an explosive interview with The Guardian, Xia explained why she believes the CCP is a party of “zombies” and how President Xi has gained from making China the enemy of the world.
A translation of 20-minute leaked audio clipping revealed Professor Xia’s views on the current state of affairs of the CCP, the crisis plaguing domestic public following the coronavirus epidemic, and on the urgent need to change the top leadership to “save” China. In the leaked speech, Professor Xia stresses on the need to revise the constitution and overturn President Xi’s 2018 amendment of abolishing term limits. She maintains, “The constitutional amendment is clearly illegal in terms of internal Party procedures. He took the [last] Plenum Session of the 18th National Congress of the CCP hostage.” Describing the Plenum Session, Professor Xia explicitly states, “He [President Xi] forced everyone at the [plenum] to swallow the revision like he was stuffing dogshit down their throats. So many Central Committee members were at the session, yet not, one dared to raise this issue.” This according to her, made the CCP appear like a political zombie, with President Xi as the single supreme leader who controls the “knife handle” (the police) and “the gun barrel” (the military). Through his control, turning the “90 million party members into slaves and tools, he can use to his advantage”. Such vocal criticism of President Xi by a high-ranking and prominent intellectual within the Party cadre is rare and hence, is gaining widespread attention.
As expected, Chinese media has been critical of Professor Xia’s statements against President Xi. Global Times, an unofficial mouthpiece of the CCP, penned a scathing editorial against the Professor, calling her a “traitor” and claiming that her betrayal to the nation has ensured she becomes the “Western media’s blue-eyed person”.
Following the leaked audio, Professor Cia Xia’s membership to the party was rescinded. Apart from her, the police have arrested other critics of the regime. Professor Xu Zhangrun, an expert in Western philosophy and constitutional theory, is a longstanding critic of CCP, and has written several commentaries criticising governmental policies. Placed under house arrest, he was arrested earlier this week. Apart from critics, President Xi is known to purge dissenters within the Party using allegations of corruptions against them. This week many police and judicial officers were targeted, and a prominent police chief arrested, indicating growing domestic tensions.
Xia, who is presently residing in the US, elaborated in her interview on how President Xi, by consolidating his power, has harmed the Party as it is unable to “correct errors”. She emphasised how he “singlehandedly killed a party and a country, showing that even when confronted with such a major question of altering the constitution, the party has no power to stop him”. Delving specifically into the mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic, she stressed that, although the President may not have known the ground realities of what was happening in Wuhan in December, he did know about the virus spreading by 7 January, and yet, he took additional two weeks to alert the public. In fact, other reports also corroborate her assertion that President Xi was privy to information regarding the virus than earlier perceived. The Professor explains, “Officials at all levels hide the truth and report only when they cannot cover up any more. But when he knew the situation on 7 January, he did not make it public or mobilise resources. So, shouldn’t he bear responsibility?”
China’s handling of the pandemic is internationally criticised, with President Trump taking the lead in calling it a “Chinese virus”. In this regard, Professor Cia Xia opined that President Xi’s leadership resulted in making China an enemy of the world, and said that this benefits him since it diverts attention away from the economic and social problems domestically. She says that, by “provoking conflict with other countries, for example encouraging anti-American sentiment and the recent clash between China and India”, Xi is able to further consolidate his power at home.
Former CCP Member Calls Xi Jinping a “Mafia Boss”, Criticises Party of “Zombies”
Chinese state-run media has, as expected, called her a “traitor”.
August 20, 2020
Cai Xia is a former professor at China’s elite Central Party School. SOURCE: SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST