German media: Xi Jinping’s purge continues

(Deutsche Welle Chinese website) "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" commented that the large-scale purge launched by Xi Jinping was officially confirmed at the Fifth Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China: 33 senior party, government and military officials were expelled from the party, and a number of senior officials were dismissed. What is particularly noteworthy is that General Zhang Shengmin, the top official in charge of discipline inspection within the military, was added to the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" wrote under the title "Xi Jinping's unchecked purge continues":

"During this plenary session, one of the top anti-corruption officials in the military was promoted to a member of the Politburo. This is an unusual step within China's power apparatus: General Zhang Shengmin, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China, was promoted again this time. This is also the first time in the past 30 years that the Politburo has increased its membership outside of the five-year party congress.

The move also shows that China's party and state leader Xi Jinping's anti-corruption and purge of dissidents will continue, and this campaign has reached a scale unprecedented in decades. As the People's Liberation Army's top anti-corruption official, Zhang Shengmin oversaw the dismissal of dozens of generals, hundreds of senior military officers and a defense minister. These people are usually accused of violating party discipline and state laws, but some people suspect that these purges are closely related to power struggles. However, few of these speculations can be confirmed.

The Fifth Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China is also an opportunity to understand the scale of Xi Jinping’s purge campaign. According to the official Xinhua News Agency, only 162 of the total 205 Central Committee members attended the Fifth Plenary Session. This was also the Fifth Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China with the smallest number of attendees since Mao Zedong. "

The "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" reported that at the Fifth Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the news of the dismissal of many Central Committee members was finally officially confirmed, including some officials who suddenly disappeared from public view a few months ago. Last year, the news that Liu Jianchao, the former head of the International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, who was once considered a favorite candidate for China's foreign minister, was dismissed from his post was also confirmed for the first time at the Fifth Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China:

"At the Fifth Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China that concluded on Thursday, the 'self-revolution' proposed by Xi Jinping was established as the basic principle of the party's leadership. This move is also in preparation for the 21st National Congress of the Communist Party of China. It is said that the 21st National Congress will be held in Beijing in the second half of next year. It is expected that Xi Jinping will extend his term as general secretary. In addition, about two-thirds of the Central Committee members will be replaced. In order to welcome the new leadership team, unpopular party and government cadres have basically been eliminated."

The CCP wants to set “speech red lines” for the world

The incident of French star Mbappe "hurting the feelings of the Chinese people" continues to unfold. Although Mbappe himself has apologized, the criticism against him has not subsided. The Daily commented:

“For some reason, a video of Mbappe’s interview seven months ago suddenly began to circulate on Chinese social media at the end of October, and immediately triggered a massive state-led boycott: Mbappe was verbally criticized on the front page of the party newspaper, patriotic netizens on social media were furious, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs even stated that Mbappe had ‘hurt the feelings of the Chinese people’.

An unintentional joke will not only cost the star a very high price: Chinese beverage companies that use Mbappe's image for advertising have terminated their sponsorship contracts with him. China's state television announced that it would stop broadcasting all matches of Kylian Mbappe's team, Real Madrid. On the Internet, some Chinese netizens were not only outraged, but also did not shy away from using racist remarks. One Weibo user scolded: 'He should be allowed to pick cotton and receive re-education. ’

The most ironic thing is that the vast majority of Chinese people do not know what the French star said that hurt their feelings. Because the relevant videos have been completely deleted from the Chinese Internet. Ask a Chinese AI chatbot and you’ll get the following response: ‘Hello, I can’t answer this question right now. Let's talk about something else. ’

After the incident, those groveling apologies were as absurd as China's boycott of Mbappe. Mbappe himself wrote on social media: 'I apologize to everyone who was offended by my remarks. ’ Real Madrid, where he plays, issued a statement saying: ‘Our club expresses deep respect for China, Chinese culture, history and people, as well as the millions of Chinese Real Madrid fans. ’ However, so far, the above-mentioned kowtow behavior has not produced any effect.

The Mbappe incident and its aftermath are not just an absurd drama, but also involve an extremely serious issue. This incident shows that the Chinese government will extend restrictions on freedom of speech from within China to abroad at all costs. According to Beijing's logic, no public figure is allowed to cross the Chinese Communist Party's speech 'red lines' - whether it's Taiwan, Tiananmen or Tibet, they are all taboo topics. "