Key Points
- Chinese former president Hu Jintao has been unexpectedly escorted out of the Chinese Communist Party congress
- State media said he left "for a rest" but theories are now circulating as to what happened and possible conspiracies
In extraordinary scenes at the , former president Hu Jintao was seen being pulled by an aide from his seat next to Xi Jinping, before being carted away from the meeting.
Mr Jinping and other officials stared straight ahead as Mr Jintao was escorted away, looking frazzled and reluctant to leave.
It left many watchers scratching their heads as to what was going on.
Was it a conspiracy, or just a stuff-up of what is a very heavily choreographed meeting?
He may have been ill
The first possibility of an explanation for Mr Hu's exit could be his health.
While state media coverage of the coverage did not feature the scene, official CCTV evening news coverage of Saturday's congress closing ceremony included footage of Mr Hu from before the incident.
He had appeared slightly unsteady last Sunday when he was assisted onto the same stage for the opening ceremony of the congress.
Late on Saturday, China's official news agency Xinhua tweeted about the incident.
"Xinhuanet reporter Liu Jiawen has learned that Hu Jintao insisted on attending the closing session of the Party's 20th National Congress, despite the fact that he has been taking time to recuperate recently," it said.
"When he was not feeling well during the session, his staff, for his health, accompanied him to a room next to the meeting venue for a rest. Now, he is much better," a second tweet said.
Some have also suggested an unexpected positive COVID-19 test could have been cause for the sudden removal, as China continues to enforce strict COVID-19 protocols.
Professor James Laurenceson, Director of the Australia-China Relations Institute at the University of Technology Sydney, says there has been speculation over Mr Hu's health for some time.
"It's certainly not a new point, that Hu Jintao's health has been in deteriorating condition... I'm pretty sure I remember at least five years ago, that people were saying he wasn't in a good way," he said.
"That's the problem with China, it's so opaque ... if one of the leaders had a particular health problem, whether that was cancer or dementia, frankly, we wouldn't know about it.
"So we're operating with this massive blind spot. And that's really problematic."
Could Xi Jinping have removed him?
Another theory is that the president, who is poised to clench his third five-year stint, may have believed Mr Hu was going to vote against him.
This has sparked questions over whether Mr Xi could have had Mr Hu removed by force.
Jennifer Hsu, project director at the Lowy Institute, told SBS News speculation over a potential power play demonstrates the public perception of Xi Jinping and his near-absolute power.
"Whether Hu Jintao was removed by force or whether he left because he was ill, of course, there's going to be speculation amongst the 96 million members of the Communist Party as to why he left just as there's speculation here in the West," she said.
"It goes to cement there's that fear within the Communist Party of ... if it wasn't ill health, then it was possibly a powerplay and that speculation drives fear amongst any party or any organisation when there is no clear transparent standing of how things work."
How significant is this?
Whether Mr Hu's exit was due his health or the more sinister power-play, his sudden exit from the once-in-five year event is certainly significant.
Dr Hsu says as the event is highly scripted, a sudden departure suggests something has gone wrong.
"For an event like the party congress that is so heavily scripted and choreographed, the departure of Hu Jintao from the Congress in the public eye and under-recording suggests something is amiss, something has gone wrong," she said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks at the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, where he was granted a third five-year term. Source: AAP / XINHUA/YAO DAWEI/EPA
Who is Hu Jintao?
Hu Jintao served as president of the People's Republic of China from 2003 to 2013, and general secretary of the CCP from 2002 to 2012.
He stepped down as leader of the CCP in 2012, and was praised for relinquishing leadership voluntarily.
Dr Hsu told SBS News Hu Jintao and Xi Jinping represent different factions and different generations of the CCP.
"Hu Jintao was much more of a 'rule by the collective' ... it was a collectivist view of the party, how to run things within the party and therefore the nation, whereas Xi Jinping is on the other end; not collective, personalist rule, rule by one man," she said.
"Xi Jinping has a very definitive view of where China is in the world ... he has very singular vision of what China ought to be in the next five years, in the next 10 years, and that is to be near on par with the US in terms of its projection of power, and as the leader in the world, and he talks about the Chinese nation being rejuvenated under the leadership of the party.
Dr Hsu said the two had very different styles of leadership.
"Perhaps they have a shared vision of China being strong but how they go about achieving that ... is quite different.
What happened after the incident?
Video of the incident, highly unusual given the meticulous stage management of most such events, was widely shared on Twitter but could not be found on China's heavily censored social media platforms.
Twitter is blocked in China.
On China's Twitter-like Weibo, a few social media users alluded to the incident by commenting on old posts featuring Hu, a common tactic used to evade cyberspace censors.
By Saturday evening, however, the comments section of almost all Weibo posts containing Hu's name were no longer visible, according to a Reuters review.
