Published on February 6, 2020.
This article discusses a Sankei Shimbun column by Sekihei, focusing on the Chinese Communist Party’s response to the spread of the novel coronavirus, the roles of President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang, Xi’s meeting with WHO Director-General Tedros, and the collapse of Xi’s authority through what is described as “flight before the enemy” in crisis management.
It also notes that the People’s Daily concealed Xi’s remarks the following day, raising doubts about whether the Chinese Communist Party regime can overcome this crisis.

2020-02-06
In the next day’s People’s Daily, the remarks by President Xi in question were completely concealed.
But everything was already too late.
Because of President Xi’s own series of words and actions in crisis management, the collapse of his authority can no longer be avoided.
The following is from Sekihei’s serial column, published in today’s Sankei Shimbun under the title “President Xi’s Authority Collapses Through ‘Flight Before the Enemy.’”
Sekihei entered the Department of Philosophy at Peking University, studied at Kobe University, and later became a naturalized Japanese citizen.
The occasion that led him to naturalize in Japan was that, when he visited Arashiyama at the invitation of a friend, he was struck as if by divine revelation and touched the essence of Japan.
As one of the world’s leading China experts, he continues his critical writing, and now, drawn by the beauty of castles throughout Japan, travels all across the country with his camera.
When a bibliophile friend and I visited Tofukuji several years ago, just as its autumn leaves were entering their best season, and on our way back happened to run into him just as he had come to visit the temple, we thought that this too was not a mere coincidence.
On the 28th of last month, Chinese President Xi Jinping met in Beijing with Tedros Adhanom, Director-General of the World Health Organization.
Naturally, the news program of China Central Television that day broadcast the meeting as its top news.
At the beginning of the meeting, regarding the spread of the novel coronavirus at issue, President Xi stated that “the Chinese people are waging a solemn battle” to stop the spread.
He also said, “From beginning to end, I have personally taken command and personally made arrangements.”
When many Chinese citizens heard these words, they must have felt a strong sense of incongruity.
At the meeting of the Communist Party Politburo Standing Committee on the 25th of the same month, the Party Central Committee newly established the “Leading Small Group for Epidemic Response,” that is, the “countermeasures headquarters” for stopping the spread of the novel coronavirus.
The person who became its “group leader” was Premier Li Keqiang.
On the 26th, a plenary meeting of the “leading small group” was held under Premier Li’s chairmanship, and the next day Premier Li himself entered Wuhan and took frontline command of the operation to stop the spread.
Seen from this sequence of events, it is clear that President Xi’s statement that “I took command and made arrangements” does not accord with the facts.
The one taking command was Premier Li.
Why did President Xi tell such a lie to Director-General Tedros, and before all the citizens watching television?
In fact, therein lies President Xi’s great dilemma in dealing with this crisis.
When the “Leading Small Group for Epidemic Response” was established within the Party Central Committee, it was originally expected that President Xi himself would become its “group leader.”
In responding to a major national crisis, it should be President Xi, the supreme leader of the party and the state and also the supreme commander of the military, who serves as the command center for crisis response.
However, as stated above, it was Premier Li who became the “group leader.”
President Xi has so far concurrently held more than a dozen posts as “group leader,” including that of the Central Financial and Economic Affairs Leading Small Group and the Central Foreign Affairs Work Leading Small Group.
Yet it seems that he absolutely did not want to become the group leader of the “Leading Small Group for Epidemic Response” in a time of emergency.
Of course, in the eyes of many party cadres and citizens, this appears to be President Xi’s “flight before the enemy.”
It is precisely the move of running away at the crucial moment.
Because of this, the false image of President Xi, who had presented himself as a “great leader with a strong sense of responsibility,” is now on the verge of collapsing all at once.
On the other hand, Premier Li, who shouldered the survival of the state in a time of crisis, has gained higher evaluation.
When scenes of him entering the dangerous area of Wuhan and encouraging medical personnel and others were shown on television and the internet, Premier Li, in contrast to President Xi who “fled,” became the “hero of the moment” and received applause from the people.
Needless to say, for President Xi, who has a strong tendency toward dictatorship, this is a politically very unfavorable situation.
Even so, it is already too late for him now to replace Premier Li and assume the post of group leader of the “leading small group.”
In the end, President Xi made the aforementioned statement that he himself was “taking command” in order to dispel the image of “flight before the enemy” and somehow preserve his own authority and face.
However, his reputation within China has become even worse because of it.
President Xi will likely be recognized as a “cowardly leader” who pushes responsibility onto Premier Li while taking only the credit for himself.
Perhaps having realized this, in the next day’s People’s Daily, the remarks by President Xi in question were completely concealed.
But everything was already too late.
Because of President Xi’s own series of words and actions in crisis management, the collapse of his authority can no longer be avoided.
If President Xi, the supreme leader, is in such a state, one cannot help but wonder whether the Chinese Communist Party regime can truly overcome this crisis.