[China Observer]Is Xi Jinping re-promoting Maple Bridge’s experience and a major turmoil coming? | Xi Jinping | Cai Qi

[The Epoch Times, November 07, 2023](Reported by Epoch Times reporters Ning Haizhong and Yi Ru) At a time when China’s economy is in decline and the political atmosphere is sour, the leader of the Communist Party of China, Xi Jinping, brought two members of the Politburo Standing Committee to meet with the so-called “Maple Bridge Style Work” “Legal” unit representative. Does Xi Jinping re-promote the “Maple Bridge Experience” of mass struggle in the Mao era, indicating that great social unrest is coming?

The Xinhua News Agency of the Communist Party of China reported on the 6th that Xi Jinping met in Beijing on the same day with representatives of 104 units of the national “Maple Bridge Style Work Method” selected by the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, and emphasized the development of the so-called “Maple Bridge Experience” in the new era.

The report listed senior officials attending the meeting, including Cai Qi, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China and director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee, Li Xi, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China and secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, Chen Wenqing, secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, Wang Xiaohong, minister of public security, Wu Zhenglong, secretary-general of the State Council, and the Supreme People’s Court. Zhang Jun, President of the Court, and Ying Yong, President of the Supreme Procuratorate.

Independent commentator Cai Shenkun said on the X platform on the 7th that such a strong lineup cannot be an insignificant meeting.

He said, “Many people disagree and feel that the mass struggle against mass movement in Mao Zedong’s era cannot be carried out, especially after decades of reform and opening up, people have long been tired of endless political movements. But any movement initiated by the top leader A movement will be carried out beyond imagination by those who implement it, and a political movement that affects the whole people should be unavoidable.”

Wang He, an expert on China issues, told The Epoch Times on the 7th that it is normal for Chen Wenqing, Wang Xiaohong, Ying Yong, and Zhang Jun from the Department of Political Science and Law to participate in activities hosted by the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission. Wu Zhenglong, Secretary-General of the State Council, is also justified. The public security system is nominally Still belongs to the State Council. “Cai Qi and Li Xi also participated in the meeting, which means that Xi Jinping will promote Fengqiao experience with greater intensity and at a higher level across the country.”

Feng Chongyi, an associate professor at the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia, told The Epoch Times on November 7 that all top officials from the political and legal circles were present this time. Cai Qi was not only the secretary of the Secretariat of the Central Committee, but also the office director of the National Security Council. Xi Jinping himself is also the National Security Council member. Chairman.

“It is equivalent to holding a political-legal meeting. This Fengqiao experience happened to be created by Xie Fuzhi, who was the Minister of Public Security during the Cultural Revolution.”

Current affairs commentator Li Linyi told The Epoch Times that Cai Qi’s attendance at the meeting shows that the so-called “Maple Bridge Experience” has been included in the scope of supervision of the National Security Commission. Cai Qi is the operator of the National Security Commission; Li Xi is more like a supervisor within the party. Security’s top official attended.

Why does Xi Jinping promote the “Maple Bridge Experience”?

The “Maple Bridge Experience” comes from Mao Zedong’s political movement characterized by “the masses fighting the masses” that began in the early 1960s.

In September 1962, Mao Zedong launched the “Socialist Education Movement” based on class struggle. In early 1963, Fengqiao District, Zhuji County, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, implemented a method of “relying on the masses to supervise and reform the four types of elements on the spot.” After the then Minister of Public Security Xie Fuzhi reported the incident to Mao Zedong, Mao instructed the country to promote the “Maple Bridge Experience” of “do not hand over conflicts but resolve them on the spot”.

The “four categories of elements” are the categories the Chinese Communist Party classified the Chinese people from after the founding of the Communist Party of China to the end of the Cultural Revolution, namely the so-called “landlords, rich (peasants), counter-revolutionaries, and bad (elements)”. Later, they were added The rightists are called the “five types of elements”.

When Xi Jinping took office in 2013, he mentioned the “Maple Bridge Experience” again. In the past ten years, the “Maple Bridge Experience” has developed into Chaoyang Masses, Grid Administrators, and Internet Fifty Cents in China. Overseas, it has been used by the CCP to “anti-independence and promote reunification,” “anti-Falungong,” and “counter Shen Yun.” Activity.

Before Xi Jinping went to Hangzhou to attend the opening ceremony of the Asian Games in September this year, he also made a special trip to Shaoxing to inspect the Fengqiao Experience Exhibition Hall.

Feng Chongyi said that now it is the Political and Legal Affairs Committee of the Communist Party of China that has come forward to incite the masses to fight against the masses. In addition to using knives to suppress people and control society, the CCP also needs to mobilize all members of society to fight “enemies” for it. “Including the new version of the Counterespionage Act, it is also a tool of dictatorship to mobilize the masses. This is totalitarian rule.”

Wang Juntao, chairman of the National Committee of the China Democratic Party, told The Epoch Times on the 7th that the CCP promoted the “Maple Bridge Experience” and said that the grassroots level must rely on the so-called mass prevention and mass governance. In the specific period of Mao Zedong, this was linked to class struggle. Now it is doing this again, largely to solve the problem of insufficient governance expenses.

Wang Juntao also said that the CCP’s “Maple Bridge Experience” is still used in diplomacy. Xi Jinping recently proposed to engage in people-to-people diplomacy, which means relying on overseas intellectuals and entrepreneurs to conduct diplomacy and using them as spies. “The spies of other countries are spies, and the spies pretend to be ordinary people; China (the Communist Party) treats every ordinary person who can be used as a spy. It’s not enough if you don’t do it right. It wants to follow the mass line and engage in people’s war. There is no way to combat it. the person I like.”

Wang He believes that the authorities’ promotion of the “Maple Bridge Experience” is also due to the failure of the regime to function properly. Nowadays, the grassroots level in various places is lying flat and handing over intensified conflicts. Xi Jinping is very angry and wants the subordinates to “solve the conflicts on the spot.” Li Xi, Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, attended the meeting, and it seemed that he was going to conduct political inspections on the implementation of the “Maple Bridge Experience” in various places.

Will “Maple Bridge Experience” escalate and social unrest be coming?

According to official media reports, Xi Jinping met with representatives of the “Maple Bridge Style Work Method” unit and used the titles “General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, President of the State, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission” at the same time.

Wang He said that Xi Jinping used the three official identities of general secretary, chairman of the Military Commission, and president of the country at the same time, indicating that this was a very important event.

Wang He said that the CCP has strengthened a complete set of grid management, high-tech surveillance, big data and other systems in terms of social control. The “Maple Bridge Experience” now promoted is a means to mobilize the masses and create divisions; while the authorities emphasize “contradictions” “Solve it on the spot” may be related to their judgment that the entire social situation will enter a turbulent period.

“When social unrest occurs, armed police and troops alone are not enough. After Xi Jinping came to power, a large number of militia organizations were established in various places to prevent large-scale social unrest. Some time ago, various state-owned enterprises established militia organizations mainly to prevent internal unrest and social unrest.”

“During the April 5th Movement, Mao Zedong sent the capital workers’ militia to Tiananmen Square to disperse the masses with iron rods and nails tied to them. Now Xi Jinping has picked up those things from Mao Zedong again and is promoting them. So. The entire political atmosphere is quite bad, which is a manifestation of the entire shift to the left,” Wang He said.

Feng Chongyi believes that the Chinese Communist regime itself is in turmoil because Xi Jinping’s totalitarian restoration has caused great damage to the economy and he is incapable of solving economic problems. The current promotion of Maple Bridge’s experience should be based on the authorities’ basic assessment that the economy will further decline or even collapse, and that social unrest may follow. Including this time, the sudden death of former Prime Minister Li Keqiang triggered spontaneous mourning in various places, and people took the opportunity to express their dissatisfaction. Xi also knows that the hearts of the people and the minds of officials are unstable, and he is extremely fearful in his heart.

“Before the storm came and before the large-scale civil protests came, he first made some arrangements to guard against the upcoming wave of social protests.”

However, Wang He believes that it remains to be seen whether the CCP can really promote this movement. It is possible that it will just be a formality in the end, with promotion from above and performance from below, cheating each other. “If you want to do this, you have to allocate me money, equipment, and people. If you don’t have money, I won’t do anything. The operation efficiency of the current CCP regime is very low, and everyone is dissatisfied and disloyal.”

Li Linyi also said that the authorities feel that the “Maple Bridge Experience” is a very useful tool for maintaining the current political power. However, as people’s minds change and abandoning the CCP is the general trend, these actions of the CCP are in vain.

(Epoch Times reporter Luo Ya contributed to this article)

Editor in charge: Gao Jing#