BIRTH OF AN UNPERSON: Hu Jintao: The mysterious exit of China’s former leader from party congress.
Footage of China’s former leader, Hu Jintao, being asked to leave the stage at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing during the Communist Party Congress is drawing global attention as people try to work out what has just happened.
There are a lot of questions and no answers so far from the Chinese government.
Mr Hu, 79, appeared reluctant to move. If that is the case, why?
What did he say to the man who replaced him, Xi Jinping, which prompted a nod from China’s current leader? And what did he say to his protégé, Li Keqiang, as he tapped him on the shoulder before being ushered off stage?
The two most likely reasons for his departure are that it was either part of China’s power politics on full display, with a leader representing a former time being symbolically removed, or that Hu Jintao has serious health problems.
It came at the end of the Communist Party’s week-long congress, which cemented Mr Xi’s position as China’s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong.
Photos of Hu Jintao being removed:
