June 15 this year was Xi Jin-ping’s 67th birthday. The managing vice principal of the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, who is also known as Xi’s fountain pen, publicized a lengthy birthday greeting on the front page of the school’s official newspaper. The topic is “Xi Jin-ping’s new age socialism with Chinese characteristics is the Marxism of the 21st century”, containing up to 7,262 words in total. It goes without saying that it is just another stereotyped and self-glorifying writing by communist China.

On such a big day, however, the birthday boy was not around. Xi has been hiding from view since his inspection in Ningxia on June 10. In fact, he has made it a habit to hide himself away during trying times. Back in June, 2012, when his political status was jeopardized by Bloomberg’s disclosure of the huge asset owned by his family, Xi disappeared for half a month and even the scheduled meeting with Hillary was cancelled. More recently, during the Wuhan lockdown in January this year, he did not show up for about two months.

Xi’s latest disappearance has come in a sensitive moment. After recording zero local confirmed coronavirus case in Beijing for 56 days, a fresh outbreak has begun in the capital since June 11. Municipal authority is on high alert and a “wartime mode” was announced with armed police mobilized and several districts locked down.

As reported by Beijing Daily, health workers detected the virus in samples collected at the Xinfadi food wholesale market, including those from cutting boards used for preparing imported salmon. And according to official figures, among the 8,186 people that had undergone nucleic acid testing, only 5,803 were tested negative. This indirectly confirmed that the market is the origin of the second wave outbreak. It is understood that the authority is now tracking those who have recently visited the place, with the assistance of the big data.

Meanwhile, CCTV reported on June 15 that in Beijing, a total of 22 places ranging from streets, villages and towns had been identified as infected areas. Lockdowns have been renewed and a massive testing is underway. And now many mainland cities have been on high alert for visitors from Beijing. And much to communist China’s embarrassment, the new outbreak came just a few days after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs blew its own trumpet on the effectiveness of the country’s coronavirus control and prevention.

Yet, Xi is supposed to show up again on Wednesday as it has been officially announced that he would preside over an extraordinary China-Africa summit in Beijing on solidarity against Covid-19. Meanwhile, on the very same day, US Secretary of State Pompeo will meet Yang Jie-chi, a member of the Communist Party Politburo, in Hawaii.

In fact, since US-China relations deteriorated, Pompeo has been a major target of criticism by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and state-owned media. As a graduate of the West Point Military Academy and former head of the CIA, Pompeo has been making no reservation in condemning Beijing’s handling of the coronavirus as well as its domestic and foreign policies. In the wake of Beijing’s decision on imposing the national security law on Hong Kong, the US has been piling up pressure on Beijing, which includes the suggested sanctions on the country’s top leaders, upcoming initial report of US Congress’s investigation on the coronavirus origin as well as an unusual deployment of up to three carrier battle groups in the Asia Pacific region.

The Hawaii meeting is commonly interpreted by the media as a gesture of backing down on the side of Beijing. Amid this, with Xi positioning himself as the “new Marx” in the coming video conference with the African countries, and the new tension built up by North Korea, the determination of the US and western world in joining forces to safeguard universal values will only get stronger. And once the ongoing investigation reveals the true origin of the coronavirus, the real hard times for the communist empire will commence.

(Lui Yue, veteran Chinese journalist)

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