Xi’s consolidation of power at the Communist party congress in October 2022 in Beijing was accomplished with a cruel personal twist. Hu Jintao, Xi’s predecessor as president and the previous boss of China, seated next to Xi, appeared to be forcibly removed from the closing session of the congress by two attendants and perp-walked before the television cameras. Hu was the last in the line of moderate and pragmatic party leaders stemming from Deng. And his involuntary departure from the hall symbolized the end of an era, and signaled that the world would be more dangerous going forward.
