周一仍未露面，习近平究竟哪去了？

choi

VOA Chinese, Sept 10, 2012
http://www.voachinese.com/conten ... 120910/1504917.html
("为消除外界的猜测，中国外交部上周四通知中国记者协会说，习近平将在9月10日，也就是本周一，会见丹麦首相施密特。但媒体很快发现，这是外交部摆的一个大乌龙。丹麦方面公布的施密特访华行程显示，本周一，这位丹麦首相要和中国副总理王岐山举行双边会议，没有要会见习近平的安排。 * * * 细心的人士对习近平的行踪进行了查找，发现，自从9月1日习近平出席了中央党校秋季开学典礼之后就从公众的视线中消失了，到9月10日已经9天")

(2) 习近平大胆谈政改，真乎？伪乎？ VOA Chinese, Sept 10, 2012.
http://www.voachinese.com/conten ... 120910/1504951.html

Note:
(a) The two pieces of news, (1) and (2), are published about the same time (separated by two minutes only).
(b) The report cites
Chris Buckley, Exclusive: China President-in-Waiting Signals Quicker Reform - Sources. Reuters, Sept 7, 2012.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2 ... USBRE8860BI20120907

(3) Going back to (1). More about Mr Xi's disappearance. Daily telegraph give a detailed account of recent activities Mr Xi did not participate in (though he should) and an analysis of the situation, so I list it first.
(a) Malcolm Moore, Mystery Over Whereabouts of China's Leader-in-Waiting Xi Jinping. Daily Telegraph, Sept 11, 2012 (available now).
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ ... ing-Xi-Jinping.html

Quote:

"although invitations were sent out [last Thursday] to Hong Kong journalists to see Mr Xi meet Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the prime minister of Denmark, at the Great Hall of the People yesterday afternoon, Mr Xi did not appear. Instead, Mrs Thorning-Schmidt met with Wang Qishan, a Chinese vice premier. The Danes denied a meeting had ever been officially scheduled, as did a spokesman for the Foreign ministry.

"before his [Xi's] latest disappearance from public sight, he had been absent for another six-day period between August 22 and 29

"The combination of Mr Xi's absence with a similar disappearance by He Guoqiang, a member of the all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee, has sparked conspiracy theories on an overseas Chinese website. Mr He is thought to be an opponent of Bo Xilai * * * [Mr] He has not been seen publicly since August 31. At the same time, one of Mr Bo's presumed allies, Zhou Yongkang, made a surprise two-day appearance in Hefei, where Gu Kailai, Mr Bo's wife, was put on trial last month for Mr Heywood's killing.

(b) Christopher Bodeen, Where’s Xi Jinping? Mysterious absence of China’s next leader sparks rumours. Associated Press, Sept 10, 2012.
http://www.thestar.com/news/worl ... ader-sparks-rumours

Quote:

"Rumours about Xi were churned further by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s cryptic remark over the weekend that the start of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum leaders’ meeting in Vladivostok had been delayed because Hu needed to attend to an important but unspecified domestic issue

"Though absent in person, Xi did pop up Monday on the front page of the party academy’s official newspaper Study Times alongside a transcript of the speech he delivered nine days earlier.

Note:
(i) The party academy" in quotation 2 is Central Party School of the Communist Party of China  中共中央党校.
(ii) Study Times  中共中央党校学习时报
www.studytimes.com.cn
(iii) Wang Xiangwei, editor-in-chief of Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post   王向偉/南華早報


(c) Jamil Anderlini, Rumours Swirl as China’s Xi Vanishes. Financial Times (FT), Sept 11, 2012 (available now).
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/34e73a ... 3-00144feabdc0.html

Quote:

"Late last week the foreign ministry invited overseas media to cover a meeting between Mr Xi and Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt scheduled for Monday afternoon - but on Monday the ministry denied that the meeting was ever supposed to take place. When pressed on reports that Mr Xi had suffered a back injury, a ministry spokesman said “We have told everybody everything,” and refused to elaborate.

"In an apparent attempt to quash rumours he had fallen out of favour, Monday’s edition of the Study Times, a major official Communist Party newspaper, ran a front page article based on a speech Mr Xi gave on September 1, the last time he was seen in public.

Note:
(a) The FT report does not require sign-in.
(b) Both Telegraph and Financial Times (FT) date the online version at least a day (longer for FT when a weekend follows) ahead of print.

(4) 习近平、贺国强'意外'消失，诡异气氛笼罩京城. Boxun, Sept 9, 2012.
http://boxun.com/news/gb/china/2012/09/201209091235.shtml