
Chinese President Xi Jinping made his first public appearance on Tuesday since returning from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Samarkand when he visited an exhibition of the Communist Party. Xi’s absence sparked a number of rumours in the past few days with few media reports suggesting that he was removed as the chief of China’s People’s Liberation Army.
According to observers, Xi was not seen in public as he was going through a mandatory seven-day quarantine and a three-day home stay following his foreign visit. This is the common procedure followed in accordance with the Dynamic Zero Covid policy which was implemented by President Xi himself.
Xi had followed the similar protocol after returning from Hong Kong in July earlier this year.
China's zero-Covid policy included several lockdowns and strict regulations with the goal of controlling the pandemic. However, the measures have also attracted a lot of criticism from different parts of the country.
The Xinhua news agency reported that the exhibition in Beijing showcased the achievements of the Communist Party of China over the past decade. Xi also reportedly spoke at the venue and called for “efforts to forge ahead determinedly toward a new victory of socialism with Chinese characteristics”.
WATCH |Chinese president Xi Jinping appears in public for the first time since SCO summit
"The Party and the State have made historic achievements and undergone historic changes, providing a more perfect system, a more solid material foundation and more active spiritual power to achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation," he said according to media reports.
"We should widely publicise the strategic initiatives, transformative practices, breakthroughs and landmark achievements over the past 10 years, and the milestone significance of the great changes in the last decade in the history of the Party, the history of a new China," he added.