Xi told to resign, has well-being threatened

TOKYO -- In a fresh sign of the bitter power struggle going on in China, an explosive open letter appeared briefly on a state-sanctioned website calling for President Xi Jinping to resign over economic mismanagement.

     The letter was not signed. It was posted by Wujie News in early March, shortly before the National People's Congress, China's parliament, kicked off its annual meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

     Xi also helms the Chinese Communist Party. The highly unusual public lambasting blamed Xi for China's slowing economy, now the world's second-largest, and called for him to resign from all party and state leadership posts.

     It did not start out this way for Xi, who became president a little more than three years ago and launched a sweeping anti-corruption campaign to wide acclaim.

     The campaign, however, quickly became a hammer that Xi has wielded against political foes and to consolidate power.

     The defiant letter credited Xi's "high pressure" anti-corruption campaign with helping to correct rampant misconduct among party officials.

Chinese President Xi Jinping

     But it went on to say the campaign has also led to a "slacking-off phenomenon" at all levels of government, with frightened bureaucrats failing to do their jobs. This has further accelerated the deterioration of China's economy, the missive said.

     The letter also said the current aim of the anti-corruption drive is to quench Xi's thirst for power.

     The posting was the first criticism released inside China to openly and clearly link the anti-corruption campaign to the worsening economy. It blamed China's current economic woes on Xi, not Premier Li Keqiang.

     Li, ranked second in the Communist Party hierarchy, after Xi, was supposed to serve as the economic czar in Xi's administration. But he has ended up with no such authority due to Xi's aggressive consolidation of power.