Recently, the leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Xi Jinping, visited Europe. Observers noticed that Kong Shaoxun, the former deputy director of the General Office of the CCP Central Committee, who was involved in removing former party leader Hu Jintao at the 20th Party Congress, appeared at the welcoming ceremony held by French President Macron. He stood between Cai Qi, ranked fifth within the CCP, and the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
On May 6th, independent commentator and columnist Cai Shenkun posted on the social platform X, stating: “Cai Qi, Wang Yi, Kong Shaoxun, and Hua Chunying attended Macron’s welcoming ceremony. Wang Yi and Kong Shaoxun standing in the same position signifies that Kong Shaoxun is being highly valued. At the 20th Party Congress, it was Kong Shaoxun who removed Hu Jintao from the venue. Kong Shaoxun officially holds the positions of Deputy Director of the General Office of the CCP Central Committee and Secretary of the Secretariat.”
On the morning of October 22, 2022, the CCP held the closing session of the 20th Party Congress, where they passed the political report, amendments to the party constitution, and “elected” a new Central Committee and alternate members, as well as Central Discipline Inspection Commission members. The top leaders of the CCP, led by Xi Jinping, were seated in their respective positions. Former CCP General Secretary and member of the 20th Party Congress Presidium, Hu Jintao, sat to the left of Xi Jinping.
During the closing session, as the media from various countries entered the venue, Hu Jintao was trying to look at the documents on the table. Li Zhanshu, sitting to his left, first pressed the documents under a red ballot folder and then took the documents away from in front of Hu Jintao, attempting to prevent him from reading them.
Li Zhanshu’s actions also caught the attention of Xi Jinping, who then signaled for Kong Shaoxun to come over and exchanged some words privately. Subsequently, Kong Shaoxun brought a young staff member, and together they removed Hu Jintao from the venue.
According to the publicly available biography on Baidu Baike, Kong Shaoxun’s early career experiences are not detailed. It only shows that he was born in February 1969 in Ningxia, and early on worked in the Party Committee General Office of Ningxia, with several years of secretarial work experience. In 2009, he briefly served as the Deputy Mayor of Wuzhong City in Ningxia, then he was transferred to the General Office, where he held positions such as Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee, Secretary of the Discipline Inspection Commission, Director of the Personnel Department, and Deputy Leader of the Poverty Alleviation Working Group.