Chinese Government Shaken Over Threat to President

The Chinese government was shaken by an anonymous letter written earlier this month that called for President Xi Jinping to resign for his own safety.

The letter, penned by "loyal Communist Party members," asked Xi to step away from his duties "out of consideration for the Party cause, out of consideration for the nation and its people — and also out of consideration for your personal safety and that of your family."

The letter first appeared on a Chinese website linked to the government.

China's security personnel, according to a New York Times report, have been on the hunt for the person or persons who wrote the letter. Thus far they have detained and questioned 20 people, reports China Digital Times, a list that includes relatives of two writers who have been exiled from the communist nation and who allegedly spread the letter over the Internet.

Experts told the New York Times Xi's aggressive response to finding who wrote the letter is a sign he might not be entirely comfortable with what was essentially a threat to his life.

"The response has shown how jittery they are," Kerry Brown, a professor of Chinese politics at King's College in London, told the Times. "The fear seems to be that these views might be taken as representative of real elite figures."

Xiao Qiang is an adjunct professor at the University of California, Berkeley and runs China Digital Times. He told the Times, "Bluff or true, this tone sounds more like coup plotters talking to the leader they want to depose, rather than an open letter with dissenting political views."

Xi will travel to Washington, D.C. this week for a meeting about nuclear security.

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