China Silences Questions About Hu Jintao’s Public Exit

China watchers were no closer to solving the mystery surrounding former Chinese leader Hu Jintao’s recent public removal from a major political event, while Beijing was silencing questions from the foreign press by pretending they were never asked. On the final day of the Chinese Communist Party’s 20th National Congress on Saturday, thousands of delegates and reporters inside the Great Hall of the People witnessed what appeared to be a rare unscripted moment at the otherwise highly choreographed event. Hu, the CCP’s general secretary between 2002 and 2012, was seated to the left of current party leader, Xi Jinping, before…