Rabble rouser goes too far with shootdown quip

Two days before Nancy Pelosi travelled to Taiwan, a suggestion came from a man long trusted to unfailingly toe the Beijing party line: ‘‘Shoot her down,’’ thundered Hu Xijin.

The remark was true to form for Hu, a former editor-in-chief of the Global Times, who has become the de facto mouthpiece for factions in Beijing who long for greater confrontation with the West. This time, though, it appears even Hu, 62, realised he had gone too far.

He deleted the article and a tweet supporting it. However, the damage was done.

Across China, people watched a live feed of Pelosi’s flight to Taipei in the expectation of a dramatic escalation.

The incident spoke of the tremendous influence of Hu, who is not only followed by nearly 25 million people on Weibo but also has more than 500,000 followers on Twitter, where he defends the ruling Chinese Communist Party in English.

While the extent to which he is supported by Beijing remains unclear, the fact that he continues to broadcast his views, which often influence foreign journalists, without restriction suggests he is at the very least a useful pawn in President Xi Jinping’s PR operation.

Born in Beijing to a Christian family, Hu served in the Chinese military in the 1980s before studying Russian literature as a postgraduate. In 1989, he started his career with the People’s Daily, the party’s flagship mouthpiece. The

breakup of Yugoslavia made him a staunch supporter of strong rule.

In 2005, Hu became chief editor of the Global Times, part of the People’s Daily group. His influence rose, especially after the launch of the paper’s English edition, and he acquired the nickname ‘‘Frisbee Hu’’ for his uncanny ability to catch whatever the party threw at him.

The sneer at Pelosi may be a turning point, though.

Ren Yi, a grandson of one of the party elders, accused Hu of ‘‘undermining the morale and possibly making an overdraft of government credibility’’. In response, Hu said Ren was a member of the elite detached from reality, and ‘‘an unprotected soldier outside armoured vehicles in the war of words’’.