In this Feb. 19, 2016 file photo released by China’s Xinhua News Agency, people applaud as Chinese President Xi Jinping (center) talks with editors in the general newsroom of the People’s Daily in Beijing
Beijing’s response to an anonymous letter posted online last month, which called for the resignation of President Xi Jinping, “has been anything but dismissive,” writes an article in The New York Times.
The letter, which appeared online at the start of the month before Chinese government officials started their annual sessions, presents Xi in an unfavorable light. According The NY Times, its style mixes “old-school party jargon and liberal criticism that makes its true authorship difficult to discern.”
It demands Xi’s resignation “out of concern for the party’s endeavors, out of concern for the future of the country and its people, and also out of concern for the personal safety of you and your family,” which is likely to be interpreted by Beijing as a threat.
Xi’s critics are accusing him of amassing too much power and of betraying the party’s recent tradition of collective decision-making. Other common themes of the recent criticism include Xi’s anti-corruption campaign, which has targeted former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin among others, as well as his efforts to transform the media into a tool for promoting his own image.
So while it is perhaps not surprising that authorities in the Chinese capital rapidly responded to the demands with a customary crackdown, involving the detention of at least 11 people since the letter surfaced on March 4, the reaction according to some has been surprisingly disproportionate, drawing more attention than the letter itself.
Among those who have been detained are the siblings of a Chinese editor based in Germany who posted an article criticizing the detention of a journalist in mainland China.
What may further concern authorities is the ease and frequency of the disobedience and the open, critical remarks that, for a brief period, feature on the personal blogs and websites of dissidents.
Earlier this week Yu Shaolei, a Chinese editor at a Southern Metropolis Daily, posted a resignation note online to his Sina Weibo microblog. Under the section entitled “reason for resignation,” Yu wrote: “Unable to bear your surname” in reference to Xi’s visit to state media outlets in February when he necessitated that journalists maintain absolute loyalty to the Communist Party, going so far as to insist they “bear the surname of the Party.”
But the latest dissident voice only came to light yesterday, when an editor of Canyu, or “Participation”, a Chinese-language website based in the U.S. that specializes in critical commentary of the Chinese Communist Party, said that he had received another letter on Monday urging Xi to quit.
According to the editor, the letter claims to be a petition of 171 “loyal party members,” despite the fact that it was delivered anonymously. “As it was also anonymous, it lacks credibility,” the editor Cai Chu told The NY Times.
“The response has shown how jittery they are,” added Kerry Brown, a professor of Chinese politics at King’s College, London. “The fear seems to be that these views might be taken as representative of real elite figures.” Daniel Beitler
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