A leading Chinese economist at a government think tank has reportedly disappeared after being disciplined for criticizing Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in a private chat group.
Zhu Hengpeng (朱恆鵬), 55, is believed to have made disparaging remarks about China’s economy, and potentially about the Chinese leader specifically, in a private WeChat group. Zhu was subsequently detained in April and put under investigation, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Zhu worked for the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) for more than 20 years, most recently as the Institute of Economics deputy director and director of the Public Policy Research Center. He has reportedly not been seen in public since April when he spoke at an event organized by Chinese media outlet Caixin, which he had done previously. Efforts by the Wall Street Journal to contact him at home were unsuccessful.
Photo. AFP
Earlier this month, Hong Kong media reported a shakeup of the institute’s senior ranks, with the director and secretary also removed from their posts at the same time Zhu was stripped of his role. The other two officials were reassigned, Sing Tao Daily said.
Zhu is no longer listed on the CASS Web site.
Web sites related to his work at Tsinghua University have also been taken offline, although the Guardian could not confirm when.
The CASS is a leading think tank in China, which reports directly to the Cabinet of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the State Council, and has long been an influential policy adviser, sometimes providing relatively frank analysis.
However, under the increasingly authoritarian rule of Xi, criticism of the CCP and his individual leadership has become increasingly frowned upon, and treated punitively.
China-based academics have previously told the Guardian of a growing fear among their profession of reporting or discussing negative assessments of China’s economic, social or political situation for fear of reprisals.
Discussion of Xi as an individual, especially in online spaces which are censored and monitored, is largely avoided or done through vague or coded statements.
Notices on the CASS Web site show staff engaging in several political education sessions in recent months, with a heavy focus on party loyalty and adherence to “Xi Jinping Thought” — the name given to the enshrined political ideology of the CCP leader.
“The meeting emphasized that we must always bear in mind that the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences is a political institution whose work is centered on scientific research, put strict enforcement of the party’s political discipline first and work hard to enforce strict discipline and abide by rules,” said a report on one July meeting, led by CASS president Gao Xiang (高翔).
Gao, a Xi loyalist, was appointed to the role in 2022 and has overseen a campaign to improve party loyalty at the institution.
The specifics of what Zhu wrote in the private WeChat group are not known, although Sing Tao Daily described it as “improperly discussed central policies.”
The Wall Street Journal also reported he allegedly made a reference to “Xi’s mortality.”
China’s economy is struggling, and there are concerns that the world’s second-largest economy would miss its own 5 percent annual growth target, a relatively modest ambition by historic standards.
On Tuesday, the country’s central bank announced the biggest stimulus efforts in years in a bid to boost growth, but experts expressed concern the measures, including a cut in interest rates, would not be sufficient.
A growing crisis in China’s property market has unfolded since authorities cracked down on excessive borrowing by developers, leading many to default on their debts.
Property developers and owners continue to cope with high mortgage payments, dragging on their ability to invest and grow.
Regulators have avoided making large-scale cuts to borrowing costs, fearing that the stimulus would reignite a boom in sales and values, creating a fresh property bubble.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
UNREST: The authorities in Turkey arrested 13 Turkish journalists in five days, deported a BBC correspondent and on Thursday arrested a reporter from Sweden Waving flags and chanting slogans, many hundreds of thousands of anti-government demonstrators on Saturday rallied in Istanbul, Turkey, in defence of democracy after the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu which sparked Turkey’s worst street unrest in more than a decade. Under a cloudless blue sky, vast crowds gathered in Maltepe on the Asian side of Turkey’s biggest city on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr celebration which started yesterday, marking the end of Ramadan. Ozgur Ozel, chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which organized the rally, said there were 2.2 million people in the crowd, but
RSS