Chinese authorities have significantly intensified their crackdown on Communist Party officials found reading or possessing banned books, with at least 15 high-ranking officials charged in 2024 alone — nearly double the number from 2023.
The most recent case emerged on September 25, when Li Bin, the former deputy director of Mudanjiang’s People’s Congress Standing Committee, was expelled from the party and referred for judicial processing. While Li faced various corruption charges, including accepting bribes and illegal financial gains, the authorities notably listed his primary offense as “violating political discipline by privately reading illegal publications containing content that undermines party unity.”
This trend of charging officials for possessing or reading “publications with serious political problems” has become increasingly prevalent in China’s anti-corruption campaign. Several prominent figures have fallen under similar charges, including Wang Xiaoguang, former deputy governor of Guizhou Province, who was accused of “being keen on reading overseas publications with serious political problems,” and Liu Liange, former chairman of Bank of China, who was charged with “privately bringing banned publications into the country.”
An investigation by Caixin Media revealed 29 additional cases of officials facing book-related charges, with the most common accusations being unauthorized possession of politically sensitive materials and illegal importation of banned publications. The crackdown has extended beyond traditional printed materials to include digital content. In response, the Communist Party’s revised Disciplinary Regulations, which took effect on January 1, 2024, expanded Article 52 to specifically include penalties for accessing problematic content across various media formats, including electronic materials, online texts, images, audio, and video resources.
Source: Deutsche Welle, October 25, 2024
https://p.dw.com/p/4mEam