On October 12, 2016, following Hong Kong Sing Pao Daily‘s publication of a series of articles criticizing Chinese politburo member Zhang Dejiang, Huanqiu (Global Times), a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) mouthpiece under the control of Liu Yunshan [both Zhang and Liu are close allies of former Communist Party head Jiang Zemin], published an editorial attacking Sing Pao Daily News for its sudden change in political stance. Sing Pao had previously been pro-China [favorable to Jiang’s faction] but published articles critical of two members of Jiang’s faction: Zhang Dejiang, who is the top official responsible for Hong Kong and Macau affairs, and Liung Chun-ying, who is Hong Kong’s Chief Executive.
Huanqiu asserted that Sing Pao Daily News is now more like the Falun Gong media Epoch Times, [in attacking the CCP]. [Editor’s note: The Epoch Times is a private independent American media group founded in 2000. The CCP regards Epoch Times as an overseas anti-China (CCP) media.] The Huanqiu editorial claimed that for Sing Pao to dare to do so [attack prominent Chinese leaders on its front page] is very unusual and it cannot be out of ordinary political reasons. The article zoomed its focus to the newspaper’s President of the Board, Gu Zuoheng, a mainland businessman. The article stated that Gu was involved in a “Crime of illegally absorbing deposits from the public” and is now wanted by the police. The article speculated that because Gu cannot convince the justice department to let him go, he used the paper to vent his anger and attacked the leaders in charge of Hong Kong affairs, or maybe Gu is trying to accumulate chips for seeking asylum in the U.S. or another Western country.
Source: Huanqiu (Global Times Chinese), October 12, 2016
http://opinion.huanqiu.com/editorial/2016-10/9537676.html