Social Stability – Page 79

Leadership: Wuhan Municipal Website Defended Its Mayor

On February 11, 2020, CNHan.com, the website that the media Changjiang Daily, the official newspaper under the Wuhan Communist Party Committee runs, published an article to defend its Mayor Zhou Xianwang.

The article said, “Many people claimed that the Wuhan Mayor, Zhao Xianwang, has an inescapable primary responsibility for letting the epidemic spread across the country, but who has taken a rational view to see that the mayor had no choice? As early as the December of the outbreak, Wuhan reported the relevant situation to the national health organization. The expert team came to Wuhan to investigate and gave a preliminary conclusion. The mayor did not have a professional medical background, so what was wrong for him to follow the experts’ recommendations? . . . When (on January 20) Dr. Zhong Nanshan declared that the virus could not be transmitted from person to person, how much political risk would the mayor have faced to make the unprecedented decision to lock down the city?”

It further went on to praise the mayor’s courage for locking down the city for the benefit of the country.

The article argued for a few points:

1. In December, the mayor had already reported the epidemic to the Central government.

2. The mayor followed the expert team’s opinion (the team claimed the virus wouldn’t pass from person to person, so he didn’t take action to stop public gatherings earlier). It was not until January 20, that China officially admitted the person to person transmission.

Beijing has started replacing officials at Hubei and Wuhan. The first round was replacement of both the Party Secretary and the Director of the Hubei Provincial Health Bureau. On February 13, Shanghai Mayor Ying Yong was appointed as the Hubei Party Secretary and Wang Zhonglin from Jinan City Party Secretary, Shandong Province, was appointed as the Wuhan Party Secretary. Ying Yong, Wang Zhonglin, and Chen Yixin (the former Wuhan Mayor and now the Deputy Director of Central Government Oversight Committee at Wuhan) all have been working in the party’s Political and Legal Affairs system, whose primary job is to maintain social stability.

Replacing the Hubei Governor or Wuhan Mayor may need to wait for the meeting of the corresponding People’s Congress, though it is just a pass-through.

The Wuhan Mayor is likely to use this article to fight for his safe landing. He made a similar claim before. In an interview with the China Central Television (CCTV) on January 27, 2020, Wuhan Mayor Zhou Xianwang claimed that he was not “authorized” earlier to release the epidemic information to the public.

It is very rare in China’s political system to see a subordinate openly pushing blame onto higher levels, especially repeatedly doing so.

Public Opinion: Intellectuals in China Started Raising Their “Five Demands”

The night of February 6, 2020, saw the death of Dr. Li Wenliang, a Wuhan physician who alerted others about novel coronavirus a month ago. He then contracted the virus when working on the front-line treating patients. There was an outcry among intellectuals within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) establishment. They cried out for freedom of speech.

Citizen News, a social diversity advocate news outlet based in Hong Kong, published an open letter signed by leading Chinese intellectuals with five demands:

The Designation of February 6 as National Freedom of Speech Day (Dr. Li Wenliang Day).
Starting now, fully implement the Chinese people’s right to freedom of speech granted by Article 35 of the Constitution.
Starting now, no political forces or state machine should infringe on the Chinese people when they form associations or communicate among each other. The state organs must immediately stop censoring or blocking the content of social media.
Grant equal rights to citizens in Wuhan city and Hubei province, the epicenter of the coronavirus. All coronavirus patients should be able to receive timely, proper, and effective treatment.
Call for the National People’s Congress to convene an emergency assembly to discuss how to protect citizens’ freedom of speech and do not allow any police force to stop the planned meeting (China holds the National People’s Congress in early March every year).

Scholars associated with China’s leading universities, including Renmin University, Peking University, and Tsinghua University, have signed the open letter. South China Morning Post reported on February 12 that hundreds of Chinese, led by academics, have signed the petition.

China’s Human Rights Attorney Association also called for designating February 6 as “National Truth Day.”

On February 7, a “Notice to All Chinese” was sent out from “a group of Tsinghua University Alumni” with five appeals:

Resolutely oppose putting political security above all else; that is the goal of an extremely selfish group.
Resolutely oppose blocking discussion groups and individual accounts on social media.
Resolutely oppose the current maintenance of the stability mentality and practice; oppose treating the people as the enemy.
Resolutely oppose making this disaster a grand party to praise the party; going after the accountability of the officials and the system is a must.
Resolutely oppose going backward; adhere to the abolition of the lifelong term of leaders that Deng Xiaoping started.

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