Former Chinese premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) has pleaded innocence over claims that his family amassed huge wealth during his decade in power, a Hong Kong columnist said, as Beijing ramps up a much-publicized crackdown on official corruption.
“I have never been involved and would not get involved in one single deal of abusing my power for personal gain because no such gains whatsoever could shake my convictions,” Wen said in a letter to Ng Hong-mun (吳康民), a columnist with the Ming Pao, a Hong Kong-based Chinese-language newspaper.
“I want to walk the last journey in this world well. I came to this world with bare hands and I want to leave this world clean,” Wen said, according to Ng’s column published on Saturday.
Wen’s letter, dated Dec. 27, follows a 2012 New York Times report that claimed his family controlled assets worth at least US$2.7 billion — a report China vigorously denounced as a smear.
Ng is a Hong Kong-based politician who frequently comments on relationships between Beijing and the territory, which was returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
He is known to have ties to Wen, and a photograph taken of both men and their wives after an April 2011 dinner in Beijing was circulated widely in the Hong Kong press.
News of Wen’s letter comes amid an escalating campaign by China’s leadership, led by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), to fight corruption among high-ranking officials, or “tigers,” as well as low-level “flies.”
Analysts say that while there is little chance that Wen himself would be ensnared in that crackdown, the former premier is under pressure to clear his name following the New York Times investigation.
Recent reports of an official probe into China’s former chief of internal security, Zhou Yongkang (周永康), a one-time member of the Chinese Communist Party’s all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee, could have prompted Wen to act, said Willy Lam (林和立), a politics specialist at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
“I think the point of Wen Jiabao’s letter... is to pre-empt innuendo and speculation that he might be the next to go, after Zhou Yongkang,” Lam said.
“Because of the widespread publicity generated by the New York Times and other reports, there has also been speculation that Wen Jiabao could be the next one to come under the party discipline, if not public prosecution,” he added.
Lam said that it was “highly unlikely” that Wen himself would be charged, “the major reason being that all this action against top officials is connected with a power struggle within the party.”
The New York Times was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for its investigation into the wealth of Chinese leadership, but has also had its Web site blocked in China.
Several reporters for the newspaper have also had difficulty obtaining visas to report from China.
Wen stepped down as premier in March last year after a decade in power and was succeeded by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (李克強) in the party’s decennial leadership change.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from