The deputy editor of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) top theoretical journal has committed suicide, reports said, sending speculation swirling over political infighting, freedom of thought and corruption.
Zhu Tiezhi (朱鐵志), 56, a well-known essayist on party theories and the deputy editor-in-chief of Qiushi (求是, “Seeking Truth”), hanged himself in the magazine’s garage, Chinese media outlets reported.
Citing an unnamed friend, Chinese media group Caixin said he had been depressed by ideological disputes in recent years between reformists and increasingly vocal conservative academics.
If the CCP cannot solve real problems, “ideological debates would become empty talk to undermine the mutual trust between the party, the government it leads and the people,” it quoted one of Zhu’s articles as saying.
Under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), authorities have tightened the space for debate both within the party and in wider society.
Zhu believed an academic must preserve his integrity, independent way of thinking and unique views, the report cited the friend saying.
However, “that concern does not sit well with the party’s call for all members and cadres to unite behind the party lines,” Caixin said.
People.cn, a Web site run by the CCP’s mouthpiece the People’s Daily, on Sunday carried a brief report on Zhu’s death, without elaborating on the cause.
The report was widely picked up by other Chinese media outlets, but most had been taken down by yesterday.
Overseas Chinese media reports speculated that Zhu killed himself partly due to links with former United Front Work Department head Ling Jihua (令計畫), a key aide to former Chinese president Hu Jintao (胡錦濤).
Ling faces charges of accepting bribes and illegally obtaining state secrets.
Qiushi published a 4,000-word article by Ling in December 2014 — about two weeks ahead of his fall — that quoted Xi at least 16 times in a last-ditch attempt to showcase loyalty and beg for mercy, the reports said.
The CCP’s anti-corruption watchdog, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, in October last year blasted Qiushi for “slack political censoring on the publication of some articles” and improperly manipulating the editing process to publish writings by friends.
In related developments, a Chinese court has ordered the former chief editor of an influential magazine to apologize for challenging an official account of history, as Beijing further tightens limits on freedom of speech.
Hong Zhenkuai (洪振快) cast doubt on the story of the “Five Warriors of Mount Langyashan,” who allegedly jumped off a cliff while fighting the Japanese during World War II rather than surrendering.
They are touted as patriotic heroes in schoolbooks and propaganda by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as part of its nationalistic narrative.
However, Hong said there were discrepancies in the story in two 2013 articles for progressive magazine Yanhuang Chunqiu, questioning whether two of the five had jumped at all.
The court gave Hong three days to issue a public apology, but it was unclear what penalty he would face should he fail to do so.
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