China probes dissident tycoon as Wuhan starts to lift lockdown
Billionaire who called leader a ‘clown’ over crisis is investigated for ‘serious violations’
CHINA is investigating an outspoken property tycoon after he wrote a scathing attack on leader Xi Jinping’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.
As Beijing continues to silence dissent even as it claims victory over the virus, the government alleged Ren Zhiqiang committed serious violations of Communist Party law and discipline.
It is the first official acknowledgement of proceedings against Mr Ren after he disappeared in mid-march, around the time Mr Xi visited the central city of Wuhan, where coronavirus first emerged last year.
Wuhan celebrated the end of a 76day lockdown yesterday with an extravagant light show, as the city paid tribute to medical workers, troops and police officers involved in the emergency response.
Traffic swelled throughout the day as more people trickled outdoors and hoards of people headed for railway stations, bus depots and the airport.
Although the mass quarantine measures have officially been lifted, mobility is still restricted for many and a true return to normality remains far off.
Only 1,000 people per day are allowed to enter Beijing from Wuhan under current quotas and those seeking to travel must also fill out an application and prove they have a clean bill of health by producing negative test results for the virus.
The crackdown on Mr Ren, a wellregarded party member with ties to the political elite, illustrates that the government will not stop pursuing critics of the regime. China is on a mission to head off public anger over its handling of the outbreak, especially given doubts over the infection and death tolls reported by health officials.
Hospitals were overwhelmed and there were multiple revisions to how cases were counted. “People have been trying to figure out what happened – they’re trying to figure out the right narrative, and it’s a competition, because what that story ends up being will have implications for the party, for Xi Jinping,” said Joseph Torigian, a professor at the American University’s School of International Service in Washington DC.
Mr Ren’s frank views have earned him the nickname “Ren the Cannon”. His latest essay, published online early last month, did not mention Mr Xi by name, but the language made the subject clear.
“There stood not an emperor displaying his ‘ new clothes,’ but a clown with no clothes on who was still determined to play emperor,” he wrote.
“Despite clutching some rags in an attempt to cover up his nakedness, he couldn’t cover up his ambition to be emperor.”
Such comments are “remarkable ... especially during a crisis”, said Mr Torigian. “Acts like that could very easily be destabilising [to the Party].”
In 2016, Mr Ren was disciplined after he publicly assailed Mr Xi for ordering Chinese state media to toe the party line. Government censors immediately shut down his social media accounts, which at the time had more than 37 million followers. He was also put on probation for a year and stripped of his duties within the party.
Mr Ren is the most high-profile figure silenced by the Chinese authorities since the coronavirus pandemic emerged late last year.
In December Dr Ai Fen informed her colleagues at a hospital in Wuhan that a number of her patients had fallen ill with a novel coronavirus infection similar to Sars an outbreak that originated in China and killed 800 people nearly two decades ago.
That night, the hospital administrators warned her that people spreading information and causing widespread panic would be held accountable. She
was later ordered not to discuss the new illness with anyone, including her husband.
“I was stunned,” Dr Ai told Ren Wu, a Chinese magazine. “I knew that a very important virus had been found. Other doctors would say, how could you not say anything? This is the instinct of a doctor, isn’t it? What did I do wrong?”
In late February the ministry of public security announced 5,111 cases involving “fabricating and deliberately disseminating false and harmful information”.
Official death tolls in Italy, Spain, France, UK, the US and Iran have all surpassed the 3,300 fatalities reported by Chinese health authorities, renewing concerns that Beijing’s count suppresses the true scale of the outbreak.
“China was not giving the world the correct information, and that, of course, had an impact on other governments not taking more resolute, timely measures,” said Yaqiu Wang, China researcher for Human Rights Watch.