Mar 29, 2016

Xiao Qiang Analyzes Anonymous Letter Threatening Chinese Leader

From The New York Times

Anonymous Call for Xi to Quit Rattles Party Leaders in China

By Chris Buckley

An anonymous letter calling on President Xi Jinping to resign for the good of China and his own safety seemed to be digital rumor-mongering when it appeared on the Internet this month. It spread by email and lingered on a small domestic Chinese news site before it was removed.

But the response from Beijing has been anything but dismissive....

Xiao Qiang, an adjunct professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who monitors Chinese media for the website China Digital Times, attributed the response in part to the letter’s unusual phrasing. “Bluff or true, this tone sounds more like coup plotters talking to the leader they want to depose, rather than an open letter with dissenting political views,” he said....

Chinese officials were probably most upset by the letter’s suggestion that Mr. Xi and his family faced personal peril, said Mr. Xiao, the Chinese media expert. The letter demands that Mr. Xi resign “out of concern for the party’s endeavors, out of concern for the future of the country and its people, and also out of concern for the personal safety of you and your family.”...

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Last updated:

October 4, 2016