China's Old Guard Warns Censors of 'social Disaster'

A group of retired senior officials and academics, including Mao Zedong’s former secretary, yesterday called for more openness, warning China’s propaganda department that the media crackdown "could sow the seeds of disaster for political and social transition".

In a rare sign of friction between the old and new guard of the Communist party, the 13 cadres, many of whom were once leading opinion formers, said the closure last month of the pioneering liberal publication Freezing Point was a "major historic incident".

Their joint statement, published on an overseas website, was all the more remarkable because it was signed by officials who formerly helped dictate the country’s propaganda policy. Among them was Hu Jiwei, the former editor of the Communist party mouthpiece, People’s Daily, the former propaganda official Zhu Houze, the retired deputy head of the Xinhua news agency, Li Pu, and the former head of the China Youth Daily group, Zhong Peizhang.

In a move escalating the information war between the propaganda department and advocates of free speech, they called on the government to publish China’s murky media laws, to "demolish every method of news censorship", and to protect the professional rights of the media. "Depriving the public of freedom of expression is bound to give rise to confrontation among the masses and lead to turbulence," they said.

Despite their former positions, many of the signatories have a record of refusing to be gagged. Li Rui, a former member of Mao’s inner circle, was sent to a gulag in Heilongjiang province for several years because he dared criticize the disastrous policies of the Great Leap Forward.

Although it has been some years since the signatories held positions of power, it is unknown for such a group to jointly criticize the government so publicly. Zhang Sizhi, China’s most famous lawyer, said those involved felt compelled to act in light of the media crackdown.

The methods of control of the propaganda department of the Communist party are anything but transparent. Chinese journalists say they get given lists of stories they cannot make public. Those that disobey risk arrest, the sack, or closure of their publications.

Yet journalists are constantly pushing the boundaries. Freezing Point, a supplement of the China Youth Daily, has published stories on official corruption and social inequality. Its editor, Li Datong, a veteran of the 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy protests, issued an open letter last summer that forced the propaganda department to abandon plans for a bonus system designed to reward journalists according to how often they were praised by government officials.

The publication was shut down last month for "viciously attacking the socialist system". The editor said the authorities’ actions were illegal. "This is an abuse of power by the propaganda department. It goes against the constitution." He compared the struggle over information to a guerrilla war, with the media and the authorities each probing for weaknesses on the other side.

In the past two months, censors have fired the editors of the Beijing News and the Public Interest Times. Yesterday, the government announced regulations for internet cafes and entertainment venues, barring use of any "audio and video products or electronic games that might harm national security and incite hatred toward other nationalities".

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 32 reporters are in Chinese prisons. In its 2005 world press freedom index, Reporters Without Borders ranked China 159th out of 167 countries.

Yesterday the Xinhua news agency reported that 115,000 members of the Communist party were punished last year for bribery, influence peddling and other offences. With thousands of often violent protests occurring in the provinces, the Prime Minister, Wen Jiabao, has warned of growing social instability.