China News: Don't speak ill of Jiang

Beijing rules: don't speak ill of Jiang
Keith Richburg, BeijingJuly 8, 2011

Jiang Zemin: Dead or alive? Photo: Reuters

CHINA'S media censors have blocked internet references to ailing retired leader Jiang Zemin after rumours spread that he had died.

Speculation has been rife on microblogging sites that Mr Jiang, 84, was dying or had died after he failed to appear last Friday alongside other top leaders for ceremonies marking the 90th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party's founding.
Mr Jiang has been rumoured to have been in ill health for years. On the most popular local Twitter-like microblogging site, Sina.com, searches were blocked for terms including ''301'', the name of the Beijing military hospital where China's top leaders are treated. Also blocked was Mr Jiang's name, which means ''river'' in Chinese, as well as ''brain death'' and ''brain dead''.

Savvy internet users found ways around the restrictions by chatting using other common words for ''river'' to refer to Jiang.

There was no official word on Mr Jiang's health - not unusual in a country where basic facts about senior officials are closely guarded secrets. But the explosive growth of the internet in China, with millions of microblogging sites, or ''weibo'', is challenging the Communist Party's monopoly on information.

The blocking of the search terms suggested leaders were aware of the speculation and were determined to try to control the timing and manner of any announcement about Mr Jiang.

The current leadership might also be sensitive to how the public will react to an announcement of Mr Jiang's death.

Mr Jiang, who took over as party secretary after the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989, was viewed as a free-market economic reformer who reduced the state's role in business, brought China into the World Trade Organisation and improved relations with the US.

Late on Wednesday, the website of a Hong Kong TV station published what appeared to be a tribute to Mr Jiang, without confirming whether he had died.

Mr Jiang was last seen publicly in 2009 at ceremonies marking the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. Reports of his health come as China is preparing to move to a new generation of leaders next year.

Mr Jiang was said to be the leader of one faction manoeuvring behind the scenes to support his favoured candidates for elevation to the ruling Standing Committee.

WASHINGTON POST
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