On Sep. 22, Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court sentenced Ren Zhiqiang to fixed-term imprisonment of 18 years in jail. Ren, a former real estate tycoon, and outspoken government critic, was also fined 4.2 million yuan (US$619,000). The news surprised the world.

Xi Jinping would be the only person to have approved such a heavy hand. He is also probably the only person who cannot resolve his hatred even with such a severe sentence. Xi Jinping grew up in the Cultural Revolution and he must still be able to clearly recall memories of death penalty notices plastered all over the streets. A string of names marked with red ticks indicated those to be executed in accordance with the “Six Articles of Public Security.” The second article stated that “Anyone who posts anonymous counter-revolutionary letters secretly or publicly, distributes counter-revolutionary leaflets, writes anti-movement slogans, or shouts anti-movement slogans to attack and slander the great leader Chairman Mao and his close comrade Lin Biao are all counter-revolutionary acts and should be punished according to law.” Eventually, it was expanded to include Jiang Qing, Kang Sheng, Zhang Chunqiao and others. In January 1967, Mao Zedong proposed “to draft several articles” which were passed at the Politburo meeting presided by Zhou Enlai. These “several provisions” targeted public security were evidence that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) used a top government official document to replace the law and openly enforced criminal punishment for speech.

Although the notorious “Six Articles of Public Security” was canceled in 1979, the venom has penetrated too deep. There are 100 disciplines for party members under the “The Chinese Communist Party Disciplinary Regulations.” Among them is the article that prohibits any act that “violates the four cardinal principles, speaks ill of the government’s major directives and policies, and vilifies the image of the CCP or the nation.” Additionally, Article 105 “Inciting subversion of state power” of the “Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China” (PRC) are also in the same vein as the second article of the Cultural Revolution.

The whole world can see clearly that Xi Jinping still tried Ren Zhiqiang using the “Six Articles of Public Security.” The court found Ren guilty on four economic crimes, including corruption, embezzlement of public funds, accepting bribes, and abuse of power that caused losses for the state-owned property company that he once headed. It only shows that Xi is a sheep in wolf’s skin, far from possessing Mao Zedong’s ability to control the party and society. As Cai Xia once said, the crime of corruption has become Xi’s customary tactic to eliminate dissidents, consolidate his supreme position, and strengthen his personalist autocracy regime. Going against the tide and causing serious dissatisfaction both within and outside the party, Xi Jinping can only use economic crimes to conceal the fierce internal party political struggles.

Moreover, the 18-year sentence is probably proposed to Xi by his personal judicial team, which had been twisted and turned before coming up with the figure. Economic crimes, including corruption and receiving bribes, are punishable by the death penalty. The cost of the economic crimes listed by the procuratorate for Ren Zhiqiang is not low, but no one believes it. After the verdict was announced, few people at home and abroad were interested in Ren Zhiqiang’s “criminal facts”. Some even retrieved Ren’s Weibo on Dec. 30, 2011, that was widely reported by the official media: “After several months of auditing, I finally got the audit report and the audit decision. Other than the handling of some individual financial accounting, there are no personal corruption problems. I can be at ease and step down from my office. I will no longer bear legal responsibility for the direct entrusted management of state-owned assets.” Almost all public opinion questioned the sentencing of 18 years of imprisonment. This point is very different from other corruption cases announced by the CCP.

Some have asked if the intention was to alleviate Xi Jinping’s hatred, why not increase Ren Zhiqiang’s sentence, perhaps indefinitely to life imprisonment. China’s current criminal law stipulates that criminals sentenced to death and life imprisonment shall be deprived of their political rights for life. “Political rights,” including freedom of speech and freedom of the press, will trigger the public’s association with Ren Zhiqiang’s essay in March said to be critical of Xi. The 18-year sentence served as an implicit warning within the whole CCP.

In October 1980, the CCP organized 4,000 senior party cadres at or above the provincial military level to conduct a one-month review of “The Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party Since the Founding of the People’s Republic of China” drafted by Hu Qiaomu and others, with Deng Xiaoping and Hu Yaobang presiding over the work. The huge discussion became a denouncement and criticism of the mistakes made by Mao Zedong himself and in Mao Zedong Thought. However, Deng Xiaoping put a stop to the condemnation. The resolution was adopted in the Sixth Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the CCP the following year. According to Deng’s personal wishes, he amounted Mao’s achievements to 70% and mistakes to 30%. Furthermore, he re-established the heroic role of Mao, upheld Mao Zedong Thought, and advocated holding high its banner. This not only laid the groundwork for the Tiananmen Square Massacre, but also foreshadowed Xi Jinping’s revision of the constitution after the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, undermining democracy within the party, engaging in a lifelong system and personalist autocracy.

While visiting Prestonwood Baptist Church in Texas, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that godless regimes such as Adolf Hitler, Mao Zedong, and the current CCP have ruined millions of lives. He also said, “China is home to one of the worst human rights crises of our time; it is truly the stain of the century.” Pompeo’s remarks came a day before Ren Zhiqiang’s conviction. The many years of religious persecution in Tibet and Xinjiang, the violent suppression of Hong Kong’s anti-ELAB movement in 2019, the worldwide spread of the coronavirus in 2020, and the destruction of Hong Kong’s rule of law and freedom through the enactment of the national security law can all serve as annotations to what Pompeo refers to as the CCP’s act of terrorism.

On the same day that Ren Zhiqiang was sentenced, President Trump made remarks on camera at the 75th Session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly during which he called China out 12 times. He referred to Covid-19 as the “China Virus” and that China had “unleashed this plague upon the world,” claiming countless lives in 188 countries around the world. He said that the WHO (the World Health Organization) is controlled by China. He also requested for the first time that the UN must demand that China take responsibility for its irresponsible actions. Trump’s speech was subsequently followed by Xi Jinping’s pre-recorded video in which he said that the coronavirus is a crisis faced by all of mankind. He did not express any signs of remorse and said that “China resolutely rejects the politicization of the virus and associated stigma.”

The whole world, however, will remember the name of a Chinese doctor Li Wenliang. Behind him, there is also a Chinese entrepreneur Ren Zhiqiang who has been thrown into prison for looking into Xi Jinping’s responsibility for the CCP Virus endangering human lives.

(Lui Yue, veteran Chinese journalist)

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