Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan was unable to save his close friend Ren Zhiqiang from going to jail, according to former top Communist Party school professor Cai Xia.

Ren, a former chair of state-owned real estate group Huayuan, was last week sentenced to 18 years in jail after publishing articles criticizing President Xi Jinping.

Wang was close to Ren and has known him for many years, but he could not become tied up with his case in order to save himself from political risks, Cai told Radio Free Asia.

She said Ren’s goals for many years were constitutional democracy and freedom for China, but this was not Wang’s political aim so he could not truly back his old friend.

Both Ren and Cai are descendants of China’s elite party families. Ren’s father was Ren Quansheng, who was China’s Vice Minister of Commerce. Cai’s grandparents joined the Communist Party back in the 1920s.

Under Xi’s regime, people from elite families who criticized the party were not spared from punishment. Cai was living in self-imposed exile in the United States before she was expelled from the party and had her pensions removed.

Her parents had sincerely hoped that the future of the nation would improve when they made sacrifices in supporting the communists, Cai said.

Instead, the second generation from elite families now opposed the current situation of Xi ruling the nation, instead of the government belonging to the people, Cai said. Only democracy could bring China into the world of modern civilization, she added.

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