Coronavirus: outspoken Chinese academic blames Xi Jinping for 'catastrophe' sweeping China / Coronavirus 'could infect 60% of global population if unchecked'
it’s easier to dam a river than it is to silence the voice of the people
Xu was suspended from his position last year after publishing a similarly critical essay of Xi. In his essay he urges citizens to call for “five demands”, a reference to anti-government protesters in Hong Kong. The demands relate to freedom of speech and assembly, open elections and an independent body to investigate the response to the coronavirus crisis.
A group of Chinese academics have signed an open letter calling for the government to issue an apology to the deceased doctor, Li Wenliang, and for more freedom of speech and rights guaranteed by the constitution to be protected. Over the weekend, a woman was photographed in Shanghai holding a sign calling for freedom of speech.
As the crisis expands
across the country, Xu Zhangrun, a law professor from one of the country’s top
universities, lambasted the government under Xi in an essay titled: Viral
Alarm, When Fury Overcomes Fear. In it, Xu laid the blame for the
current national crisis at the feet of Xi and a culture of suppression and
“systemic impotence” that he has created. The virus has now killed more than
1,000 people inside China.
“The cause of all of
this lies with The Axelrod and the cabal that surrounds him,” Xu writes,
referring to Xi, according to a translation of the article by historian Geremie
Barmé published on Monday by the website ChinaFile. It is a system that turns every natural
disaster into an even greater man-made catastrophe. The coronavirus epidemic
has revealed the rotten core of Chinese governance; the fragile and vacuous
heart of the jittering edifice of state has thereby shown up as never before.” Xu describes the
outbreak as a “national calamity” that involves politics, the economy and
“nation’s ethical fabric” making it “more perilous than total war itself”.
The rare open rebuke
of Xi comes as the country attempts to return to some form of normalcy with
businesses and factories slowly going back to work after weeks of quarantine
measures. On Tuesday, China’s National Health Commission reported another 108
new deaths from the virus, bringing the total number of casualties to 1,016.
Officials reported
2,478 new cases of infection on Monday, down from 3,062 the day before,
prompting some optimism that measures to contain the virus are working after
more than 40,000 people have infected. There have been more than 300 cases in
24 other countries and territories.After weeks of
disappearing from public view, Xi on Monday visited
a neighbourhood and hospital in Beijing where he held a video call
with health workers in Wuhan. Coverage of his appearance filled the front page
of the official People’s Daily on Tuesday. Xu’s essay captures
growing public anger at the government, which has reached a new peak after the
death of a doctor and whistleblower last week... read more:
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