A local cadre from the northern province of Heilongjiang was recently expelled from the Chinese Communist Party for reading illegal publications with “serious political issues,” making him the latest among dozens of officials to be punished for reading subversive political tracts. Caixin Global’s Feng Huamei and Kelly Wang provided a summary of the case:
Li Bin, former deputy director of the people’s congress in the city of Mudanjiang, has been expelled from the Communist Party of China (CPC), according to a notice the Heilongjiang Commission for Discipline Inspection published last week.
In the statement, Li was accused of violating political discipline by “reading illegal publications that contain content that undermines the unity of the party.” He was also accused of taking bribes and several other violations, including breaking the party’s frugality code, which are measures designed to prevent extravagant official spending.
[…] At least six high-ranking officials have been accused of improperly handling of such materials in recent years. The list includes Zhu Congjiu, former vice governor of East China’s Zhejiang province, who “secretly brought banned books into the country and read them;” Wang Xiaoguang, former vice governor of Southwest China’s Guizhou province, who was found to be “fond of reading politically problematic foreign publications;” and Zhang Zuolin, former vice governor of the southwestern province of Yunnan, who “kept and read politically problematic publications and audio-visual materials.”
[…] In recent years, dozens of lower-level officials have also been accused of privately reading or carrying politically problematic books. [Source]
The Caixin article also includes a long and detailed chart of other officials and public figures who were punished for their choice of reading material:
The revised Chinese Communist Party Regulations on Disciplinary Actions, which took effect at the start of this year, strengthen the CCP’s ability to punish members who read, browse, or listen to politically problematic materials, or who publish content that undermines Party unity or calls into question Party orthodoxy. (Some explanatory links have been added to the translation below.):
Some Party members and cadres privately read, browse, and listen to politically problematic materials, which is itself a sign of weak political awareness, indicating that their political thinking has deviated from, or even contradicted, the Party’s line, principles, and policies. This is often due to a loss of faith or a sense of spiritual emptiness. Such behavior will only aggravate the corrosive power of incorrect ideologies and precipitate political passivity. The harm it poses cannot be ignored.
[…] Materials with serious political problems can cover a wide range of content, including newspapers and magazines, books, audio-visual materials, and electronic publications, as well as online articles, pictures, audio files, and video files. In terms of the nature of this content, Articles 50 and 51 of the Regulations specify the following violations: publicly publishing articles, speeches, manifestos, statements, etc., that support bourgeois liberalization, oppose the Four Cardinal Principles, or oppose the Party’s Reform and Opening policy; publicly publishing articles, speeches, manifestos, statements, etc., that violate the Four Cardinal Principles, violate or distort the Party’s Reform and Opening policy, or otherwise exhibit serious political problems; making irresponsible remarks regarding major policies of the Central Committee, thus undermining Party unity; vilifying the image of the Party or the nation; slandering and defaming national or Party leaders, heroes, or model workers; and distorting Party or military history. [Chinese]
In other Party-discipline news, a piece by Jeremy Daum at China Law Translate (“Keeping an Eye on the Watchdog: proposed revisions to the Supervision Law”) discusses the history of China’s Supervision Law and the significance of the proposed changes contained in its October 2024 draft revision. (The article also includes a useful comparative chart of the major proposed changes.):
The adoption of China’s Supervision Law was a major blow to the nation’s ongoing criminal justice reforms. When it took effect in 2018, accompanied by a Constitutional Amendment necessary to accommodate it, it created a new branch of government empowered to investigate corruption and other abuses of public power outside the courts. This demonstrated a lack of confidence in the justice system to handle these sensitive cases and allowed investigators to sidestep established defense protections.
[…] The draft revisions propose expanding supervision powers to include a spectrum of measures that limit suspects’ freedom to different degrees, including compelled appearances, release pending investigation, Confinement, Protective Care, and Retention in Custody. These new measures closely track corresponding language and powers in the Criminal Procedure Law, but apply to the broader range of misconduct in the jurisdiction of the supervision commissions. [Source]
Alexander Boyd contributed to this post.
