In the run-up to the 20th National Congress, scheduled for October 16-18, the Chinese authorities are making every effort to throttle the voice of critics of the government policies, a media report said.
The posts of Lao Dongyan, a Criminal Law Professor at Tsinghua University, have been deleted from the Chinese social media platform, Weibo, The Hong Kong Post reported.
She usually posts about the unsparing in criticizing the Chinese government on Covid-19 restrictions, widespread use of facial recognition technology and collecting data and personal information to monitor specific identities and social relations anytime, everywhere. In order to curb the negative feedback from the Chinese government, Lao’s post has been wiped out.
This is not the first incident that has taken place in China, earlier, Sima Nan, a Chinese commentator known for his opposition to pseudoscience and fraud in Qigong, a type of moving meditation, was banned since August from every social media platform.
Similarly, the posts of He Weifang, a law professor at Peking University, have been censored multiple times. He is also a strong critic of Chinese policies, reported The Hong Kong Post.
Earlier, to secure his third term in power, Chinese President Xi Jinping arrested the former Chinese public service employees taking bribes and even the analyst believed that this will help to consolidate his authority over the party.
On September 23, a Chinese court sentenced the former Vice Minister of public security, accused of taking over 646 million yuan in bribes, to death.
The former Vice Minister, Sun Lijun has been stripped of all his political rights and all his personal property was confiscated, according to Global Times.
Xi has steadily consolidated power, reducing space for dissent and opposition since becoming party general secretary a decade ago.
Xi’s style to silence rivals in the past has been well prominent. Earlier, he purged many of his internal factional rivals through an anti-corruption campaign and subsequently by so-called “party rectification campaigns”.
During his second term, Xi established his authority by centralizing the decision-making structure of the Chinese system away from state institutions and into a number of small leading groups and committees, nearly all of which are staffed by his close supporters and chaired by him, according to The Hong Kong Post.
Incidentally, at the end of his anticipated third term, President Xi would become the second longest-serving head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after Mao Zedong, who was in control of various positions for 33 years and 174 days.
Xi would also surpass the tenure of Jiang Zemin who led the CCP as General Secretary for 13 years and 145 days during the period 1989-2002.
Interestingly, the expected third term would provide Xi with an opportunity to further stamp his authority on the party, military, and government with the intent of creating an enduring legacy.