China detains professor who criticised Xi over coronavirus

Beijing (AFP) - Chinese authorities on Monday detained a law professor who published essays criticising President Xi Jinping over the coronavirus pandemic and his efforts to consolidate power, according to friends of the man.

Xu Zhangrun, a rare outspoken critic of the government in China's heavily censored academia, was taken from his home in suburban Beijing by more than 20 people, one of his friends said on condition of anonymity.

Xu published an essay in February blaming the culture of deception and censorship fostered by Xi for the spread of the coronavirus in China.

China's "leader system is itself destroying the structure of governance", Xu wrote in the essay that appeared on overseas websites, adding the chaos in the virus epicentre of Hubei province reflected systemic problems in the Chinese state.

The law professor at Tsinghua University, one of the country's top institutions, had previously spoken out against the 2018 abolition of presidential term limits in an essay circulated online.

Chinese freedom of expression has always been tightly controlled by the Communist Party, but that grip has become suffocating under Xi.

A Chinese court last year sentenced "cyber-dissident" Huang Qi, whose website reported on sensitive topics including human rights, to 12 years in prison for "leaking state secrets".

Space for independent discussion has shrunk further this year as Xi's government has sought to deflect blame for the coronavirus, which scientists believe emerged from a wild animal market in Wuhan.

But it’s business as usual for western businesses tripping over themselves to ingratiate themselves with the brutal totalitarian thugs who control China. They pay lip service to lofty ideaa about hunan rights in the streets of the West, but line their pockets from goods made by serfs. Yes you Nike, Apple. Scum

A report from twitter said his wife called up the police station and was told he was arrested for “soliciting prostitution”.

That term seems to be regularly used by the Chinese police when saying why various people were arrested.

A large amount of our manufacturing base is now located in China - and Is not at all easy to extricate. Trump is well aware of this, which is why he has tread with relative caution so far. From this point our engagement with China will ebb, but the first companies to get out will be the luckiest. Eventually, if China feels itself to be under economic attack from the West, they will nationalize any foreign businesses still operating facilities within their borders.

A huge part of the economic relationship, however, simply involves the buying of products from Chinese companies by Western companies - or the direct-to-consumer sales made by Chinese producers to Western customers. Since most of the payments for these products are made through Hong Kong banks (China’s paranoia about inbound wire transfers going to dissident groups having led to an unworkably low $3,000 USD limit), when the Special Status is formally terminated it is going to become difficult for smaller companies in both countries to maintain the relationships they have built over the years. Small businesses on both sides of the Pacific will be harmed. But this will, of course, eliminate competition for the multi-nationals - who have the political and banking muscle to set up alternative payment systems.

So the Microsofts and Amazons stand to benefit from the protest-induced collapse of Hong Kong, too. Almost as if they planned it beforehand...

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