Chinese Communist Party official media Xinhua reported on Wednesday (19) that Li Xiaoqiu, a member of the party group and deputy director of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region’s Department of Culture and Tourism, had committed suicide for unknown reasons. Police later reported that the suicide took place in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Library building on West Street in Ulanqab, and authorities also said the deceased left a suicide note at the scene. There is an analysis that the incident behind or not simple, informed sources, Inner Mongolia has a closed “political training center”, similar to the Xinjiang concentration camp.
Li Xiaoqiu also attended several public events last month, the contents of which are related to Mongolian culture. (Photo source: Internet)
Chinese media reported that on April 29, Li Xiaoqiu attended a cultural and tourism promotion event held by the Department of Culture and Tourism of Inner Mongolia in Taiyuan, Shanxi. Throughout April, Li Xiaoqiu also frequently attended public events.
Born in August 1962, Li Xiaoqiu is a Mongolian, a native of Chifeng, Inner Mongolia, graduated from Inner Mongolia University, majoring in library and information management, and served as director of Chifeng City Library, assistant researcher of Chifeng Cultural Bureau, and director of the Mass Art Museum of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
In 2004, Li Xiaoqiu became the director of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Library, serving in that position for 13 years; in 2017, he was transferred to the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Cultural Department as a member of the party group and deputy director. 2018 institutional reform, he continued to serve as a member of the party group and deputy director of the Department of Culture and Tourism of the Autonomous Region; he was in charge of the Personnel Division, the Art Division, the Public Services Division, the Science and Technology Education Division, and the Foreign Exchange and Cooperation Division.
Although the Inner Mongolia police announced that Mongolian Li Xiaoqiu died of self-death, the content of the suicide note was not disclosed, and the official media did not report further. Speaking to Radio Free Asia from Tokyo, Japan, overseas Mongolian Azhcha said he felt there was something fishy about the matter.
He said, “The general situation in Inner Mongolia now is, I heard, one is to replace a few high officials. Those who were officials before, that is, from the previous years, both public security, or government agencies are to be replaced, and in the process of replacement, almost all those who stepped down are to be arrested. In previous years, 60% or 70% of those who stepped down were arrested.”
Li Xiaoqiu is the second government official to die unnaturally in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in six months. On Dec. 12 last year, Wang Meibin, deputy mayor of Baotou, fell to his death from his home in Ordos, and police ruled out a criminal case.
For nearly a year, Inner Mongolia authorities have been investigating corruption in the coal industry, to which the official’s suicide is generally believed to be related.
But Yang Haiying, a professor at Japan’s Shizuoka University, told Radio Free Asia that Li Xiaoqiu’s death by hanging was not a simple case, and may be related to the existence of local political study and censorship sites similar to those in Xinjiang, known as “concentration camps.
He said, “It’s definitely more related to the current political environment in Inner Mongolia. Inner Mongolia is now going down the road to a second Xinjiang. They have vocational skills training centers in Xinjiang, and they keep Uighurs in them. The name of Inner Mongolia is a little different from Xinjiang, he called the political learning center.”
Yang Haiying said that after last October, authorities in Inner Mongolia set up a number of “political learning training centers” in the region, sending Mongolian cadres to the centers for closed political education, sparking discontent.
He said, “Teachers, civil servants and other cadres at all levels are being brought together for political studies. Two days ago I even called to ask my friends who I know and they are all still in the political training center. So I guess he (Li Xiaoqiu) can’t pass the political performance, and will check his accounts and his financial problems. I guess he thought he couldn’t get through.”
Li Xiaoqiu’s most recent public appearance was on April 24 when he attended an exchange forum for cultural and art workers in Foshan, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. At the meeting, Li Xiaoqiu introduced the basic overview of Inner Mongolia’s cultural and tourism resources, the development history, current development status and spiritual core of Inner Mongolia Ulanmu Riding. Previously, Li Xiaoqiu attended public events on April 20 and 15, the contents of which were related to Mongolian culture.
Since August last year, the Chinese Communist authorities’ forced push for Chinese language teaching in Inner Mongolia has sparked fierce protests, which also included officials of the Mongolian ethnic group.
On September 13 last year, it was reported online that Yuan, the principal of the Mongolian elementary school in Erlianhot, Inner Mongolia, committed suicide at her home that afternoon. She had just resigned because the Chinese Communist authorities had forced Mongolian schools to cancel Mongolian language education. This is another tragic case of a civil servant committing suicide, following the death of a Mongolian female civil servant, Su Rina, who fell from a building in Alashan League on September 4.
According to a source quoted by foreign media, the government forced local officials to go on television to show their support for the government’s universal language policy, but some of them were resigned after refusing to do so. A total of six people, including the secretaries, soum leaders and school principals of three soums in Keshketeng Banner, were forced to resign after police handcuffed and shackled seven people to the police station after the Mongolian language crew of Inner Mongolia Television opposed the universal language policy. The police handcuffed and shackled seven people and took them to the police station. The seven are considered to be the ringleaders, while in China only heavy criminal offenders are shackled and handcuffed.
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