The Communist Party of China (CPC) is pressing ahead with preparations for a major celebration of the centennial of the Party, but is also striving to sweep away various destabilizing factors, including targeting a number of leftists who espouse Mao Zedong’s ideology. Since the arrests were never disclosed, the police quickly expanded the targets to include northern Chinese provinces such as Shandong, Hebei, Henan, and Shaanxi, resulting in the arrest of many people, including front men. As a result, Maoist leftists and associations called the operation the “512 arrests” and have been disclosing the arrests on the Internet since late May, as well as launching a campaign of solidarity and support, but they have been suppressed in various ways.
According to a Central News Agency report today, a number of Maoist leftists have been arrested across provinces as the centennial of the Communist Party approaches. The report synthesizes information from inside and outside China, saying that in May, police in several provinces in northern China made inter-provincial arrests of leftists who support Mao Zedong’s ideology, led by the police in Jining, Shandong Province.
Sources believe this is part of the Communist Party’s efforts to maintain stability for the party’s July 1 centennial.
According to the information, the inter-provincial arrests were launched by the Jining police on May 12, and were conducted in a secret manner, resulting in many of the targets being arrested without their families knowing about it until the targets were out of contact for days and found out that something was wrong, and only then did their families learn about the arrests.
Since the arrests were never disclosed, the police quickly expanded the arrests to include northern China provinces such as Shandong, Hebei, Henan, and Shaanxi, resulting in many arrests, including those of front men. As a result, Maoist-leftists and associations called the operation the “512 arrests” and have been disclosing the arrests online since late May, and have launched a campaign of solidarity and support, but they have been suppressed in various ways.
According to the information, the first person arrested in the wave was Ma Houzhi, a 77-year-old professor at Qufu Normal University in Shandong province, who publicly announced the establishment of the “Chinese Maoist Communist Party” in Chongqing in 2009, and elected Ma Houzhi, who shouted “sing the red and fight the black”. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison for “subversion of state power” and was not released until October 14, 2019.
Since then, at least Liu Qingfeng, Fu Mingxiang, Hu Jiahong, Nie Jubao, Wu Ronghua and others from the Mao left camp have been arrested one after another. However, only Wu Ronghua, who is now under 30 years old, secretly filmed himself being handcuffed when he was arrested. In addition to the above-mentioned people, the Maoist group believes that there are others who have been arrested, but they have yet to be confirmed. In addition, some of the people involved were summoned by the police at one point, but were later released.
According to the information, a large number of Maoist supporters have recently called the Jining Public Security Bureau, questioning why the police arrested the above-mentioned Maoists. The Jining Public Security Bureau responded that these people were involved in “gang crimes” and were “definitely guilty” but “have nothing to do with propagating Chairman Mao.
Another police officer claimed that “the case involves police secrets, so there is no obligation to inform”, and even accused the supporters of “why do you want to bring this matter to the society for any solidarity, this is speculation”.
According to Mao Zuo’s website, there are also Mao Zuo supporters who mentioned that they were intimidated by the police officer who answered the phone when they called the Jining City Public Security Bureau to ask for an explanation. The caller said, “Try arguing with me again, and I’ll come and do you right away.
According to the Central News Agency, some sources interpreted that the authorities need a stable environment as the centennial of the Communist Party is approaching, and they are afraid that the Maoist camp, which has some appeal in the civil society, will cause trouble before the party’s July 1 celebration and affect the overall situation. However, if there are no specific criminal facts or exaggerated actions like Ma Houzhi’s “party formation”, these people should not be treated too harshly.
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