In the New Year of 2020, Wuhan’s public security authorities announced the so-called “admonishment” of eight rumor-mongers for spreading false information that would disrupt society. It was only afterwards that people learned that the rumor-mongers were actually doctors working at Wuhan Hospital, one of whom was Dr. Li Wenliang, who later died of Newcastle pneumonia. Dr. Li became known to the public by giving interviews to the media from his hospital bed, and his death shook all of China; what really killed him was the official lie of concealing the epidemic.
One year later, at the end of 2020, on Monday morning, December 28, the trial of citizen journalist Zhang Zhan began at the Pudong New Area Court in Shanghai. Outside the court, several journalists and a dozen foreign diplomats, as well as Zhang Zhan supporters, wished to enter to observe the trial, but were removed by police after being denied access. Two hours later, the court announced that Zhang had been sentenced to four years in prison.
Zhang was the first citizen journalist to be sentenced for covering the epidemic in Wuhan, where she went to cover the epidemic in February 2020 as the New Coronavirus spread; she used social media platforms to post numerous videos about the epidemic and people’s lives in Wuhan. The court charged Zhang with “provoking and provoking trouble”, “fabricating lies and spreading false information”, and having given interviews to “foreign media”. Zhang Zhan was tortured with food and physically destroyed because he did not confess to the crime and went on a hunger strike.
According to the New York Times, Zhang’s prosecution is part of an ongoing propaganda campaign by the Chinese Communist Party to recast the Communist authorities’ handling of the outbreak as a series of smart and successful moves by the government. So far, Chinese critics who have pointed out the initial mishandling by officials have been arrested, censored or threatened by police; three other citizen journalists disappeared from Wuhan before Zhang Zhan, but others have not yet been publicly charged.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a statement the very next day, Tuesday, saying the U.S. would continue to support the rights of Chinese citizens to freely and peacefully express their opinions. The United States strongly condemned the Communist authorities’ campaign to falsely prosecute and convict Chinese citizen journalist Zhang Zhan on Monday and called on them to release him immediately and unconditionally. The CCP (CCP) has once again demonstrated that it will stop at nothing to silence those who question the official party line, even when important public health information is at stake,” the statement said.
Lies are a hallmark of authoritarian regimes,” Pompeo emphasized. From the beginning, the CCP has restricted and manipulated information about the new coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan and brutally silenced others who were brave enough to speak the truth, such as Dr. Li Wenliang, Chen Qiushi and Fang Bin.” “The Chinese Communist Party grossly malfeasantly relied on uncensored reports from citizen journalists like Zhang Zhan for the real situation in Wuhan after it imposed strict media controls that turned a controllable outbreak into a deadly global pandemic.”
Pompeo also said the Chinese Communist Party’s refusal to allow foreign observers to sit in on the case and its hasty trial of Zhang Zhan both demonstrate “how fearful the Communist Party is of Chinese citizens who speak the truth.” “The Chinese [Communist] government’s fear of transparency and its ongoing suppression of basic freedoms is a sign of cowardice, it is not a sign of strength, it is a threat to us all.”
Amnesty International, for its part, called for “the immediate and unconditional release of Zhang Zhan unless the authorities have sufficient credible and court-admissible evidence that she has committed internationally recognized crimes and that she has been given a fair trial in accordance with international standards.”
The Free Asia article commented, “A healthy society should have more than one voice.” These were the words left by Li Wenliang during an interview with Chinese media outlet Caixin from his hospital bed on February 1, which unfortunately became his last words of caution. Three weeks after Li Wenliang was summoned and admonished by the police, Wuhan was closed to the public on January 23, and by early February, the virus had spread to all corners of the world, including Li Wenliang, and the deterioration of China’s speech environment, like the global epidemic, is far from over.
“Lies” has become the key word for understanding China, and in 2020, Chinese lies will “intensify and continue to do so”.
Recent Comments