The message, which appeared in the blog of a New York-based websitewww.mingjingnews.com, was endorsed by “171 loyal members of the Communist Party of China (CPC) working in the party, government, military and other organizations.”
They listed five “grave mistakes” that they said Xi had made, starting with an open violation of the party charter. Xi encouraged and endorsed personality cult by allowing people to call him “Xi the Great” and to worship him with “nauseating eulogies” on the web, the group said.
Second, Xi has implemented a dictatorship in violation of the rule of law by appointing himself as convener of various ad hoc groups in the Communist Party’s Central Committee, it said.
Third, it said, Xi’s government has provided huge assistance to foreign countries in spite of serious needs at home, the group said.
It said Xi’s fourth mistake was his unilateral reform of the military in such a way as to demoralize the People’s Liberation Army and to create divisions among the rank and file of the armed forces.
Fifth, the group said, Xi has been leading a corrupt and decadent life. The message accused Xi of masterminding the abduction of a Hong Kong publisher who released a book titled “Xi and His Six Women” — an incident that has sparked international outcry.
The message called on the CPC to hold an open election during its next party congress, when Xi is due to begin his second five-year term as party general secretary, to allow all 80 million members to vote for party delegates, Central Committee members, and a general secretary.
The message, which first appeared in the mingjingnews blog, was later picked up on Twitter, Facebook and other social media.
Radio Free Asia quoted the website’s manager He Pin as saying that he had no right to remove the story unless it was deemed unethical.
However, the website’s news editors have decided not to print the story because its content cannot be confirmed, He said.
During an annual meeting of China’s political elite in Beijing earlier this month, Watching News Group, an official media of Xinjiang Province, published an open letter demanding that Xi step down.
The story led to the detention or investigation of 20 people, including journalist Jia Jia, who was picked up in Hong Kong on March 15 but was released 10 days later.
(By Chou Hui-ying and S.C. Chang)
