China’s ruling Communist Party ousted an outspoken and prominent property tycoon who denounced the country’s authoritarian leader, Xi Jinping, paving the way for his criminal prosecution and increasing his efforts to quell dissent among the elite.
The party announced the expulsion of the tycoon, Ren Zhiqiang, on Thursday night, and said it had confiscated its assets for “serious violations of discipline and law” that included possession of golf club memberships. Authorities also targeted Mr. Ren’s family, accusing him of “colluding with his children to accumulate wealth without restrictions.”
The moves against the 69-year-old Ren seemed designed to spark a chill over the country’s businessmen and other business leaders and demonstrate the party’s determination to use it as an example to show that no one was above their demands for unwavering political loyalty.
He was accused of “smearing the image of the party and the country, distorting the party and the history of the military, being unfair and dishonest with the party” and of resisting the party’s investigation of him, a phrase that suggests he has refused. to admit any illegal act.
Mr. Ren, a veteran party member and former president of Huayuan Properties, a real estate development company, was detained in March after criticizing Mr. Xi’s response to the coronavirus outbreak. You are likely to face criminal charges in China’s opaque and often unforgiving legal system.
Mr. Ren’s friends said the party’s harsh treatment of Mr. Ren was excessive.
“This is shameless political persecution,” said Wang Ying, a retired businessman and a friend of Mr. Ren, in a post on WeChat, a popular messaging app. “This is a good weird man, a good citizen who is responsible and ready to take responsibility, an entrepreneur who played his part and followed the law.”
“I am proud to have a friend like you,” wrote Wang.
Under the command of Mr. Xi, who came to power in 2012, the Chinese authorities have investigated or arrested dozens of lawyers, journalists and academics who have defied the party line, often on false charges. The crackdown has intensified in recent months as the party has come under intense criticism for its handling of the coronavirus, its imposition of new national security laws in Hong Kong, and ongoing crackdown on Muslims in the western region of Xinjiang.
“Xi has zero tolerance for political dissent, let alone any room for maneuver to be outsmarted,” said Jude Blanchette, an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a research institute based in Washington, DC. “From Hong Kong to Xinjiang, it is clear that Xi and the party will clench their fists when they feel a political or security challenge to their central government, an international curse.”
As Chinese business executives have attracted devoted followers in recent years, the party has worked more aggressively to bring them under its control. China relies on entrepreneurs for the innovations that boost its economy, but officials are also concerned that its celebrity may pose a threat to the party’s dominance.
Mr. Xi said at a business meeting in Beijing on Tuesday that one of his most important goals should be “to improve his patriotism.”
“Patriotism is the glorious tradition of our country’s prominent entrepreneurs in modern times,” he said, according to a transcript published by Xinhua, the official news agency.
Ren, a bold commentator who earned the nickname “The Cannon,” disappeared in March after writing an essay criticizing the party’s response to the coronavirus outbreak, which emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late December.
In the trial, Mr. Ren said the party’s strict limits on freedom of expression, including the silencing of whistleblowers, had exacerbated the crisis. At one point, he indirectly referred to Mr. Xi, who has attempted to create an image as a dominant and transformative leader, as a power hungry “clown”.
“I don’t see an emperor standing there displaying his ‘new clothes’, but a clown who undressed and insisted on remaining an emperor,” Ren wrote. He said he hoped the party “would awaken from ignorance” and expel leaders who stood in its way.
The party’s discipline committee in Beijing on Thursday pointed to Mr. Ren’s writings in describing his alleged misdeeds.
Party officials also accused Mr. Ren of using public funds to pay for private expenses, setting the stage for charges of corruption and embezzlement. Those expenses included membership cards for golf clubs, according to the announcement. The party has long used golf to evoke images of luxury and excess; Mao once called it a “sport for millionaires”.
The ad said the party was taking advantage of Mr. Ren’s “illegal profits” and transferring his case to prosecutors. He accused him of “using public power as a tool for personal gain”.
It is not the first time that Mr. Ren has faced punishment for criticizing Mr. Xi. In 2016, the party placed him on probation for a year for denouncing Mr. Xi’s propaganda policies in online comments and shutting down his social media accounts, where he had attracted tens of millions of followers.
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Ren, the former leader of a state-owned company and a friend of influential Chinese politicians, is a well-known member of the establishment who joined the Communist Party when he was 23 years old. His expulsion highlights fears within the party that any criticism of his own members could undermine his grip on power, activists say.
“Ren Zhiqiang is not a radical dissident, but a loyal member of the Communist Party who championed political reform for decades,” said Yaqiu Wang, a China researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The Communist Party does not tolerate any kind of criticism of the party, even if it is done with the intention of improving the party’s governance.”
In recent months, the party detained other prominent figures who criticized Mr. Xi’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak.
Xu Zhangrun, a law professor who had repeatedly denounced Mr. Xi’s authoritarian policies, was briefly detained this month after writing essays blaming officials for delays and obfuscation in the early days of the epidemic. The police accused Mr. Xu of associating with prostitutes, an accusation that his friends said was false and was used as an insult to discredit him. Since then he has been fired from his teaching position at Tsinghua University in Beijing, his friends say.
Xu Zhiyong, a legal activist, was detained in February, activists say, after accusing Mr. Xi of trying to hide the coronavirus and asking him to resign. He was formally arrested last month.
As Xi, one of China’s most powerful leaders in decades, seeks to further strengthen his government amid the coronavirus crisis, he is most likely concerned about threats to his leadership within elite business and political circles. analysts say.
Erin Baggott Carter, an assistant professor at the University of Southern California School of International Relations, said Ren’s expulsion is “a warning to other CCP elites to follow the line,” referring to the Chinese Communist Party.
She said Mr. Xi’s popularity among elites and the general public could be suffering amid a series of challenges, including unemployment and tensions with the United States.
“It cannot tolerate dissent, particularly from powerful elites with public support,” he said, referring to Mr. Xi. “These elites could challenge his leadership.”
