Alex Christoforou
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
“We’re very worried about him.”
A Chinese real estate tycoon has gone missing over the weekend after his latest commentary was highly critical of President Xi Jinping’s response to the Covid-19 outbreak that originated in Wuhan, China, in December.
The New York Times reported on Saturday that friends of Ren Zhiqiang, known as “The Cannon,” went missing on early Saturday morning.
“We’re very worried about him,” said Wang Ying, a retired businessman, and friend of Ren’s. “I will continue to look for him.”
Ren’s disappearance comes after his scathing blog post criticized Xi’s response to the virus crisis. He called Xi a power-hungry “clown” and said the ruling Communist Party’s censoring of speech made the crisis worst:
This outbreak of the Wuhan pneumonia epidemic has verified the reality: when all media took on the “surname of the Party” the people “were abandoned” indeed [a reference to a forecast Ren made in his response to Xi’s declaration that the media should “bear the Party surname”]. Without a media representing the interests of the people by publishing the actual facts, the people’s lives are being ravaged by both the virus and the major illness of the system.
I too am curiously and conscientiously studying [Xi’s teleconferenced February 23] speech, but what I saw in it was the complete opposite of the “importance” reported by all types of media and online. I saw not an emperor standing there exhibiting his “new clothes,” but a clown who stripped naked and insisted on continuing being emperor. Despite holding a series of loincloths up in an attempt to cover the reality of your nakedness, you don’t in the slightest hide your resolute ambition to be an emperor, or the determination to let anyone who won’t let you be destroyed.
Ren, a communist party member, has been critical of Xi for years. In 2016, he denounced Xi and was then placed on a year’s probation.
The government has monitored Ren’s movements, and his social media accounts have been suspended.
It appears the party has moved swiftly to censor Ren, as family and friends have been searching for him over the weekend.
We noted earlier this year that the government censored the Chinese doctor who tried to raise the alarm about the novel coronavirus before it was even identified. Li Wenliang warned people in December about the virus and has since died of an infection.
China is known for its strict censorship of non-government approved narratives. If someone criticizes the government about their virus response, it appears the party has no other choice than to silence those individuals.
It’s much of the same in the US, where companies like Facebook, Twitter, Google, and YouTube are censoring coronavirus information that isn’t government-approved.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
So friends told the New York Times and now you’re telling us.
Perhaps a little more suspicion is required?
“The New York Times reported on Saturday that friends of Ren Zhiqiang, known as “The Cannon,” went missing on early Saturday morning. ” ?????
I do not believe anything the New York Slime reports about China, nor about Russia.
The hateful comments in Christofurou’s article are disgusting and described the nature of the violent and even murderish “protest”- movement in HongKong , which financial supporter this terrible estate-mogul could be… his nastiness is unsurpassed! It is people like him, what don’t want a planet living in peace, without wars…it’s ppl like him who’s brains are running out of substance when it is about the masses of people, who needs stop & security in every way live is meeting them. President XI does and did a brilliant job and Billionaires in China think they could do a better job. But… Read more »
Alex Christoforou did not write this article, Nadya. He is the editor of the DURAN and placed it here, giving the link to the original site, where the text appeared. He often does that. The link is given under the photo. The author of this article is someone who writes under the pseudonym of “Tyler Durden”.
ZEROHEDGE – TYLER DURDEN:
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/chinese-tycoon-mysteriously-disappears-after-criticizing-xis-virus-response
If you follow ‘ZeroHedge’ articles for some time, there are some really good pieces, but they have often a very negative russo- + sinophobe undertone.
I have noticed this too, that’s why I do not follow zerohedge.