China on Friday accused the New York Times of
smearing the government and blocked the American newspaper’s websites,
after it published an investigative report detailing that the assets of
the relatives of Premier Wen Jiabao amounted to more than US$ 2.7
billion (Rs. 14,450 crore).
The Foreign Ministry said the report “blackens China’s name and has
ulterior motives”, hours after authorities blocked the English and
newly-launched Chinese-language websites of the newspaper, which
published the article early on Friday.
The report, which the New York Times said was based on a detailed
review of company and regulatory filings, said a number of Mr. Wen’s
relatives, from his mother and younger brother to his son and
brother-in-law, held assets worth more than US$ 2 billion, in companies
in sectors ranging from insurance and construction to real estate.
While the article said none of the holdings were in Mr. Wen’s name and
there was no direct evidence of his role in promoting his relatives, it
was apparent that their wealth soared as Mr. Wen climbed party ranks to
the post of Premier. His relatives held a fortune in excess of US$ 2.7
billion; the Premier is thought to be on an annual salary in the range
of US$ 20,000.
Mr. Wen, who has served as the head of the State Council or Cabinet
since 2002, is the top official in charge of economic affairs. The
article pointed to serious conflicts of interest between the decisions
he took as an official in charge of economic regulations and the assets
held by his relatives in companies that benefited from reforms.
For instance, it claimed his relatives had bought a stake in the Ping An
insurance company before it was floated on the stock market, and had
garnered a share of US$ 2.2 billion in the company as of 2007.
With the newspaper’s websites blocked in China and censors scrubbing any
references to the article on Chinese micro-blogging sites, it remains
unlikely that people in China – besides the few hundred thousand who use
software to scale censorship restrictions – would have seen the report
on Friday.
The timing of the report is, nevertheless, damaging for Mr. Wen, who
will step down from the party’s nine-member Politburo Standing Committee
at the November 8 Party Congress. Mr. Wen, through his decade-long
tenure as Premier, has been particularly mindful of his legacy, voicing
repeated calls for political reforms – although he had little success in
pushing these forward – and social equality. Known as "Grandpa Wen", he
is perhaps China's most popular politician, seen by many Chinese as
being more open than his colleagues, particularly after he travelled to
Sichuan in the wake of the devastating earthquake in 2008.
He has, however, attracted many detractors from across the political
spectrum. The former Premier Zhu Rongji, who championed market reforms,
is known to be strongly critical of Mr. Wen’s handling of the economy.
Mr. Wen has, ironically, also angered those on the Left, particularly
after he led the charge against the populist former Chongqing Party
Secretary Bo Xilai, who was expelled from the party last month. Mr. Wen
publicly criticised Mr. Bo during his annual interaction with
journalists in March, accusing him of violating the party’s consensus by
seeking to revive neo-Maoist ideas.
Even prior to the publishing of the New York Times report,
political circles in Beijing have long speculated on the wealth of Mr.
Wen’s wife, Zhang Beili, who works in the jewellery trade. Media in
China are, however, not allowed to publish stories critical of the
Central leadership, although they regularly publish corruption stories
related to local-level officials. In an apparent reference to the
speculation, Mr. Wen, at the same March press conference, said he would
leave office “with the courage to face history”. “There are people who
will appreciate what I have done but there are also people who will
criticise me,” he said.
“Ultimately, history will have the final say.”
Some Chinese journalists reacted to Friday’s report suggesting it might
be seen as being related to factional politics, although there is no
evidence to suggest this was the case. Bloomberg News earlier carried
reports detailing the fortunes of the families of Mr. Bo and Xi Jinping,
Hu Jintao’s anointed successor. “Even if it is not true, some people
will see this as a response to the Bo Xilai article and wonder if
interested parties were involved in some way," one journalist
speculated.
New York Times said it had painstakingly prepared the report by
poring through company and regulator filings, though it added that in
many instances "the names of the relatives have been hidden behind
layers of partnerships and investment vehicles involving friends, work
colleagues and business partners". "In the senior leadership, there’s no
family that doesn’t have these problems," a former government colleague
of Mr. Wen's told the newspaper. “His enemies are intentionally trying
to smear him by letting this leak out."
- The HIndu News
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