Epoch Times Report:  “Critical Essay Still Hot Topic in China”
— Epoch Times reports:
— “State media refutes political essay, but interest only heightens”
— “A recent political essay that openly criticized the Chinese Communist Party has met with a stiff rebuttal in Chinese state media. Rather than dampening the effect of the original piece, however, experts say interest has only grown.
— “China News Service, the overseas arm of official Chinese communist media, attacked the article ‘The Ruling Party Must Establish Basic Political Ethics,’ claiming the dialogue the essay is based on was fabricated.”
— “Since the original essay was published on July 30 it has circulated widely online. Websites carrying the piece were later blocked, and commentary on the essay was deleted from online bulletin boards. Chinese authorities had remained silent on the issue until the recent editorial of August 17.”
— “The essay, suspected to have been written by Wan Li, former secretary of the Central Committee Secretariat and former Chairman of the National People’s Congress, argues that the Party’s rule is ‘illegal and unethical,’ and pins China’s apparent unrest over the years squarely on the communist Party.”
— “China News Service’s rebuttal, entitled ‘Fabricated Theories’ and written by someone identifying themselves as Yan Li, claimed that ‘Some old timers mentioned the essay to the veteran leader and his family. The answer they got was that there was no such thing, and that the essay was a complete fabrication.'”
— “The day after the letter was published The Epoch Times interviewed Bao Tong, one-time secretary of ousted Communist Party chief Zhao Ziyang. He scoffed at the editorial, saying: ‘Who is Yan Li? A person who himself needs to prove his own identity. How can he step forward to clarify? He did not even dare to mention the words ‘Wan Li’ and only stated that the veteran leader denied it. Yet, there was no name. So his credibility, reliability, and authority are questionable.'”
— “Bao argues that the author’s failure to refer to any facts in refuting the rumors exemplifies the CCP’s apparent lack of confidence, and further demonstrates the significance of the original essay.”
— “The piece attracted the attention it did, Bao says, not solely because of the claimed authorship, but most importantly because it ‘fulfills society’s needs and exposes the real darkness in society.'”