* Liberation Army Daily newspaper warns against rumours
* Leftist Utopia website shut, manager says reasons not
specified
* Issue highlights growing power of Internet in
China-analyst
(Adds shutting of website)
By Chris Buckley
BEIJING, April 6 (Reuters) – China’s top military newspaper
told troops on Friday to ignore online rumours and authorities
shut a left-wing website that has decried the ousting of
populist official Bo Xilai, as the ruling Communist Party fought
jitters over a leadership transition.
The Liberation Army Daily did not mention outlandish rumours
of a foiled coup in Beijing that spread on the Internet in past
weeks, after the abrupt ousting of Bo, an ambitious contender
for a spot in the new central leadership to be unveiled at a
party congress later this year.
A commentary in the newspaper, however, left no doubt the
party leadership wants to inoculate People’s Liberation Army
(PLA) troops against rumours about coups or political divisions
that could erode the authority of President Hu Jintao, who is
als o head of the party and chairman of the Central Military
Commission which commands the PLA.
The paper admonished soldiers to “resolutely resist the
incursion of all kinds of erroneous ideas, not be disturbed by
noise, not be affected by rumours, and not be drawn by
undercurrents, and ensure that at all times and under all
circumstances the military absolutely obeys the command of the
Party central leadership, the Central Military Commission and
Chairman Hu.”
Although the coup rumours were unfounded, their spread and
the government’s tightening of Internet controls and warnings to
ignore such talk have reflected jitters about stability after
Bo’s fall.
The Communist Party has always regarded its absolute grip on
the PLA as its ultimate bulwark of power, and so the government
is acutely sensitive about any signs of discord in the military.
The PLA has also been shaken by a separate corruption
scandal in the run-up to the party leadership change, said Chen
Ziming, an independent scholar of politics in Beijing.
“I think both incidents generated tensions and uncertainty,
and in the military the case of Gu Junshan is a source of
tensions,” said Chen, referring to PLA Lieutenant General Gu,
whose downfall for apparent corruption emerged this year.
“Before previous recent party congresses, the Internet was
not such a factor, and structural factors, including the big
turnover of leaders, are adding to uncertainty now,” he said.
The newspaper’s front-page commentary directed at the
military builds on a series of official comments aimed at
reinforcing the party’s grip on opinion after an unsettling two
months at a time the leadership prizes stability.
Unlike past removals of defiant provincial-level leaders on
corruption charges, Bo’s downfall has drawn open opposition. He
wrapped himself in populist rhetoric and vows as party chief of
Chongqing in southwest China, and leftist supporters have called
him the victim of a plot to derail his policies.
Fan Jinggang, the general manager of the Beijing-based
Maoist website Utopia (http://www.wyzxsx.com), which has
vigorously defended Bo, said government Internet agencies and
police ordered the site shut for a month starting from Friday.
Officials said “the Utopia website issued essays violating
the constitution, maliciously attacking national leaders, and
making wild comment on the 18th Congress,” Fan told Reuters.
The Utopia group asked the officials to specify what essays
were deemed to violate rules. “They did not have specific essays
or evidence,” said Fan.
Utopia and other ardently leftist Chinese websites have
spread documents claiming to prove that Bo’s downfall was
engineered by the United States, and have also blasted comments
by Premier Wen Jiabao critical of Bo.
“Handling things this way will not win over people,
especially the left-wing and the public at the grassroots,” said
a recent comment about Bo published on the Utopia website.
“If this is mishandled, it could trigger a split in the
Chinese Communist Party.”
“MISTAKEN WORDS”
In late March, authorities shut 16 Chinese websites and
detained six people accused of spreading rumours about unusual
military movements and security in the capital, feeding talk of
an attempted coup or schism in the leadership.
The rumours fed on speculation about the ousting of Bo, who
in mid-March was removed as party boss of Chongqing, over a
month after his vice mayor, Wang Lijun, fled to a U.S.
consulate, triggering a scandal exposing accusations of
infighting and abuses of power.
Despite Bo’s fall, the party’s leadership transition appears
on track, with Vice President Xi Jinping’s rising profile
leaving little doubt that he will succeed Hu.
The Liberation Army Daily has mentioned nothing about Bo or
the rumours, nor Gu’s case, in a string of comments over the
past week aimed at stressing loyalty to the party and to Hu.
“Conscientiously resist all kinds of mistaken words and
actions damaging to the party’s image and unity, and do not heed
or believe all kinds of hearsay and dark stories,” the paper
said last Sunday.
On Friday, it said the military must maintain a tight grip
on troops’ access to the Internet in the middle of what it
called an “ideological struggle” before the 18th Communist Party
congress late this year, when Hu and his cohort will retire.
(Editing by Robert Birsel and Ed Lane)
