China is once again gripped by fear in a way it has not been since the era of Mao Zedong.<\/p>\n
Minxin Pei
FEB 8, 2016<\/p>\n
CLAREMONT \u2013 China is once again gripped by fear in a way it has not been since the era of Mao Zedong. From the inner sanctum of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to university lecture halls and executive suites, the specter of harsh accusations and harsher punishment is stalking China\u2019s political, intellectual, and business elites.<\/p>\n
The evidence of pervasive fear is easy to discern. Since President Xi Jinping\u2019s remorseless anti-corruption drive began in December 2012, arrests of government officials have become a daily ritual, sending shivers down the spines of their colleagues and friends.<\/p>\n
Seniority offers little protection, as 146 fallen \u201ctigers\u201d (officials holding the rank of minister or provincial governor) have found out, often being hauled off without warning. A new phrase has even been added to the Chinese lexicon to describe this sudden fall from grace: miaosha<\/em>, or \u201cinstant kill.\u201d<\/p>\n But fear is taking an even bigger toll on lower-level officials, exemplified by proliferating reports of suicide. The media confirmed 28 such cases last year, though the actual number was most likely considerably higher. Concerned by this trend, the CCP leadership has now tasked local party organizations with gathering data on suicides by government officials since the anti-corruption drive began.<\/p>\n It is not just criminals who live in constant dread. With even routine approval of projects and requests potentially arousing suspicion, the Chinese bureaucracy is now paralyzed by fear.<\/p>\n Beyond the bureaucracy, academics, human-rights lawyers, bloggers, and business leaders are also suffering. In universities, the government has recruited informers to denounce professors espousing liberal values in their lectures; several outspoken liberal academics have lost their jobs. Hundreds of human-rights lawyers have been harassed and arrested.<\/p>\n Many business leaders have gone missing temporarily, presumably detained by anti-corruption investigators. Among the highest-profile cases was that of the tycoon Guo Guangchang, China\u2019s 17th wealthiest person, with a net worth of more than $7 billion. Guo was detained last December to \u201cassist a judicial investigation,\u201d and then simply appeared at his company\u2019s annual meeting a few days later, with no explanation offered.<\/p>\n But perhaps the most alarming impact of the return of fear-based governance in China is that it is now affecting even outsiders. Not only are Western journalists, NGO representatives, and foreign executives living in fear; so, too, are executives, book publishers, and editors in Hong Kong, which, according to the \u201cone country, two systems\u201d arrangement, should lie outside Chinese jurisdiction.<\/p>\n