Lu Wei , the former chief of the imposing Cyberspace Administration of China ( CAC ) and one of the elemental designer of the mass censoring foist on China ’s reckon 700 million internet users , pleaded hangdog this week in Taiwanese court of law to take some 32 million yuan ( about $ 4.6 million ) in bribes , theAssociated Press reportedon Friday , bring up United States Department of State TV broadcast . Those United States Department of State - owned stations broadcast only limited detail of the case , though Lu stepped down from his post in 2016 and the next year became the prey of one of thefar - place anti - corruption probesordered by President Xi Jinping .
Lu , a former staffer for the state - go Xinhua News Agency who also became the vice city manager of Beijing from 2011 - 2013 , was a hardliner on censorship at the CAC who run crackdowns on Chinese social medium land site like Sina Weibo and at times was even rumored to be intend for even mellow role , CNN cover . Lu is a advocate of the idea of “ net reign , ” the idea that nations should have exclusive control on what appears on the internet within their borderline , though he also rubbed shoulderswith Silicon Valley CEOslike Apple ’s Tim Cook and Facebook ’s Mark Zuckerberg .
“ China has always been very hospitable , but we can choose who move into our house , ” Lu told reporters in October 2014,according to Reuters . “ We could not allow any companies to insert China and make money while hurt the country . ”
That same year , he claimedthe Chinese government does not shut out down extraneous web site like Facebook , sound out , “ I have never used any of these website so I do n’t know if they have been close down . But as for situations where some website become unprocurable , I reckon it is potential … We have never shut down any foreign situation . Your website is on your home base soil . How can I go over to your home and shut out it down ? ”
However , Lu reportedly shine out of favor with Xi at around the time he lost his CAC role . He was release from the Communist Party of China earlier this class , and state mediareleased reportsin July state he had been arrest and charged with accepting “ a large routine of payoff . ” According to theSouth China Morning Post , an English - terminology daily base out of Hong Kong , Lu appeared in court on Oct. 19 in eastern Zhejiang state , where federal agency accused him of using his power to enrich himself and others over the course of decades :
He was accused of taking advantage of his situation — and the superpower and status that came along with them — to seek win for others on matter such as connection direction and promotions , the Intermediate People ’s Court of Ningbo hear .
In yield , Lu accepted bribes , either directly or through a third party , prosecuting officer said .
The court heard Lu ’s crimes spanned his decades - long career at province news agency Xinhua , the Beijing municipal party committee and governance , the CAC and the party ’s Central Publicity Department .
China has an almost 100 per centum strong belief charge per unit — a near - perfect track record for prosecutors that even some government officials have admitted has become unfair and damaging to the believability of Chinese legal system , according to the Washington Post . push confessions are reportedly rearing , and some limited reforms of the judicial system havelargely not changed that .
So the arrest of any high - range official virtually guarantees that they will face condemnation on serious accusation , especially given the current political environment . Xi has set up asweeping effortto purge corrupt official and implement fresh rule of thumb of demeanour in late years , mistrustful of the possibility corruption could set off apopular crisis of legitimacy — and probably to increase his ownpersonal political index . In one of the more striking incident , the Chinese school principal of international law enforcement cooperation organisation Interpol , Meng Hongwei , disappeared from the public eye in September 2017 . Beijing ’s Ministry of Public Security later on disclosed he had been delay on charges of corruption , though Meng ’s wife venerate he isno longer alive .
AsCNN notedearlier this year , it ’s possible Lu was seen as shout his superpower to prepare for future succession battles when Xi eventually leaves office , with official statements blasting him and his supposed “ ambition ” to an extent strange even for disgraced officials :
In a witheringbroadsideagainst Lu observe his expulsion , the Party ’s putridness guard dog said Lu “ did whatever he wanted , commenting on fundamental government activity policies with prejudice and optical aberration , block primal government investigations , with his uprise dream he used public tools for personal interests and did whatever it took for personal celebrity . ”
China ’s censorship of the net is not slowing down , even without Lu behind the wheel . Its so - called Great Firewall , a sprawl system that prevents Chinese internet users from accessing a large routine of internet site hosted outside the country , has long been riddled with holes like the act of people who simply used VPNs to evade it — though theChristian Science Monitorrecently report that authorities are growing more sophisticated in their attempts to block such workarounds .
“ The VPNs are not stable , ” a Peking University history educatee told the publishing . “ I often have to transfer from many form of VPN to get access now . It ’s a very serious problem . In our land , those in baron limit the selective information that the society can have . ”
[ AP / South China Morning Post ]
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