CENSORSHIP ON WEN JIABAO’S AFFAIR

CHINESE CENSORS WORK TO QUASH STORY ON VAST WEALTH OF PRIME MINISTER’S RELATIVES

Mark Mcdonald

International Herald Tribune, October 28, 2012

HONG KONG - Two attorneys in Beijing have released a statement challenging a story in The New York Times that documents some $2.7 billion in assets held by relatives of Wen Jiabao, the Chinese prime minister.

Carried on the front page of Sunday's editions of The South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, the statement called the Times report "untrue" and said that members of Mr. Wen's family "did not carry out any illegal business activity."

"We will continue to make clarifications regarding untrue reports by The New York Times, and reserve the right to hold it legally responsible," according to the statement from the lawyers, who said they had been "entrusted by the family members of Wen Jiabao" to issue it.

The original story, published Friday, had not been mentioned in Chinese state-run media by Sunday afternoon, and government censors moved to quash the story on various social media platforms, including the highly popular Twitter-like service Sina Weibo.

China Digital Times, which monitors and reports on the Chinese media, compiled a list of some of the terms that the government has blocked on Sina Weibo in relation to the Times's story on the Wen-family wealth.

A number of combinations of words are blocked, including the Wen surname and "assets," "wealth," "family" and "prime minister." The terms "Wen treasure," "Wen clan" and "Wen emperor" are blocked. The number 2.7 billion is blocked.

(...) [article here]