MCLC: Yunnan 'official' outed (2 pieces)

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: Anne Henochowicz <anne at chinadigitaltimes.net>
Subject: Yunnan 'official' outed (2 pieces)
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Source: Washington Post (3/19/13):
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/03/19/why-was-it-so-
easy-for-a-chinese-citizen-to-pose-as-a-senior-communist-party-official/

Why was it so easy for a Chinese citizen to pose as a senior Communist
Party official? 
By Max Fisher

Sometime in 2010, a senior official in the Chinese Communist Party named
Zhao Xiyong arrived in Yunnan, a mountainous province that is one of the
poorest in China. Zhao had a jet-black hair, a fancy title (head of the
Beijing-based State Council Research Office), a big appetite and lots of
empty nostrums about good governance. Officials in Yunnan doted over him
for three years, toasting him at dinners and competing for his favor.

Except that Zhou wasn’t a senior Communist Party official. He hadn’t been
sent by Beijing and, fatefully, did not have the power to implement his
promise to turn Yunnan’s capital into a “special economic zone,” as he did
in November. As the Telegraph’s Malcolm Moore writes Tuesday
<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/9937121/The-fake-mini
ster-who-duped-Chinas-Communist-party-for-years.html>, that pledge made
big news in Yunnan. Such big news that it got back to Beijing, where,
earlier this month, the State Council Research Office had to issue this
statement, translated by the Telegraph:

<<We have recently received reports that Zhao Xiyong is pretending to be
the head of the State Council Research Office and an official of
vice-minister level. We announce that he does not work for the State
Council, and that no research team has ever been sent to Yunnan province,”
said a statement.>>

Zhou’s whereabouts are currently unknown, the Telegraph reports, but he
could face years in prison if he’s found.

A Chinese social media user joked, according to Shanghaiist’s translation
<http://shanghaiist.com/2013/03/19/zhao_xiyong_fake_communist_official.php>
, that Zhou wasn’t so unlike a real Chinese official: He made empty
promises, accomplished little and collected tributes. Another way he’s
similar to some senior Chinese officials is that his tenure ended in
national disgrace and threat of jail time.

It’s a funny story but also a reminder of the scale of the Communist Party
leadership’s big, perhaps biggest, problem: controlling its own sprawling
officialdom. Consider how Zhou’s charade did not collapse: by Yunnan
officials or citizens, suspicious of how Zhou could carry on for three
years without delivering a single thing, and maybe resentful of the
dutiful treatment he received anyway, checking his credentials. Or
complaining to someone in Beijing. For three years, this didn’t happen.

If anyone in Yunnan thought that Zhou’s behavior was unusual for a senior
party official, they didn’t raise a fuss about it.

The incident also is a window into the complex, and imperfect,
relationship between senior officials in Beijing and the regional
officials who enact their policies. Since long before the Communist Party
existed, China’s central government has struggled to enforce its will over
a vast country with lots of entrenched interests and local governments.

One way that Beijing does this is by making sure that its officials are
treated as quasi-royalty by subservient local officials. That can be
helpful in keeping the vast Chinese bureaucracy under control, but it also
makes it easy for senior Beijing officials to exploit their own power over
local officials, pushing them around for their own gain. Zhou just got
some flattery and free dinners, but then again he had no actual power to
lord over Yunnan’s officials. The fact that no one in Yunnan appears to
have questioned Beijing about Zhou, or if they did were rebuffed, is a
sign of the sometimes-unhealthy power dynamic between Beijing and
provincial leadership.

===========================================================

From: Han Meng <hanmeng at gmail.com>
Subject: Yunnan 'official' outed

Shades of Sha Yexin's play "If I Were Real"

Hanmeng

-----------------------------------

Source: The Telegraph (3/18/13):
ttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/9937121/The-fake-minist
er-who-duped-Chinas-Communist-party-for-years.html

The fake 'minister' who duped China's Communist party for years
With his bouffant black hair, white short-sleeve shirt and endless
boring speeches, he certainly seemed like a high-ranking Communist
party official.
By Malcolm Moore, Beijing


But Zhao Xiyong, who has claimed since 2010 to be the head of China's
State Council Research Office - giving him the rank of vice-minister -
was an artful impostor.

For years, Mr Zhao pulled off a pitch-perfect impersonation of a
leader from Beijing that local officials in the south western province
of Yunnan, being subordinate in rank, did not dare to question.

He was allowed to give keynote talks at important conferences, seated
with pride of place at the banquet table, and grovelled to by local
officials.

He would also frequently tour the province, delivering vague and empty
speeches and greeting local Communist party chiefs.

A local radio station dutifully reported one of his visits, to a
vegetable farm to the city of Yuxi, where he met the county's
agriculture officials and led a delegation of 89 people on a tour of
drought-affected areas.

"The government should make full use of its economic advantage,
actively learning from other's experiences, and explore a new path
that incorporates scientific research, production and marketing," he
said, without any obvious meaning, to polite applause.

A chubby and jovial figure who often dangled a cigarette, Mr Zhao was
an adept politician. In one speech, he praised the Yunnei car engine
company as a well-loved brand in Europe and claimed it would "open a
UK manufacturing base in January 2013".

He only seems to have overreached himself last November, when he
promised delegates at a conference in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan,
that the government had approved a new free-trade zone to boost the
city's economy.

"Kunming, as the core city in the plan, will receive a huge boost to
its industry and economy," he said. "I sincerely hope the local
government and party creates a good environment for companies that
invest here."

Perhaps to his dismay, his surprise announcement made the headlines in
the local newspapers and prompted a flood of queries to the State
Council for confirmation.

On March 8, the State Council, China's cabinet, responded unambiguously.

"We have recently received reports that Zhao Xiyong is pretending to
be the head of the State Council Research Office and an official of
vice-minister level. We announce that he does not work for the State
Council, and that no research team has ever been sent to Yunnan
province," said a statement.

Mr Zhao's current whereabouts, and indeed his true identity, are unknown.

If caught, he could face three to ten years in prison.

"He performed his official duties without a secretary, he organised
events, made speeches, handled social activities, wrote calligraphy
and cut ribbons, he successful cheated the State Council and
provincial officials. He is in no way different from a real official!"
commented one wag on the Chinese internet.

Additional reporting by Valentina Luo