China throws the book: more corruption suspects hit with claims of illicit reading

Growing number of disgraced officials being accused by anti-corruption agencies of reading forbidden books, cited as disloyalty to the party

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Allegations of reading politically forbidden books have appeared in at least a dozen corruption case readouts this year in China. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 12:00pm, 7 Oct 2024

Reading publications with “serious political problems” has become an increasingly common accusation levelled at disgraced officials by China’s anti-corruption agencies, who cite it as proof of disloyalty.

Among them is Li Bin, a former vice-director of the municipal legislature of Mudanjiang in northeastern Heilongjiang province. He was expelled from the Communist Party on suspicions of corruption late last month.

However, municipal corruption inspectors did not lead with claims of corrupt dealings. Instead, at the top of allegations made public was the accusation that he privately read an “illegal publication” with content that would “jeopardise the unity of the party”.

It was in keeping with a norm in which political disloyalty is always the first charge listed.

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A few days earlier, Cheng Zhiyi, 61, former party secretary of Chongqing’s Jiangjin district, was also accused of possessing and reading forbidden books. The southwestern city’s corruption investigators issued an announcement on his wrongdoings, saying he was accused of “reading overseas books and periodicals with serious political problems”.