A group of veteran reformers in China’s Communist party has demanded Beijing dismantle its elaborate censorship apparatus in an appeal for accelerated political reform,
In an open letter to the standing committee of the National People’s Congress, 23 former senior party cadres and editors, called on the legislative body to pass laws entrenching freedom of speech and publishing. Both are guaranteed in the constitution and often denied in practice.
The document was published on the blogging platform of sina.com, China’s largest news portal, on Tuesday morning. Beijing moved to silence the call and the letter was removed a few hours later.