Wen Jiabao Family Retains Lawyers In Response to New York Times Article, Sina Weibo Censors Their Names

At around 5:00 am (Beijing Time) on October 26, the New York Times Published an article entitled "Billions in Hidden Riches for Family of Chinese Leader" (总理家人隐秘的财富). An excerpt:

Many relatives of Wen Jiabao, including his son, daughter, younger brother and brother-in-law, have become extraordinarily wealthy during his leadership, an investigation by The New York Times shows. A review of corporate and regulatory records indicates that the prime minister’s relatives, some of whom have a knack for aggressive deal-making, including his wife, have controlled assets worth at least $2.7 billion.

On October 27, overseas media reported that they had received  statements from Wang Weidong (王卫东) of Grandall Law Firm and Bai Tao (白涛) from Jun He Law Offices saying they were contacted to represent the Wen family after the New York Times published an article.

Here is their statement:

1. The so-called "hidden riches" of Wen Jiabao's family members in The New York Times' report does not exist.

2. Some of Wen Jiabao's family members have not engaged in business activities. Some were engaged in business activities, but they did not carry out any illegal business activity. They do not hold shares of any companies.

3. The mother of Wen Jiabao, except receiving salary/pension according to the regulation, has never had any income or property.

4. Wen Jiabao has never played any role in the business activities of his family members, still less has he allowed his family members' business activities to have any influence on his formulation and execution of policies.

5. Other relatives of Wen Jiabao and the "friends" and "colleagues" of those relative are responsible for all their own business activities.

6. We will continue to make clarifications regarding untrue reports by The New York Times, and reserve the right to hold it legally responsible. 

一、《纽约时报》报道的所谓温家宝家人的「隐秘财产」，是不存在的。
二、温家宝家人有的没有从事经营活动，有的虽从事过经营活动但没有从事任何非法经营活动，没有持有任何公司的股份。
三、温家宝的母亲除了按规定领取的工资/退休金，无其他任何收入，也无其他任何财产。
四、温家宝从未在家人的经营活动中起到任何作用，更没有因家人从事经营活动对他制定和执行政策产生任何影响。
五、温家宝的其他亲属，以及这些亲属的「朋友」、「同事」的一切经营活动均由他们本人负责。
六、对《纽约时报》的其他不实报道，我们将继续予以澄清，并保留追究其法律责任的权利。
特此声明
君合律师事务所律师 白涛
国浩律师（北京）事务所律师 王卫东
二O一二年十月二十七日

On October 29, 2012, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Hong Lei (洪磊) told reporters at a regularly-scheduled press conference that "Premier Wen Jiabao's family has entrusted lawyers to release a statement and will continue to clarify the report." The MFA did not include this statement in the transcript of the press conference it published on its website (see here - http://blog.feichangdao.com/2012/11/the-new-york-times-2012-report-on-wen.html).

These screenshots were taken on October 30, 2012, and show that searches for "Wang Weidong" and "Bai Tao" on Sina Weibo returned no results, just a censorship notice.

This screenshot was taken on November 2, 2012, and shows that a search on Baidu News for "Wang Weidong Bai Tao" returns no results.

The New York Times' 2012 Report on Wen Jiabao's Family Wealth - MFA Fails to Post Its Own Response

At around 5:00 am (Beijing Time) on October 26, the New York Times Published an article entitled "Billions in Hidden Riches for Family of Chinese Leader" (总理家人隐秘的财富).

According to several overseas media outlets, including the BBC, South China Morning Post,  and Reuters, when asked about the article at a regularly-scheduled press conference on October 26, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Hong Lei (洪磊) said: "Some reports smear China and have ulterior motives."

When asked why the New York Times' website was no longer accessible in China, Hong replied: "China manages the internet in accordance with laws and rules."

These screenshots of show that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not include either exchange in its transcript of the press conference.

Chinese: http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/chn/gxh/tyb/fyrbt/t982729.htm
English: http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/xwfw/s2510/t983256.htm

Overseas media then reported that at a regularly scheduled press conference on October 29, Hong Lei had the following comments when asked about the report and Wen's decision to hire lawyers to fight the New York Times' claims:

There are always some voices in the world that do not want to see China develop and become stronger, and they will try any means to smear China and Chinese leaders and try to sow instability in China.  

Your scheme is doomed to failure. 

Premier Wen Jiabao's family has entrusted lawyers to release a statement and will continue to clarify the report.

Once again, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not include these comments in the transcripts it published on its website.

Chinese: http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/chn/gxh/tyb/fyrbt/t983269.htm
English: http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/xwfw/s2510/t983693.htm

MFA: "Chinese Have Full Freedom of Religious Belief," Baidu Bans Forums on Islam, Judaism, Christianity, and Buddhism

On August 2, 2012, Xinhua reported:

A spokesman for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday refuted the U.S. State Department's criticism of its religious freedom situation.
"The Chinese people are best qualified to judge China's religious situation," spokesman Hong Lei (洪磊) said, urging the United States to discard prejudice, respect the facts and view China's policy on religion and its religious freedom situation in an objective and impartial way.
The Chinese government protects citizens' freedom of religious belief in accordance with the law, he said, adding that people of all nationalities in the country are lawfully guaranteed full freedom of religious belief.

These screenshots, taken on August 4, show that searches on Baidu's Tieba forums for the following terms return no results, just a notice saying "Apologies, in accordance with relevant laws, regulations, and policies, this forum cannot be opened at this time." (抱歉，根据相关法律法规和政策，本吧暂不开放。): Islam (伊斯兰教), Judaism (犹太教), Christianity (基督教), and Buddhism (佛教).

Hong Lei's statement in Chinese:

问：美国国务院发布2011年度“国际宗教自由报告”，继续把中国列为“特别关注国家”。你对此有何评论？
答：中国政府依法保障公民的宗教信仰自由，中国各族人民依法享有充分的宗教信仰自由。中国宗教状况怎么样，中国人民最有发言权，不需要美方指手画脚、说三道四。美方应摒弃偏见，尊重事实，客观、公正看待中国的宗教政策和宗教信仰自由状况，停止利用宗教问题干涉中国内政，不做有损中美关系和双方互信与合作的事。

Ni Yulan - Cleared of Fraud, Still Censored on Sina and Tencent Weibos

Ni Yulan and Dong Jiqin

On April 7, 2011, Ni Yulan (倪玉兰) and her husband Dong Jiqin (董继勤) were detained. They were formally arrested on May 17, 2011.

On January 29, 2012, the state-sponsored Global Times published an article entitled "Human Rights Award Misses Point of China’s Social Progress":

Ni Yulan has been awarded the Human Rights Defenders Tulip 2011 by the Dutch government after her actions against forced demolition in Beijing, becoming the latest recipient of a foreign human rights prize. An unverified report said that Wednesday, Ni's daughter Dong Xuan was not allowed to fly to the Netherlands to accept the award on behalf of her mother, who is still awaiting trial.
. . . .
But objectively speaking, it might be taking it too far to award Ni the Human Rights Defenders Tulip, which is for individuals who have done "exceptional human rights work." It is also unfair to generalize China's human rights development in this way.
In past decades, China has made significant progress in improving human rights.

On April 7, 2012, overseas media reported that Ni's daughter had been told that the verdict in her mother's case would be announced on April 10.

These screenshots show that a search for "Ni Yulan" on Sina's Weibo on April 7 returned over 16,000 results. The same search the following day returned a notice saying: "In accordance with relevant laws, regulations, and policies, search results for 'Ni Yulan' have not been displayed." (根据相关法律法规和政策，“倪玉兰”搜索结果未予显示).

On April 10, 2012, a court in Beijing announced that it was sentencing Ni to two years and eight months imprisonment for "creating a disturbance" and fraud (“寻衅滋事”和“诈骗”), and her husband to two years imprisonment for "creating a disturbance." This was Ni's third criminal conviction.

These screenshots show that, immediately after the court's announcement a search for "Ni Yulan" on Tencent's Weibo was returning over 6,000 results. By noon, however, the same search only returned a notice saying "In accordance with relevant laws, regulations, and policies, search results have not been displayed." (根据相关法律法规和政策，搜索结果未予显示。)

On April 16, Gary Locke, United States ambassador to China, issued a statement saying:

I am very concerned by the sentencing of property and petitioner rights advocate Ni Yulan and her husband Dong Jiqin, as well as Ms. Ni’s health and well-being, particularly in light of past abuses she has suffered.

On April 19, the state-sponsored China Daily published an article entitled "Locke's on Ni Yulan Case Inappropriate: FM" saying:

In response to questions from the press, Liu said in a statement that China was a country under the rule of law. No matter who violates the law, the person must be punished by law.
"The Chinese side is absolutely opposed to interference in its internal affairs and judicial sovereignty by any foreign countries under the pretext of so-called human rights concerns," Liu said.

On July 27, a Beijing appeals court overturned Ni's fraud conviction and reduced her sentence by two months, but upheld the conviction for creating a disturbance.

These screenshots show that, as of July 31, both Sina and Tencent were still censoring searches for "Ni Yulan" on their respective Weibo's.