Author of Wen Jiabao article received death threats: Boxun
Staff Reporter 2012-10-30 17:23
Wen Jiabao raises a glass to celebrate the 63rd anniversary of the founding of the PRC last month. (Photo/CNS)
The author of the New York Times article that exposed the wealth of the family of China's premier, Wen Jiabao, received death threats prior to the article's publication, reports Boxun, a citizen journalism site that often makes claims that are difficult to prove.
According to a Boxun source, David Barboza, the author of the Oct. 25 piece which claimed that Wen's family — including his mother, wife and children — controlled assets of at least US$2.7 billion, was forced to flee from Shanghai to Tokyo after receiving a threat on his life.
The allegation comes as Leta Hong Fletcher, the wife of Bloomberg correspondent Mike Forsythe, tweeted on Friday that her family had also received death threats after her husband worked on a June article looking into the investments of the family of China's president-in-waiting, Xi Jinping. Fletcher later clarified that the threats came from people who were tied to Xi's family and not to China's central government.
Boxun's source, however, claims that the death threats against Barboza were made by Wen's conservative political enemies who are attempting to frame the premier's family in order to fuel a backlash and spark further media investigation into their assets.
This Machiavellian tactic is in line with the faction's overall plan to defame Wen, the source said, which also includes disseminating detailed but false information on the premier mixed with fact and a carefully planned internet strategy that involves leaking rumors to foreign reporters in China, overseas Chinese journalists and mainstream foreign media, as well as paying commentators to write damaging opinion pieces.
The suggestion of a targeted attack on Wen, considered the moderate reform-minded face of the Chinese government, is supported by claims from Voice of America, the US government's official external broadcaster, which said that all foreign media in Beijing recently received a thick document detailing Wen's family wealth, and that this document formed the basis of Barboza's article. Barboza claims that his article was sourced by investigations into government departments and company records.
Boxun's source also defended both Wen and Xi, saying that neither leader attempted to block publication of the articles concerning their families. At the end of last year, Xi even gathered his family and told them to ensure their business operations were legal because he would not defend them if they broke the law, the source added.
Meanwhile, China's foreign ministry has branded Barboza's article a futile attempt to "smear China and the Chinese leaders to create instability in China."
