| | | Lu Wei, China’s Former Internet Czar, Comes Under Investigation for Corruption
Once powerful director of China’s top internet regulator is being investigated for alleged “serious violations of discipline,” party agency announces
wsj.com
By
James T. Areddy and
Chun Han Wong
Nov. 21, 2017 1:56 p.m. ET
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BEIJING— Lu Wei, a propaganda officer for China’s Communist Party who in recent years personified its effort to shape the global internet, on Tuesday became the first major political figure to come under corruption scrutiny since President Xi Jinping’s second term began last month.
Mr. Lu, a former director of China’s top internet regulator, is being investigated for alleged “serious violations of discipline,” the party’s disciplinary agency said in a one-sentence statement, using a common party euphemism to describe corruption.
Mr. Lu couldn’t be reached for comment and it wasn’t clear whether he has legal representation. The 57-year-old’s political career has been under a cloud since he was removed as director of the Cyberspace Administration of China in June 2016, though he has retained his title as a vice minister at the party’s propaganda department.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, center, talking in September 2015 with Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg, right, and Lu Wei, left, China's internet czar. PHOTO: TED S. WARREN/PRESS POOL
Mr. Lu’s apparent downfall is unlikely to herald a change in China’s cyberpolicies, as the strategies he helped articulate—strict enforcement of internet and media controls, plus a strong domestic technology sector, all under the party rubric of “cyberspace sovereignty”—have only been heightened since his removal as internet czar.
The party’s anticorruption agency described Mr. Lu on Tuesday as the “first tiger” to be brought down since Mr. Xi was handed a second five-year term last month, adding the probe sends a “strong signal” the Chinese leader’s signature crackdown on corruption “never takes a breather.”
Mr. Xi “reminds us that we can never rest on our laurels and indulge in past successes,” the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said.
As the director of the Cyberspace Administration, Mr. Lu was the country’s top policy official for internet matters. He held day-to-day responsibility for executing Mr. Xi’s plan to build China into a cyberpower and helping to bolster the Chinese leader’s own strongman profile.
Mr. Lu, center, with Shen Boyang, right, LinkedIn's global vice president, and Cheng Wei, CEO of Didi Kuaidi, car service Uber's major rival in China, at a signing ceremony in Seattle in September 2015. PHOTO: YANG LEI/XINHUA/ZUMA PRESS
Many of the internet policies that first emanated from Mr. Lu’s office continue to have ramifications internationally. Before he left the internet agency, he told visitors he had the president’s ear and said China deserved a major role governing the world-wide web, given its massive internet user base and its powerful players like Alibaba Group Holding Ltd .
The Cyberspace Administration, a part of the governing State Council, centrally coordinates internet policy among different government agencies and is credited with pushing policies that include requirements to buy and develop technology domestically.
Mr. Lu has kept a low profile year since he lost his key internet regulatory position last year, but China’s state controls online have continued to sharpen and theories he promoted about the need for more official internet oversight have gained supporters elsewhere, including in Washington.
During his time as cyberspace czar, Mr. Lu showed a rare level of engagement on the big issues of internet regulation, insisting in particular that every country had the sovereign right to govern how its citizens use the internet.
Described as a politically shrewd authoritarian by people who dealt with him, Mr. Liu went to Washington for meetings at the White House and State Department and courted and cajoled technology companies in Silicon Valley. His office distributed photos to Chinese media showing him plopped into Mark Zuckerberg’s chair at Facebook and helping Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook try on one of Apple’s then-unreleased watches.
A native of the poor eastern province of Anhui, Mr. Lu came of age in the final years of Mao Zedong’s rule. He didn’t join the party until age 31, weeks before Xinhua News Agency hired him as a correspondent in the southern province of Guizhou.
The state news agency served as a launchpad for Mr. Lu, whose first political post was as a Beijing vice mayor in charge of propaganda. In 2013, after Mr. Xi came to power, Mr. Lu was put in charge of civilian internet policy, first at the State Council and then at the new Cyberspace Administration.
Much of that initial work involved promoting Mr. Xi’s leadership. Mr. Lu quickly too aim at China’s then-primary social media platform, Weibo Inc., and celebrity bloggers who often gained tens of millions of followers with biting commentaries on food safety, property prices and air pollution that couldn’t be seen in state-run media. To hammer home his seriousness, Mr. Lu sometimes met groups of the most famous bloggers for dinner, where he warned them that rumor-mongering was illegal in China.
“He was very clear he was concerned about certain things, and would do something about it,” Hung Huang, a Beijing designer said after she attended two blogger dinners convened by Mr. Lu. Ms. Huang said at the time she became more careful about forwarding unverified online comments.
Some other attendees later appeared on national television to express self-criticisms about having been too outspoken. One was arrested. These days, Weibo commentary rarely stirs China.
Mr. Lu also met with editors of international media on news coverage he considered too critical. Several publications became inaccessible online in China after he came to office, including The Wall Street Journal.
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goes to show you don't ever know.... watch each card you play and play 'em slow..
wait until that deal goes down, don't you let that deal go down.....
no no
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