Xi Critic Removed From Tsinghua Uni Post

A mainland scholar who has been highly critical of President Xi Jinping has been removed from his teaching position at Beijing’s prestigious Tsinghua University and other public offices he held.

Xu Zhangrun was taken away from his Beijing home last Monday and detained for six days over allegations that he had solicited prostitutes in Sichuan.

In an interview with RTHK, Xu said he was punished by the university for “corrupted morals”. He said he will not appeal against the decision, and will accept all forms of punishments.

The 58-year-old scholar said he has yet to make any plans for the future.

In 2019, Xu was suspended from teaching and researching after he openly criticised Xi for scrapping the presidential terms limit.

Following the coronavirus outbreak, he called for reforms, saying the pandemic was a result of authoritarianism and censorship.

Mainland political commentator Wu Qiang said Xu had been a thorny problem, and Wu suspected the police had framed him so that the university had an excuse to sack him.

The commentator said this will also have a chilling effect on other academics, and reinforce authorities' message that those who "eat the communist party's rice should not do anything to smash the party's pot".