'Beijing fears own people's free-thinking': US slams China over anti-Xi professor's arrest

United States Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, on Wednesday attacked the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and called for releasing Professor Xu Zhangrun who was detained by Chinese authorities for publishing articles criticising Xi Jinping over COVID-19 pandemic.

'We are deeply troubled...'

"As with all unelected, communist regimes, Beijing fears its own people's free-thinking more than any foreign foe. We were deeply troubled to learn this week that the CCP detained Xu Zhangrun for criticizing General Secretary Xi Jinping's repressive regime and the CCP's mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic," said Pompeo.

"He should be released. He was simply telling the truth. He should be released as soon as possible," he added.

According to media reports, Xu published an essay in February blaming the culture of deception and censorship fostered by Xi for the spread of the Coronavirus in China. The law professor at Tsinghua University had previously spoken out against the 2018 abolition of presidential term limits in an essay circulated online.

'We still need the truth'

Pompeo stated the CCP has an enormous credibility problem, and said, "They failed to tell the world the truth about this virus, and now hundreds of thousands of peoples all across the world are dead. We need the truth; we still need the truth."

"We need to open up. We need to engage in a serious way with scientists around the world. And they now say they're going to allow the WHO to come in. That's great, but the WHO needs to be free to do its real work. We need to make sure the right people are there to engage in this investigation, and we need real answers, not a perfunctory political solution. This is about science, not politics, and the Chinese Communist Party needs to come clean with the world about this virus," added Pompeo.

'India have done their best'

Earlier on Wednesday, responding to a question on ongoing tensions between Indian and Chinese militaries in Ladakh, Pompeo said that the Chinese took "incredibly aggressive actions" and the Indians have "done their best to respond" to that.

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In his daily briefing, Pompeo said that he has spoken with his Indian counterpart, Dr S Jaishankar, "a number of times" on the border tension. "I have spoken with Foreign Minister S Jaishankar a number of times about this. Chinese took incredibly aggressive actions and Indians have done their best to respond to that," the top US diplomat said.

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(With agency inputs)