Unconfirmed studies from China counsel that Liu Yazhou, a retired Chinese language Air Pressure Basic, could face a sentence to demise with a reprieve, which might be commuted to life in jail. Liu has been investigated on corruption expenses since 2021, however some counsel that his arrest could have been motivated by his public disagreements with Chinese language regime chief Xi Jinping and the Chinese language Communist Social gathering (CCP).
Official Chinese language media has neither confirmed nor denied any particulars about Liu’s authorized troubles. On March 24, Ming Pao, a Hong Kong newspaper identified for its ties with the CCP, reported that Liu had been imprisoned for his corrupt practices and political ambitions and was more likely to obtain a severe sentence, probably even a demise sentence with reprieve. The explanation for Ming Pao’s publication of this story is unclear, however Dr. Wang Youqun, the previous CCP copywriter, speculated that the CCP could have leaked the story as a warning to others who may criticize the celebration or Xi.
Previous to his arrest, Liu was a army position mannequin and rising star throughout the CCP. He was born right into a distinguished army household, grew up as a second-generation communist, and was well-educated. Moreover, his spouse was a childhood neighbor and playmate of Xi, and his father-in-law was Li Xiannian, the previous state chairman of China from 1983 to 1988 and one of many Eight Elders of the CCP in the course of the Deng Xiaoping period. This makes Liu’s case much more intriguing.
Liu Yazhou was born in 1952 in Ningbo, Zhejiang. His father was a veteran of the CCP’s New Fourth Military and served because the deputy political commissar of the Lanzhou Navy Area. On the age of 16, Liu started serving in his father’s unit and joined the CCP on the age of 18.
Through the Cultural Revolution in 1972, Liu was awarded a army scholarship to check English at Wuhan College the place he met his future spouse. He graduated in 1975 and was subsequently assigned to work on the Beijing Civil Aviation Administration. In 1984, he turned a member of the China Writers Affiliation. Later, from 1986 to 1987, Liu was a visiting scholar at California’s Stanford College, the place he had associations with many individuals within the American army, political, and tutorial fields.
Liu Yazhou Rose to Prominence Through the Reign of Jiang
Liu’s formal profession took off in the course of the former CCP chief Jiang Zemin’s period. From 1996 by means of 2012, he superior by means of the Air Pressure ranks of Main Basic, Lieutenant Basic, and Basic. Throughout this time, he served because the Director of the Air Pressure Political Division within the Beijing Navy Area, Deputy Political Commissar of the Air Pressure, and Political Commissar of the Nationwide Protection College. Liu was additionally a member of the 18th Central Committee of the CCP. He retired in 2017 earlier than reaching the age of 65.
Liu’s proficiency in Western languages and his expertise finding out overseas laid the inspiration for him to develop into an influential chief throughout the CCP and on the worldwide stage. He had interactions with former U.S. Division of Protection adviser Michael Pillsbury and wrote the preface for the Chinese language model of Pillsbury’s guide, “The Hundred-Yr Marathon.”
Liu’s upbringing and relationships throughout the Marxism-Leninism tradition of the CCP have been advantageous to his popularity and profession. His time spent in the USA additionally made him one of many few “pro-Western” people throughout the Chinese language army. Regardless of his communist roots, Liu harbors a pro-American inclination, which can have contributed to his variations with Xi.
Upsetting the High Chief
Since coming into energy ten years in the past, Xi has solidified his authority by eliminating the Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao factions. He has additionally labored to forestall a army coup, however his troops’ loyalty isn’t absolute. Not like his predecessors Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, Xi lacks army expertise.
In distinction, Liu is deeply entrenched within the army, with two brothers who maintain high-ranking positions and former college students from the Nationwide Protection College who’ve develop into senior army leaders. Moreover, in response to Michael Pillsbury, Liu has shut ties with the Jiang faction, which beforehand tried to overthrow Xi. Liu additionally had connections with the Hu Jintao faction, which was purged by Xi regardless of its leanings in the direction of reform. Hu Jintao promoted him to Basic in 2012.
Originally of Xi’s reign, Liu supported Xi and wrote articles praising him. In Could 2013, he printed an article titled “Defending the Sacred ‘Social gathering Nature”’ within the party-run Folks’s Every day to point out his loyalty.
However their opinions later diverged. A second-generation communist instructed The Epochtimes that Liu disliked Xi and expressed his dissatisfaction at gatherings of the princelings, descendants of distinguished and influential senior CCP officers. Articles printed on China’s “Pink Tradition Community” painting Liu unfavorably as “a usually bold and scheming individual.” On the problem of Taiwan, Liu opposes aggressive unification techniques, which contradict Xi’s method. From Xi’s perspective, Liu engages in “reckless speculations in regards to the central authorities.”
A group of Liu Yazhou’s inside speeches printed in Los Angeles in 2014, collected by the East Asia Library at Princeton College, incorporates in depth discussions of Liu’s views on the Taiwan challenge. (See the image under)
On web page 106, Liu Yazhou mentioned: “I don’t advocate rashly utilizing pressure towards Taiwan, particularly not an assault the place either side endure… The liberation of Taiwan is a civil warfare, and even when the victory is wonderful, it’s a loss and hurt to our personal nation and nation.”
![Epoch Times Photo](https://i0.wp.com/img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2023/05/12/id5262067-liu-yazhou-cover.jpg?resize=401%2C547&ssl=1)
Certainly one of Liu’s brothers, Liu Yawei, at present serves because the China Program Director for the Carter Middle within the US and has connections with a number of distinguished figures. The web site he edits, “China-US Focus,” has printed articles criticizing Xi. One of many authors, Hu Wei, was one of many “three representations” of Jiang Zemin’s literary and inventive abilities. That is yet one more concern for Xi relating to Liu.
In 2016, the CCP’s CCTV community launched an eight-part documentary sequence selling the Social gathering’s ideology, entitled “The Lengthy March That Shook the World.” Liu performed a pivotal position in casting Bai Ling, a Chinese language-American actress, because the lead. After the documentary premiered, state media criticized the manufacturing for utilizing a “horny star,” who had “slandered the Folks’s Liberation Military.” This referred to Bai Ling’s earlier appearing expertise in pornographic movies.
Bai Ling had been a creative soldier within the Chengdu Navy Area stationed in Linzhi, Tibet. She testified earlier than the U.S. Congress, claiming leaders of the Folks’s Liberation Military had sexually assaulted her. She later had an abortion, which left her with deep emotional scars.
Bai Ling’s controversial previous and lead position within the documentary satirized the CCP’s army’s “wonderful picture.” Upon studying about this scandal and Liu’s position in it, Xi turned livid.
Deeply Rooted in CCP Tradition
Though Liu Yazhou had a pro-American inclination, he finally benefited from the Communist Social gathering’s dividends and have become a beneficiary.
Liu Yazhou as soon as proudly claimed to be on the CIA’s “die-hard” Communist Social gathering member blacklist for opposing America and peace evolution.
To indicate loyalty to the CCP’s prime echelons, in June 2013, Liu deliberate and took part in releasing the anti-American propaganda movie, “Silent Contest.” The movie alleges that the USA is concerned in an “anti-China conspiracy” and emphasizes ideological wrestle and Chilly Battle pondering. Moreover, the movie incorporates defamatory remarks about Falun Gong and names Chinese language liberal students Mao Yushi and He Weifang as spokespeople for the US subversion of the CCP.
Though critics imagine that the “Silent Contest” was a certificates of loyalty from Liu to the CCP, it was inadequate to forestall his arrest and imprisonment. Not only for the financial corruption he was charged with, but additionally for his willingness to specific opposing opinions to Xi.