Wolf Warrior-in-Chief Hu Xijin has been muzzled online. Image: Courtesy of Weibo

Silencing ‘China’s loudest media voice in the room’ 

The ruling Communist Party muzzles Wolf Warrior-in-Chief Hu Xijin after Plenum post

ByChina Factor Staff

He was billed as “China’s loudest media voice in the room.” As the editor-in-chief of Global Times, Hu Xijin out-howled the Wolf Warrior pack with his abrasive analysis of Beijing’s nationalistic foreign policy.

On the domestic front, he became just as aggressive with his populist brand after leaving the top job at the state-run tabloid to become one of the leading online political commentators. 

Until now. 

Last week, “China’s loudest voice” was silenced on the Twitter or X-like Weibo social media site, where he has nearly 25 million fans. His crime was to cross a perceived Communist Party policy “red line” on a WeChat post.

“As the Chinese economy gets into a more precarious situation, the leadership in China becomes increasingly aware that it is a source of instability,” Dexter Roberts, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub, said.

“So, they decide to double down on control over economic and business information,” he added in his Trade War newsletter at the weekend.

His remarks have crossed the red line set up by the Party.

Hung Chin-fu, of the National Cheng-Kung University in Taiwan

X-rated comments:

  • Last week, Hu “shared a controversial assessment of Beijing’s economic strategy” after the Communist Party’s Third Plenum in July.
  • The meeting is held every five years by the political elite to map out China’s long-term social and economic policies.
  • Hu suggested in a now-deleted WeChat post that “non-public ownership and public ownership have become truly equal in their status.” 
  • “The changes are undoubtedly historic,” he said.

Delve deeper: His comments created a firestorm on China’s social media. Conservative commentators accused “him of misinterpreting the” Third Plenum “resolution, which vowed to ‘consolidate and develop the state-owned economy’.”

Big picture: “[Hu’s] remarks have crossed the red line set up by the Communist Party,” Hung Chin-fu, of the National Cheng-Kung University in Taiwan, told Voice of America. 

Between the line: “China’s top leadership will allow some discussions, but they don’t want those voices to overshadow the official narrative,” he said. 

China Factor comment: It appears even a howling Wolf Warrior is no match for the big beasts of the Communist Party.