To understand what China’s rulers really care about, look at whom they punish. The Communist Party seems to be most concerned about political crimes
The men’s actual offences were trivial. They were arrested for organising a private meeting of around 20 fellow activists in 2019. This was no revolutionary cell. Mr Xu and Mr Ding are part of the “New Citizens’ Movement”. The loosely organised group calls on Chinese citizens to consider the rights they have under the constitution, such as freedom of speech, and how they are trampled on by the government. In the long run, the movement hopes for a peaceful transition to constitutional democracy.
But Mr Xu’s hopes were soon dashed. In 2013 he and Mr Ding were arrested over protests calling for the state to provide social and educational benefits to migrant workers in Beijing. Mr Xu was sentenced to four years in jail, while Mr Ding received three-and-a-half years. A wider crackdown in 2015 saw some 250 activists and human-rights lawyers detained. Before his most recent arrest, while on the run from police, Mr Xu wrote another open letter to Mr Xi, calling for him to step down.
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