Chinese scholar challenges party in constitutional debate

A recent Communist Party circular, warning officials of "dangerous western values," appears to have been challenged from inside the ranks of the party leadership in Beijing.

Those who have written the circular "consider the people's legitimate calls for reform as activities by hostile forces and 'dissidents' and thus wrongly estimating and analysing the situation," Yang Tianshi, a senior scholar and adviser, wrote in an essay shared online.

The Central Committee circular, briefing concerning the situation in the ideological sphere, or also known as "Document No 9," has caused concern among Chinese liberals. It suggests the Communist Party might have taken a more conservative, authoritarian path in the first months of Xi Jinping's presidency.

The document has not been published. Its content can only be deduced from reports on party cadre briefings, which appeared at the beginning of the month. These references have, however, mostly been promptly deleted from Chinese news portals, blogs and social media to avoid public debate.