A former propaganda official in eastern China has been upbraided for violating the Communist Party’s rules against cadres publishing remarks critical of policies or the party. Mu Yifei, who was a deputy propaganda department chief and a section head of the party school in Wenling, Zhejiang province, has been issued a severe warning, according to a statement issued on the website of the city’s commission for discipline inspection. He was reprimanded for “publicly publishing and forwarding remarks that are not consistent with party strategies and policies [and] that severely damaged the party’s image”, the statement said. Mu, who retired in February, forwarded messages on social media that advocated constitutionalism. His account has since been deleted. He also published critical articles. Communist Party warns of gap between ‘public and official opinion’ Under party discipline rules, members can be punished for public remarks critical of the Four Cardinal Principles, the reform and opening-up policy and other key issues. The four principles call for upholding several ideas – the socialist path, the people’s democratic dictatorship, the leadership of the party, and the thought of Mao Zedong and Marxism-Leninism. Last October, the rules were expanded in include offences covering vilifying party leaders, distorting party history, making inappropriate comments or challenging policies. Zhao Xinwei, the former editor-in-chief of Xinjiang Daily , a state-run newspaper in China’s volatile far western region, was expelled over allegations he openly “made improper remarks” on key policies last year. Communist Party official accuses some Xinjiang cadres of supporting ‘terrorist acts’ Liang Xinsheng, a former deputy head of the English department at Lingnan Normal University in Zhanjiang in south China’s Guangdong province, was removed from his post last November for publishing “radical opinions” on his Weibo account which were deemed a “bad social influence”.