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Global Times chief editor Hu Xijin, left, and deputy chief editor Maggie Duan Jingtao. Photos: Weibo

Editor of nationalistic Chinese newspaper says he was a target of blackmail and rumours by deputy

  • Hu Xijin says accusations that he had extramarital relationships with colleagues were not only harmful to him but also his coworkers
  • Global Times deputy editor shares screengrab of complaint to the Communist Party’s anti-corruption watchdog
Hu Xijin, the outspoken editor of the nationalist tabloid Global Times, has denied accusations made against him by one of his deputies, saying she had tried to blackmail him in a bid to force him to resign.

Hu said the accusations levelled in online posts by Maggie Duan Jingtao, a deputy editor of the newspaper, that he had extramarital relationships with two female colleagues and that he was the father of two illegitimate children, were not true. A post on Duan’s personal WeChat showed screen captures of her complaint to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI).

“Because this does not only concern my reputation but also the integrity of two colleagues who have been innocently involved, as well as the reputation of Global Times, I have no choice but to make this clarification here,” Hu said in a statement issued late on Wednesday.

“[I] have had a meeting with the responsible colleagues of Global Times [today and we agreed] to ask the People’s Daily to issue an official conclusion [on this matter] but this may take some time,” he added referring to the Communist Party mouthpiece that controls the Global Times.

Hu Xijin, chief editor of Global Times, is pictured in 2011. Photo: Simon Song

Neither Hu nor Duan responded to inquiries by the South China Morning Post.

Duan has shared screengrabs of a complaint to the Communist Party’s anti-corruption watchdog, the CCDI, in which she alleged that 60-year-old Hu violated the Communist Party’s disciplinary rules.

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But Hu gave a different account in his statement. He said Duan met him about a month ago, threatened him and she urged him to hand over his job to her, saying he was under investigation by the CCDI.

“But on the next day, she sent me messages and apologised saying she must have been ‘possessed’ and ‘talking nonsense’ and expressed remorse for her behaviour after how much I have done to help her,” Hu said in the statement.

“Duan has not been in active duty on Global Times operations for a long time … because our editorial committee believes that she has lost her capacity to do a proper job,” he added.

“What she said in the meeting violated [the Communist Party’s] organisation rules and also moral principles. So I have urged her not to harbour any fantasy about taking over my editor position and to return to her senses.”

Hu remains the chief editor of the Global Times.

A Beijing-based lawyer told the Post that one of the female colleagues named in Duan’s accusations had contacted him to “explore options over legal action” against Duan.

“My client will do whatever necessary to defend her reputation,” said the lawyer who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Last month, Hu also denied an online rumour that he had fathered a son of Canadian nationality. He said he only had a daughter who is a Chinese national working in Beijing.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Editor ‘target of blackmail and rumours by deputy’
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