Economist vanishes after criticising Xi Jinping's economic policies

Zhu Hengpeng, an economist from one of China's leading think tanks, has not appeared in public since April, reports the "Wall Street Journal." The expert's disappearance may be related to negative comments he posted online about the country's economic management under leader Xi Jinping.

Fifty-five-year-old Zhu was detained in the spring and removed from duties after he published "comments about China's flagging economy and veiled criticism of Xi that referred to his mortality" in a private group on the WeChat app, according to "WSJ," citing people familiar with the matter.

It is unclear under what charges the economist was detained or where he is currently located. The newspaper emphasises that it unsuccessfully attempted to contact Zhu personally and to obtain information about him from organisations he collaborated with, as well as the State Council Information Office.

An investigation into Zhu, who for the past ten years was the number two at the Institute of Economics at the state-controlled Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the deputy secretary of the local Communist Party of China committee, coincided with intensified efforts by the CPC to suppress negative comments about the state of the country's finances, notes "WSJ."

Zhu's name has disappeared from the staff list of the think tank at the prestigious Tsinghua University in Beijing. The economist's last public appearance was at the end of April at a conference on elderly care organised by the financial magazine "Caixin." At that time, Zhu suggested that China could fill gaps in funding the burdened pension system by forcing young Chinese people to pay for their parents' pensions and issuing more bonds, reported "Caixin." These comments sparked a debate on social media.

According to earlier plans, Zhu was scheduled to speak on 25 May at a conference at Tsinghua University, but his name disappeared from the list of speakers, and another scholar spoke instead. "WSJ" found that Zhu did not appear there, even as a participant.

In recent years, many well-known people in China have disappeared or faced severe consequences after commenting that authorities deemed harmful to the party's image or caused social unrest. Among them are former foreign minister Qing Gang and defence minister Li Shangfu, well-known athletes like tennis player Peng Shuai, Alibaba founder Jack Ma, and journalists and social activists such as Zhang Zhan and Huang Xueqin.

The CPC is known for using tactics such as forced disappearances, imprisonment without trial, and intimidation to suppress dissent, evaluates the Business Standard portal.