Recently, there has been a circulated recording online revealing a phone call between Sun Xiaoliang, a member of the People’s Congress of Manzhouli City in Inner Mongolia, and a whistleblower, where they were verbally abusing each other. Sun Xiaoliang threatened the whistleblower, saying he would “deal with him” and have the police arrest him again. According to the whistleblower, who was also a government official, he was retaliated against by Sun Xiaoliang after reporting him. Sun Xiaoliang fabricated a case that led to him being imprisoned for nearly a year, and now he has been released and is seeking an explanation from Sun.
The recording of a phone call between “Sun Xiaoliang, the director of the People’s Congress Standing Committee of Manzhouli City in Inner Mongolia, and the whistleblower Shan Moufeng insulting each other on the phone” has been circulating online. The recording shows Sun Xiaoliang answering the call and asking, “What’s the matter, Shan Moufeng?” Shan Moufeng responds, “What’s the matter? You’ve ruined me like this? Are you joking with me?” The conversation escalates with both parties getting emotional, using profanity and insults, lasting for over a minute.
Sun Xiaoliang claims, “If you have the guts, come over here, I won’t be able to harm you… I won’t put you in trouble again, I’ll consider you weird…” “You wait, I’ll have the disciplinary committee people come for you immediately.” “I’ll have the police arrest you.” “If you curse at me, I’ll deal with you.” “I’ll make a call right now, see if I can handle you?”
On December 23, Shan Moufeng told mainland media Xinhua News Agency that he used to be an official of the Genhe City Industrial and Information Bureau and the Development and Reform Commission. Later, he was appointed as the Deputy Director of the Xing’an Economic Development Zone Management Committee in Genhe City. He reported Sun Xiaoliang and was retaliated against by him, who used the police force to fabricate a case, resulting in him being imprisoned for nearly a year.
“I was wrongly imprisoned before because of Sun Xiaoliang’s retaliatory actions when he was the Secretary of the Genhe City Party Committee,” he said. He mentioned that he called right after being released, wanting to demand an explanation from Sun.
A judicial document showed that Shan Moufeng was criminally detained by the Genhe City Public Security Bureau on January 3, 2021, for suspected fraud. On January 15, the Genhe City Procuratorate approved the arrest. On November 10, 2021, the Genhe City People’s Procuratorate decided to release Shan Moufeng on bail pending trial. The Genhe City Public Security Bureau issued a release notice on November 10, the same day Shan Moufeng was released, after being detained for 312 days.
At the end of 2021, shortly after Shan Moufeng’s release, he obtained Sun Xiaoliang’s phone number from a leadership member he had a good relationship with. By that time, Sun Xiaoliang had been transferred from Genhe City to serve in the People’s Congress Standing Committee in Manzhouli City.
Public information shows that Sun Xiaoliang was previously the Secretary of the Genhe City Party Committee in Hulunbuir City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in September 2019. On February 14, 2022, Sun Xiaoliang was appointed as the director of the 16th People’s Congress Standing Committee in Manzhouli City.
On December 23, the office staff of the People’s Congress Standing Committee in Manzhouli City responded, saying, “Our leaders do not accept interviews, so no need to contact us.”
Netizens commented, “Officials protect each other,” “The police indeed listen to the director of the People’s Congress; big officials can pressure others to death, who dares not to listen?” “This is the era of the rule of law in the ‘land of walls.'”