After the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, Xi Jinping, the current Party leader, has seen his confidant Ma gaining significant power. However, his sense of crisis appears to persist. Edwin Yin, a popular internet personality living in Australia, has become one of the targets of the Chinese Communist Party, with his shows directly criticizing Xi Jinping. According to Yin, for the authorities in Beijing, opposing Xi is now considered even more serious than opposing the Communist Party itself.
In a report released on May 13 by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s “Four Corners,” a former Chinese Communist Party Political Security Bureau policeman who defected to Australia last year, using the pseudonym Eric, revealed the inner workings of this notorious security agency of the Chinese Communist Party and how they track dissidents overseas.
Eric disclosed that in 2018, he was ordered to lure Edwin Yin, who currently resides in Australia, to Southeast Asia for the purpose of arrest.
In 2023, the Australian Federal Police uncovered a Chinese Communist Party espionage operation targeting residents in Sydney. One of the individuals targeted was anti-Communist influencer Edwin Yin, whose video content directly criticized Xi Jinping and his daughter.
Using the online alias “Jiang Wang Zheng,” Yin, a former assistant vice president of retail business at Ping An Bank’s Hangzhou branch in Zhejiang Province, China, now resides in Australia.
Yin previously revealed that his deceased uncle, Yao Zuoting, was the former Deputy Director of the Zhejiang Provincial Development and Reform Commission, and had connections with many high-ranking secretaries of Xi Jinping’s “Zhejiang New Army.”
Yin stated that after Wang Xiaohong gained real power at the Ministry of Public Security, he handled three major cases, one being the case of the statue of Xi Jinping in a free sculpture park, the other being the case of Niu Tengyu, and the third being his own case.
The sculpture “CCP Virus,” created by Chinese sculptor Chen Weiming, features a half Xi Jinping head and half skull image combined with a fully red coronavirus strain, symbolizing the CCP virus. The sculpture was unveiled at the Free Sculpture Park in Southern California on June 4, 2021, but was later destroyed by arson on July 23 of the same year. A replica was completed on June 5, 2022.
In 2019, Niu Tengyu, then 20 years old, was sentenced to 14 years in prison by the Chinese Communist Party after the company he was associated with, “Vulgar Wiki,” published personal information of Xi Jinping’s daughter, Xi Mingze, and he faced torture during interrogation and detention.
Yin mentioned that currently, the charge of opposing Xi is more significant than opposing the Communist Party itself. “Many individuals within the system, such as the Zhejiang faction and Fujian faction, have told me that it’s acceptable to oppose the Chinese Communist Party, but opposing Xi Jinping is not allowed. You can insult the Chinese Communist Party, but you cannot insult Xi Jinping.”
He stated that authorities have pressured him to remove all video content that insults Xi Jinping and also requested him not to report on the family members of high-ranking officials under Xi like Cai Qi in the future.
Dissident Chen Siming, who is currently in exile in Canada, stated to Epoch Times on January 2nd this year that criticizing Xi angers the authorities more than criticizing the Communist Party itself. “A few years ago, when I criticized the Communist Party or government officials in my country, it wasn’t a big deal, but if I criticized Xi Jinping, the national security personnel would immediately respond. They would come after me.”
Xi Jinping has become a frequent target of ridicule, criticism, and mockery both domestically and internationally, with the Chinese authorities actively seeking out these critics.
Epoch Times reported last year that a Hong Kong teenager known as “Fragile Lord,” a YouTube blogger with a series called “Fragments Chronology,” started making satirical videos around the age of 14. When he was 15, he was taken away for investigation by the Hong Kong National Security Police for producing satirical videos, which included parodying Xi Jinping. At the age of 16, he fled to the United States seeking political asylum.
During Halloween last year, young people in Shanghai dressed up as “Little Winnie the Pooh” portraying Xi as an emperor. Some even wore surveillance cameras on their heads, satirizing the omnipresent surveillance system, which reportedly led to repercussions from the Chinese Communist government.
Radio Free Asia reported in March last year that a Chinese national named Ning Ning, living in the United States, received an urgent call from family members back in China before going to sleep. His father asked him to confirm if he had started one of the petitions on the American petition website Change.org supporting Chinese dissidents and requested him to delete or modify the petition. Ning Ning revealed that the national security agents said that since the petition contained criticisms of Xi Jinping, this action was considered a “significant event affecting national security.”
Earlier this year, an anonymous source informed Epoch Times that there is a special team in Beijing dedicated to protecting the image of Xi Jinping.
Former Beijing lawyer and chairman of the Canadian Alliance for Democracy, Lai Jianping, stated to Epoch Times on January 3rd that criticizing and ridiculing Xi has become a trend both domestically and internationally. Xi Jinping has reached a stage where he must rely on strong mechanisms to protect his image, indicating an unprecedented crisis in his governance.
Chinese-American scholar Li Hengqing mentioned that most people in China now hope for Xi to step down, believing that only with Xi’s removal will there be a chance for change in China. However, it should be recognized that the Communist Party itself must also be removed for China to truly prosper.