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‘Beijing blocked my bank accounts’: Chinese dissident in US says Communist Party froze his life savings

  • Deng Yuwen says the action is a warning to critics of the party in the United States
  • Former senior editor of party journal is a vocal advocate of reform in China

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Deng Yuwen lives in the United States with his wife and children. Photo: Handout
A former senior editor of a Chinese Communist Party journal who moved to the US after being investigated for criticising the government said bank accounts holding his family’s life savings had been frozen in China.
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Deng Yuwen, 52, a former deputy editor of the Study Times, the Central Party School’s official newspaper, said the accounts, holding 300,000 yuan (US$45,000), were frozen on September 2 in what he called a “warning to dissidents in the United States”.

Deng lost his job at the Study Times in 2013 after publishing a commentary calling on China to abandon North Korea as an ally. Before that, he had criticised the lack of political reform in the administration of then president Hu Jintao and premier Wen Jiabao.

In August, he wrote in The New York Times that the US should review its China containment policy and find ways to “reactivate reformists in the party and liberals in Chinese society”.

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Washington has accused Beijing of trying to intimidate Chinese citizens in the US, including critics of the communist party.

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