BEIJING, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- Retired Communist Party heavyweights in China have confirmed they published a strongly-worded letter calling on the government to abolish censorship.
The letter -- composed by, among others, a former secretary to Mao Zedong and an ex-publisher of the People's Daily newspaper -- began circulating almost like a petition Oct. 1, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.
The letter started gaining attention Friday when eyes focused on dissident writer Liu Xiaobo, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize while languishing in a Chinese prison for drafting a similar letter called Charter 08 two years ago.
Chinese observers speculate the letter, sent via Internet, will not be suppressed easily because of how important the signers were in the Communist Party.
"These are important people who signed the letter with their names, titles and locations, requesting freedom of expression," Li Datong, a retired editor from the Communist Youth Daily who is friends with the organizers, said this week. "Clearly, they are not afraid. The trend cannot be stopped."
"When our country was founded in 1949, our people cried out that they had been liberated, that they were now their own masters," the letter states. "But even today, 61 years after the founding of our nation, after 30 years of opening and reform, we have not yet attained the freedom of speech and press to the degree enjoyed by the people of Hong Kong under colonial rule.
"Not only the average citizen, but even the most senior leaders of the Communist Party, have no freedom of speech," the letter continued.
More than 400 people have signed the letter, the Times said.
