Police forced to apologize to Chinese business reporter

Chinese police who put a business reporter on the country’s most wanted list for writing critically about a company have been forced to apologize to the journalist.

Loretta Chao of The Wall Street Journal writes, “Qiu Ziming, a reporter for the Economic Observer, wrote a series of articles for the newspaper starting last month that accused managers at Zhejiang Kan Specialty Material Co., a Shenzhen-listed paper manufacturer, of illegal activities including insider trading and embezzlement. On July 23, police in Suichang County, where Kan Specialty Material is located, added Mr. Qiu to a list of wanted criminals for ‘damaging a company’s business reputation.’ Mr. Qiu and his family went into hiding to avoid being detained, according to a person familiar with the matter.

“The police move prompted widespread criticism, as word of the affair spread over the Internet through Twitter-like microblogging services that are becoming increasingly popular in China. Then, on Thursday afternoon, the public security bureau in Lishui City, which oversees Suichang County, issued a notice on its website announcing that the Suichang authorities would be required to apologize and to remove Mr. Qiu from the list because the detention order didn’t meet legal requirements.

“Kan Specialty Material has steadfastly denied wrongdoing, and the merits of Mr. Qiu’s accusations couldn’t be independently confirmed. Mr. Qiu couldn’t be reached for comment.”

Read more here. Read the Economic Observer’s account of what Qiu wrote here.