Read a version of this story in Chinese
An “open letter” purportedly signed by students from multiple Chinese universities appeared on a Chinese language website on Monday, calling for the restoration of term limits for the Chinese president, but an investigation by Radio Free Asia was not able to determine if it originated from within China.
The letter, which also called for the promotion of democratic constitutional amendments and the guarantee of space for citizens to discuss national affairs, appeared the same day as the opening of the fifth plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
RFA’s investigation revealed that the “Siyuan Lake BBS” website hosting the message listed “KR” as its country/region code, indicating South Korea, in its registration information. Its mailing address was listed as “16 Collyer Quay,” a skyscraper in Singapore’s central business district. The administrator’s email address was registered on a server of Chinese tech giant Tencent.
Based on the above information, RFA was unable to determine whether the Chinese language website is located within China. As for which organization or company manages it, this cannot be verified at present.
The “open letter,” posted at 3:18 p.m., was titled “A Joint Appeal from a Group of University Students in the Republic.” It was addressed to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, and members of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, and was written against the backdrop of commemorating the 160th anniversary of the birth of Sun Yat-sen, the founder of modern China at the end of its last imperial dynasty.
The article cites past statements by Sun Yat-sen, Mao Zedong, and Deng Xiaoping regarding democracy, oversight of power, and leadership systems, and questions China’s 2018 constitutional amendment that removed the two-term limit for the president and vice president. It argues that political stability should stem from predictability in the system and advocates for “limiting the time limit on power and subjecting it to oversight.”
Three Main Demands
The open letter put forward three main expectations:
Restore Term Limits: Abolish the indefinite extension of the term of office for the President of the People’s Republic of China and restore the term limits explicitly stipulated in the Constitution to ensure the orderly transfer of power; clear term limits should also be established for the highest leadership positions of the Party.
Initiate Democratic Constitutional Amendment: Convene a national constitutional amendment conference, steadily and gradually expand the people’s substantive participation in public power, improve the election, supervision, and recall mechanisms, and put into practice the unfinished goal since the 1911 Xinhai Revolution—returning power to the people—step by step.
Safeguard Space for Public Discussion: Safeguard the space for citizens to discuss national affairs in accordance with the law, encourage young people of the Republic to speak the truth, and listen to criticism as well-intentioned suggestions.
The article also states:
“We have no intention of confrontation, much less to create antagonism. We are just a group of young people who grew up reading Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s last words, and with the sentiment that ‘the revolution has not yet succeeded, comrades must continue to strive,’ we are willing to fulfill the responsibility of a scholar for the long-term future of this country.”
Unverified signatures and origin
The post lists 14 universities, including Peking University, Renmin University of China, Tongji University, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xiamen University, and Nankai University, and notes that the petition is ongoing. However, the list only includes the names of the universities and does not provide any individual signatures or proof of signature.
As of midnight Beijing time on October 27, the website showed that this article had only been viewed by 656 people and received 1 like. The author on the page is listed as “Lin Ziyi,” with an account level of “LV.1.” The website indicates that this is “Lin Ziyi’s” first article. The article does not provide the names, number, contact information, or other verifiable information of the students who signed the article.
RFA has not independently confirmed the author’s identity, whether the signatories are indeed students, or whether students from the listed schools actually participated.
The website is divided into several topics, with the “Open Letter” posted in the “Complaints and Casual Chat” section. The website is entirely in simplified Chinese and appears to be a typical campus job search or lifestyle information website.
A closer look
The bottom of the page states that it is a “non-official campus forum,” and a closer look reveals that its URL ends with “.com” instead of the usual “.cn” which is China’s internet domain.
Radio Free Asia further investigated the website’s registration information and found that the IP address used by the website was “43.155.168.161”. Further verification with ICANN revealed that the website’s registration information showed the “country/region” code as “KR”, which corresponds to South Korea. The mailing address was listed as “16 Collyer Quay” in Singapore, but the administrator’s email address was registered on a Tencent server (@tencent.com), and the mobile phone number and WeChat account left by the administrator were also Chinese numbers.
Edited by Charlie Dharapak.
