CCP veterans call for free speech

A group of senior reformers within the Chinese Communist Party has called for the lifting of censorship in China, the Financial Times reported. The 23-member group of senior party cadres and former party media editors sent an open letter to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, calling on the legislature to pass laws securing the freedom of speech in practice. The letter argued that two media outlets – Southern Weekend and Yanhuang Chunqiu – should be converted into private media as a pilot program. "The ‘socialist democracy’ with Chinese characteristics propagated by [our] country has become just too embarrassing," said the letter, which was briefly posted on the web portal sina.com Tuesday morning before being removed shortly thereafter.