Afp, Beijing

Chinese authorities yesterday detained a law professor who published essays criticising President Xi Jinping over the coronavirus pandemic and his efforts to consolidate power, according to friends of the man.

Xu Zhangrun, a rare outspoken critic of the government in China’s heavily censored academia, was taken from his home in suburban Beijing by more than 20 people, one of his friends said on condition of anonymity.

Xu published an essay in February blaming the culture of deception and censorship fostered by Xi for the spread of the coronavirus in China.

China’s “leader system is itself destroying the structure of governance”, Xu wrote in the essay that appeared on overseas websites, adding the chaos in the virus epicentre of Hubei province reflected systemic problems in the Chinese state.

The law professor at Tsinghua University, one of the country’s top institutions, had previously spoken out against the 2018 abolition of presidential term limits in an essay circulated online.

A friend said yesterday a man claiming to be police had called Xu’s wife -- who had been living separately at a university residence -- to say Xu was arrested for allegedly soliciting prostitution in the southwestern city of Chengdu.

Xu visited Chengdu last winter with a number of liberal Chinese scholars, although it is unclear if the arrest was connected to the trip, the friend said, calling the allegation “ridiculous and shameless”.

Xu was placed under home arrest last week, the friend said.

After Tsinghua reportedly barred Xu from teaching and conducting research in 2019, hundreds of Tsinghua alumni -- and academics from around the world -- signed an online petition calling for him to be reinstated.

Tsinghua and public security authorities in Beijing did not respond immediately to requests for comment yesterday.