(Bloomberg) -- The promotion of a Chinese official disgraced for abusing Covid controls has sparked a fresh firestorm, prompting claims online that her elevation underscores ingrained institutional injustice.
Zhang Linlin was demoted in 2022 for manipulating pandemic health codes to clip the movements of rural investors, who were trying to return to the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou to vent claims of being swindled out of billions of dollars.
That misuse of apps designed to stop the spread of Covid was met with nationwide outrage. Despite that, Chinese media reported this month that Zhang was now serving as party chief of the manufacturing hub’s culture and tourism bureau.
That post matches her old rank and likely paves the way for a government role as head of the department.
READ: China’s Covid Zero Scars Leave Citizens Fearful of Curbs
A hashtag claiming her appointment undermined the rule of law in the world’s No. 2 economy had been read 1.17 million times by lunchtime Thursday, as Chinese citizens still scarred by years of stringent Covid controls lashed out against the perceived injustice of Zhang’s career comeback.
“This is a heavy blow to the ordinary people who were victims of the Henan rural banks,” one user wrote, referencing the institutions that froze cash withdrawal services. “Has the privileged class become so arrogant to the point of lawlessness!!!”
President Xi Jinping has made cleaning up government a hallmark of his leadership, with his anti-graft campaign netting a record number of senior cadres last year. However, the latest episode with Zhang shows persisting doubts around accountability within China’s vast bureaucracy.
After a severe party warning — such as the one Zhang was handed — cadres cannot be promoted for between one-and-a-half to two years, under official regulations.
“This actually exposes a cruel fact, which is that our officials are not actually serving the people,” another person wrote on Weibo. “He is serving his superiors.”
--With assistance from Jing Li.
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.
