China detains 'outspoken' editorial writer

BEIJING - China has arrested the chief editorial writer at China Reform magazine, continuing a Communist Party campaign to silence outspoken liberal intellectuals, sources familiar with the case said on Tuesday.

Journalist Chen Min, who wrote under the pen name Xiao Shu, was detained by Chinese authorities on Tuesday for unknown reasons, sources told Reuters.

Chen is not the first journalist affiliated with China Reform to be detained recently. In September, Zhao Yan, a former reporter for the magazine who was working as a news assistant at the New York Times' Beijing bureau, was taken away by authorities and later arrested.

China Reform could not be reached for comment.

In October, the magazine was cleared of libel charges filed by a state-owned real estate developer in what was seen as a landmark ruling for freedom of speech.

Another writer, Shi Tao, 36, was detained in late November and later arrested in what analysts believe was part of the same sweeping squeeze on intellectuals, the press freedom group Reporters without Borders said.

The 36-year-old poet and journalist worked until last May for the daily Dangdai Shang Bao (Contemporary Trade News).

The Communist Party, fearful of anything that could erode its grip on power, routinely curbs freedom of speech, assembly and association, although these rights are enshrined in China's constitution.

- REUTERS