For those who are not following this blog from China (or for those who are and have somehow missed this developing fiasco), there is a fairly thick thread – more like a rope, as in one used to fashion a noose – that’s been making the blog rounds lately concerning a fellow named Chris Devonshire-Ellis, who seems to be the principal behind the China Briefing blog, as well as a couple of others.
I am not about to jump into the middle of this one, since there seems to be a pattern of backchannel pressure attached to covering anything unflattering concerning this particular individual. That said, I would like to point you towards the China Law Blog, one of my favorite daily reads. Dan Harris has been following this story closely and cautiously; it seems that he has been one of several bloggers who have received backchannel correspondences.
Now it appears that the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) has jumped into the fray, regarding a story carried by China-Briefing yesterday (February 18, 2009) alleging an interview with a CBRC official that the CBRC is calling “pure fabrication.” The China Banking Regulatory Commission is so torqued by the report that they’ve posted the following statement on their website: CBRC Statement
The website CHINA-BRIEFING published an article on Feb 18, 2009 with CBRC Chairman’s photo and opinions. The CBRC hereby makes the statement that no CBRC officials have been interviewed by this media or by the author of this article. This news is a pure fabrication.
For more about the winds whipping around this ever-developing story, go here.
4 responses so far ↓
1 John matheson // Feb 19, 2009 at 11:27 am
Yes the NDRC has also issued a statement that no interviews took place. This news has been fabricated for sure as the government would not allow officials to issue such statement other than through their official press briefings and China Briefing albeit called briefing is not part of that government media machine.
Someone is having headaches today and it is not just at CB magazine.
2 Expatriate Games // Feb 19, 2009 at 3:49 pm
Yeah Jim, I’ve been watching and reading as all this unfolds. I don’t know the guy and until recently had read very little about him. I’ll resist jumping into the fray but…
If it walks like a duck….
3 John matheson // Feb 24, 2009 at 5:34 am
He seems to have resigned…guess the government pulled the plug on him or his business partners did
4 Jim Gourley // Feb 24, 2009 at 6:10 am
I noticed late last night that he’d resigned from Dezan Shira, the business consultancy firm he founded. I assume this has much/everything to do with saving the company, and that he will still be closely linked with the firm, creating mischief and avenging where possible. There has been an active Twitter ‘discussion’ (#cde) following these developments, and though it has been very lively, it has not been what I would consider to be a feeding frenzy. Just a lot of folks who have been burnt in the past taking great joy in watching this amazing screw-up and its inevitable consequence unfold. Details on his resignation have not been forthcoming, though speculation is that he either took a bullet for the company in order to not completely drive it off the cliff, or that he was hurried along by the CN gov. Just have to wait and see how the story unfolds, if, in fact, it ever does. A lot of how it does unfold will have much to do with who is doing the telling, so if the CN gov. scenario is the “real deal,” we won’t be hearing anything at all. If CDE speaks out, his story will be – to put it gently – highly suspect. I expect that he will continue to be a disruptive presence for some blogs who have hammered him and with whom he has had a contentious relationship in the past. “Same as it ever was.”
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