CCP Military Newspaper Releases 20 Obituaries After the Two Sessions

Patients in a temporary hospital converted from the National Exhibition and Convention Center to quarantine COVID-positive people in Shanghai, China, on April 18, 2022. Interviews with family members of people with COVID-19, a phone call with a government health official, and an independent tally raised questions about how Shanghai calculates COVID cases and deaths and almost certainly indicated a marked undercount. Chinatopix via AP

From March 26 to April 17, the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) military newspaper published 20 obituaries. All were for CCP members, including three lieutenant generals, one academician, and eight “Corps Leader” rank generals. The release of these obituaries was seriously delayed, as 18 died during the three weeks between Dec. 28, 2022, and Jan. 18, 2023, when COVID was in full swing throughout China.

Li Zhao, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a former senior engineer of the Institute of Engineering Equipment of the Ministry of General Armaments, died in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, on Jan. 24 due to illness.