Public furious over alleged rape of girls by official

BEIJING - Public angry is mounting over a Chinese official's alleged rape of at least 11 schoolgirls, with calls for a transparent and thorough investigation of the former party cadre.

Li Xingong, former deputy director of the general office of Henan province's Yongcheng city committee of the Communist Party of China, was arrested on suspicion of raping 11 underage girls since mid-2011, according to a statement issued by the city's publicity department Tuesday.

Compared with the brief official statement, a much detail-rich media report about Li's case has been circulated on the Internet.

The report allegedly citing "various sources," including parents of some victims, said the number of assaulted schoolgirls "is very likely to approach 100."

"I've followed the scandal for days on the Internet. I'm shocked to read the outrageous details. My question is, how come he did this for so long without police, or other authorities knowing it?" said a woman surnamed Yan, who works in an education research institute in Beijing.

"I hope the local government can explain this soon, or I'll take it that local authorities knew about his crime long before but simply turned a blind eye," Yan said.

"This guy was crazy. But I believe he made it because of his position," said Yuan Junwei, a worker with an auto company in Wuhan, Hubei province.

There is no doubt that Li had moral problems, said Badain, a businessman. "But who is obliged to take care of officials' moral issues? Certainly not the public."

Many netizens said they will pay close attention to the case as it unfolds.

"How will he be punished? How will the young victims recover?" asked He Jing, a known anchor with the China Central Television, on her Sina Weibo (a Twitter-like microblog) account.

A challenge for government

In recent years, the Chinese people have been increasingly encouraged to express opinions about government work and the Internet has become an vital tool to expose wrongdoing of officials, such as corruption and violations of people's rights.

When the public has formed a strong voice towards a scandal, the government is obliged to respond timely, said Zhao Chenggen, a professor with the School of Government of the Peking University.

"In the time of democracy and rule by law, that should be regarded as a basic skill for any local official and an important approach to increase the public trust in government," Zhao said.

If the investigation finds there are cover-ups, failure of inner-party supervision, or indulgence from higher authorities, as skeptics think, some people must be held accountable, Zhao said.

The local government should not distort or hide facts in the face of the online uproar, he said. "This is the only way to win trust."

The doubts and distrust in government reflect the "increasing awareness and capacities" of the young generation to oversee government action, said Lu Xueyi, a sociology researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

However, Zhao and Lu both warned that Li was an individual case and the image of officials should not be demonized.

Why again and again?

Similar cases are not rare in China, Lu said.

Since 2009, a number of sexual assault cases concerning underage girls and local officials have been exposed in Guizhou, Fujian, Sichuan, Zhejiang and Shanxi provinces.

There's not a high risk of officials getting caught if they assault woman sexually, according to Li Hong, deputy dean of Law School of Tsinghua University.

"In China, it's quite easy for an official, with power and money, to assault a girl," he said, adding that stigma of victims and their family can also help the official to keep his crime secret.

To identify a crime requires police to obtain irrefutable evidence, which is particularly difficult in sexual assault cases in light of privacy concerns, he said.

In addition, Li Hong pointed out that contradictory laws regarding rape and prostitution provide a "shield" under which officials could take advantage of money to lessen their punishment for assaulting underage girls.

Chinese criminal law rules that a person who pays to have sex with a girl under the age of 14 will be jailed for five to 15 years, but one who rapes such a girl may get the death penalty.

"However, the law also stipulates that sexually assaulting a girl under the age of 14 should be identified as rape," Li Hong said.

He suggested abolition of the article targeting prostitutes under the age of 14, as many jurists and women rights advocates have repeatedly called for its abolishment in the past decade to better protect the girls.

Li Hong believed the motion could increase the cost of sexual assault, as in previous cases, the officials who paid underage girls, including some under the age of 14, for sex received jail terms of no more than 12 years.

It is not fair to differentiate young girls, with immature intelligent and physical conditions, by whether they are prostitutes, he said.