China’s state-run news agency makes a serious typo

Xinhua, China’s state news agency, called President Xi Jinping the “last leader” by mistake, instead of the “top leader,” Hong Kong-based newspaper Ming Pao reported on Tuesday. According to the Information Centre of Human Rights and Democratic Movement, a Hong Kong-based human rights group, the mistake resulted in the suspension of one reporter and two editors of the news agency.

Xinhua released an article calling President Xi as China’s last leader at 4:05 p.m. on Sunday and corrected the error 75 minutes later at 5:15 p.m. The error was contained in a reporter’s observation of events at the National People’s Congress and Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. The reporter wrote President Xi’s remarks on his confidence in the Chinese economy at the National People’s Congress, calling him the “last leader.” Some Chinese media outlets, which copied the article, had to correct the error, and other media outlets purged the article from their websites.

Some say that the mistake was intended in the first place. Japan’s Kyodo News said that some claim that it was a backlash against Mr. Xi’s demand for absolute loyalty from the country’s media during his visit to media outlets in February before the National People’s Congress.

베이징=구자룡특파원 bonhong@donga.com