The Economic Observer responds to Lishui City Public Security Bureau's decision to order Suichang County's Public Security Bureau to revoke the order for the detention of Qiu Ziming

Today we received notification that, after conducting an investigation, the Public Security Bureau of Lishui City in Zhejiang Province announced that the decision by Suichang County's Public Security Bureau to issue a detention order for our reporter Qiu Ziming for the crime of "alleged damage to a company's business reputation" did not comply with the law and they ordered Suichang Public Security Bureau to immediately revoke the decision and to apologize to him.

At 10am on July 29, 2010, the Suichang County Public Security Bureau revoked the decision to list Qiu Ziming as a wanted person. The newspaper's response to this decision follows:

1. The Economic Observer expresses its appreciation to the Lishui Municipal Public Security Bureau for the decision;

2. After the incident took place, the newspaper received support and help from the relevant authorities, our media peers and the general public, this newspaper wishes to express its sincere thanks to them all;

3. Kan Group attempted to suppress the monitoring of their operations by public opinion - they made false accusations against our reporter, which have caused damage to the reputation of our newspaper and the reporter suffered threats to his personal safety. The newspaper hereby reserves the right to pursue our legal options.

4. The Economic Observer will continue to adhere to the principles of rational, constructive journalism in order to maintain fairness in the market and to promote a civilized and responsible business culture in China.

The Economic Observer
                                          
July 29, 2010

This is a translation of the original statement that appeared earlier today on our Chinese website.

The Chinese text of the Lishui Municpal Public Security Bureau's announcement can be found here.

An earlier statement from the newspaper in relation to the listing of Qiu Ziming on the "wanted list" can be found here.

The series of articles written by Qiu Ziming in relation to the Zhejiang Kan Group and the listed Zhejiang Kan Specialties Material Company have not yet been translated into English (though we're working on summary translations). For now, you can view the Chinese-language articles at the links provided below:

Article 1: 凱恩股份“偷天換日”謎團 (June 5)
Article 2: 凱恩股份再調(diào)查：隱瞞的關(guān)聯(lián)交易 (June 18)
Article 3: 凱恩股份電池業(yè)務(wù)前景不明 巨額關(guān)聯(lián)交易價值幾何(July 19)
Article 4: 新華基金被忽悠？4700萬元接凱恩股份“飛刀” (July 26)