China apos;s Ex-Internet Czar Admits Taking £3.5m Bribes

China's former head of internet censorship, who once held high-profile meetings with industry leaders such as Apple CEO Tim Cook and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, pleaded guilty to accepting at least 32 million yuan (£3.5 million) in bribes.
Lu Wei has admitted to his crimes and expressed remorse during his train today in the eastern city of Ningbo, Zhejiang province, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
Lu, who oversaw a tightening of online censorship during his tenure at the Cyberspace Administration of China, was a fierce defender of the country's policy of internet control.
Lu Wei, fourth from left, former minister of China's Cyberspace Administration, is escorted by police officers to his trial in the city of Ningbo in eastern China's Zhejiang province today
Chinese President Xi Jinping, centre, talks with Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg as Lu Wei looks on during a gathering of CEOs and other executives at Microsoft's main campus in Redmond, Washington on Sept 23, 2015
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In 2016, he stepped down from his post, and officials announced he was being investigated for suspected disciplinary violations the following year.
According to a post from Ningbo Intermediate People´s Court's official Weibo account today, Lu was charged with accepting bribes from 2002 until late 2017.
Prosecutors said that Lu used his influence and position at various government organisations, including the Cyberspace Administration of China and Xinhua News Agency, to help others in exchange for benefits. 
At the end of the trial in Zhejiang province, Lu pleaded guilty and 'repented in court', it said, but did not set a date for sentencing. 
China has 700 million people online, but it heavily censors content, especially that of a political nature, along with sites related to gambling, drugs and pornography.
Lu Wei, former minister of China's Cyberspace Administration, tour du lịch quế lâm speaks during his trial
Ex-Internet czar Lu Wei poses for a photo with Apple CEO Tim Cook next to him during a gathering of executives at Microsoft's main campus in Redmond, Washington in 2015
Lu was responsible for leading the government's efforts to tighten control over domestic cyberspace and championing the party's position that governments have a right to filter and censor their countries' internet.
He took a hard line in demanding tough security checks on imported foreign tech products and keeping out foreign internet companies and social networks like Facebook in the name of preserving social stability.
Lu worked his way up the ranks of China's official Xinhua News Agency from a reporting job in the southern city of Guilin in the early 1990s to becoming the agency's vice president from 2004 to 2011.

He was vice mayor of Beijing from 2011 to 2013.
At the height of his influence, he was named among the world's 100 most influential people by Time magazine in 2015. He also met with several Silicon Valley executives, including Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who personally welcomed him to the company's Silicon Valley headquarters in 2014.
Zuckerberg has made several attempts to woo China´s top brass, including President Xi Jinping, as the US social networking site, along with Twitter and Google, remains blocked by China's 'Great Firewall' of online censorship. 
Lu Wei, then deputy head of the Propaganda Department of the Communist Party of China, speaks at a forum in Nanning in southern China's Guangxi in September 2015
President Xi has carried out a wide-ranging crackdown on corruption, including targeting former president of Interpol, Meng Hongwei (pictured), whose whereabouts remain unknown
While CCTV's report gave few details, previous accusations against Lu said he engaged in factionalism and 'selectively enforced' the party's 'strategic arrangements on internet work,' in addition to being corrupt and abusing his powers.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has carried out a wide-ranging crackdown on corruption that observers say is also calibrated to bring down political opponents.
Among officials and military leaders recently ensnared is the former president of Interpol, Meng Hongwei, who vanished after traveling to China late last month from France, where the global anti-crime body is headquartered.
Days later, China said Meng was under investigation for graft and possibly other crimes, although there are heavy suspicions he had fallen out of political favor with Xi. 
His wife, Grace Meng, said she received a threatening phone call from a man speaking Chinese and kynghidongduong.vn is under police protection in France.