A physical attack on two prominent scientists by a China aerospace executive and Communist Party official after they had been drinking has aroused public outrage and threatens to disgrace China as it seeks to develop a globally acknowledged space program.
Zhang Tao, chairperson and party secretary of China Aerospace Investment Holdings, was detained by police this week for alleged attacks on Wu Meirong and Wang Jinnian in June, according to Xinhua News Agency.
Wang and Wu refused to nominate Zhang for membership in the International Academy of Astronautics, a Stockholm-based organization that recognizes excellent scientists.
Wu, 85, a key player in China's civil satellite program, and Wang, 55, a specialist in hyperspectral remote sensing used to improve satellite photos, are also members.
According to Beijing police, Zhang fought with the two at a dinner party before cornering Wang in an elevator and beating him with kicks and punches. Wu was reportedly shot twice while attempting to defend a colleague.
After the news broke, the communist party faced severe criticism for burying the story for several weeks and failing to take stringent punishment against the accused.
The fact that enraged the citizens the most, was that the guilty Chinese official went unpunished for several weeks after brutally attacking scientists until the news had gone public.
China scientists and intellectuals have a tumultuous relationship with the Communist Party. Chairman Mao Zedong's campaign, launched in 1957, resulted in the political persecution of hundreds of thousands of intellectuals.
However, China appears to have gone a long way since the Cultural Revolution's lawlessness and the never-ending ideological and political conflicts of the Mao period. And the alleged assault on the two scientists goes against everything President Xi Jinping believes his new China stands for.
In June, China successfully launched three astronauts into space, bringing the country one step closer to completing its new space station.
