Twenty people including a columnist of the website were detained in connection with the letter to 62-year-old Xi Jinping, who is the ruling Communist Party chief and head of the military. (File photo)
China today termed the recent anonymous letter demanding President Xi Jinping's resignation as an attempt to "sabotage" the country's stability, asserting that such moves are doomed to fail.
"Any attempt to sabotage China's stability will be in vain," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a reporters in Beijing in the first official comment on the letter which was posted earlier this month on a state-backed website.
The anonymous letter, which accused Mr Xi of promoting personality cult, appeared briefly on Wujie Newsofficial website, was written in the name of "loyal Communist Party supporters".
While appreciating Mr Xi's sweeping anti-corruption drive, it accused him of promoting "personality cult, not allowing 'rash opinions of central leadership', creating a 'one voice party' method" and disregarding the collective leadership principle.
"We make this request out of consideration for the Party cause, out of consideration for the nation and its people-and also out of consideration for your personal safety and that of your family," said the letter published by a host of foreign media outlets.
Twenty people including a columnist of the website were detained in connection with the letter to 62-year-old Xi Jinping, who is the ruling Communist Party chief and head of the military.
The columnist Jia Jia was subsequently released while the fate of 19 others is still not known.
The letter created an uproar in the media circles here as the state-run media operates under tightly controlled supervision of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC).
A well-known Chinese dissident Wen Yunchao living in the US said three members of his family, living in China's Guangdong Province, had also been detained in connection with the letter, the BBC reported.
A top journalist at a state-run Chinese newspaper resigned yesterday, complaining of tight official control over the media.
Yu Shaolei, an editor at Southern Metropolis Daily, posted a resignation note online, saying he can no longer follow the Communist Party line.
Mr Yu, who edited the cultural section of the newspaper, posted a photo of his resignation form on his Sina Weibo microblog account.
Under the "reason for resignation" section, he wrote, "Unable to bear your surname".
This was in reference to Mr Xi's tour of state media outlets in February when he said journalists must give absolute loyalty to the CPC and "bear the surname of the Party".
Chinese media outlets are subject to censorship, with government control tightening in recent years.