On June 4, 2020, the 31st anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown, former Chinese national football player Hao Haidong, China’s all-time leading scorer, appeared on YouTube in a video titled “Declaration of the New Federal State of China.” This article records his criticism of the Chinese Communist Party’s totalitarian rule over human rights, democracy, Hong Kong, and the novel coronavirus.

2020-06-06
The totalitarian rule of the Chinese Communist Party has “ignored human rights, trampled on democracy, and carried out slaughter in Hong Kong”…
Through the novel coronavirus, it “launched a biochemical-weapons war against the world.”
The following is from an article published in today’s Sankei Shimbun under the title, “Chinese Football Legend Declares ‘Overthrow of the Communist Party’ Online.”
[Beijing = Yoshiaki Nishimi]
On the 4th, the 31st anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square incident, in which Chinese authorities used force in Beijing to suppress students and others calling for democratization, Hao Haidong, 50, a former Chinese national football player and the country’s all-time leading goal scorer, appeared with his face shown in a video posted on the U.S. website YouTube titled “Declaration of the New Federal State of China,” and argued that “the annihilation of the Chinese Communist Party is necessary for justice.”
YouTube is blocked in China, and reports concerning Hao’s remarks also appear to have been banned.
However, by using special apps, it is possible to view the site from inside China as well, and the sudden declaration of “overthrowing the Communist Party” by a legend of the football world has shocked some people.
In the video, Hao argued that the totalitarian rule of the Chinese Communist Party has “ignored human rights, trampled on democracy, and carried out slaughter in Hong Kong.”
He also said that, through the novel coronavirus, it had “launched a biochemical-weapons war against the world.”
He also suggested cooperation with Stephen Bannon, former chief strategist to U.S. President Donald Trump, and Guo Wengui, a former Chinese businessman now in exile in the United States.
The time and place where the video was filmed are unknown, but Hao is believed to be staying overseas.
On the 4th, the influential Chinese sports newspaper Titan Sports Weekly published a statement anonymously criticizing Hao, saying that “H, a former Chinese national team player,” H being the initial of Hao’s Chinese reading, “issued remarks aimed at overthrowing the government and infringing upon China’s sovereignty,” whereupon voices appeared one after another on the Chinese internet asking, “Who is H?”
In the comment section of YouTube, users who appeared to be Chinese posted comments of criticism, confusion, and praise.