Gao Yu. Photo from Wikipedia Commons.

Gao Yu, a veteran Chinese journalist, was sentenced by the Beijing Court on April 17 to seven years in prison for having “illegally provided state secrets to foreigners”.

Since the court did not specify what exactly she leaked, China observers believe the so-called “state secrets” are a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) directive, known as Document No. 9, outlining their ideological battle against western values. It specifically references seven topics (known as the “seven speak-nots”) that university professors shouldn't teach: universal values, press freedom, civil society, citizens’ rights, the communist party's past mistakes, crony capitalism and judicial independence.

Gao Yu began her journalist career in 1980s. She was jailed for more than a year after the 1989 Tiananmen pro-democracy protests for supporting the movement in her reports. She was jailed again for six years between 1993 to 1999 for leaking state secrets.

In this latest round of persecution, the 71-year-old reporter was detained in April 2014 and made to “confess” on state-run Chinese Central Television for making a “big mistake” after the police detained her son.

Overseas Chinese communities were outraged by the news of Gao Yu's sentence. The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China, a NGO coalition established after the 1989 Tiananmen massacre, protested outside the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in Hong Kong, calling for her immediate release.

Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China protested outside the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in Hong Kong soon after they heard the result of the court sentence. Photo from Twitter user @HKfighter

On Twitter, political dissident Hu Jia, who iscurrently under police surveillance in Beijing, explained why Gao Yu received such a harsh sentence for doing her job as a journalist:

“七不讲”是中共丑行，更明确的说是 #习近平 的专断丑行。中国是一个揭丑也会被判监禁的国家。高瑜案件令世界知晓共产党是多么反普世价值。RT@csxq #七不讲 哪里是什么国家机密？这根本就是这个国家的真相！#高瑜 #FreeGaoYu #GaoYu

— Hu Jia 胡佳 (@hu_jia) April 17, 2015

The “seven speak-nots” revealed the ugly side of the CCP. More accurately, it pinpoints the despotic nature of [current Chinese President] Xi Jinping. China is a country where revealing the ugliness of the state means jail time. Gao Yu's case exposes to the world how the CCP goes against universal values.

Wu Zuolai, a current affairs commentator, argued that the communist party's document should not be regarded as a state document:

将一个七十多岁的老记者判七年,太可耻了,高瑜哪来的国家秘密?所谓七不准,应该是公开的文件,本来就应该公诸于众,高姐顶多是传播了贵党文件.当政党是文件怎么可能是国家秘密呢?太无耻了.引发国际性抗议,会极大丑化新政.

— 吴祚来 (@wuzuolai) April 17, 2015

To sentence a 71-year-old journalist to seven years in prison is shameless. What sort of state secrets did Gao Yu leak? The “seven speak-nots” should be public document for people to read. Sister Gao only distributed the party document. As the ruling party, the document belongs to the party, so how can it be a state secret? Isn't this shameless? If the incident provokes international protest, the new leadership will be making themselves look ugly.

Wang Dang, a leader of the 1989 Tiananmen democracy movement, believed the case will serve as a wake-up call for those who still have hope for China's new leadership under Xi:

這就是一些人嘴裡的“進步了的中國”，一些人歌功頌德的習近平的“中興新政”，這就是一個所謂充滿自信的政黨的所作所為：他們可以禁止討論憲政，但是禁止讓外界知道他們的禁止。多麼荒唐，多麼滑稽，多麼卑劣，多麼狠毒。
這告訴我們：習近平上台之後，中共在政治上繼續大步後退，繼續向嚴厲打擊異議人士的方向大步邁進，只要習近平還在台上，中國的人權狀況將繼續呈現最黑暗的狀況；
任何對習近平會開明專制的期待，在我看，都是完全不了解中國，不了解太子黨和習近平的表現。高瑜用自己的自由，告訴了我們這一點，你如果還是看不到，還說習近平會政治改革，那你不是瘋子，就是傻子。

Some people keep praising Xi Jinping's policies as a “revival”. [Gao's case] reveals the true nature of “progressive China”. These are the acts of the so-called “confident party” — forbid any discussion of constitutional rule, forbid the world from knowing what they have forbidden. So ridiculous, so shameless and so cruel.

The case tell us: even after Xi Jinping took over the leadership, the CCP has continued to regress in its political reform and become more heavy-handed in its crackdown on dissent. As long as Xi is still in power, it will be a dark time for human rights.

Any expectations for Xi's authoritarian rule are based on their ignorance of the politics of the princelings, Xi Jinping and China. Gao Yu used her freedom to tell us this fact. If you still can't see it and expect that Xi will bring political reform, you are either nuts or an idiot.