Can it be possible that if the cause of a factory fire is as yet unknown, it could not have been an accident; or, if an accident, could only have been the result of negligence; and, if the result of negligence, could only have been the negligence of those owning or managing the factory?
Can it be true that if the cause of the fire is “not immediately known,” per Associated Press; and if, also, Chinese dictator Xi Jinping has demanded a prompt investigation and that those responsible be held strictly accountable—the party-state nevertheless already knows which person or persons are culpably responsible? “Xinhua said the factory’s owner and others in charge have been arrested and the company’s accounts have been frozen.” Arrested for what (July 9, 2026)?
The blaze started at a factory in Huiteng shoe company in the city of Jinjiang [in Fujian Province], the city’s fire department said in a statement. The cause of the fire was not immediately known.
There were 237 factory workers and two visitors in the building when the fire broke out. Authorities evacuated or rescued 213 people. Of the 28 people who died, two were pronounced dead after being taken to a hospital, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
Xinhua [a state news agency] said the factory’s owner and others in charge have been arrested and the company’s accounts have been frozen.
Video by CCTV shows the facade of a building of several floors charred black and covered in white smoke. Earlier footage shows fires were burning on multiple floors and the building shrouded in thick, black smoke.
The Chinese Communist Party’s first impulse in response to many kinds of bad news is often to cover it up, maybe reducing what would be a front-page story in the West to one or two vague official paragraphs while expunging all social-media comment. Whether or not blanket censorship is possible, it may cast or miscast blame for nonnatural catastrophe and impose punishment in non-accordance with the rule of law.
In this case, the report tells us of immediate arrests and account-freezing—prior to investigation. Perhaps the instruction being given to investigators is “Find out how and why the factory owner and others in charge caused this fire.”
Meanwhile, the People’s Republic of China is a country in which state-planned infrastructure often falls apart.
Also see:
Aii: “China’s Infrastructure and Construction Problem”
StoptheCCP.org: “Can Beijing Build Faster Than Its Projects Collapse?”
StoptheCCP.org: “Hong Kong Gov Claim of Fewer Than 200 Dead in Wang Fuk Court Fire Is Massive Underestimate”
