習近平個 friend

《東南西北》的宋先生今日抽出一則維基解密密電來談。該密電的線人自稱習近平的老友，內容主要憶述習近平的性情與經歷。儘管維基解密隱去電文中部份人的名字，但仍包含許多關於該線人身份的蛛絲馬跡。例如它提及該線人的父親是 "the PRC's first Minister of Labor and a member of the first Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) Standing Committee"，《明報》就指出中共建政後首任勞動部長為李立三。

然而，宋先生檢驗資料之後，發現電文對該線人的描述，與李立三兩個兒子的簡歷不符，因此宋先生認為電文資料為偽，並說：

So this specific piece of information in the embassy cable about the professor being the child of the first PRC Minister of Labor is wrong. But what do you expect anyway? They actually thought Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

電文中有好幾段都含有揭露線人身份的線索，其中第 3, 4, 6, 8 段如下：

¶3. (C) ... The contact is an American citizen of Chinese descent who teaches political science at XXXXXXXXXXXX.

¶4. (C) XXXXXXXXXXXX and Xi Jinping were both born in 1953 and grew up in similar circumstances. According to the professor, they lived with other sons and daughters of China's first-generation revolutionaries in the senior leaders' compounds in Beijing and were groomed to become China's ruling elite. The professor did not know Xi personally until they had both reached their late teens, when the professor began to hear about Xi from the professor's best friend, XXXXXXXXXXXX, who was later sent to the same village as Xi in Shaanxi province during the Cultural Revolution. (Note: According to the professor, Zhou Sanhua's father was a former editor-in-chief of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Daily.) By the time the professor and Xi had returned separately from the countryside, they had come to know each other personally, initially through Zhou Sanhua's introduction, and maintained a relationship for the next 15 years (ca. 1972 to 1987), even though their lives and careers took markedly different paths.

¶6. (C) The professor's father was also an early revolutionary and contemporary of Mao, from a neighboring county to Mao's in Hunan province. The professor's father participated in the revolution periodically but also spent time in Japan and Hong Kong, distinguishing himself as a labor leader. In 1949, according to the professor, his father agreed to return to Beijing at Mao's insistence and became the PRC's first Minister of Labor and a member of the first Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) Standing Committee.

¶8. (C) ... The professor's father was falsely accused of supporting Liu Shaoqi and spent most of the Cultural Revolution years (1966-1976) in prison. ...

其實單看第 8 段，已知該線人的父親並非李立三，原因是中共將劉少奇打成走資派之後，李立三亦受牽連，並於 1967 年自殺，所以絕不可能 spent most of the Cultural Revoluation years in prison。第 6 段提及線人的父親為中共首屆政協常委，也與李立三從第三屆開始才擔任政協常委的經歷不符（歷屆常委名單見此）。

然而第 6 段說線人的父親為 "PRC's first Minister of Labor"，而李立三又確實是首任勞動部長，這該怎樣解釋？

第一個可能，當然是有人假冒習近平的老友。這並不出奇，香港也鎮日有人招謠撞騙，自稱人脈直通「中央」。只是我們不能忽視另一個可能，就是電文作者誤會了該線人的意思。

若該線人說的是實話，那他父親是誰？

我猜那人是易禮容。

中共早期有一個叫「中國勞動組合書記部」的工人運動機構，後改稱「中華全國總工會」，而根據湘鄉市委市政府的資料，易禮容從 1948 年 8 月起擔任該會第六屆常務執行委員兼勞動保障部長，而中國勞動部本身又於 1998 年改稱為「勞動和社會保障部」。這解釋了 "Minister of Labor" 這個誤解的來由。

易禮容於政協的首屆會期內調任政協常委會副秘書長，電文作者也可能搞錯，以為易禮容是首屆政協常委。根據網上資料，易禮容曾經與劉少奇及李立三搞工人運動，文革期間也曾經下獄，給關了六年半；百度百科指易禮容是湖南人，曾留居日本與香港，這些都與電文的描述吻合。

不過網上很難找到易禮容的家庭資料。他似乎有個兒子叫易荷生（註：現獲得新資料，見後記），但是到底他有無兒子於美國教政治科學，就不得而知。

最後，有兩點要提一下：

1. 電文第 4 段的 "XXXXXXXXXXXX"，宋先生認為指該線人，但是若然如此，電文中其他地方大可直呼其名，無必要將該線人諱稱為 "the professor"。我認為該 XXXXXXXXXXXX 可能是另一個人。
2. 宋先生指電文內容為偽，並諷刺大使館那班人，說 "they actually thought Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction"，我不同意。看以往的大使館電文（例如本博以前討論過的六四電文），我們會發現它們只是初級情報。大使館不過將搜集得到而又有趣的情報通傳回國內，讓情報機關進一步分析真偽、判斷輕重。電文包含某些消息，只表示有關方面認為該消息有可查考的價值，而不表示使館人員相信該消息必然真確。美國政府也從不相信侯賽因有大殺傷力武器，它只是指示情報機關偽造情報，誤導國民支持侵略伊拉克。

後記
蒙匿名網友提供免費「人肉」服務，找出易禮容有位博士兒子叫 Dr. Xiaoxiong Yi（又後記：按中國國際人才交流基金會的新聞稿，易博士的中文名為易小熊）。根據易博士自述：

Dr. Xiaoxiong Yi is an associate professor of Political Science and the Director of International Programs at Marietta College, Marietta, Ohio.

他在 Marietta College 的 bio. 見此。易博士的網誌有一欄，專門刊出有關其父親易禮容的文章。

伸延閱讀
The Moral Hazards of Too Much Entertaining Transparency, ala Wikileaks; The Shanghai Scrap blog.