A leading writer and political maverick from Taipei who ardently supports the unification of China and Taiwan - is confounding authorities in a rampaging lecture tour that ends Monday, by doing something no one here ever does: criticize the Communist Party in public.

In truth, Li Ao, a TV personality, leftist, and prolific author who was born in northern China, attacked the US, Japan, and nearly everything but the moon in rambling speeches that have embarrassed official China.

Mr. Li's broadsides chided the Party for a lack of intellectual freedom in China, told how the early Party allowed feisty debates, and included quotes from Mao about the Party one day ending - all broadcast live on Hong Kong's Phoenix TV, which reaches millions on the mainland.

Such events here are rare.

More broadly, experts say, the improbable Li event underscores how 'frigid the political climate in China has become.

As the government of Hu Jintao continues to consolidate its power in preparation for a key Party plenum next month, there is little room for the type of debate Li advocates.

If the negative official response is an indicator, Li's speeches were also a surprise. Leading professors have subtly attacked Li while not mentioning why. "He has lost his solemnity," says Wang Jun Chao of Tsinghua University.

Li's itinerary, interests, meetings, and views on the unity of Chinese culture are widely reported. But not his critical speeches.

Li speaks at Fudan University Monday in Shanghai after confirming to reporters that authorities asked him to eliminate political content from his talk. He refused to say if he would do so.

In the past year, a serious "strengthening ideology" campaign has taken place in China. Party officials are reportedly choosing actively among cadres about who will and who will not advance in coming years. It is a climate described by one prominent historian as one where, "nobody should 'rock the boat'."

"The new leadership's philosophy is still unclear, and until it is, no one is going to make a mistake by taking the wrong line on reform. There isn't room for any dissenting opinions right now," the historian adds.

Li's call for greater liberties coincided with the third arrest and heavy sentence this year for a Chinese journalist. Zheng Yichun, a freelancer, got seven years in prison last week for writing critically of the party in the magazine Epoch Times.

This summer a famous website for intellectuals was closed, one of few remaining. The site, the Beijing Institute of Economics and Sociology, stayed open during an ongoing crackdown due to prominent family backing. Yet the Hu government shut the site, after an article appeared by former Taipei mayor Ma Ying-jeou.

In the article, Mr. Ma, just named leader of the KMT party in Taipei, strongly backed the "One China" idea in which mainland China and the island of Taiwan would unify. Yet Ma also argued two changes were needed in China before Taiwan would agree to unify. These were 1) real laws protecting freedom of press and speech. 2) the right for unofficial groups to exist and operate freely, including currently outlawed groups like the Falun Gong spiritual sect.

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