A former Chinese state media editor and vocal supporter of the government has called for greater tolerance for free expression.

On Monday, Hu Xijin, the former editor-in-chief of Global Times, a tabloid owned by the Communist Party’s mouthpiece People’s Daily, wrote on social media that society “should be as open as possible within the constitutional order under [Communist Party] leadership”.

“There should be a collective consensus respecting individual rights on the Chinese internet,” Hu stated.

He said that, in recent years, celebrities, government officials, university lecturers and middle-to-senior managers in private enterprises had fallen silent online.

Hu added that this “represents a loss for the public information sphere”. He warned it “leaves the landscape of public discourse incomplete”, leading to a “collective silencing that should not exist in an open society”.

Hu attributed this to “a decline in societal tolerance”, saying that when individuals expressed their opinions online, “the risk of attracting trouble grows ever greater, potentially even implicating their employers”.

“Institutions should guide and uphold openness and freedom within the constitutional order,” he wrote.