China's Top Businessman Ousted by Party, Fired

BEIJING — The ruling Communist Party expelled China's leading computer entrepreneur from its ranks today for having supported the spring pro-democracy protests.

New China News Agency said Wan Runnan, whose computer company, the Stone Group Co., was nicknamed the IBM of China, was expelled from the party and also fired as Stone chairman and president. He fled China after the crackdown.

Wan, 43, founded Stone in 1984 and built it into China's leading computer manufacturer and a model of Western-style management techniques. He epitomized the reform dream before the crackdown of private entrepreneurs turning ideas and know-how into cash.

The news agency said Wan "plotted, fanned and directly joined in the recent . . . counterrevolutionary rebellion."