Posts tagged ‘communist party of china’

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09/01/2013

* China censorship storm spreads, Beijing paper publisher resigns in protest

Another editor stands for press freedom. Brave man, indeed.

SCMP: “In the aftermath of a rare confrontation between Chinese journalists and Communist Party censors, the publisher of a large Beijing-based newspaper has resigned.

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Dai Zigeng, the Communist Party-appointed publisher of the Beijing News, announced his resignation on Tuesday night after a heated argument with propaganda officials over the publication of a controversial editorial, three senior editors at the paper told the Post on Wednesday.  They were all at the scene and heard Dai tell his Communist Party bosses, “I now verbally submit my resignation to you,” in the early hours on Wednesday.

It remains unknown whether Dai’s resignation has been officially accepted by Beijing propaganda authorities.

The Beijing News has a daily circulation of more than half a million, according to its Web site.

The editorial in question, originally published in the nationalistic tabloid Global Times on Sunday, was seen as an official response to the recent strike and protest at the Guangzhou-based Southern Weekly. It blames the clashes at the Guangzhou paper on freewheeling journalists and “hostile foreign forces”. Global Times is a subsidiary publication of the Communist Party’s mouthpiece, People’s Daily.

Propaganda authorities had ordered an unknown number of daily newspapers throughout the country to run the editorial in their Tuesday editions, but only a small number of newspapers complied on that day. Dai and his staff had refused to publish the editorial after they received orders from Beijing Party censors to do so. But a Beijing propaganda official threatened to disband the newsroom and close the newspaper if they continued to disobey.

The Beijing News ran the Global Times editorial on page A20 in Wednesday’s edition . But page editors refused to put their names at the bottom of the page in protest, editors told the Post.”

via China censorship storm spreads, Beijing paper publisher resigns in protest | South China Morning Post.

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31/12/2012

* Top CPC leadership

Further signs of more openness amongst the Chinese leadership.

Xi leads top leadership, meeting pressXinhua: “Editor’s note: On the occasion of five weeks after the new central leadership elected at the first Plenary Session of the 18th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee took office, Xinhua News Agency opened the “Top CPC Leadership” special column. Over three consecutive days beginning Sunday, Xinhua will broadcast profiles and related photos of the seven members of the Standing Committee of the 18th CPC Central Committee Political Bureau.”

Go to – http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/special/topcpcleadership/index.htm

Posted in 10 year leadership change, China alert, Openness, Politics | Leave a Comment »

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06/12/2012

* Xi unveils foreign policy direction

China Daily: “For German chemist Katharina Kohse-Hoinghaus, it was a huge surprise to get an invitation to a key meeting from newly-elected leader Xi Jinping just 20 days after he assumed his new role.

Xi unveils foreign policy direction

She was even more surprised on Wednesday to find that she was among the first group of foreigners Xi met as leader of the Party.

She was one of 20 foreigners from 16 countries invited to a face-to-face discussion with Xi on China’s development. Kohse-Hoinghaus, a world-renowned specialist in industrial combustion who has worked for about 10 years in China, said the meeting “demonstrates how serious you take the process of transformation and innovation in cooperation with other countries”.

It was the first time that Xi, the newly elected head of the Communist Party of China, met foreigners in this capacity.

Analysts said the meeting conveyed the new leadership’s foreign policy blueprint, and sent a strong signal that China cherishes its ties with foreign countries and people, and will continue on its road of opening up and cooperation with the outside world.

“We are open to the world and we want to learn from the world … We have learned from the past and realize we cannot succeed in our development behind closed doors,” Xi said at the meeting.

Foreigners with expertise in their fields have contributed immensely to national development and are called foreign experts in China. They also bridge China and the outside world.

The number of foreign experts has risen from less than 10,000 at the end of the 1980s to around 530,000 by the end of 2011.”

via Xi unveils foreign policy direction[1]|chinadaily.com.cn.

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03/12/2012

* Anti-corruption chief gets advice from significant citizens

“Actions speak louder than words”. So, the Chinese public is waiting to see what actions are going top be taken to support the leadership’s statements regarding the need to reduce if not end corruption at all levels of government and the Party.

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01/12/2012

* Jiu San Society holds national congress

Did you know that there are eight non-Communists political parties allowed in China? See – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China#The_parties

Xinhua: “The Jiu San Society, one of China’s eight non-Communist political parties, opened its 10th national congress in Beijing on Friday.

The congress will hear and deliberate on a work report by the society’s 12th central committee, discuss and approve a draft amendment to the Jiu San Society’s Constitution, and elect the party’s 13th central committee.

Li Keqiang, China’s vice premier and a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, met with delegates to the congress and delivered a congratulatory speech on behalf of the CPC Central Committee.

Li said in the speech that the Jiu San Society carried the fine tradition of promoting patriotism, democracy and science.

“It embarked on a historic road of working with the CPC side by side and standing together with the CPC regardless of situation, by pursuing democracy and promoting science, at the beginning of the society’s formation,” according to the vice premier.

During the last five years, China has courageously advanced along the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, stood the test of various difficulties and risks, won new victories in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and achieved major progress in the cause of a united front and multi-party cooperation under the CPC leadership, Li said.

He continued that the society brought to full play its own features and advantages and made contributions to socialist economic, political, cultural, social and ecological construction during the last five years.

The cause of building a moderately prosperous society and deepening reform and opening up in all respects needs concerted efforts of the Chinese people, including the united front members, Li said.

The CPC will unswervingly adhere to the political development road of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and the guiding principle of “long-term coexistence, mutual supervision, sincere treatment with each other and the sharing of weal and woe,” he vowed.

It will strengthen cooperation with non-Communist parties and personages without party affiliation and further consolidate and develop “the most extensive patriotic united front,” delegates of the Jiu San Society’s congress were told.

Li said he hoped the society will lead its members to carry on its fine tradition, consolidate its ideological basis, deepen political transition and enhance self-improvement in order to make new contributions.

The vice premier also expressed hope that the society will bring its knowledge-intensive advantage to full play and offer advices accordingly.

Han Qide, executive chairman of the presidium of the Jiu San Society’s 10th national congress, delivered a work report at the congress on behalf of the society’s 12th central committee.

At the end of 1944, a number of progressive scholars organized the Forum on Democracy and Science, to strive for victory in the Anti-Japanese War and political democracy, and to develop the anti-imperialist and patriotic spirit of the May 4 Movement of 1919.

In commemoration of the victory in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and in the world anti-Fascist war, on Sept. 3, 1945, it adopted the name Jiu San Society (“Jiu San” means Sept. 3 in Chinese).

On May 4, 1946, the Jiu San Society was formally founded in Chongqing.

By the end of June this year, the society had set up more than 5,200 grass-roots organizations with more than 132,000 members. Most of the members are senior and leading intellectuals in the fields of science and technology.”

via Jiu San Society holds national congress – Xinhua | English.news.cn.

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24/11/2012

* Guizhou man who broke tragic story of dumpster boys sent on ‘vacation’

Two steps forward, one step back OR is it one step forward , two back?

SCMP: “A former journalist who broke the story of the deaths of five street children in Bijie, Guizhou, a week ago has been sent on “a vacation” by local authorities trying to contain the fallout from the tragedy.

Li Muzi, the son of Li Yuanlong, said his father had been taken away by the authorities at 1pm on Wednesday and put on a plane at Guiyang airport for “a holiday” at a tourist destination he did not want disclosed.

“My father told me he received several phone calls before he was taken away from home,” said Li Muzi, who is studying in the United States. He keeps in contact with his father over the internet and by phone. “Apparently they are trying to prevent him from helping other reporters follow up on the incident.”

Li Yuanlong, a former Bijie Daily reporter, has written four postings on Kdnet.net  – a popular online bulletin board on the mainland – since last Friday  detailing the circumstances that led to the five boys’ deaths in a wheeled refuse bin in Bijie’s Qixingguan district that morning.

The victims, all brothers or cousins aged nine to 13, died of carbon monoxide poisoning after lighting a fire in the bin to escape the cold, according to an initial investigation by the city government.

Follow-up reports by mainland media that accused the local authorities of failing to act on parents’ pleas about the five missing boys for more than a week triggered a huge outcry.

Li Muzi said he spoke to his father around 9am yesterday and his father had asked him to delete a microblog entry he had written about  the  disappearance. He said his father was worried it could have a bearing on how long he would be kept away from home.

Li Fangping, a Beijing-based lawyer who has asked the Bijie city government to provide more information on its handling of the  boys before their deaths, said the local authorities had violated the law by  ordering Li Yuanlong’s disappearance.

“It’s the same kind of overkill in the name of stability maintenance that we saw in the lead-up to the Communist Party’s 18th national congress,” he said.

“What we’re seeing now is at odds with the harmonious and beautiful China that new leadership tries to project to the world.””

via Guizhou man who broke tragic story of dumpster boys sent on ‘vacation’ | South China Morning Post.

See also: https://chindia-alert.org/2012/11/23/assistance-mechanism-set-up-after-street-kids-death/

Posted in China alert, Economics, Household registration, Human rights, Justice, Migrant workers, Rule of law | Leave a Comment »

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23/11/2012

* Henan city refuses to stop clearance of graves to make farmland

One of the most honoured traditions of Chinese, reverence for one’s ancestors and tending of the family cemetery is going the way of so many old customs. But not if the people try and stand firm. However, there is no question that farm land is in short supply and so some new solution needs to be found. Is nothing sacred in China?

SCMP: “A city in central Henan province says it will push ahead with grave demolitions after the levelling of millions of tombs sparked outrage.

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Two million tombs in Zhoukou, one of the oldest cities on the mainland, have been removed over the past few months under a new provincial government policy to make more land available for agriculture.

A spokesman from the city’s civil affairs bureau, which is in charge of the grave demolitions, said the city government had no intention of halting the campaign, even though the State Council last Friday struck out a clause from regulations that allowed for forced demolition of grave sites.

“We are still clearing graves for farmland and we will definitely continue doing that,” he said. The spokesman said the State Council announcement only meant the civil affairs bureau had no right to carry out compulsory demolitions. “The courts and the police bureau will instead take responsibility for execution,” he said.

The revised version of the funeral and interment control regulation removed a sentence in Article 20 that allowed for forced demolitions.

The amendment, which will come into effect next year, came after an online petition campaign by a group of scholars and thousands of people from Henan.

State-run Xinhua released a report earlier this month praising the demolition project. A Henan reporter said mainland media ignored the petition, launched days before the Communist Party’s 18th national congress.

Jia Guoyong, a playwright originally from Zhoukou, said the new regulation would not stop the demolitions. He said he was shocked to the core when he returned to his hometown at the end of last month.

“I felt I lost my soul,” he said, describing an atmosphere like “the end of the world”, with people crying as tractors demolished graves and buckets of bones spilled everywhere.

An official document released at the start of this year said the province would make cremation compulsory within three years.”

via Henan city refuses to stop clearance of graves to make farmland | South China Morning Post.

Posted in agriculture, China alert, Economics | 2 Comments »

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14/11/2012

* Constitution hails reform and opening up China’s “salient feature”

It’s one thing to change the constitution, it’s another to effect real change.  Let’s hope China means it and that by reform it means both economic and political reform.

Xinhua: The Communist Party of China (CPC) has amended its Constitution to hail reform and opening up as the path to a stronger China, and the salient feature of the new period in China, according to a resolution approved by the just-ended 18th CPC National Congress on Wednesday morning.

The inclusion of this statement in the Party Constitution will help the whole Party acquire a deeper understanding of the importance of continuing to carry out reform and opening up and thus pursue this endeavor even more consciously and with greater determination, says the resolution.

It is by carrying out reform and opening up that China has achieved rapid development in the past 30-plus years, and it is reform and opening up that will ensure its future development, it says.

“Only reform and opening up can enable China, socialism and Marxism to develop themselves,” it says.”

via Constitution hails reform and opening up China’s “salient feature” – Xinhua | English.news.cn.

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14/11/2012

* Respected China banker tipped to head anti-graft effort

Let us hope that Mr Wang does get included in the Central Committee of the Politburo; and that he retains his integrity and zealousness. Unless corruption is reduced substantially within the next five years, the future hold of the CPC on China will gradually but surely slip away.

Reuters: “A respected trade negotiator and former banker is likely to head China’s fight against corruption, a top priority for the world’s second-biggest economy, following his appointment to a key council at the end of the 18th congress of the Communist Party.

Known as “the chief firefighter”, Wang Qishan, 64, sorted out a debt crisis in southern Guangdong province where he was vice governor in the late 1990s. Later, he replaced the sacked Beijing mayor after a cover-up of the deadly SARS virus in 2003.

Wang is now a shoo-in for the elite standing committee, the highest level of decision-making in China, after being elected to the party’s central committee and its graft-battling Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

“The bad news is that we are going to lose one of the most capable economic affairs managers in the country,” said Bo Zhiyue, a Chinese politics expert at the National University of Singapore.

“The good news is that the new Chinese leadership is really interested in doing something about corruption,” he added. “With the nickname ‘firefighter’, I think he would be one of the most capable leaders of the Politburo Standing Committee.”

via Respected China banker tipped to head anti-graft effort | Reuters.

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12/11/2012

* Buried in a bleak text, hope for a Chinese political experiment

Thanks to Reuters for discovering this ‘gem’.

Reuters: “Chinese Communist Party leader Hu Jintao‘s opening speech at the ongoing 18th Party Congress was a disappointment to many listeners, offering no major signals that the leadership is willing to advance political reform.

People walk in front of a large screen displaying propaganda slogans on Beijing's Tiananmen Square November 12, 2012. REUTERS/David Gray

The 64-page keynote speech he delivered was couched in the usual conservative and Marxist terminology, but one paragraph buried deep in the text was just what proponents of a long-running experiment in public policy consultations have been waiting for.

The section in question urged the ruling party to “improve the system of socialist consultative democracy”.

Academics and officials say the mention of “consultative democracy” is the first ever in such an important document, and it is seen by some as a strong endorsement of the long-standing experiment with this form of democracy, in Wenling, a city of 1.2 million in Zhejiang province, south of Shanghai.

The city has formalized public consultation on public projects and government spending at the township level, although there is no voting and decisions remain the preserve of the state machinery.

Xi Jinping, almost certain to be named the next party general secretary on Thursday, was party boss in Zhejiang in 2002-2007, as the Wenling project deepened.

The congress report is the most important political speech in China. Delivered once every five years by the party’s general secretary, it sets down political markers and charts a development course for the coming five to 10 years.

“Of course this is a good thing,” said Chen Yimin, a Wenling propaganda official who has been a driving force behind the system of open hearings, where citizens can weigh in on things like proposed industrial projects and administrative budgets – providing at least a bit of check on their local officials.

“This shows that the democratic consultations… that we have been doing for 13 years since 1999, have finally gained recognition and approval from the centre. It opens up space for further development. It says our democratic consultations are correct,” he said by phone from Zhejiang.

Chen Tiexiong, a delegate to the congress and party boss of Taizhou, the city that oversees Wenling, which itself has rolled out Wenling-style consultations in recent years, agreed.

“I looked at that part of the speech closely because in terms of promoting democratic politics Taizhou has done a lot, and it has been in the form of consultative democracy,” he told Reuters on the sidelines of the congress.”

via Buried in a bleak text, hope for a Chinese political experiment | Reuters.

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