Posts tagged ‘communist party of china’

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28/12/2013

BBC News – China: More than 500 resign over election fraud

More than 500 municipal lawmakers in one Chinese province have stood down following an electoral fraud scandal, according to state media.

A teller counts Chinese yuan notes

The 512 officials resigned after accepting bribes from 56 members of the provincial assembly to elect them to their posts, Xinhua news agency said.

The 56 disgraced lawmakers for central Hunan Province were also dismissed.

President Xi Jinping has vowed to fight corruption – warning it could topple the Communist Party.

\’Vile impact\’

Municipal officials have the power to appoint representatives to the local People\’s Congress, the provincial parliament that rubber-stamps decisions.

Local authorities dismissed 56 representatives of the 763-strong Hunan People\’s Congress for being \”elected by bribery\”, state television channel CCTV said on its Twitter account.

An initial investigation revealed that 110m yuan ($18.1m, £11m) was offered in bribes to lawmakers and staff in the province\’s second city of Hengyang, Xinhua reported, citing a Hunan government statement.

\”The fraud, involving such a huge number of lawmakers and a large amount of money, is serious in nature and has a vile impact,\” Xinhua quoted the statement as saying.

\”This is a challenge to China\’s system of people\’s congresses, socialist democracy, law and Party discipline,\” it said.

It named Tong Mingqian, the former Communist Party chief of Hengyang, as being \”directly responsible\” for the election scandal.

President Xi has launched an anti-corruption campaign, pledging to target both \”tigers and flies\” – high and low ranking officials in the government.

There have been bans on new government buildings and lavish banquets, as Mr Xi demands officials cut down on waste and extravagance.

via BBC News – China: More than 500 resign over election fraud.

Posted in China alert, corruption, Politics | 1 Comment »

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26/12/2013

China to celebrate Mao’s birthday, but events scaled back | Reuters

China celebrates the 120th birthday of Mao Zedong, the founder of modern China, on Thursday, but will be scaling back festivities as President Xi Jinping embarks on broad economic reforms which have unsettled leftists.

English: Portrait of Mao Zedong at Tiananmen G...

English: Portrait of Mao Zedong at Tiananmen Gate Español: Retrato de Mao Zedong en la Plaza de Tian’anmen Polski: Portret Mao Zedonga na Bramie Niebiańskiego Spokoju w Pekinie. 中文: 天安門城樓上的毛澤東肖像 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Mao has become a potent symbol for leftists within the ruling Communist Party who feel that three decades of market-based reform have gone too far, creating social inequalities like a yawning rich-poor gap and pervasive corruption.

In venerating Mao, they sometimes seek to put pressure on the current leadership and its market-oriented policies while managing to avoid expressing open dissent.

via China to celebrate Mao’s birthday, but events scaled back | Reuters.

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24/12/2013

China promotes core socialist values – Xinhua | English.news.cn

The Communist Party of China (CPC) on Monday issued guidelines bolstering core socialist values and pooling positive energy to realize the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation.

Core socialist values should be included in the overall national education plan and \”cover all schools and those receiving education\”, said the guidelines on cultivating and practicing core socialist values, issued by the General Office of the CPC Central Committee.

According to the guidelines, core socialist values include national goals of prosperity, democracy, civility, and harmony; social goals of freedom, equality, justice and the rule of law; and individual values of patriotism, dedication, integrity, and friendship.

\”Core socialist values should be incorporated into the curriculum and classrooms and made a way of thinking for students,\” the document said.

\”The media must steadfastly uphold correct guidance of public opinion,\” the guidelines said.

\”Management of the media should be strengthened and the media should not provide channels for the spread of the wrong points of view,\” said the guidelines.

News, publishing institutions and their personnel were encouraged to strengthen self-discipline and enhance their sense of responsibility and their ability to promote core socialist values.

The circular asked radio and television stations to run more public service broadcasts spreading mainstream socialist values at prime time, and newspapers should give more prominence to such issues.

To cope with the fast development of the Internet, \”efforts should be made to manifest core socialist values in Internet publicity, culture and service, so as to use a positive voice and advanced culture to capture the online front,\” the guidelines said.

The CPC authorities also ordered strengthened management of the Internet in accordance with the law and a fight against obscenity, online rumors and criminality to make the Internet environment clean.

Integrity should be enhanced in government, business, society and judicial fairness, and special projects on moral education should be carried out, according to the guidelines.

Various volunteer activities should be organized to promote the spirit of Lei Feng, a young Chinese soldier, known in the 1960s for devoting almost all of his spare time and money to selflessly helping the needy.

The national flag should be displayed and the national anthem played and sung on major occasions. More importance should be attached to traditional Chinese festivals.

More free public museums, memorial halls, libraries and science and technology museums are needed to promote core socialist values, the document said, adding that red tourism should be developed vigorously.

Party members and officials are urged to take the lead in practising the values.

China has made enormous economic strides over past years, but its soft power still needs to be strengthened, according to Xin Ming, a professor with the Party School of the CPC Central Committee, adding that core socialist values play a vital role in soft power.

\”Cultivating and practising core socialist values should be incorporated into China\’s overall national education plan, enabling everyone to understand and uphold the values and practise them consciously,\” said Xie Chuntao, another professor with the Party School.

\”People from various fields should be mobilized to foster and practise core socialist values,\” Xin said, adding that \”only by doing so can we transfer the values into social group consciousness and conscious action.\”

via China Focus: China promotes core socialist values – Xinhua | English.news.cn.

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24/12/2013

China rules private clubs off-limits for party officials | Reuters

China\’s ruling Communist Party has banned officials from belonging to or visiting private clubs, saying they are often used as venues for illicit deals or sexual liaisons, in the latest move to stamp out pervasive corruption.

President Xi Jinping has pursued an aggressive drive against corruption since coming to power, vowing to pursue high-flying \”tigers\” as well as lowly \”flies\”, warning that the problem is so serious it could threaten the party\’s power.

He has already ordered crackdowns on everything from banquets to funeral arrangements, and has now turned his attention to private clubs, which have proliferated in Chinese cities, ostensibly offering a quiet place for meetings or socializing.

via China rules private clubs off-limits for party officials | Reuters.

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21/12/2013

Top Chinese Security Official Investigated in Corruption Inquiry – NYTimes.com

It appears that no one is safe from investigations.

“One of China’s top security officials is being investigated by the Communist Party for “suspected serious law and discipline violations,” according to Xinhua, the state news agency.

The report said the official, Li Dongsheng, a vice minister of public security, is the subject of an inquiry by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, which is the party’s internal anti-corruption investigation agency. The Xinhua report, which appeared Friday, also said the agency had noted that Mr. Li was vice head of a central leading group for the prevention and handling of cult-related issues.

The Xinhua report was brief and did not give further details. Mr. Li has held his vice minister post since 2009, according to an official biographical outline. It was his first job within the security apparatus. Before that, he served in various party propaganda posts and worked at China Central Television, the state television network. He graduated in 1978 from Fudan University in Shanghai after studying journalism, and he is from Shandong Province in eastern China.”

via Top Chinese Security Official Investigated in Corruption Inquiry – NYTimes.com.

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21/12/2013

Chinese Leader Xi Weakens Role of Beijing’s No. 2 – WSJ.com

We did notice at the time and commented on PM Cameron being hosted by President Xi.  See – https://chindia-alert.org/2013/12/03/the-banquet-that-wasnt-and-then-a-gift-horse-the-times/

“British officials were finalizing details of Prime Minister David Cameron\’s visit this month to Beijing when they received a last-minute scheduling change: President Xi Jinping would host a banquet in Mr. Cameron\’s honor.

The invitation, which delighted the British officials, effectively scrubbed dinner plans with Mr. Cameron\’s official host, Premier Li Keqiang. And it illustrates an important shift in the Chinese leadership\’s internal dynamics: Mr. Xi is downgrading the premier\’s role and assuming the primary duty of overseeing economic reforms as well as briefing foreign leaders on economic affairs, Communist Party insiders say.

In the frantic diplomatic exchanges over the scheduling dilemma, Premier Li\’s dinner was first postponed, then turned into a lunch, and Mr. Cameron had to cancel a visit to the city of Hangzhou. Previous protocol dictated only a brief meeting with the Chinese president as Mr. Cameron isn\’t head of state.

There is no evidence of discord between Messrs. Xi and Li, the party insiders say. But Mr. Xi is subverting a nearly two-decade-old division of power whereby the president, who is also party chief, handles politics, diplomacy and security, while the premier manages the economy.

Having rapidly established his authority over the party and the military in his first year in power, Mr. Xi is now stepping in on the economy, making him the most individually powerful leader since Deng Xiaoping, the man who launched China\’s economic liberalization in 1978. \”The really big change is that Xi is saying, \’I\’m the boss, and that extends to everything,\’ \” says Barry Naughton, an expert on the Chinese economy at the University of California, San Diego.

Some party insiders welcome the concentration of power in Mr. Xi\’s hands as a way to combat the bureaucratic inertia that some say bogged down reforms under the previous leadership. Others, however, fear that it could lead to impulsive, or misinformed, decision-making. One possible example was China\’s sudden announcement last month of a new air-defense identification zone over the East China Sea without consulting neighboring countries, analysts and diplomats say.

Mr. Xi\’s predecessor, Hu Jintao, played a negligible role in the economy and shared power evenly with Wen Jiabao, the last premier, who was in charge of the massive stimulus plan to respond to the 2008-09 global financial crisis. Before them, President Jiang Zemin left the economy to Premier Zhu Rongji, who pushed through wrenching state-sector reforms and secured China\’s entry to the World Trade Organization.

By contrast, Mr. Xi is depicted as playing a central role in the ambitious economic-reform package approved by the 376-member Central Committee last month. State media published a lengthy official account saying Mr. Xi had personally led the drafting of the plan—the first time a party chief had done so since 2000. The account mentioned Mr. Xi\’s name 34 times. Mr. Li wasn\’t mentioned once.

Drafting of a similar economic plan, unveiled in 2003, was overseen by Premier Wen.

The latest plan calls for a new party body to oversee the reforms. While the group\’s composition hasn\’t yet been chosen, members are likely to report to Mr. Xi, according to several party officials. That will help the president bypass the State Council, or cabinet, which is headed by the premier, party insiders say, and has been a choke point for reform because its many ministries represent different interest groups.”

via Chinese Leader Xi Weakens Role of Beijing’s No. 2 – WSJ.com.

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20/12/2013

China Cracks Down on Extravagance at Communist Party Members’ Funeral Services – China Real Time Report – WSJ

Not even death can save party cadres from China’s latest austerity campaign.

China’s State Council, or cabinet, issued a notice Thursday asking Communist Party members to dial back on the extravagance at funerals and make them more environmentally sustainable.

The official Xinhua news agency warned that party members’ lavish funerals are becoming “a platform to show off wealth and connections, with the degree of opulence and number of mourners symbolizing the ‘achievements’ of the dead, and setting a benchmark for competition among the living.” It also warned that in recent years as superstitious customs have seen a resurgence, the cremation rate has fallen, leading to some burials occurring on farmland—wasting natural resources and harming the environment. Some party members are even using funerals to collect large sums of money, it added.

via China Cracks Down on Extravagance at Communist Party Members’ Funeral Services – China Real Time Report – WSJ.

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13/12/2013

China Takes Aim at Officials’ Housing Perks – China Real Time Report – WSJ

The Chinese Communist Party’s latest reform effort begins at home.

On Wednesday, the Central Committee for Discipline Inspection announced a new set of regulations, outlining a reform of the residence system through which high-ranking officials were taking further advantage of special perks they already enjoyed as a benefit of their positions.

A Chinese national flag flutters at a construction site for a new residence complex in Beijing. Reuters

The People’s Daily paraded out the same admonitions–along with some others about the public conduct of cadres generally–on its front page the following day, lending even more authority to the initiative.

Historically, Chinese officials have been granted access to government residences and offices while serving, and some have enjoyed the same benefits even after they have retired. As the policy-making bureaucracy has grown over the years, many officials have been housed outside of government compounds, and their workspaces put in special, secured areas. In some instances, local governments have bought up prime real estate to build residential complexes for officials to work and live in the same location. Others who worked in the bureaucracy were granted permission to reside in apartments underwritten by government funds.

But there have been problems.

For example, it is widely known in party circles that some officials were renting their government-financed residences to private tenants and then pocketing the proceeds. These “remote officials” were not only supplementing their salaries by such practices, but also often residing in housing provided by local businessmen, who then sought political favors in exchange for that high-end lodging.

The new rules call for an end to such practices, especially where senior cadres are concerned.

via China Takes Aim at Officials’ Housing Perks – China Real Time Report – WSJ.

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08/12/2013

China sees renewed enthusiasm for Confucius – Xinhua | English.news.cn

The Chinese President\’s recent remarks on reviving the country\’s traditional culture have refocused attention on Confucius and sparked vibrant discussions about how the ancient sage can inspire modern China.

Confucius

Confucius (Photo credit: JayPLee)

During his visit to Confucius\’ hometown of Qufu in east China\’s Shandong Province in late November, Xi Jinping said scholars should follow the rules of \”making the past serve the present\” and \”keeping the essential while discarding the dross\” when researching ethics passed on from the nation\’s forefathers.

Xi called for the promotion of morality across society and \”a pursuit of a beautiful and lofty moral realm from generation to generation.\” He also stressed the importance of cultural prosperity while talking with experts at the Confucius Research Institute during his stay in Qufu.

His comments have helped draw a wider readership for the country\’s ancient philosophical classics, which have seen brisk sales in recent days, leading publishing houses to hastily print additional copies.

A bookseller with TMall, a large Chinese e-commerce platform, told Xinhua that some previously less-known works that interpret Confucian teachings have sold out, \”but orders have continued to flood in.\”

Xi\’s positive remarks indicate there has been a \”consensus\” on the value of traditional Chinese culture, characterized by Confucianism, with a history of about 2,500 years, according to Yang Chaoming, head of the Confucius Research Institute.

Yang Yitang, another Confucian researcher in Shandong, believed that the leader\’s emphasis on traditional culture showcases the confidence and pride of the Chinese nation. \”In the country\’s rich ancient culture, the 90-year-old Communist Party of China (CPC) has found its DNA and the nourishment to grow,\” he said.

Preaching moral righteousness, harmony and peace, in addition to hierarchy and order, Confucian doctrines were generally worshipped by ancient monarchs, but denounced a century ago by some intellectuals who blamed Confucian thought for China\’s decline at the time. The anti-Confucius sentiment later climaxed during the Cultural Revolution.

However, the official endorsement of the ancient thinker has become increasingly clear. In September, the State Council released a draft plan to move the present Teachers\’ Day, Sept 10, to what is believed to be the birthday of Confucius (551-479 BC) on Sept. 28.

In another sign, a communique issued following a key CPC meeting that concluded last month highlighted the need to build a socialist culture, enhance the country\’s cultural soft power and improve education in traditional culture.

The doctrines of the much-revered thinker have been spread worldwide with the establishment of more than 420 Confucius Institutes in over 100 countries to teach Chinese language and culture.

via Xinhua Insight: China sees renewed enthusiasm for Confucius – Xinhua | English.news.cn.

Posted in China alert, Confucius, Politics, Social & cultural | 1 Comment »

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23/11/2013

Reform in China: Let quite a few flowers bloom | The Economist

THE jury is in. After months of speculation and an initial summary last week, the final 22,000-character overview of China’s “third plenum” was published on November 15th. In the economic sphere the document turned out to be bolder than the initial summary suggested. The new party boss, Xi Jinping, wants to push through changes that have stalled over the past decade. As the document itself says: “We should let labour, knowledge, technology, management and capital unleash their dynamism, let all sources of wealth spread and let all people enjoy more fruits of development fairly.” Quite.

It is by no means certain that Mr Xi will be able to do all he wants to (see article), but it is clear he has won the battle so far. Economically, he is proving himself an heir to Deng Xiaoping, China’s great reformer, and not the closet Maoist that some had feared. Conservative forces seeking to stifle reformist voices have been quieted, at least for the time being.

The document’s interest lies not just in the economic reforms, which were anticipated. More striking were some of the social changes the document announced, such as the relaxation of the one-child policy. A couple in which one parent is an only child will be allowed to have two children, and the policy is likely to be loosened even further. In another widely welcomed move, labour camps—in which around 190,000 people, including political and religious activists, are detained—are to be abolished.

But possibly the most important announcements were buried deep in the document and grabbed fewer headlines. Two moves in particular showed that the party is sensitive to the ferment in Chinese society and the demands for greater liberty and accountability that accompany it.

In the past 30 years China has gone from a totalitarian society to one in which people can usually work where they want, marry whom they want, travel where they want (albeit with varying degrees of hassle for those from the countryside and ethnic-minority regions). In ten years internet penetration has gone from minimal to almost universal. Old welfare structures have broken down, with little to take their place. Ordinary people are being empowered by new wealth and participation, through microblogs, and by becoming consumers and property owners. Change is bubbling up from the bottom and the system cannot contain it.

An uNGOvernable state

Society is becoming too complex for the old structures to handle. Hence the government’s decision to allow the development of what it calls “social organisations”. In essence these are NGOs. The party dislikes the idea of anything non-governmental and has long regarded NGOs as a Trojan horse for Western political ideas and subversion, but it is coming to realise that they could solve some of its problems—caring for the sick, elderly and poor, for instance. The growth of civil society is not just important in itself. It is also the bridge to the future, linking today’s economic reforms to whatever putative future political reform might come.

Equally important is the issue of judicial reform. China’s hopelessly corrupt judges are unpopular. The party resolution floats the idea of “judicial jurisdiction systems that are suitably separated from administrative areas”; that is, local judiciaries that are not controlled and paid for by local officials. Though some observers doubt this will happen, if it does it could be the start of a system of basic checks and balances, which would make officials more accountable.

That these two gestures towards reform were mentioned at all is encouraging; that they were barely visible to the untrained eye shows the party’s ambivalence towards liberalisation. But it must push ahead. Its planned economic reforms will surely generate not just wealth, but more pressure for political change. Unless the party responds, there could be an explosion. If Mr Xi is inclined to wobble, he should remember the advice in the plenary document: “Dare to gnaw through even tough bones, dare to ford dangerous rapids, break through the fetters of ideological concepts with even greater resolution.”

via Reform in China: Let quite a few flowers bloom | The Economist.

Posted in China alert, Economics, Good news, Internal politics, national dream, One-child policy, Politics, Rule of law | Leave a Comment »

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