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All posts by LLD - 158. page

Xinhua: Death of Gaddafi Does Not Mean Everything is All Right

On October 20, 2011, Xinhua published a commentary on the death of Gaddafi. It stated that Gaddafi’s death does not mean the game in Libya is over. “People realize that Gaddafi’s death does not mean that everything is now all right in Libya. Gaddafi’s surviving forces will still make trouble. Conflicts between the eastern and western regions, large and small tribes, and various political forces may still surface. A flood of weapons among the people, foreign interference, as well as extremist and terrorist forces fishing in troubled waters are further elements that may contribute to the volatility of the situation in Libya. For the foreseeable future, Libya, in the post-Gaddafi era, will not be at peace. In fact, the death of Gaddafi really raises the curtain for the maneuvers of the various Libyans who are vying for power.”

Source: Xinhua, October 20, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2011-10/20/c_122181840.htm

Liu Yunshan Met with Press Officials from 12 Developing Countries

On October 20, 2011, Liu Yunshan, a Politburo member and Chief of the Chinese Communist Party’s Propaganda Department, met with a group of officials who are in charge of press affairs in developing countries. The group included 23 senior news and press officials and staff members from 12 developing countries. The Party offered a training session in which all of them participated. Wang Chen, the Minister of the State Council Information Office, also attended the meeting.

Liu said, “China and the developing countries enjoy a profound traditional friendship. To strengthen China’s friendly cooperation with developing countries is not only an important cornerstone of China’s foreign policy, but also our long-term and firm strategic choice. In recent years, on the basis of traditional friendship, the relationships between developing countries have achieved new progress. Cooperation and exchanges in the field of news media have been strengthened and mutual understanding and affection have improved.”

Source: Xinhua, October 20, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2011-10/20/c_111111264.htm

Survey Highlights the Crisis of Trust in China

On October 18, the People’s University of China’s Research and Data Center, the Capital University of Economics and Business’s School of Statistics, and the Central University of Finance and Economics’ School of Statistics in Beijing published the results of a survey called “Social Trust, a Poll on Consumers in Mainland China.” The survey examined the public’s trust in society. The results highlighted the crisis of trust in China, with inter-personal mistrust being the most prominent. On specific issues, 26% of the respondents were optimistic about the prospects of the government (properly) handling the food safety issue; 12.3% believed that big name restaurants would not use oil from gutters, and only 8.1% regarded inter-personal trust in China as high.

On the question of "whether one should help when an elderly person who falls," 64.8% of participants responded affirmatively. About 87.4% indicated that the reason why people do not assist is that they do not want to invite trouble (Ed: In the past, someone who helped an elderly woman was sued and forced to pay her medical bills). According to the poll, the results show the extent to which people do not trust one another.

Source: Beijing News, October 19, 2011
http://news.bjnews.com.cn/2011/1019/135644.shtml

Five percent of China’s Construction Waste Is Recycled

The amount of China’s municipal solid waste has reached 70 million tons; the total construction waste is estimated to be between 2.1 to 2.8 billion tons, with 300 million tons of new construction waste generated each year. However, according to Xinhua the disposal of construction waste is mainly temporary pilings and landfill. For example, the annual production of construction waste in Qingdao city’s urban district is as high as 10 million tons, 70% of which is used in reclamation, while 10% is dumped in landfills.

Xinhua said that only five percent of the country’s construction waste is recycled, with only a handful of companies in the business. The problem lies in the inadequate supervision of the disposal of the waste. Construction companies only clean up the waste from the site, while the transportation companies randomly dump or bury the waste nearby to lower their cost. The mechanism involved in waste collection, transportation, recycling, product quality supervision, and product promotion is yet to be put in place.

Source: Xinhua, October 18, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/society/2011-10/18/c_111103536_3.htm

Beijing to Step up Discipline of Online Activities

The Beijing Association of Online Media (BAOM) is the city’s media self-censoring organization. According to its website, both Beijing’s Chinese Communist Party committee’s Department of Propaganda and the city government’s Civil Affairs Bureau are responsible for its guidance and supervision. Senior management personnel from China’s well-known online media and IT companies, such as Sina.com, Sohu.com, and Baidu, as well as CCP officials in charge of censorship, are on its board.

On October 17, BAOM held its seventh annual meeting, which focused on strengthening real name registration for online activities. According to Beijing Daily, “Sina.com and Sohu.com, …, hired special personnel to screen and filter bad online information. They target microblogs where the message spreads rapidly; it is easy to use; and  people put in a lot of effort.” “Search engine Baidu established a review team of a thousand people who will examine all of its products on a daily basis so as to make sure the online environment is clean.”

Source: Beijing Daily, October 18, 2011
http://bjrb.bjd.com.cn/html/2011-10/18/content_7652.htm

Passers-by Ignore Bleeding Two-year-old Lying on the Street

Xinhua news agency reported Monday that more than a dozen passers-by ignored a two-year-old girl as she lay critically injured on a street in southern China after a van, and later a truck, ran over her.

A surveillance camera showed a series of people walking past and ignoring the child, named Yue Yue, after she was hit first by a van and then run over by a truck in the street outside her family’s shop in the southern Chinese city of Foshan. Xinhua said a rubbish collector, who finally came to the child’s aid, moved her to the curb and shouted for help. Several shopkeepers ignored the cries for help before he finally tracked down the child’s mother who took her to the hospital.

The video from the surveillance camera has sparked wide-spread outrage on China’s social media sites. One netizen on Sina Weibo, a Chinese micro-blog similar to Twitter, wrote: "This society is seriously ill. Even cats and dogs shouldn’t be treated so heartlessly."

Source: AFP, October 17, 2011
http://tinyurl.com/3t4lejl

A China-built Indonesian Power Plant Completed

Xinhua reported that a China-built 3×330MW power plant was completed on October 12, 2011, in Indramayu, a city in the West Java province of Indonesia. Three companies, China National Electric Engineering Co., Ltd. (CNEEC), China National Machinery Industry Group (CNMIG), and Indonesian PENTA, formed the consortium that contracted to complete the project. 

The power plant is one of the ten 10 million-kilowatt power stations that the Indonesian government has planned to alleviate the domestic power shortage. According to Xinhua, “the successful completion of the project will greatly ease the power shortage in the local region, help advance Indonesia’s social and economic development, and improve people’s living standards.” CNEEC, established in 1979 and wholly owned by CNMIG, is a company specializing in the construction of thermal and hydropower generation, power transmission, clean energy, and other energy projects.
Source: Xinhua, October 12, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2011-10/12/c_122150107.htm

Pressured By Beijing, Vietnamese Authorities Escalate Abuse of Falun Gong

Radio Free Asia reported that, in recent weeks, under pressure from Beijing, Vietnamese authorities have been escalating their intimidation and abuse of the local Falun Gong community, further intensifying a policy change that began last year. Two Falun Gong practitioners are scheduled to stand trial next week for broadcasting uncensored news to China. Since the end of August, on two occasions, the police have abducted or thugs have assaulted local Falun Gong practitioners while they were practicing their exercises in a park. 

The escalated harassment comes on the heels of direct Chinese Communist Party pressure on the Vietnamese authorities. According to a court indictment, the Vietnamese government arrested the men after a diplomatic memo was sent on May 30, 2010, from the Chinese Embassy to Vietnam’s Ministry of Investigation and Security. “The memo stated that the Police Department in China discovered radio signals coming from Vietnamese territory containing the same content about Falun Gong as heard on the ‘Sound of Hope’ radio station.” The indictment reads, “It was recommended that all … activities of Falun Gong individuals in the Vietnam territory must be attacked and stopped.”
Source: Radio Free Asia, October 5, 2011
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/la-10052011101736.html