All posts by NNL - 159. page

On January 7, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Politburo Standing Committee held an all day meeting. Xi Jinping chaired the meeting to listen to the work reports. The Party Committees of the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, the State Council, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, the Supreme People’s Court, and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate gave reports. At this meeting, the CCP Central Committee also reported on its work.

The head of the NPC Standing Committee is Zhang Dejiang. The head of the State Council is Li Keqiang. The head of the CPPCC National Committee is Yu Zhengsheng. The head of CCP Central Committee is Liu Yunshan. All of them are members of the CCP Politburo Standing Committee.

Source: Xinhua, January 7, 2016
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2016-01/07/c_1117705534.htm

The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) website reported that Wang Qishan gave an important speech on the future of the Anti-Corruption Campaign. The speech was given at a forum with some provincial Party Secretaries, the CCP Central Committee’s Departmental Party Secretaries, Heads of CCDI Inspection Teams, and scholars in attendance.

Wang stated, "The anti-corruption struggle should not decrease its intensity, change its rhythm, or loosen its standards. It needs to maintain high pressure on corruption."

"(The campaign) should firmly hold onto the Primary Leader’s Accountability and focus on cadres."

"Mobilizing people a thousand times is not as effective as holding them to account (punishing the violators) once."

Source: CCDI website, January 7, 2016
http://www.ccdi.gov.cn/xxgk/ldjg/wqs/zyhd/201601/t20160108_72287.html

On December 7, Caixin published a public speech that Yu Keping (俞可平), a former Chinese Communist Party (CCP) official and theorist gave at Beijing University. The topic was "Six Political Axioms that China’s Political System Violated."  

The first axiom was "A power holder only recognizes accountability to those who give him the power." Yu argued that the CCP has claimed officials are the servants of the general public. In reality, officials are only submissive to their bosses and treat the general public as if they are nobody. That is because officials are appointed by their bosses. Yu hinted at a solution. If the public elects these officials, they will have to serve the public.

Yu also pointed out other areas that violate the political axioms: the government is inefficient because there are too many agencies in charge of the same thing; lower level officials dare not tell the truth when providing policy feedback to the upper level officials who gave them the policy order; the number one leader at each level tends to become corrupt because there is no checks and balances system to keep them in line; subordinate officials tend to yield to their bosses because they have lower rights and benefits and perceive they are lower; the income levels are quite different between officials who at the same rank but work in different agencies and different regions.

Yu served as the Deputy Director of the Central Compilation and Translation Bureau that focuses on ideology and theory research. He resigned from that post to become a political science professor at Beijing University. Caixin introduced Yu as a "famous scholar and political scientist" and mentioned that his article "Democracy Is a Good Thing" had resulted in a lot of discussion in China.

Source: Caixin, December 7, 2015
http://opinion.caixin.com/2015-12-07/100882641.html

Hong Kong’s Apple Daily reported that there were two things worth noticing when Leung Chun-ying (CY Leung) went to Beijing to report on his work.

The first one was that Leung sat on the side during the meetings. In the past, the central government leader and the Hong Kong Chief Executive sat next to each other in the same row. This year, for the first time, the central government leader sat at the chair’s place at a long table and Leung sat on the side. Both meetings with Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang used this format.

The second one was that Xi only used the term "Full Affirmation" to appraise Leung’s work. The central leaders always used this term in the past. It does not mean that Xi is happy with Leung’s work. The fact that Xi didn’t use “Trust" in his appraisal indicates that there is a trust crisis in regard to Leung.

Source: Apple Daily Online, December 25, 2015
http://hk.apple.nextmedia.com/news/art/20151225/19425932

On December 10, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee published "The Opinion on Implementing Political Consultation with Other Parties."

The Opinion stated, "The main subjects on which the CCP Central Committee will conduct political consultations with other parties will include: Key documents for the CCP National Congress and the CCP Central Committee, recommendations on amending the Constitution and other important laws, candidates for national leadership, and mid- and long term plans for the economy and social development …"

Regarding the candidates for key leadership positions, the CCP Central Committee will organize the political consultation meeting during the nomination phase.

Source: Xinhua, December 10, 2015
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2015-12/10/c_1117423452.htm

Starting on December 9, Yu Youjun, a former government official who is now a professor at Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, gave a series of lectures in which he reflected on the Cultural Revolution. He started on December 9 and planned to finish the 8-session lecture by December 25. However, he shortened it to 7 sessions, which he completed by December 16, because he needed to go to Beijing once he finished.

This lecture is a rare public discussion on the Cultural Revolution in China. In the past, this has been a taboo topic and no one has dared to voice any criticism.

The Paper, a media with close ties to Wang Qishan, Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) published a lengthy report on Yu’s lecture, but it was later removed. The following is based on Phoenix Online’s republication of the article.

What made this lecture a high-profile event is Yu Youjun’s background. He was a minister-level official, holding top positions in Guangdong, Hunan Province, and Shanxi Province. He served as the Party Secretary and Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Culture from 2007 to 2008. In Yu’s words, "I want to (make this) low-profile but I can’t."

Though the lecture was limited to students and professors in the university, a lot of people came and Yu had to move from a classroom to the auditorium to accommodate the audience.

Yu stated, "The evil spirit of the ‘Cultural Revolution’ is still looming, eroding the body of the people and the Party …"

Yu gave a set of statistical numbers to show the damage that the Cultural Revolution had done:

– According to incomplete statistics, 17.2 percent, or 2.3 million, of the 12 million total officials in China had been investigated.

– 16.7 percent, or 30,000, officials of the central state organs and ministries had been investigated. 75 percent of officials with the rank of deputy minister or higher or deputy provincial governor level were investigated or taken down. 80,000 people in the military were persecuted.

– The economic loss was 500 billion yuan (U.S. $79 billion), which is equal to 80 percent of the sum of China’s total infrastructure investment from 1949 to 1976. That sum exceeds the amount of the total fixed national assets for the same nearly 30 years.

– There was little or no increase in people’s living standard during the ten years of the Cultural Revolution. In 1966, each person could receive 189.5 kg of rice or wheat, 1.7 kg of oil, and 7 kg of pork for consumption. In 1976, the corresponding numbers were 190.5 kg, 1.6 kg, and 7.2 kg.

In Yu’s view, "to assess Cultural Revolution from the perspective of the results it brought to China, there is only one sentence – (We) must negate it generally and fundamentally."

Source: Phoenix Online, December 20, 2015
http://news.ifeng.com/a/20151220/46757474_0.shtml

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) published new Party Disciplinary Regulations on October 21, 2015. They included a new violation item: "妄议中央." This term refers to officials who make improper comments to, or criticize, Party Central’ decisions.

People’s Forum, a subsidiary under People’s Daily, published an article to explain this regulation. The article claimed that Party members are still allowed to have individual opinions which can be different from the Party’s position and they can express them through proper channels. This disciplinary item aims to prevent officials from making improper comments or criticizing the Party Central’s key decisions in a public format, such as on the Internet, radio, television, newspapers, publications, speeches, forums, or conferences.

The article then gave five examples of fallen officials who committed this violation:

1. Zhou Benshun, the former Party Secretary of Hebei Province, made statements opposing the Party Central’s position on major issues.

2. Yu Yuanhui, the former Party Secretary of Nanning City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, said in a lecture to Nanning Party members, "Some Party cadres, when being investigated for disciplinary violations, confessed within a couple of days. They lack the backbone and willpower [to oppose the investigation]."

3. Zhao Shaolin, the former Chief of Staff of Jiangsu Party Committee discussed the function of the Agriculture Bureau with another official. Zhao claimed that the bureau should be eliminated because it does not offer officials real power or profits (gain from corruption).

4. Shen Peiping, the former Deputy Governor of Yunnan Province, told people who reported to him that the state’s assets had been stolen, "Even if you get the state’s assets back, you have to hand them over to the government. Why should you care?" He also instructed the officials in the legal system, "For those people reporting this case, (you) must find a way to sentence them with a crime, regardless of whether they are guilty."

5. Guo Zhenggang, a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Major General and son of Guo Boxiong (the former Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission who was taken down earlier this year), made comments about the Party Central’s anti-corruption campaign, "The Anti-corruption (campaign) is just a formality. Making a show at the surface is good enough."

Source: People’s Forum, December 14, 2015
http://politics.rmlt.com.cn/2015/1214/411506.shtml