All posts by NNL - 167. page

Xinhua published a short announcement that Zhou Yongkang, former member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Politburo Standing Committee and former head of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee, was taken down by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI). This is the first time in the past 25 years that a Politburo Standing Committee member has been taken down publically.

After Xinhua’s announcement, People’s Daily Online published an article titled “People’s Daily Online Commentary: Hunting Down the ‘Big Tiger’ Zhou Yongkang Is Not the End of the Anti-Corruption Work.” The article stated, “There is no end point for tightening the Party’s discipline. Nor will the anti-corruption campaign stop. Hunting down Zhou Yongkang is definitely not the end of the anti-corruption [work]. It is a phase [of the work]. Whoever is corrupt will be punished next, in the same way.”

This article was later removed from the People’s Daily website. However, the link is still available in Google search results. A copy of the article is available on NetEase.

Sources:
1. Xinhua, July 29, 2014
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2014-07/29/c_1111853756.htm
2. NetEast, July 29, 2014
http://news.163.com/14/0729/19/A2BGVE0C00014JB6.html

Study Times published an article on further developing the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in non-public economic entities. The article highlighted a few areas on which to focus. The first area it discussed was the leadership structure. The article pointed out that nearly one third of the provinces in China have used the Provincial Industry and Commerce Association as a vehicle to establish Party committees. They can be set up and given the responsibility to oversee the Party’s development in the non-public sector. The second area was the enterprise’s role as a provider of capital. Business owners have, to a large extent, influenced the progress of the CCP’s development in their enterprises. The CCP should absorb personnel into the Party, strengthen people’s belief in the socialist path with Chinese characteristics, and arrange political positions for them as a reward. Finally, the article emphasized the role of the Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber of Commerce has become more and more important in acting as the CCP’s base for CCP members in small businesses and in educating investors to support the Party’s development in their private businesses.

Source: Study Times, July 7, 2014
http://www.studytimes.cn/shtml/xxsb/20140707/5703.shtml

According to a Qiushi article published on June 30, "The Internet has become the main channel for news, the distribution center for public feelings and opinions, the breeding ground for negative sources and the origination of public events, and the main battlefield for the media struggle." The article suggested that government officials should enhance their senses in five areas so they can better control the Internet.

First, they should enhance their political sense in order to enforce political stability and "positive energy" on the Internet. Second they should enhance their sense of responsibility so that the local propaganda and Internet information agency, which is the primary office in charge of the Internet, can really guard the Internet well. Third, they should enhance their legal sense so they can use legal approaches to manage the Internet and publish more laws and regulations on the Internet industry. Fourth, they should enhance their sense of innovation. This will enable them to use new technology and approaches to manage the internet. Thus they can combine "human censorship," "technical censorship," and "joint censorship (with Internet site owners)" in order to find [the relevant] issues on the Internet quickly and thoroughly. Finally, they should enhance their sense of the battlefield so they can build up an Internet force to maintain full control over the battlefront [of the Internet].

Source: Qiushi, June 30, 2014
http://www.qstheory.cn/laigao/2014-06/30/c_1111384830.htm

Fang Ning, Dean of the Institute of Political Science of the Chinese Academy of Social Science, wrote an article for Qiushi on the three major conflicts that the Chinese people currently face. One is the conflict between the rich and poor; the second is between employees and employers; and the third is between the general public and government officials. Of these, the greatest concentration is on the conflict between the general public and government officials. The article suggested that the possibility of conflicts evolving into confrontation has been increasing.

Source: Qiushi Theory Online, June 22, 2014
http://www.qstheory.cn/freely/2014-06/22/c_1111254367.htm

People’s Daily published a commentary on the current situation in Hong Kong. The commentary claimed, "From the formation of the idea of ‘one country two systems’ to its implementation, there has been a clear line and standard for ‘Hongkongese to rule Hong Kong.’ That is that the majority of the Hongkongese who rule Hong Kong must be patriots [of China]."

The commentary further stated that "[China’s] re-iterating that patriots are to be the main body of the Hongkongese who rule Hong Kong does not interfere with Hong Kong’s autonomy. Rather, it clarifies the rights and responsibilities, as defined by Hong Kong’s Basic Law, for those who rule Hong Kong. … It is to let all of Hong Kong’s people have a measurement standard in their mind. Only those Hongkongese who are elected [based on this requirement] can accept the supervision by the Central government [of China] and Hong Kong society. … This is in the fundamental interest of the nation [of China] and it is in the fundamental interest of Hong Kong."

Source: People’s Daily, July 2, 2014
http://opinion.people.com.cn/n/2014/0702/c1003-25226140.html

China Review News recently published a commentary on China’s ocean strategy. It recommended that, "China’s ocean strategy should be based on two oceans, the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean; however, currently, it should focus on the Indian Ocean."

The commentary’s analysis pointed out that Indian Ocean has become the heaviest maritime transportation route. However, the neighboring countries are usually small and have not formed a unified political entity. Thus it is likely that external forces can control them. India, the largest country there, is not able to control the Indian Ocean by itself. This means that China has a chance to execute a huge influence there.

The Indian Ocean is important not only to China’s maritime shipping with European and Asian countries, but it also breaks the U.S. and Japan’s blockade of China over the island chains in the Pacific Ocean. China’s strategy of working in the Indian Ocean includes: taking Pakistan as a strategic base support; targeting Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Burma as strategic entry points; developing land routes over Pakistan and Burma so that China can get to the Indian Ocean; and taking Iran as a new support and developing a comprehensive relationship with Iran – this will enable China to be involved in Middle East affairs and block Russia from accessing the Indian Ocean via Iran.

Source: China Review News, June 20, 2014
http://hk.crntt.com/doc/1032/2/6/1/103226148.html