All posts by TGS - 71. page

On January 16, 2013, China’s National Audit Office released its 2011 audit report on the implementation of the budget and on other revenues and expenditures of the central government. The audit report showed that, as of the end of last October, the 50 central government departments and their affiliates spent 10.281 billion yuan in violation of financial management regulations. “As for repeat offenders, the person-in-charge at the National Audit Office observed that every year the audit report covered the same audit targets with the same audit scope. Thus, to a certain extent, the audit led to the discovery of problems that were similar to those of previous years. This gave the public the appearance that it revealed the same old face and the same old problems."

Source: Huanqiu, January 17, 2013
http://finance.huanqiu.com/china/2013-01/3514269.html

On December 31, the Communist Party newspaper, the People’s Daily, issued a posting on its official blog announcing its expansion from 8 pages to 12 pages on weekdays and 4 pages to 8 pages on weekends. In addition, it added the statement, “In the new year, we will work hard to tell the truth and write the truth … making [our paper] more readable and viewable to truly serve our readers.”

Because of its insistence that it would "work hard to tell the truth," the posting has drawn a large number of sarcastic comments from Chinese netizens.

“I am surprised at this announcement. If it is true, it would be the first step that the People’s Daily is taking the lead to make the media move towards openness and its contribution should deserve recognition. If, however, this first sentence from the People’s Daily in the New Year is a true lie, what to do? How could the People’s Daily face its readers?”

“Does this mean that the Party’s official media has always been lying?”

“How come the Party’s newspaper must "work hard" to tell truth?”

“It is very hard for a newspaper belonging to the Party to speak the truth. Of course, it must work hard to do so.”

“When we were young, parents and teachers taught us not to lie. But after we grew up, [we] found out that one may lose his life just for telling the truth. …”
 
“Even the Central Government newspaper must work hard to tell the truth. Whether after the hard work, the truth is really told or not may never be known. …”

“Anything that requires ‘hard work’ is usually difficult. To call a deer a horse is normal. But to call a deer a deer requires hard work.”

Source: Official Blog of People’s Daily, December 31, 2012 (comments made as of January 3, 2013, at the blog)
http://www.weibo.com/rmrb

The state media Xinhua reported through its news wire that a protest was held in Hong Kong calling for the resignation of Leung Chun Ying. Leung, the pro-China Chief Executive and President of the Executive Council of Hong Kong, assumed office on July 1, 2012, with the endorsement of the Chinese Communist leaders. The Xinhua article said, “The protesters demanded that Leung Chun Ying step down, that all of the people receive full implementation of their retirement protection, and that freedom of speech be safeguarded.” A search of Xinhuanet.com did not return the report. No Xinhua report was available in English.

[Editor’s note: A Washington Post article stated, "Tens of thousands of people marched in Hong Kong to call for the city’s Beijing-backed leader to step down over allegations he was untruthful about illegal renovations at his mansion and to press for full democracy."]           

Sources:
Sina.com, January 2, 2013
http://news.sina.com.hk/news/20130102/-1-2861954/1.html
Epoch Times, January 2, 2013
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/13/1/3/n3767293.htm

Li Jianguo, a newly elected Chinese Communist Politburo Member and the National People’s Congress Vice Chairman, has been accused of violating China’s Civil Service Law. He promoted his nephew-in-law, Zhang Hui, from a deputy division chief to the Party Secretary of Shizhong District in Jining City in Shangdong Province, making Zhang the youngest department-level cadre, thus violating the law.

On December 16, 2012, Han Chongguang from Handan, Hebei Province posted a miniblog stating that he had just made a report, using his real name, of the alleged violation to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection for investigation. "Around 5 pm on the afternoon of December 16, 2012, I published a posting on the [sina] miniblog in which I used my real name to report on Zhang Hui, who was promoted in violation of regulations. Twenty minutes later, the posting was re-posted over 1,500 times. At 5:25, the sina miniblog administrator deleted my posting. I re-posted it nine times and each time the posting was deleted.”

Li served as the Party Secretary for Shangdong Province from 2007 to 2008 before being promoted to Vice Chairman of the National People’s Congress. He became a Politburo member in November 2012.

Source: China Yulun Wang, December 16 and 17, 2012
http://www.yulun55.us/article/8723.html
http://www.yulun55.com/article/8715.html

Recently, in response to waves of online reports netizens have posted about the corruption of government officials, People’s Daily published a series of commentaries on tightening the control of speech on the Internet.

On December 23, 2012, People’s Daily published a commentary titled, “With a Bottom Line, [the Internet] Can be Healthy.” The commentary stated, “Openness does not mean a person can do whatever he likes; freedom of expression does not equate to cursing all over the place; information sharing does not mean a person can freely publish others’ private affairs and spread rumors everywhere.”

On December 24, People’s Daily published another commentary on the same subject, titled “Place the Straitjacket of the Rule of Law on the Internet World.” The author advocated, “Only by placing the straitjacket of the rule of law on the Internet, … and making the offenders bear the burden of their offense, can we possibly rein in those irresponsible rumors.”

Source: People’s Daily, December 23 and 24, 2012
http://opinion.people.com.cn/n/2012/1223/c1003-19983605.html
http://opinion.people.com.cn/n/2012/1224/c1003-19994325.html