All posts by TGS - 73. page

On December 6, Xinhua announced that the Communist Party Central Commission for Discipline Inspection confirmed that Li Chuncheng, the Deputy Communist Secretary of Sichuan Province, is being investigated for “suspicion of serious discipline violations." The one sentence announcement did not offer details. Later Xinhua published a follow-up commentary which stated that the anti-corruption campaign is unfolding from the central government to local governments. Huanqiu, which is under People’s Daily also published a commentary. It stated that official media tend to categorize reports on corruption as being “sensitive” and that in every case in which official media delay or maintain a low profile when handling the publication of such reports, it creates the appearance of a cover-up. Li is the first senior party official to be investigated for corruption since the new Party General Secretary, Xi Jinping, took over from Hu Jintao in November.

Sources:
Xinhua, December 6, 2012
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2012-12/06/c_113923447.htm
Xinhua reprinted by Guangming Daily, December 6, 2012
http://legal.gmw.cn/2012-12/06/content_5920335.htm Huanqiu, December 6, 2012
Huanqiu, December 6, 2012
http://opinion.huanqiu.com/editorial/2012-12/3349303.html

Nanfang Daily reported that an organ donation and transplant cooperation project under China’s Ministry of Health recently held its 10th forum in Kunming. According to the report, in 2010, the Ministry of Health established a pilot project for organ donations. In 2011, it expanded to 19 locations. Since then, 480 operations were conducted on the donors, with 1,294 organs donated, thus saving the lives of over 1,200 people. Experts attending the meeting agreed that the shortage of organs for transplant continues to remain a major issue at present.

[Editor’s Note: On December 2, 2012, three American doctors created a petition at whitehouse.gov to petition the Obama Administration to “investigate and publicly condemn organ harvesting" as people in China are "killed on demand to fuel China’s lucrative organ transplant industry." http://wh.gov/5Jmn.]

Sources:
Nanfang Daily, December 4, 2012
http://epaper.nfdaily.cn/html/2012-12/04/content_7148347.htm
http://wh.gov/5Jmn

China’s Vice Minister of Health, Huang Jiefu, announced that China will set up a voluntary organ donation program and, within two years, will be able to reduce its reliance on organs from executed prisoners. “China has become a major country in organ transplants, second to the United States. However, China has a ‘soft rib’ – long term reliance on organs donated by executed prisoners,” Huang said.

Huang acknowledged that “there are some deep issues relating to organ transplants that are yet to be resolved, including confusion about organ sources, a lack of donated organs, an illegal organ trade, and transplant tourism.”

Huang stated, “The Party’s Central Committee is determined that China, as a major political and civilized power, will change this situation.”

[Editor’s Note: Several sources have reported that a large number of organs have been harvested secretly, with security forces and military-medical personnel conducting the operations. While the Ministry of Health announced it will reduce its reliance on organs from executed prisoners, it has no authority over operations that take place in military hospitals.]

Source: Southern Metropolis Daily (Nanfang Dushi), November 22, 2012
http://epaper.oeeee.com/A/html/2012-11/22/content_1758753.htm

In Beijing, on November 15, 2012, as the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party concluded, Xi Jinping, the new head of the Chinese Communist Party and China’s military gave a speech to those present. In his speech he stated, “We are a political Party that serves the people wholeheartedly. … Our Party faces many severe challenges and there are also many pressing problems within the Party that need to be resolved, particularly problems such as corruption and bribe taking by some Party members and cadres, being out of touch with the people, and placing undue emphasis on formality and bureaucratic red tape. We must make a strenuous effort to resolve them. The whole Party must stay on full alert.”

Source: People’s Daily reprinted by the Chinese Communist Party website, November 15, 2012 http://cpc.people.com.cn/18/n/2012/1115/c350821-19590502.html

On November 16, 2012, China’s state media, the People’s Daily, ran an editorial to hail the Party’s new central leadership which was "elected" on November 15, 2012. The article stated, “The 18th National Congress of the Party unequivocally has demonstrated to the world what banner the Party will uphold, which path the Party will take, what kind of mental state we will have, and towards what goal we will progress, … it has established the scientific concept of development, Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, and the important thinking of "Three Represents" as the guiding ideology of the Party which the Party shall uphold for a long time to come …”

Source: People’s Daily, November 16, 2012
http://opinion.people.com.cn/n/2012/1115/c1003-19594370.html