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Briefings - 1074. page

China Shuts Down 140,000 Illegal Websites

China’s state “anti-pornography” office announced on March 12 that authorities have shut down 140,000 “illegal” websites, including pornography websites. It’s part of a special national campaign to combat dissemination of pornographic information through websites and cell phones that started in February of this year. Authorities involve the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Culture, and the General Administration of Press and Publications. 

Source: People’s Daily, March 12, 2010 
http://media.people.com.cn/GB/40728/40731/11131980.html
Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

Party Building Campaign in Non-State Sector

According to Xinhua, during the campaign to increase Communist Party members in non-State entities, 12,000 party branches were established with another 24,000 in the pipeline. New memberships rose to 65, 000. The party organizations have tracked down 73,000 party members who did not contact local party organizations due to transfer of jobs or retirement. Some local party organizations have set up dedicated offices for party building in the non-State sector. Close to 30,000 targets have been identified and 145,000 party instructors were dispatched to them.

Source: Xinhua, February 25, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2010-02/25/content_13048138.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

China to Implement Real Identity Registration for Internet Accounts and Cell Phones

Li Yizhong, Minister of Industry and Information Technology, stated in an interview on March 5 that real identity registration for Internet accounts is the way to go. Earlier he indicated that cognizant departments were studying the implementation mechanism of real identity registration for cell phone and Internet accounts. There are close to 660 million cell phone users and over 380 million Internet users in China.

Source: Beijing News, March 6, 2010
http://epaper.bjnews.com.cn/html/2010-03/06/content_72699.htm?div=-1

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

Outlook Weekly: Trends of Social Unrest in 2010

China will face tougher and more complex social unrest in 2010, says Outlook, a weekly magazine under Xinhua. In the past several years, social unrest has centered on issues of rural land use, the demolition of urban housing, state-owned enterprise reform, military discharges and retirement, and lawsuits. But 2009 saw intensive social unrest over welfare benefits, medical malpractice, unemployment, environmental pollution, workplace accidents, civil disputes, and investment fraud. Incidents tend to involve large crowds from multiple segments of the public and from extended geographic areas. Protests have accelerated to surrounding Party and government buildings and blocking traffic. Further, “instigators of most of the mass group events use the Internet and mobile phone text messages to contact and organize. This approach has the characteristics of a wide range of provocation, strong appeal, no warning signs, easy and quick gathering of people who have no direct interest, and so on.”

Source: Outlook Weekly, March 7, 2010
http://news.sohu.com/20100307/n270642035.shtml

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

China Disciplined the 13 Newspapers That Promoted Household Register System Reform

On March 1, thirteen newspapers including the Economic Observer and Southern Metropolitan News published a joint commentary promoting reforming the household registration system (which separates farmers from city residents and creates unequal rights between them). The commentary was a reminder to the upcoming National People’s Congress (NPC) and Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (PPCC) in Beijing. It was a rare media joint action that was undertaken without government authorization.

The Chinese government has disciplined these newspapers. Zhang Hong, the Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Economic Observer was fired. Other top managers at the Economic Observer received a serious warning from the Communist Party’s Propaganda Department. Representatives to the NPC and PPCC were warned not to bring up the topic of household registration system reform.

Source: Voice of America, March 10, 2010
http://www1.voanews.com/chinese/news/china/20100310-ZhangHong-87224297.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Global Times: US High-Ranking Officials Travel to China to be Chastised

China published several articles about the forthcoming visit by the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Steinberg and Senior Director for Asian affairs at the U.S. National Security Council Bader. These articles claimed that U.S. President Obama caused the tension in the Sino-US relationship. Steinberg and Bader’s visit, in the mind of the Chinese, was President Obama’s administration’s way of easing the tension and apologizing to China. Chinese scholars also claimed that they came to China to be chastised, creating friction between the two nations.

Chinese media stated that both of them were considered to be U.S. officials who “know China,” but that “knowing China” does not mean they are “pro-China.”

China is watching closely whether in April the U.S. is going to classify China as a government that manipulates the foreign exchange rate.

Sources:
1. Outlook, March 6, 2010
http://news.sohu.com/20100306/n270629379.shtml
2. Global Times, March 3, 2010
http://world.huanqiu.com/roll/2010-03/731711.html

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Ministry of Railways: China Will Have the World Largest High-Speed Railway Network

According to the latest Ministry of Railways’ plan, by 2012, China will beat Japan and Germany when it comes to the longest high-speed railway system. The Ministry of Railways’ new blueprint outlines “four vertical” and “four horizontal” passenger lines that connect the northeast, north, central, west, east, and southern parts of China.

The Ministry of Railways is aggressively raising funds. It will push provincial governments and bring in private capital to support and be involved in the construction and management of the railroad systems.

Source: China Securities Journal, March 4, 2010
http://paper.cs.com.cn/html/2010-03/04/content_54964.htm?div=-1

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Wen Jiabao: China Needs to Enhance Military Power

In his Annual Report on the Government, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao observed that the Chinese military needs overall improvements, centered on the primary goals of the Party and the government. He mentioned some major achievements over the past year, such as the National Day parade and the “stability maintenance” missions in key areas. For the new year, Wen emphasized the core capability of winning a regional war under high-tech conditions, as well as the military’s ideological and political development. He also discussed the need to enhance the capability of the military police to handle emergency events and “maintain social stability.”

Source: Xinhua, March 5, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2010-03/05/content_13102667.htm

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military