Young party leaders under the age of 45 make up a larger portion of those accused of corruption charges. According to Guangzhou Discipline Inspection Committee, among 227 government employees who were charged with corruption from 2007 and 2008, 127 of those were between 31 and 45, accounting for 55.95 percent of the total.
Source: China News, May 18, 2009
http://www.chinanews.com.cn/gn/news/2009/05-18/1695619.shtml
Huanqiu published its online survey results on US Treasury Secretary Geithner’s fist visit to China: 83 percent believe that the purpose of Geithner’s China visit was to ask China to buy more US debt; 49 percent feel that China will not purchase more debt; 63.3 percent believe the US relies on China.
Huanqiu also listed the following five requests made to Geithner from its online users. They are: keep US currency stable and stop pressing China on the currency issue; lift the sanction on exporting high-tech to China; ensure safe investment in the US; recognize China’s (world) market economy status; and cancel US trade protection clause against China.
Source: Huan Qiu, May 31, 2009
http://china.huanqiu.com/roll/2009-05/475121.html
When Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and a vocal critic of China’s human rights record, started her China visit on May 24, 2009, she received a warm welcome from Chinese petitioners who are fed up with the government’s corruption. The petitioners, staged protests against the Chinese government almost daily. When Pelosi arrived, they showed their appreciation for her promotion of human rights in China. The largest demonstration occurred on May 25, when several thousand petitioners gathered at Beijing’s South Train Station for the Speaker’s arrival. They shouted slogans to protest government corruption, its denial of human rights and democracy, and its ignoring justice in its courts. One banner said “Welcome Pelosi. Pay Attention to China’s Human Rights! SOS.” The police and hired underground gangsters clashed with the protesters. The demonstration lasted for two hours during which the police took some protesters away.
The demonstration can been seen on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usADrSCMQKE&feature=channel
Source:
[1] Voice of America, May 25, 2009
http://www.voanews.com/chinese/w2009-05-25-voa47.cfm
[2] Radio Free Asia, May 25, 2009
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/pelosi-05252009094129.html
[3] Epoch Times, May 25, 2009
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/9/5/25/n2537583.htm
Epoch Times expressed that the report that China released on 2009 first quarter GDP was not convincing and the Economist pointed out that the figures had likely been fudged. The government released GDP and production numbers for the first quarter of 2009 declaring 6.1% and 16% increases respectively over the same period in 2008. However, the electricity production in the first quarter was 4% down from the same period a year earlier. In the past, GDP and electricity output have moved broadly together, although it is not a one-to-one relationship.
Economists have long questioned whether China has been massaging its GDP data. It is widely believed that China’s GDP growth was overstated during the period after the Tiananmen Square Massacre and the Asia Crisis period.
Source:
[1] Epoch Times, May 25, 2009
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/9/5/25/n2537054.htm
[2] Economist, May 21, 2009
http://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13692907
The military reform is lagging behind with serious national defense ramifications, says a Study Time article. According to the article, Chinese military reform is lagging behind in areas such as joint operations, munitions procurement, management of research and development of defense technology, medicare for the military, retirement and settlement of officers, pension and benefits and etc. “Some of the problems have become the bottlenecks of the national defense and army modernization, causing the imbalance of national defense and basic elements of military building.” The article warns that this could potentially “lead to disorders in the entire military system, with serious ramifications if there is a war.”
Source: Study Times, May 25, 2009
http://www.studytimes.com.cn/WebPage/ny1.aspx?act=0&id=2673&bid=7
The Ministry of Justice has established Party organizations in over 90% of the 14,222 law firms in China, says Legal Daily of the Ministry of Justice with the heading “Where there is a law firm, you’ll find the Communist Party.” From April 2008 to April 2009, Party organizations doubled their presence in law firms. “With red flags flying over law firms and lawyers who are Party members shining at their posts, our Party construction has moved on to a new stage in the legal community,” said a Ministry of Justice official.
Source: Legal Daily, May 22, 2009
http://www.legaldaily.com.cn/bm/2009-05/22/content_1094411.htm
On May 25, Xinhua Net republished an article on fair education by Outlook Weekly. Many education specialists suggested in a review of the education reform that the reform (since the 90s) focused more on “development” than “reform,” and more on the “financial angle” than on fairness. The schools came up with a large number of ways to make a profit, and the government’s investment in education itself was at a very low level. The currently proposed new education reform plan does not demonstrate the courage to face the long standing issues. In a survey conducted in 2007 (sample size 5000), “education fairness” scored the lowest among all categories.
Source: Xinhua Net, May 25, 2009.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2009-05/25/content_11430971.htm
International Herald Leader, a newspaper under Xinhua, published an article by Zhang Jie, Director of the Department of Security and Foreign Relations, Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Science. Zhang argued that it is not the “G2” era yet. As to leading and affecting the global affairs, U.S. still has the dominant power and does not want to have an equal share with China. China has a low per capita GDP and does not have the capability to lead the world on many areas including technology advancement, innovation and cultural influence. China should still exercise a big country’s responsibility though it’s not the leader. [1]
On the same day, International Herald Leader also published another article arguing that the meaning of “G2” has been shifted. The concepts of “Chimerica” and “G2” were created with the focus on economy. But “G2” was later transformed to mean that both U.S. and China jointly manage the global affairs, thus becoming a form of “China Threat” to both U.S. and other countries. [2]
Sources:
[1] International Herald Leader, May 26, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/herald/2009-05/26/content_11435934.htm
[2] International Herald Leader, May 26, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/herald/2009-05/26/content_11435900.htm