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Briefings - 1173. page

Police Arrested Christians in Henan House Church Raid

18 Chinese Christians were arrested on March 1, 2009 at Zhaojiazhuang, Nanyang, Henan Province, Radio Free Asia reports. They were arrested during the Sunday service. 16 of them were released the next day after paying a fine. 2 were detained for 15 days for committing the crime of “illegal religious activity.” On February 11, about 50 Chinese Christians were arrested at a home in Nanyang, Henan Province. 98 policemen raided the house of Mr. Chen, a Christian. They searched and ransacked the house, and arrested all Christians at the gathering.

Source: Radio Free Asia, March 5, 2009
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/zongjiao-03052009084426.html

Intensive Training for Top Public Security Officials Linked to Upcoming Social Unrests

About 3,080 county public security bureau directors will go through a 10 day intensive training in Beijing in the next 6 months, a first in Chinese history, said China Public Security Ministry official. Starting from Feb 28, these public security officials will be in class in 7 separate groups. The first group has 425 Directors. The instructors at the training sessions in Beijing include Vice Minister of Public Security and other top Party officials. The top public security bureau directors expressed in class discussions that their biggest headache is social unrests. 2009 will be a high season for social unrests, according to Xinhua.

Source:
Xinhua, February 27, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2009-02/27/content_10906810.htm
Nanfang Daily, February 26, 2009
http://www.nanfangdaily.com.cn/nfzm/200902260135.asp

Police Shot Tibetan Monk Who had set Himself on Fire

Chinese police at Aba prefecture in Sichuan Province shot a 24-year-old Tibetan monk after he set himself on fire at a market, just after Losar, the Tibetan New Year. Earlier he and his fellow monks were refused entry to the main prayer hall at the Kirti Monastery in Aba. The Chinese authorities had forbidden observation of Monlam, a traditional prayer festival held after Losar. The monk was shot three times and was taken away by police after he fell.

Source: Epoch Times, March 2, 2009
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/9/3/2/n2448219.htm

Beijing Censor Tiananmen Square Massacre Questioning

On March 2, Monday, at a press conference of China’s Political Consultative Conference, the Communist Party’s showpiece political event, a Voice of America reporter questioned the government response to letters written by Tiananmen Mothers, families of 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre victims.

According to Hong Kong based Mingpao report, it caused a “commotion” among the audience. Zhao Qizheng, the spokesperson replied with “Chinese government has had a clear conclusion on the political disturbance in 1980’s.” While CCTV was live broadcasting the whole press conference, it immediately switched to another program when the Q&A started. In the following Xinhua news, that part was also blacked out.

Source: Voice of America, March 3, 2009
http://www.voanews.com/chinese/w2009-03-03-voa39.cfm

Xinhua: Other Western Countries Should Follow Hillary to Put Economy Ahead of Human Rights

An article titled “Hillary Visits China: Economy Ahead of Human Right, Cooperation over Discrepancy” on Xinhua’s website applauds Hillary Clinton’s realism in her China visit. The article says “Human rights issue was out of the focus at the top level meeting between China and U.S. demonstrates that the balance of China and U.S.’s mutual influence has materially changed. Now U.S.’s need of China is increasing. … U.S. can not possibly be as hard-lined as before. At the same time, more and more of the core interest of both countries are overlapped. Many issues require the cooperation of both countries to resolve. As compared to the big countries’ cooperation, human rights issue naturally becomes less important.” The article also quoted the comment by Professor Xiong Zhiyong from China Foreign Affairs University, saying “Hillary Clinton’s statement is realistic, and is the right choice of U.S.’s China policy. It is worth other Western countries to follow.”

Source: Xinhua, Feb. 23, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2009-02/23/content_10875221.htm

50 Million Quit Chinese Communist Party and Affiliates

As of February 26, over 50.4 million Chinese have renounced their affiliations with Chinese Communist Party at a web site of Epoch Times. Since the November 2004 release of an editorial series Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party by The Epoch Times, Quit the Party has become the biggest push ever for freedom in China. There have been numerous news reports that the Beijing authorities have arrested, tortured and killed people for distributing and possession of the editorial series. According to Epoch Times, these withdrawals run deep into the heart of the Party as its upper echelon including diplomats, general Party secretaries and other high-ranking officials are among those who publicly sever their ties with the Party.

Source: Epoch Times
http://tuidang.epochtimes.com/
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/t/quitting-the-chinese-communist-party/

Police Helicopters to Patrol in Beijing

The first four police helicopters will be patrolling above Beijing and will play a major role in cracking down social unrests, according Beijing police authorities on February 26, 2009. “During social emergencies, the police helicopters will work with ground police to track, search and arrest the targets.”

The police helicopter team consists of forty-three pilots. 86% of them are air force servicemen. It is the largest and best-equipped police helicopter team and will fly monthly schedules, three days a week, between 4 to 8 flights. In times of social emergencies, helicopters will take off within 30 minutes of the order. The helicopters were imported from Italy, models AW139 and AW109.

Source: China National Defense Information, February 27, 2009
http://info.cndsi.com/html/20090227/60815075742.html

Chinese RMB Becoming Hard Currency?

Chinese currency is quickly being adopted as settlement currency, claimed International Herald Leader under Xinhua on February 16, 2009. Since Dec 2008, China has entered into agreements with eight of its neighboring countries including Vietnam, Myanmar, Russia, Mongolia and South Korea to use Chinese RMB as settlement currency. On Feb 8, 209, China entered into a currency exchange agreement with Indonesia worth 80 billion yuan which allows Indonesians to borrow RMB at banks in Indonesia. China views the international financial crisis an opportunity to “internationalize” its currency to make further inroads into the international economies.

Source: Xinhua, February 16, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/herald/2009-02/16/content_10825739.htm