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Briefings - 1220. page

Party Journal: Dangerious School Buildings Blamed for Student Deaths During Earthquake

Study Times, the journal of the Party School of the Communist Party reported that from 1990 to 2004, schools in 90 counties were damaged during earthquakes. In 2003 alone, over 420,000 students could not attended classes due to damages to schools. Study Times cited most recent examples including over 700 students in Juyuan middle school in Dujiangyan City who were buried and died during the Sichuan earthquake on May 12, 2008. The article attributed these casualties to dangerous school buildings.

Source: Study Times, May 21, 2008
http://theory.people.com.cn/GB/49154/49156/7272568.html

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Xinhua Criticizes Actress Sharon Stone of Her Comments on the Earthquake

On May 27, Xinhua posted a front page article attacking actress Sharon Stone for her comments on the earthquake. The article called Sharon Stone “inhuman”, “ignorant” and “inconsiderate of other people’s feelings, which has made the people questioning Hollywood’s moral standards”. It said: “Sharon made those remarks because she is a friend of the Dalai Lama and felt she needs to stand up for him. While the world attention has recently shifted from Dalai to the earthquake, Sharon Stone was there to help (the Dalai Lama) to regain the focus back so as to keep him on the world star status”.

During an interview with a Hong Kong television station at the Cannes Film Festival last Thursday, Sharon said she was wondering whether the devastating earthquake might have been ‘karma’ for the regime’s treatment of Tibet and the Dalai Lama.

Source: Xinhua, May 28, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/comments/2008-05/28/content_8266328.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Xinhua Blasts Radio Free Asia for Reports on Tibet

On May 26, Global Times, which operates under Xinhua accused the Washington, DC based Radio Free Asia of lying about Tibet and acting as a spokesperson for the Dalai Lama and Tibet Independence. The Global Times article listed RFA reports on Tibet since January 2008 and stated that Radio Free Asia broadcasts reports from the United States and European countries supporting the Dalai Lama and criticizing China. The article alleged, “The mission and broadcasting content is meant to interfere with domestic affairs of targeted countries.”  The RFA program “Different Voices” was cited as an example.

Source: Global Times, May 26, 2008
http://world.people.com.cn/GB/7299712.html

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Chinese Ministry of Propaganda and National News Office Order Tightening of Earthquake Reporting

Boxun reported on May 23 that China’s Ministry of Propaganda and National News Office jointly issued an order on May 22 informing all websites and news reporting organizations that independent reports from the earthquake area are prohibited. All reports should be unified, with an emphasis on the positive examples. It is said that people in the earthquake affected areas are miserable. Although donations have exceeded over 10 billion yuan, there are not even enough tents. The authorities are afraid that if the public knows too much information about the status of quake survivors, it will cause discontent of the government.

Source: Boxun, May 23, 2008
http://news.boxun.com/news/gb/china/2008/05/200805222031.shtml

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

China Earthquake Bureau Organized Training Course of Confidentiality about Earthquake Information

Boxun reported on May 22 that the Department for Monitoring and Forecasting Earthquakes of teh China Earthquake Bureau held a training course on confidentiality about information surrounding earthquakes on April 23-26 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. Forty people who server as directors from departments of earthquake analysis and forecasting in various locations attended the training. The course emphasized that “confidentiality about earthquake information has political and social significance. The impact [of such information] is huge. Due to current complicated and serious earthquake situations, [we] must make sure to manage well the confidentiality of earthquake information.” Liu Guiping, head of Department of Monitor and Forecasting of the China Earthquake Bureau spoke and gave instructions at the training.

Source: Boxun, May 22, 2008
http://news.boxun.com/news/gb/china/2008/05/200805222031.shtml

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Parents Mourn Children with Banner: Children Died of Man-Made Devastation, not Natural Disaster

Eleven days after the earthquake that devastated Shichun Province, parents of children who were killed in the disaster at Fuxin Second Elementary School, Wufu Town, Mianzu City set up a mourning tent at the school on May 23, 2008. The tent was set up at the school’s teaching building, which completely collapsed in the earthquake on May 12, burying 127 students. “The kids died of man-made devastation, not natural disaster,” angry parents told a reporter. The parents noticed that the building’s remains were composed of loose cement with very few steel rods, whereas the teachers’ offices and residential building remained intact. The news article has been widely posted on various Chinese websites.

Source: latelinenews.com, May 26, 2008
http://www.latelinenews.com/news/cc/chinese/45688.shtml

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Party Leaders Denied the Request for Earthquake Alert

Experts at China’s State Seismological Bureau successfully predicted the Sichuan earthquake but the request to issue a public alert was denied by Communist Party leaders, an unnamed expert from China’s State Seismological Bureau revealed. The forecasting was accurate in indicating the site and time of the earthquake but missed the magnitude. It predicted a 6-point earthquake, instead of the 7.9 one that took place. According to the source, one of the Communist Party’s top leaders denied the request to issue a public alert citing the Olympics and national social stability.

Source: Reminbao, May 20, 2008
http://www.renminbao.com/rmb/articles/2008/5/20/47707.html

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

State TV: Government Body Is Responsible for the Earthquake

On May 14, 2008, on an English Channel of the State’s China Central TV (CCTV9), the host (Yang Ri) interviewed over the telephone Mr. Chen Yiwen from the State’s China Geophysical Society Natural Disaster Forecast Committee. The interview was broadcast live. Mr. Chen said in English that the China Seismological Bureau bears “unshirkable responsibility” for the casualties of the earthquake. He stated that on May 3, 2008 he himself sent a document to the China Seismological Bureau forecasting a major earthquake in the Wenchuan region. He further stated that in the past three years, his Natural Disaster Forecast Committee had issued three mid-term forecasts to the China Seismological Bureau predicting major earthquakes in the Wenchuan region. Predictions of Chinese earthquake experts were accurate on the timing and location but missed the magnitude.

Source: Boxun, May 21, 2008
http://news.boxun.com/news/gb/pubvp/2008/05/200805210159.shtml

Briefings | | |   Social Stability