Government/Politics - 101. page

China published a new rule to request blockchain service providers to get the real name of each user and not to publish contents that do not conform to the authorities’ requirements.

On January 10, 2019, the Cyberspace Admission Office issued the “Regulations on the Management of Blockchain Information Services,” which will take effect on February 15, 2019.

The Regulations state that the blockchain service provider holds the main responsibility for the safety management of the contents, that it should implement the real ID identification system for its users, and that it cannot use blockchain to conduct activities prohibited by the law or administrative regulations or produce, replicate, publish, or spread information prohibited by the law or by administrative regulations.

Source: Cyberspace Admission website, January 10, 2019
http://www.cac.gov.cn/2019-01/10/c_1123971138.htm

On October 30, 2018, Xuzhou City of Jiangsu Province published an official personnel announcement but it quickly drew heated discussion on the Internet. On January 12, the personnel announcement was taken down from the city website. Meanwhile the city published a clarification statement on its Weibo account. Central News Agency reported that a personnel announcement for the deputy Mayor of Xuzhou City of Jiangsu Province showed that he sits on 46 teams as either the director or the team leader. The teams include development and reform, land and resource management, human resources and social security, statistics, production safety, pricing, finance, taxation, and government service management as well as many others. People on the Internet questioned whether he is even able to manage all of these responsibilities. Some people believe that such a phenomenon is actually a breeding ground for bureaucracy because the duties of the different ministries and commissions that are normally set up are fully capable of running. They therefore wondered why there is a need to create so many extra teams and offices. In the official statement the city published on its Weibo account, it clarifies that some special tasks involve a number of departments and require clear leadership to improve efficiency. All those agencies are temporary and there are no separate offices and there is no funding involved. All the agencies will be closed as soon as the deadline or certain conditions are met. The Central News Agency article mentioned that it is not uncommon for a party official to have dozens of titles. An official from Changshu City of Jiangsu Province holds more than 37 official titles and another official in Shanwei City of Guangdong Province holds 43 titles. The report stated that even Xi Jinping was the team leader of dozens of teams at one point in time.

Source: Central News Agency, January 12, 2019
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/201901120169.aspx

The Paper recently reported that, since October 2016, the party committee of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region has been promoting the “unity” theme between ethnic Han and Uyghur residents. The program pairs up cadres or workers at all levels of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region with Uyghur families. The Uyghurs must allow the cadres to visit and live with their family for five days every two months in order to “form large-scale, full coverage, and multi-level exchanges between the different ethnic groups to achieve ‘national unity’ and bring the progress in Xinjiang to a new level.” It was reported that by the end of December 2018, there were more than 1.12 million cadres and workers paired with up to or more than 1.69 million Uyghur families. They have made a cumulative 57 million visits to these families and held more than 13 million events including many different activities under the theme of “national unity and family.”

Source: The Paper, January 3, 2019
https://m.thepaper.cn/wifiKey_detail.jsp?contid=2807286&from=wifiKey

On January 10, China’s Ministry of Education, Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office and the Taiwanese Affairs Office issued a joint notice to approve Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwanese to apply for primary and secondary school teaching positions in the Mainland, and allow them to work in schools in the Mainland. However, the notice listed a series of requirements: “support the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party,” “adhere to the direction of socialist education,” and “implement the party’s educational policy.”

Bruce Lui, a senior lecturer at the Hong Kong Baptist University, said that the measures exemplified the united front work to win over the education sector in Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan. Some international schools in the mainland love to hire Hong Kong teachers who speak better English. Hong Kong people have worked in universities and higher education institutions in the Mainland for many years, but the authorities did not previously have the above political requirements for them. “These demands are undoubtedly asking Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan people who are teaching in primary and secondary schools in the Mainland to listen to the party and follow the party. These go against the principles of the education of each independent personality and of free thinking.”

Source: China News Service, January 10, 2019
http://www.chinanews.com/gn/2019/01-10/8725384.shtml

According to a Chinese government website, in 2018, the national disciplinary and supervision agencies received a total of 3.44 million complaints and reports, and 16.67 million different leads. The authorities have conducted 341,000 interviews, placed 638,000 cases on record, and punished 621,000 officials (including 526,000 who received party disciplinary measures). Among these officials, there were 51 at the provincial and ministerial levels, 3,500 at the bureau level, 26,000 at the county and department levels, 91,000 at the village and branch levels, and 500,000 at lower levels or who were with nongovernmental organizations.

The discipline inspection and supervision organs also were severe in investigating public servants (both officials and nonofficial) who violated party discipline last year, handling a total of 1.73 million cases.

Source: Radio France International, January 9, 2019
http://rfi.my/3XpP.T

Wu Jinglian, a well-known Chinese economist, recently gave advice in ten areas of China’s reform. He stated the direction of China’s reform can only be in market-orientation, the rule of law, and democracy, but not anything else. However, the authorities soon took his article down from the Internet.

Wu’s advise included the following:

One, establishing a market-oriented, rule of law society is the only direction for China’s reform; anything besides that will not help China.

Two, to avoid a social crisis, the authorities must truly advance the reform focusing on a market-driven economy, the rule of law, and democracy. It should establish both an inclusive economic system and an inclusive political system. It should transition itself from an authoritative model to a democratic model. This is the only possible way out for China.

Three, the prerequisite for reform is to have real, practical discussions on the theory and practice of the reform.

Four, people must abandon the Soviet ideology which still has a strong imprint on the older generations. Some people use that to oppose reform.

Wu’s other advise included that it is very dangerous to let the government intervene in the market, especially to create some theory to justify that intervention’s legitimacy. Wu also pointed out the areas that lag behind in reform, such as the state-owned economic reform and the government’s administrative function reform. These are related to the political and governmental reform that is missing.

Source: Creader.net, December 22, 2018
http://news.creaders.net/china/2018/12/22/2032590.html