{Editor’s Note: After the U.S. Congress passed the Taiwan Travel Act and President Trump signed it on March 16, Huanqiu, a media under People’s Daily, issued an editor’s commentary on the Sino-U.S. relationship. Continue reading
Government/Politics - 116. page
HKJA: Survey Showed HK Public Gave Low Score to HK Freedom of the Press
The Hong Kong Economic Journal, the city’s first financial newspaper, founded in 1973, recently reported that the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) released its annual report on the recently conducted survey on freedom of the press in Hong Kong. The city’s general public gave a score of 47.1 (out of 100), which is 0.9 points lower than last year. Professional reporters scored freedom of the press at 40.3. Over 70 percent of the reporters surveyed believed that the overall freedom of the press was worse than last year. Most of the people in the sample of professional journalists and in the sample population of the general public expressed their belief that the pressure from the Mainland government has been hurting Hong Kong’s freedom of the press. Several central government officials have pressured the local government and the local media to self-regulate when they report the news.
Source: Hong Kong Economic Journal, April 11, 2018
https://bit.ly/2vf9mkd
What is Behind China’s Social Credit System?
On March 3, Huanqiu re-published an article on China’s Social Credit System that the German Heise Magazine had originally published. Continue reading
Beijing Public Security Bureau Claims 5,000 Spy Tip-Off Calls Received in One Year
Huanqiu carried an article that Beijing Evening News originally published on April 10. The article reported that, in the year since the Beijing Public Security Bureau issued a notice to reward citizens for offering information about suspicious spying activities, the bureau has received close to 5,000 calls. The article listed examples of a few reported spying activities. One involved a former classmate from a foreign country trying to obtain confidential academic information. A second one involved a person who was overseas attending an academic conference. The person was asked to provide confidential academic information in exchange for a permanent residence status. A third involved a Chinese cab driver who noticed a group of foreigners conducting suspicious activity near a restricted military area. The article claimed that the tipping hotline has received an increased number of calls and the end results have been effective. A VOA article reported that the monetary reward could be as high as 500,000 yuan (US$80,000) for each occurrence. When a VOA reporter called the tipping hotline, the operator who answered the call declined to comment on how many of the tips were eventually validated.
Sources:
1. Huanqiu, April 10, 2018
http://society.huanqiu.com/article/2018-04/11820948.html
2. VOA, April 13, 2018
https://www.voachinese.com/a/4345272.html
Duowei News: Repositioning the Party and Religion; How Communist China Fights the War of Ideology
Duowei News published an opinion article on recent events related to religious affairs in China. First, Xi’s new administration placed national religious affairs under the management of the United Front Work Department. Then, on April 3, the Information Office of the State Council issued a White Paper titled, “China’s Policies and Practices on Protecting Freedom of Religious Belief.” During the White Paper release conference, the Information Office claimed that, “The measure of the effectiveness of religious work is whether it can unite people with different religions with the party and the government and whether the religions in China are the ones with Chinese characteristics.” Finally, on March 30, the Bible was pulled from online stores in China. According to the article, with all that is taking place, it will be interesting to see how the communist party under Xi’s new administration fights the war of ideology and which side the Chinese people will choose: Marxism or a religious belief?
Source: Duowei News, April 8, 2018
http://news.dwnews.com/china/news/2018-04-08/60050593.html
Four Large Mobile News Apps Were Ordered to Terminate Their Services
Radio France Internationale reported that Cyberspace Affairs is enforcing tighter surveillance and control of online news sites. Recently four of the online news sites: Jinri Toutiao (Headlines), ifeng.com, news.163.com, and the ten cent news app were ordered to terminate their services due to a “standardization of communication order in accordance with law.” No specific violation was mentioned in the original official news article.
Source: Radio France Internationale, April 10, 2018
http://cn.rfi.fr/%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD/20180409-%E5%9B%9B%E5%A4%A7app%E6%96%B0%E9%97%BB%E5%B9%B3%E5%8F%B0%E5%8F%97%E8%B4%A3%E4%B8%8B%E6%9E%B6%E5%AE%98%E6%96%B9%E6%8B%9F%E5%8A%A0%E5%A4%A7%E6%96%B0%E9%97%BB%E7%AE%A1%E5%88%B6
Oriental Daily: Mainland China Banned Online Stores from Selling the Bible
The popular Hong Kong newspaper Oriental Daily recently reported via its online news site that online e-commerce platforms in Mainland China have completely removed their Bible offerings. Many of them also removed related Christian books. Some sellers even cancelled their sellers’ accounts altogether. According to some Mainland Christians, Bibles are now only available from the government approved Patriotic Church. According to a recently released official government Five-Year Work Plan, people should align their “position about the Bible” with the government approved view. The Chinese government is planning to re-translate the Bible and publish its own “official version” of the book. Oriental Daily has been Hong Kong’s number one newspaper in circulation since 1976, with a record readership of over 3,100,000.
Source: Oriental Daily, April 3, 2018
http://hk.on.cc/cn/bkn/cnt/news/20180403/bkncn-20180403192433814-0403_05011_001_cn.html
RFA: Beijing Hospital Requires Sperm Donors Must Support the Party Leadership to Be Considered “Top Quality”
Radio Free Asia recently published an article about an ad that Beijing University Hospital posted about the high requirements that a top quality sperm donor must meet. A donor is to “have fine political quality; love the socialist motherland, support the leadership of the Communist Party, and be loyal to the Party.” This “Political Correctness” statement turned out to be a topic for laughter on the Internet. The article stated that, in the current social environment, many companies in China have to display political slogans to prove that, “they are in agreement with the central administration” in order to survive. Many displays, however, turned out to be foolish jokes.
Source: Radio Free Asia, April 6, 2018
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/huanjing/ql3-04062018102633.html