Government/Politics - 122. page

People’s Daily published a commentary on its front page calling upon China to take full advantage of the promising historic opportunity it has to realize the “Chinese Dream.” The article is a follow-up to the speech that Xi Jinping gave on January 5 at the seminar on studying and implementing the main ideas of the 19th CPC National Congress, where he stated that China is at a period of promising historic opportunity.

The commentary stated, “(This historic opportunity) is the inevitable change in the world over the centuries. In today’s world, ‘democratic deficits,’ ‘governance deficits,’ and ‘development pitfalls’ have come one after the other. Such issues as polarization between the rich and poor, terrorism, and climate change have been emerging constantly. The international political and economic system dominated by capitalism is displaying multiple disadvantages. The global governance system is undergoing profound changes. A new international order is being built. What’s wrong with the world? Where do humans go? These problems are distressing and confusing to politicians, scholars, and the general public all over the world. However, history has not ended. The practices in China have provided a completely new choice for solving the common problems of mankind. Today, as mankind is becoming a common community of destiny, the world has never been so concerned about China and so much in need of China. This has opened up a vast strategic space for us to adhere to peaceful development and gain advantages.”

“This historic period of opportunity encompasses all dimensions, not only in economic development but also in acceleration of the revolution in science and technology and industry, increasing the influence of Chinese culture. There are also more applause given to China’s wisdom and China’s programs. … From an internal point of view, China’s development has entered the stage of qualitative improvement after the accumulation of quantities and has progressed from a phase of rapid growth to a period of high-quality development. The Chinese wheels are now being driven out of the historical gorges and into the vast waters of the vast sea. From the perspective of the world, ‘a world of chaos’ is in stark contrast to ‘the orderly rule of China.’ The world’s eyes are moving eastward and the scenery of China has become the vision of more and more countries.”

Source: People’s Daily, January 185, 2018
http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrb/html/2018-01/15/nw.D110000renmrb_20180115_6-01.htm

Aboluowang published a commentary article in which it reported that any speculation that Xi Jinping might push for a term change during the upcoming central committee plenary session might have come from Jiang’s faction for the purpose of creating negative media trouble for Xi.

According to the article, the second plenary session of the 19th Party Central Committee will be held from Jan. 18 to 19 in Beijing. The major agenda of the meeting will be to make small changes in the constitution. A number of different media outlets, including Deutsche Welle, Bloomberg News, and Mingbao speculated that Xi Jinping might want to incorporate a change in the term limit for the Presidency into the constitution because he has apprehended large number of corrupt officials and, during his term, has touched the core interest of Jiang’s faction. Once his term ends, he and his family could face danger. However, based on Xinhua’s report that there will be a small change made to the constitution during the plenary session, it is unlikely that a change in the term limit will be made this time. It is likely that some additional “Xi Jinping Thought,” which was added into party constitution last year, could be included in the constitution this time. The Aboluowang commentary suggested that the Chinese Communist Party always plays black box politics and there has been no defined rule regarding its succession plan. There can be many different forms if one wishes to stay in power, just as how Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin continued to exercise their influence after they stepped down from their post. Currently Xi’s control over power is not yet complete. It is unlikely for him to push for a term change and invite more trouble for himself. Therefore the faction that Jiang leads could have made up much of the speculation out there in order to create negative media trouble for Xi.

Source: Aboluowang, January 14, 2018
http://www.aboluowang.com/2018/0114/1054494.html

In a recent news report, Duowei stated that the Marriott Hotel chain violated the Internet security and advertising law in China when it listed Taiwan, Macau, Taiwan, and Tibet as countries. The Shanghai Huangpu District Internet Information Office has, currently, placed the Marriott under investigation. According to the report, on January 9, the Marriott issued an apology on its official Weibo account saying it was a system error. On January 10, the Shanghai Huangpu District Internet Information Office issued a notice stating that they have met with the representatives of the Shanghai Marriott twice and requested it to take down the incorrect information from its website and cell phone apps immediately to “eliminate the negative influence.” According to Duowei news, in addition to the Marriott, the official websites of other luxury brands, including Audi, Cartier, Hermes, Burberry, and Armani also listed Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan as countries.

Source: Duowei News, January 10, 2018
http://news.dwnews.com/china/news/2018-01-10/60034755.html

The VOA “Media on China program” published an article on China’s surveillance capability. It refers to how China is just like the totalitarian society in the fiction story 1984 written by George Orwell in which “Big Brother” monitors every move, spoken word, and thought of all members of society while it uses the same monitor to broadcast its propaganda. Below is a partial translation of the article:

In the western world the law often prohibits the government from launching surveillance of its citizen. The government is not allowed to arrest or sentence its citizens using information that has been obtained illegally. In China the government can use its resources to monitor or arrest its citizens. To many people, China is best known for its Internet surveillance efforts because the resources that the Chinese government has invested in Internet surveillance surpass those of any other country in the world. China has the capability of monitoring its citizens 24 hours a day because it has the largest surveillance network in the world. In 2017, there was one surveillance camera for every eight citizens; by 2020 there will be one surveillance camera for every two citizens. These camera heads are equipped with the capability of facial recognition. With the help of tech companies such as Ten Cent, the Chinese authorities control and screen a large amount of surveillance information. We Chat, which Ten Cent developed, assists the Chinese authorities in censoring sensitive political information or social media while sharing the customer’s information with the police. Meanwhile people can no longer remain anonymous online. Starting in 2013, when the Chinese authorities required that every cell phone should be under each citizen’s real name, every We Chat account had to be linked to a cell phone number.

Source: Voice of America, January 3, 2018
https://www.voachinese.com/a/china-big-borther-comes-20180103/4191187.html

Southern Weekend, a Chinese media headquartered in Guangzhou of Guang Dong Province, published an article detailing how China’s state-owned enterprises (SOEs) carry out the (Communist) Party’s activities in their overseas operations. Below are excerpts from the article:

In order to reduce conflicts with local laws and policies, all Chinese enterprises have implemented corresponding measures to carry out Party development work.

CITIC Construction Co. Ltd. has established the working mechanism for overseas Party development of “internal persistence, not being open to the outside, differential treatment from the outside, and effective operations.” China Railway Group Co., Ltd. stipulates that the Party development work of internal staff can be centralized and should start after working hours and after the non-Chinese staff have left.

“Our overseas party building activities follow the principle of five non-disclosures,” said Cao Haixia, director of the party office of the PetroChina Great Wall Drilling Company. The five non-disclosures are, “Do not disclose anything about the Party’s organization, do not disclose the identity of the Party members, do not disclose the Party’s title, do not disclose the Party’s activities, and do not disclose the party’s documents.”

Southern Weekend found that many state-owned enterprises have clearly stipulated in their regulations on the work of Party development that the overseas Party development work generally upholds this “five non-disclosure” principle.

The Southern Weekend reporter learned that, with the deepening of the internationalization of state-owned enterprises, how to design the system for the overseas party-development of state-owned enterprises has become an important issue for the organizational departments and state-owned assets management departments at all levels.

At the end of 2016, the Central Government General Office transmitted the document “The Guiding Opinions of the Central Organization Department, the Party Committee of the SASAC of the State Council, the Party Committee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Party Group of the Ministry of Commerce on Strengthening the Party’s Development in State Enterprises’ Overseas Operations. In April and May 2017, Beijing SASAC twice carried out overseas investigations of grass-roots Party development in overseas projects under municipal SOEs. They believe that upholding the Party’s leadership over overseas enterprises is a principle issue of fundamental and directional significance.

Source: Southern Weekend, December 7, 2017
http://www.infzm.com/content/131334

Duowei News reported that, recently, China issued a number of documents demanding that the Party, the government organs, the schools, and other organizations prohibit any participation in activities related to Western religious festivals. A video clip on the Internet showed that China does not just prohibit “Christmas” and “Christmas Eve.” It topples all Christmas trees, and also organizes the students to swear, under oath, that they will not participate in Western festivals. The authorities claim that the move is aimed at strengthening traditional culture and enhancing cultural self-confidence.

Sources:
1. Duowei, December 24, 2017
http://news.dwnews.com/china/news/2017-12-24/60031553.html
2. Duowei, December 24, 2017
http://news.dwnews.com/china/news/2017-12-22/60031188.html