Government/Politics - 134. page

Radio Free Asia reported that, on Friday June 23, following a change in the internal coaching lineup when Liu Guoliang was removed as the chief coach of the Chinese national table tennis team, several male table tennis players suddenly announced that they decided to drop out of the 2017 International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Tour Platinum China Open which was held in Chengdu China from June 22-25. They cited that “they have no desire to compete because they missed their Coach, Liu Guoliang.” It was reported that the athletes were also banned from using any social media one hour prior to the announcement of the coaching line up. These athletes faced harsh criticism from the General Administration of Sports. Nevertheless, the news spread immediately over the social media. Even though the official sports channel CCTV5 closed its online commentary posting capability, by Friday evening, the news had been forwarded close to 20,000 times. Many people questioned why Liu was taken down from the Chief Coach post and some people directly criticized the Administration of Sports for its bureaucracy and letting “an amateur manage an expert”.

Source: Radio Free Asia, June 24, 2017
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/Xinwen/3-06242017125538.html

On June 17, Radio Free Asia published an article reporting that Beijing has tightened its control over municipal employees traveling overseas. The rule no longer applies only to Party officials and military personnel but has also been expanded to include public servants as well as all management levels in State Owned Enterprises, especially in the banking industry. The purpose of the new rule is to prevent officials from taking their money overseas and fleeing China. The article quoted a comment from a businessman who stated that all of his friends had to turn in their passports. The regulation will not work on certain members of the elite class because they can use their connections to obtain fake IDs. The article stated that the restrictions on Party officials traveling overseas started over 10 years ago. Based on the evidence from criminal cases, it is quite common for the Party officials to own multiple Chinese passports or even foreign passports.

Source: Radio Free Asia, June 17, 2017
http://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/officer-06172017105356.html

July 1 will be the twentieth anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to China. The Democratic Party in Hong Kong held a forum on June 11 to discuss the “One Country, Two Systems” situation in Hong Kong.

Wu Chi-wai, the Chairman of the Democratic Party said, “From the 2014 (Beijing’s) People’s Congress’ whitepaper on implementing the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ in Hong Kong to the speech that Zhang Dejiang (Chairman of the People’s Congress) gave recently, you can see that the central government has a general goal: to use a series of approaches to effect the gradual conversion of the hidden powers (of the central government), as defined in the Basic Law, into truly effective, clear, standardized, and enforceable powers (for the central government). This is having a big impact on (the principles of) ‘One Country, Two Systems’ that ‘Hongkongese rely on to manage Hong Kong’ and its ‘High-degree of self-determination.’”

Wu expressed that C.Y. Leung has long been claiming a severe “Hong Kong Independence” issue. This has given the Communist Regime in China an excuse to interfere in Hong Kong’s internal affairs.

Sources:

1. YouTube, June 11, 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-Ng-QQXCdg, June 11, 2017
2. New Tang Dynasty TV, June 14, 2017
http://www.ntdtv.com/xtr/gb/2017/06/14/a1329003_p.html

Apple Daily published an article expressing concern about freedom of the press in Hong Kong. According to the article, companies from the mainland, such as TVB and the South China Morning Post have been buying out Hong Kong media, suggesting that Beijing has slowly been gaining control over Hong Kong media. At the same time, cases have been reported in which reporters (independent of the mainland) have been attacked; key proprietors of a bookstore in Hong Kong have been arrested; and unusual organizational changes within the media have taken place. The article quoted an interview of the president of the Hong Kong Reporter’s Association who pointed out that some publishers have withdrawn certain outspoken columns or shifted the editorial direction through organizational restructuring.

Based on the statistics that Reporters without Borders has published, the freedom of the press index for Hong Kong media dropped from 18th in 2002 to 73rd in 2017. Out of 26 mainstream media in Hong Kong, companies from the mainland own at least eight to 31 percent of them.

Source: Apple Daily, June 6, 2017
http://hk.apple.nextmedia.com/news/art/20170606/20045536

The story of Guo Wengui (郭文贵), a Chinese business tycoon who has been hiding in the U.S., now has a new episode. Guo fled from China because he feared being arrested for bribing officials. Once he came to the U.S., on multiple occasions, including in a VOA interview, Guo revealed the corruption of top level officials.

Guo accused Pan Shiyi (潘石屹), founder and Chairman of SOHO China, the largest prime office real estate developer in China, of bribing officials. Guo also accused Hu Shuli (胡舒立), Editor-in-Chief of Caixin media, which has published several articles exposing Guo’s bad deeds, of bribery and of having indecent relationships with high-ranking officials.

In New York in April, Hu Shuli filed a lawsuit against Guo for defaming her. In May, Pan Shiyi also filed a case against Guo in New York.

Guo claimed that he has a good relationship with an “old cadre.” Many people believe that “old cadre” refers to Zeng Qinghong, a former top Chinese Communist Party (CCP) official and the right-hand man of Jiang Zemin (the CCP’s former top leader).

Source: Sing Tao Daily, June 4, 2017
http://toronto.singtao.ca/1794955/2017-06-04/post-潘石屹胡舒立告郭文貴誹謗/?variant=zh-cn

On May 31, Xinhua published an article which stated that, by June 2018, the military and the armed police will complete a plan to stop providing paid services. According to the article, the Ministry of the Military issued the initial notice in February 2016. The execution of the plan was divided into two phases. The first phase is easier to carry out and will be completed by June 2017. It involves areas such as childhood education, the press, culture and sports, telecommunications, training, construction, transportation, equipment maintenance for the militia, maintenance, and driver’s training. The second phase includes real estate leasing, agriculture, hotels, medical services, and research science. These areas are more difficult to execute because they tend to involve long term contracts, large investments, and a number of interest groups. The target date for the second phase is June 2018. The article quoted a comment from a professor from National Defense University. He stated that some paid services have become a major source of financing for certain units and some may not quite understand why this policy is being implemented. It is expected that through more communication and persuasion all units will cooperate in order to move the project forward.

Source: Xinhua, May 31, 2017
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2017-05/31/c_1121063266.htm