Government/Politics - 160. page

Xinhua reported that, on February 19, Xi Jinping visited three central news media: People’s Daily, Xinhua, and CCTV. Following his visit, Xi hosted a forum with the media workers. The article said that during the forum, Xi stressed several points: that the fundamental principal of the Party’s media work is to be persistent in the Party’s leadership over the media; that the media is the propaganda platform of the Party and the government; and that the media must serve the Party. In addition, Xi emphasized the importance of innovation and development in the areas of technology and contents, especially in the online area which is the news source for most of the younger generation. Xi also directed that China should build an elite class media group in order to improve China’s international discourse right overseas.

Source: Xinhua, February 22, 2016
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2016-02/22/c_128739415.htm

Starting this year, Xi Jinping has been communicating that officials must follow political rules. On February 6, the CCDI website published some of Xi Jinping’s quotes. Xi has commented that top leaders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) must also follow the "Party’s discipline and rules."

"Comrade Deng Xiaoping once said, ‘In China, who has the potential to make big mistakes? It is the CCP.’ Then in the Party, who has the potential to make a big mistake? I think it is the top officials."

"High-level cadres must have political sense, a sense of the big-picture, and a sense of responsibility. … They should absolutely not implement only partially or modify the Central Committee’s policies; absolutely not create their own ways to respond to the Central Committee’s policies; and absolutely not make [improper] comments about the Central Committee’s policies. In any situation, they should obey the Party’s discipline strictly and they should safeguard the Central Committee’s authority."

"How should we manage the Party strictly? We should start with the Politburo. … The whole Party is watching the Politburo. Whatever we ask the whole Party to do, the Politburo must do it first."

Source: CCDI website, February 6, 2016
http://www.ccdi.gov.cn/yw/201601/t20160126_73475.html

As a commentary on February 2, Hong Kong Phoenix published some quotes from the book Huangpuping: Where Should China’s Reform Head? The book’s author is Zhou Ruijin. Zhou wrote a series of commentaries on continuing the opening up and reform in order to promote Deng Xiaoping’s reform in the 1990s. He used the pen name "Huangpuping" (皇甫平). "Huangpuping" in Chinese is a homonym for "commentary from Shanghai." He was later promoted to Deputy Chief Editor of People’s Daily.

The Phoenix article criticized the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) propaganda work. "There are now some (bad) signs in our ideology work. We need to watch out for being "right" [too liberal], but most importantly, we should prevent being "left" [too rigid in Communist ideology]."

"We suggest ‘no debate’ in the field of ideology." "Protecting netizens’ rights to freedom of expression will, for sure, help our next round of development."

"Some cadres in the Party’s propaganda management department manage media as if they are managing a timetable for trains. They implant the administrative management approach into media management, directly intervening in the form and process of news reporting."

"During society’s transformation period, it is normal that there are different opinions and discussions in the field of ideology. We can only guide them, but not suppress them. Citizen’s freedom of speech, as defined by the Constitution, should be protected. The era of uniformity in media reporting is gone."

Source: Phoenix Online, February 2, 2016
http://i.ifeng.com/news/sharenews.f?aid=105897369&url_type=39&object_type=webpage&pos=1&fresh=1

On February 4, 2016, Xinhua reported that the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the General Office of State Council issued a new directive on retired officials. 

On February 4, 2016, The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) of the Chinese Communist Party published the findings of its third round of inspections, which involved 31 entities. Major problems uncovered included corruption, weakening of the Party’s leadership, and violations in personnel selection and placement. 

On January 25, 2016, Xinhua reported that, on August 29, 2015, before a national commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, President Xi Jinping signed an authorization of amnesty after whcih a total of 31,527 prisoners have been released.Xinhua reported that most of those released were juveniles when they committed their crimes.

Chinese media reported that, within the past five days, Putin criticized Lenin twice at public gatherings. Xinhua’s report mentioned that the Russian Communist Party rebutted Putin, but Chinese media made no comments.