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Xinhua: Xi Jinping Met with HK Chief Executive Chun-ying Leung

Xinhua recently reported that Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Hong Kong Chief Executive Chun-ying Leung on December 23, 2015. Leung was visiting Beijing for a debriefing. In this meeting, Xi emphasized that, in recent years, Hong Kong’s “one country, two systems” policy faced “a new situation.” He made clear that the central government is “unflinching” on this policy and will “comprehensively and accurately” ensure that the practice of this policy will not suffer “deviation or deformation.” Xi added that this established policy will “always advance following the right direction.” In the meeting, Xi also pointed out that developing the economy, maintaining stability, and promoting harmony are the common aspirations of the people of Hong Kong. Those should also be the primary tasks for the Hong Kong government to work on. He expected the government to unite the communities in Hong Kong and safeguard social and political stability in the city.
Source: Xinhua, December 23, 2015
http://news.xinhuanet.com/mrdx/2015-12/24/c_134946317.htm
Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Guangming Daily: Are China and Russia Partners or Allies?

Guangming Daily, a newspaper directly affiliated with the Publicity Department of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee, published a lengthy article on China’s relations with Russia. The article’s English version appeared in the January/February 2016 issue of Foreign Affairs.  The author is Fu Ying, China’s former ambassador to the Philippines, Australia, and the U.K., who currently serves as chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National People’s Congress. Guangming Daily received the exclusive authorization from Fu to publish the full, translated Chinese text.

Fu reviewed the several occasions between the end of the nineteenth century and the middle of the twentieth century, when China entered into an alliance with the Russian empire or its successor, the Soviet Union. Each time, the arrangement proved short-lived, as each amounted to nothing more than an expediency between countries of unequal strength. 
It was not until 1989 that the two countries restored normalcy to their relations. Two years later, the Soviet Union disintegrated but Chinese-Russian relations carried on based on the principle of “no alliance, no conflict, and no targeting any third country.” In 1992, China and Russia announced that each would regard the other as a “friendly country” and issued a joint political statement stipulating that “the freedom of people to choose their own development path should be respected, while differences in social systems and ideologies should not hamper the normal progress of relations.” 
Fu noted that differences still exist between the two countries. She gave, as an example, that despite the resolution of the border issue, Chinese commentators sometimes make critical references to the nearly 600,000 square miles of Chinese territory that tsarist Russia annexed in the late nineteenth century. 
Fu also took stock of where things stand between China and the U.S. given that relations between China, Russia, and the U.S. are intertwined. Chinese president Xi Jinping remarked during his state visit to the U.S. last September that, "If China develops well, it will benefit the whole world and benefit the United States. If the United States develops well, it will also benefit the world and China." Fu went on to claim that Chinese leaders attribute much of their country’s rapid ascent to China’s successful integration into the world economy. 
Refuting suggestions from some scholars in China and elsewhere that, if the United States insists on imposing bloc politics on the region, China and Russia should consider responding by forming a bloc of their own, Fu argued that the Chinese leadership does not approve of such arguments. China does not pursue blocs or alliances; nor do such arrangements fit comfortably with Chinese political culture. Russia does not intend to form such a bloc, either. China and Russia should stick to the principle of partnership rather than build an alliance. As for China and the United States, they should continue pursuing a new model of major-country relations and allow dialogue, cooperation, and management of differences to prevail. 
Sources: Guangming Daily, December 23, 2015 
http://epaper.gmw.cn/gmrb/html/2015-12/23/nw.D110000gmrb_20151223_2-16.htm 
Foreign Affairs, January/February 2016, pp. 96-105
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/china/2015-12-14/how-china-sees-russia

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Global Times: China Voted against UN Resolution on North Korean Human Rights Violations

Global Times recently reported that the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution condemning North Korea’s long term human rights violations. China was one of 19 countries that voted against the resolution. Cuba, Russia and Syria also voted against it. Earlier, China voted in the Security Council against including this issue as an agenda item for the General Assembly to consider, but that vote did not include a veto power. Representatives from the United States, South Korea, and Japan expressed their serious disagreement with the notion that the human rights issue has nothing to do with international peace and security. UN Deputy Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein both maintained that North Korea’s large-scale, continuous, and systematic violations of human rights have been a major security concern in that region. Two refugees from North Korea were present at the UN and told the General Assembly about three generations of tragic suffering. 
Source: Global Times, December 18, 2015
http://world.huanqiu.com/article/2015-12/8204723.html
Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Former Party Secretary of Ministry of Culture Voiced His Reflections on the Cultural Revolution

Starting on December 9, Yu Youjun, a former government official who is now a professor at Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, gave a series of lectures in which he reflected on the Cultural Revolution. He started on December 9 and planned to finish the 8-session lecture by December 25. However, he shortened it to 7 sessions, which he completed by December 16, because he needed to go to Beijing once he finished.

This lecture is a rare public discussion on the Cultural Revolution in China. In the past, this has been a taboo topic and no one has dared to voice any criticism.

The Paper, a media with close ties to Wang Qishan, Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) published a lengthy report on Yu’s lecture, but it was later removed. The following is based on Phoenix Online’s republication of the article.

What made this lecture a high-profile event is Yu Youjun’s background. He was a minister-level official, holding top positions in Guangdong, Hunan Province, and Shanxi Province. He served as the Party Secretary and Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Culture from 2007 to 2008. In Yu’s words, "I want to (make this) low-profile but I can’t."

Though the lecture was limited to students and professors in the university, a lot of people came and Yu had to move from a classroom to the auditorium to accommodate the audience.

Yu stated, "The evil spirit of the ‘Cultural Revolution’ is still looming, eroding the body of the people and the Party …"

Yu gave a set of statistical numbers to show the damage that the Cultural Revolution had done:

– According to incomplete statistics, 17.2 percent, or 2.3 million, of the 12 million total officials in China had been investigated.

– 16.7 percent, or 30,000, officials of the central state organs and ministries had been investigated. 75 percent of officials with the rank of deputy minister or higher or deputy provincial governor level were investigated or taken down. 80,000 people in the military were persecuted.

– The economic loss was 500 billion yuan (U.S. $79 billion), which is equal to 80 percent of the sum of China’s total infrastructure investment from 1949 to 1976. That sum exceeds the amount of the total fixed national assets for the same nearly 30 years.

– There was little or no increase in people’s living standard during the ten years of the Cultural Revolution. In 1966, each person could receive 189.5 kg of rice or wheat, 1.7 kg of oil, and 7 kg of pork for consumption. In 1976, the corresponding numbers were 190.5 kg, 1.6 kg, and 7.2 kg.

In Yu’s view, "to assess Cultural Revolution from the perspective of the results it brought to China, there is only one sentence – (We) must negate it generally and fundamentally."

Source: Phoenix Online, December 20, 2015
http://news.ifeng.com/a/20151220/46757474_0.shtml

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

China to Tighten Supervision of Law Enforcement

On December 16, 2015, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate (SPC) issued a directive to fully implement and standardize inspection and supervision of law enforcement involving criminal sentences. 

According to the directive, the police as well as law enforcement personnel in courts, prisons, detention centers, community corrective institutions, and other places involved in criminal sentences will be criminally pursued for violating of the rules. Also included are those who obtain confessions through torture; conduct illegal searches; accept bribes when conducting investigations; illegally deprive or limit the personal freedom of individuals joining the litigation; illegally seize or freeze assets; meet privately with litigious parties, their relatives, and interested parties; fabricate legal documents; bully convicts and their relatives, refuse their legal rights, or accepting money and gifts from them; ignore or cover up misconduct in sentence implementation or who abuse their power to influence commutation outcomes. 
Source: China’s Supreme People’s Procuratorate Website, December 16, 2015
http://www.spp.gov.cn/gjybs/201512/t20151217_109493.shtml
Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Beijing Court Commutes Death Sentences of Gu Kailai and Liu Zhijun to Life in Prison

On December 15, 2015, Beijing’s High People’s Court decided that Gu Kailai, wife of an imprisoned former corrupt higher official (Bo Xilai), will no longer have to die for having murdered British businessman Neil Heywood due to the fact that she did not deliberately commit any crimes during the two years she was in prison. In August 2012, Gu received a death sentence with a two-year reprieve. The court commuted her sentence to life in prison.

The Beijing High People’s Court has also pardoned another suspended death penalty prisoner, Liu Zhijun, China’s ex-railway minister, for his obedient behavior in prison. In 2011, Liu was arrested on corruption charges after 40 people died and 192 were injured in the Wenzhou train collision. The court commuted Liu’s death sentence to life in prison.

[Editor’s note: Bo Xilai, Gu Kailai, and Liu Zhijun were followers of Jiang Zemin, the former top leader of the Chinese Communist Party and the People’s Republic of China.]

Sources, People’s Daily and QQ.com, December 15 and December 14, 2015
http://politics.people.com.cn/n1/2015/1215/c1001-27929045.html
http://news.qq.com/a/20151214/036226.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

VOA: Why Does the Chinese Government Support This Controversial Public Dancing?

Since 1999, when the Communist China started to suppress popular Qigong meditation exercises, the authorities have been promoting a new type of exercise called “Square Dancing” in China. The purpose was to replace Qigong. The songs and music that loudly accompany the dancing are revolutionary red songs which were popular during the ten year period of the Cultural Revolution and which had the effect of brainwashing people with Communist ideas and fervor. The children and young people during the Cultural Revolution period are now old people. Many elderly Chinese women love to dance in masses every evening in public squares in tune with the thundering red songs.  

On December 12, 2015, a group of men had a big fight with a group of what has come to be called the “square dancing grannies” in Shanghai. The men refused the women’s demand to move away their cars, which were parked next to the restaurant. Several square dancing grannies were injured.

The high volume of noise from the square dances severely disturbs the nearby residents’ daily life. Few people want to buy the residential apartments near the places where the grannies hold their square dancing, even at the reduced price of 120,000 Chinese yuan (US$18,510) lower than the regular price.

In March of 2015, the Chinese authorities decided to set up guidelines to regulate square-dancing across the country, such as the dance movements, permissible times, and the volume of music. However, the authorities still encourage Square Dancing, even though more and more people find its craziness annoying.  

Sources: VOA, Guangming Daily, 163.com, March – December of 2015
http://www.voachinese.com/content/VOAWeishi-ProandCon-20150911-why-does-the-chinese-government-support-the-controversial-public-dancing/2959820.html
http://www.voachinese.com/content/chinese-government-20150323/2694360.html
http://edu.gmw.cn/2015-12/10/content_18048284.htm
http://view.163.com/special/reviews/commiedance0424.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

BBC: Alibaba’s Purchase of SCMP Raises Concerns over Press Freedom

BBC Chinese reported on its website that the Hong Kong Journalist Association (HKJA) had concerns that press freedom in Hong Kong will be further compromised when China’s Internet giant Alibaba takes control of the South China Morning Post (SCMP). 

In a public letter to SCMP readers, Joseph Tsai, Alibaba’s Executive Vice-chairman, noted SCMP‘s unique strength is its focus on China. It draws attention from anyone who hopes to know about China, which is the number two economy in the world. 
Tsai refuted questions about editorial independence after Alibaba’s acquisition of SCMP. He claimed that such a question itself demonstrates bias. He stressed that China’s economic rise and its role in stabilizing the world is too important to be covered by a single point of view. In a subsequent media interview, Tsai went on to say that he wants SCMP to "spread" a different angle about China, "The current news coverage of China is neither complete nor healthy because all of the media carry the western angle. That is one of many angles. I hope that we can use another angle — a more objective angle — to study China." 

The HKJA noted that a professional media should employ the universal values of human rights, equality, and the rule of law in its reporting on any country. It raised the concern that Tsai’s talk of "a different angle about China" may foreshadow further restrictions on SCMP’s reporting on China and further compromise press freedom in Hong Kong. In his interview, Tsai also outlined plans to change SCMP‘s paid online content so that it would be freely accessible. 
Sources: BBC Chinese website, December 11, 2015
http://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/china/2015/12/151211_hk_press_scmp_statement 
SCMP Chinese website, December 11, 2015 
http://www.nanzao.com/tc/business/1519139d9cba375/a-li-ba-ba-shou-gou-nan-hua-zao-bao-dui-hua-a-li-fu-dong-shi-chang-cai-chong-xin

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics