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Qiushi: The Party Does Not Allow Any Special Party Members

On September 1, 2015，Qiushi Journal, a mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, published an article in its 17th journal of 2015 titled, “The Party Does Not Allow Any Special Party Members.” On the same day, the article was reprinted on the Pengpai website and the Sohu website.

According to the article, “Some leading cadres” just do whatever they want to do. They view themselves as “Special Party Members” and do not follow the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee’s rules and policies. In particular, some leading cadres completely ignore the Party’s rules and political rules because of their authoritative power and their high positions.

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, warned the whole Party, “The Party will not allow any special Party members who are above the Party’s constitution and the Party’s organization.” “The fact that the CCP Central Committee has severely punished Zhou Yongkang, Bo Xilai, Guo Boxiong, Xu Caihou, Ling Jihua, and Su Rong [Editor’s note: All were members of the Jiang faction] demonstrates that tightening the Party’s discipline completely is not empty talk. The Party’s constitution is not a piece of blank paper. Within the Party, there must be no hiding place for corrupt officials and special Party members.” 

Source: Qiushi Journal (the original is not available online), September 1, 2015
http://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_1370485
http://star.news.sohu.com/20150901/n420205302.shtml

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Chiefs of Official Website of People’s Daily Arrested

On August 28, South China Morning Post reported that the CEO and the Deputy CEO of the People.CN website had been arrested for corruption investigations. People.CN is the official website of People’s Daily, which is the primary newspaper that speaks on behalf of the Communist Party. Several Mainland news channels also reported the event before the Supreme People’s Procuratorate issued the official announcement. For a period of time, this news was blocked from all Chinese news websites. People.CN is a publicly traded company. On the afternoon of August 25, the Shanghai Stock Exchange suspended its stock. According to the Supreme Procuratorate, the Henan Provincial People’s Procuratorate conducted the arrests and the investigations. The investigations are still underway. People’s Daily, as the controlling stockholder, has already nominated a new Board member for People.CN.
Source: South China Morning Post, August 28, 2015
http://www.nanzao.com/tc/national/14f722469bac12b/nei-mei-ren-min-wang-zong-cai-liao-hong-fu-zong-cai-chen-zhi-xia-bei-jian-fang-dai-zou-diao-cha
Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Global Times: Which Country Is the World’s Largest Democracy?

Global Times recently published a commentary written by Han Zheng, Party Secretary of Beijing Foreign Studies University, asserting that China is the world’s largest democracy instead of India, to whom the “media of the West" often attribute that same title. Han explained that it is a strategy of the West to classify China as a non-democratic country. He determined that the so-called democracy is a “historic social state” of the West to effectively maintain the capitalist system. Even the West has different types and forms of the so-called democracy. The West does not have the authority to judge which country is a democracy and which is not. Han said the Chinese political system is a true election-based system and big capital groups or special interest groups actually manipulate many so-called democratic countries in order to ensure that only a few political families inherit power. The commentary concluded that the Chinese system is the best fit for China’s domestic social structure and China is actually the largest democracy in the world.
Source: Global Times, August 27, 2015
http://opinion.huanqiu.com/opinion_world/2015-08/7361939.html
Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

China Formed First Alliance to Refute Rumors about Food Safety

Xinhua reported that, on August 28, the Chinese Alliance to Refute Rumors about Food Safety was formed in Beijing. The goal of the Alliance is to improve the overall image of Chinese food, build domestic and international branding, and promote global recognition of Chinese food. The responsibilities of the alliance include focusing on food safety issues; spreading scientific knowledge; safeguarding the image of the food industry; cleaning up online food safety rumors and promoting the healthy development of the Chinese food industry. According to the article, food safety rumors rank at the top of the list among the entire list of Internet rumors.

Source: Xinhua, August 28, 2015
http://news.xinhuanet.com/food/2015-08/28/c_128177544.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Senior Officials at the State’s Media, People’s Daily Online, Detained

Southern Weekend reported that the People’s Procuratorate detained Liao Hong, President and editor-in-chief of the state’s media, People’s Daily Online, for investigation.  An anonymous source indicated that the accusation against Liao was linked to the case of Xu Hui, a deputy editor at People.cn, who was placed under investigation last May for extortion and for accepting bribes from businesses. Xu allegedly took money from businesses so that no negative reports about their businesses would be published. Caijing.com reported separately that Chen Zhixia, Vice President of People’s Daily Online was also detained and placed under investigation. Webpages for both reports are no longer available. 

Source: Southern Weekend and Caijing reprinted by BBC Chinese, August 27, 2015 http://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/china/2015/08/150827_china_media_arrest
Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Internet Censorship Heightens as September 3 Draws Near

China Digital Times reported that the State Council Information Office ordered heightened Internet censorship for the period from August 23 through September 5, 2015, for online news and comments on China’s commemoration parade celebrating the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. The parade will take place on September 3, when Chinese leaders will review the troops. 

Specifically, all online postings of news and comments regarding the commemoration parade must be reviewed by the Internet content inspection staff before being released to the public. Only positive comments may be released. No negative comments on the military and on the parade can be released.  Comments “attacking” the Party, Communist China, the political system or Chinese leaders cannot be released. Further, there should be no comments posted that distort the history of the Party or of Communist China. Also prohibited are “comments that misguide” and “harmful information.”  Comments that praise the Party and military are required to be displayed in a prominent position. Point of contact information for the content inspection staff on duty at Internet companies must be reported and placed on file with the authorities. Internet companies are asked to “attach great importance” to this matter and to cooperate actively with the authorities. Those who do not fully implement the censorship “will be dealt with severely.” 
Source: China Digital Times, August 24, 2015
http://tinyurl.com/o2wymze

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

BBC Chinese: Posters for the Movie “The Cairo Declaration” Caused Controversy

BBC Chinese recently reported that the Chinese military owns the August First Film Studio which makes movies. The studio just released posters for its upcoming new movie The Cairo Declaration. The Cairo Summit was a major milestone event that governed the end of World War II in the Pacific region. U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and President of the Republic of China Chiang Kai-shek attended the Summit. Russian leader Stalin and Chinese Communist Party leader Mao Zedong did not participate. However the posters that the August First Film Studio distributed included both Stalin and Mao but not Chiang Kai-shek. This resulted in a large wave of debate across the Chinese Internet. Many netizens accused the government of once again attempting to misrepresent history and called for telling the true story behind the Cairo Declaration. The officials from the August First Film Studio explained that the movie was to cover all aspects of the Cairo Summit and that the Communist Party did play an important role in World War II.  

Source: BBC Chinese, August 2015
http://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/china/2015/08/150815_china_movie_cairo_declaration
Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

People Daily on Party Organization Development on College Campuses

People’s Daily published an article on the development of Party organizations in colleges in China. According to the article, by June 30, 2014, there were over 90,000 student organized Party branches and 90,000 faculty organized Party branches in colleges in China. The article stated that some college Party organizations lack activities and events to attract new members, while other colleges appoint those who don’t have “high credentials,” such as those with top academic ranking and education, as the leader for the Party branch office. Meanwhile, Party development work in colleges faces a new challenge as more and more young professors are Haigui [Chinese language slang term for Chinese people who have returned to mainland China after having studied abroad]. According to the article, “It is a new task for the Party in terms of how to develop Party members among the talented youth and the elite and to rally them around the party.” The article also mentioned a few colleges and shared their experiences on how they have developed Party members at the grass roots level on campus. 

Source: People’s Daily, August 23, 2015
http://edu.people.com.cn/n/2015/0823/c1006-27502078.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics