Government/Politics - 193. page

On November 26, 2014 when the Hong Kong Occupy Central Campaign entered its 60th day, riot police clashed with protesters as policemen were clearing the protest site. Several student leaders were arrested, including Joshua Wong Chi-fung, the founder of the Hong Kong student activist group called Scholarism and Lester Shum, the deputy secretary-general of the Hong Kong Federation of Students. From Tuesday November 25 to Wednesday November 26, during the clean-up operation, police arrested 116 protesters.

Source: Reuters, November 26, 2016
http://cn.reuters.com/article/cnBizNews/idCNL3S0TG1P820141126

Xinhua published an article listing the reasons that Party members must constantly maintain a sense of crisis. According to the article, the Party has always been dealing with complicated and arduous situations both domestically and internationally. It said that after the Party took power from the Nationalist Party, it had to solve such domestic problems as feeding the people while constantly dealing with threats and embargos that the U.S. directed from the West. Now, even though China has achieved advanced economic improvement, the Party should remain humble because it still faces different types of issues that have arisen due to economic reform. The article also said that the Party has suffered losses due to complacency but has also had success stories from overcoming complacency. It must continue its tradition of guarding against conceit and complacency in this new historical era. The article also quoted a speech that Xi Jinping gave during the "mass line" campaign at the grassroots level, saying that, if the Party can’t succeed, it will face the danger of elimination.

Source: Xinhua, November 23, 2014
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2014-11/23/c_1113365498.htm

On November 19, 2014, People’s Daily published a news report on a new anti-corruption policy. It was based on a speech that Wang Qishan, who is a member of the Chinese Communist Party Politburo Standing Committee, the head of the CCP Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, and the leader of the CCP Central Commission Inspection Patrol Group delivered on November 18. Wang said that the next phase of the anti-corruption patrol (or tour) inspection will shift to specific targets. It will target only one issue, one person, one subordinate workplace of a project or one particular fund. Unlike the regular tour inspection, the target-focused tour investigation must have a clear objective, follow the elements of a problem, focus on the problem, stress the important matters, and dig deeply into the problem.

Approved by the CCP Central Committee, the third round in 2014 of the nationwide inspection tour will focus on the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, China’s Association for Science and Technology, the All-China Federation of Industry & Commerce, China Radio International, China Southern Airlines, China State Shipbuilding Corporation, China Unicom, the China Shipping Group, China Huadian Corporation, Dongfeng Motors, the Shenhua Group, and Sinopec.

Source: People’s Daily, November 19, 2014
http://politics.people.com.cn/n/2014/1119/c1024-26049971.html

Huanqiu reported that, on November 18, the Hong Kong government cleared the barriers at Admiralty, a site where Occupy Central protesters had been stationed.

The article stated "clearing the [Occupy Central] site is what the public wanted. Some commentaries said that, not only did the majority of Hong Kong’s citizens want the students to retreat completely, but the students also wanted the government to clear the site so that they can take it as a step calling for them to retreat."

Huanqiu interviewed a Beijing University professor who gave three reasons for the clearing at Admiralty to have gone smoothly. The first was that the overseas democracy promoters suggested the "Occupy Central" activists not have a conflict but instead plan for a long-term struggle. Second, the "Occupy Central" activists realized that the "Occupy Central" [movement] had reached a hopeless stage. Third, the court staff performed the site clearing. They represent the law and if the "Occupy Central" activists resisted, they would "nakedly" (without any coverage) have violated the law.

Source: Huanqiu Online, November 19, 2014
http://china.huanqiu.com/article/2014-11/5207114.html

Guangming Daily published an abstract from a research paper written by Yang Guangbin, head of Institute of Comparative Politics and Economics at Renmin University. In the abstract, Yang stated that the future of the world will consist of different forms of conflict between democratic countries. Yang pointed out that democracy is the main cause of the world’s political conflicts and such conflicts often involve fighting and bloodshed. Yang said that it is very important to take another look at the contents of democracy and its inner meaning.

Source: Guangming Daily, November 15, 2014
http://theory.gmw.cn/2014-11/15/content_13846454.htm

On November 6, People’s Daily published a commentary that stated, "The second round of the Central Inspection Team’s Tour found that factions are a common phenomenon in many places."

The article criticized this common practice among officials in China. "Party members and cadres should remember that forming factions, providing benefits to officials, making decisions that follow one’s own way, or openly endorsing something while secretly objecting to it, are all not allowed in the Party. Cadres should understand that the ‘true protection’ [for themselves] is not ‘which line they take,’ ‘which circle they belong to,’ or ‘whose people they are.’"

[Editor’s note: Wang Qishan initiated the Central Inspection Team’s Tour as part of the anti-corruption campaign. Wang, to support Xi Jinping, has taken down many officials, including both high-ranking officials ("tigers") and low-level officials ("flies"). Many of these officials are from the faction of Jiang Zemin, former head of the Chinese Communist Party.]

Source: People’s Daily, November 6, 2014
http://cpc.people.com.cn/pinglun/n/2014/1106/c78779-25983172.html

Beijing’s leaders put in place the maximum possible measures to ensure their capital’s skies were clean for the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) summit from November 5 to November 11, 2014. The sky in Beijing did turn blue (called APEC blue in China) for a few days until November 10, when smog crept back again. Beijing then exercised its final step to "monitor" the air pollution by censoring the data of the PM2.5 danger level on the U.S. Embassy website in Beijing, which would have showed “unhealthy” if not censored. On the evening of November 10 (air pollution data censorship night), Beijing staged massive fireworks displays. The launching devices were placed in the range of a radius of 2.5 km to entertain foreign leaders.

During the APEC summit, almost every area of ordinary Chinese people’s daily lives were affected:

• Factories were closed and/or restrictions were placed on manufacturing in six provinces.
• No heat was provided or allowed for ordinary people in Beijing and Tianjin. Even gas for cooking ran out because the large vehicles that were used for gas delivery were restricted. Fresh milk delivery also stopped.
• Half of Beijing’s cars (single or double digits of license plates in turn) were barred from the streets in Beijing.
• Burning was absolutely illegal including no frying fritters outdoors and no burning of funeral incense, straws, leaves, or waste in Beijing and in the surrounding areas. One guard was placed on duty for every 100 mu of land (1 mu = 66,666.67 square meters) and stood ready to extinguish any possible flames in Baoding city.  
• One week of mandatory holidays was put in place and schools were closed.
• Six cities and provinces held daily air quality and monitoring meetings during the APEC period. If any companies did not take enough action to ensure the sky was blue, the responsible leaders were punished, detained and/or fined.

Source: Cankaoxiaoxi, Epoch Times, Hong Kong Economic Journal Instant News, Radio Free Asia and Huanqiu, October 30 – November 12, 2014
http://china.cankaoxiaoxi.com/2014/1030/546603.shtml
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/14/11/10/n4292070.htm
http://www2.hkej.com/instantnews/current/article/930895/
http://mandarin.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/huanjing/yf2-11112014101530.html
http://world.huanqiu.com/photo/2014-11/2752046.html
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/14/11/12/n4293731.htm