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Security for Public Transportation in Beijing Is at Its Highest Level

Hours after the announcement that Zhou Yongkang was arrested, Xinhua reported that Beijing elevated the security level of its public transportation to the highest level. Anyone who refused to accept a security inspection would face penalties. 

According to Xinhua, each security checkpoint at an underground subway and at suburban railways is manned with four or five security personnel. Each station has security personnel providing on-site inspections. Security inspections are conducted every 15 to 20 minutes for the key parts of the subway such as trash bins. Around the clock, every bag is subject to a security check and whenever there is any suspicion, there will be a thorough security check. Security officers are conducting security checks on passengers at the bus stations and in the bus compartments. At the long distance bus stations, the recording of incoming passengers and the searches of incoming cargos has been tightened. 
Source: Xinhua, July 29, 2014 
http://news.xinhuanet.com/local/2014-07/29/c_1111852903.htm

People’s Daily: Zhou Yongkang Is Down; More to Go

Xinhua published a short announcement that Zhou Yongkang, former member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Politburo Standing Committee and former head of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee, was taken down by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI). This is the first time in the past 25 years that a Politburo Standing Committee member has been taken down publically.

After Xinhua’s announcement, People’s Daily Online published an article titled “People’s Daily Online Commentary: Hunting Down the ‘Big Tiger’ Zhou Yongkang Is Not the End of the Anti-Corruption Work.” The article stated, “There is no end point for tightening the Party’s discipline. Nor will the anti-corruption campaign stop. Hunting down Zhou Yongkang is definitely not the end of the anti-corruption [work]. It is a phase [of the work]. Whoever is corrupt will be punished next, in the same way.”

This article was later removed from the People’s Daily website. However, the link is still available in Google search results. A copy of the article is available on NetEase.

Sources:
1. Xinhua, July 29, 2014
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2014-07/29/c_1111853756.htm
2. NetEast, July 29, 2014
http://news.163.com/14/0729/19/A2BGVE0C00014JB6.html

Boxun: Flight Cancellations and Military Drills Related to Zhou Yongkang Takedown

According to Boxun on July 30, 2014, the recent unusual cancellation of the majority of flights between Beijing and Shanghai without advance warning, the military drills over the East China Sea, and the Air Traffic Control’s announcement about a large number of civil aviation flight cancellations on July 30 are all related to Zhou Yongkang’s takedown. Zhou Yongkang was a former Politburo Standing Committee member of the Chinese Communist Party and the former domestic security chief. On July 30, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CCP announced that Zhou was under investigation for "serious disciplinary violations."

Boxun said that military drills were preparation for deterring the possible bounce back of Zhou Yongkang and his supporters and the large number of civil aircraft cancelations was done in order to prevent officials from fleeing. 

Source: Boxun, July 30, 2014
http://boxun.com/news/gb/china/2014/07/201407300558.shtml#.U9kjF86TKSp

Ministry of National Defense: Military Exercises Are Not the Major Cause of Flight Delays

People’s Daily reported that a notice that the the Ministry of National Defense issued stated that the PLA will conduct its annual military exercises along the Southeast coast starting on July 29. According to the Information Office of National Defense, the impact of the military exercises on the commercial flight schedule has been limited and has not been a major cause of the recent flight delays; it was mainly weather conditions that caused these flight delays. [Editor’s note: Signs posted at Shanghai’s two main airports indicated that recent flights had been delayed or cancelled because of an unspecified “other user” of the airspace conducting exercises in the area.]

Source: People’s Daily, July 27, 2014
http://military.people.com.cn/n/2014/0727/c1011-25349596.html

People’s Daily: Commentary on Intensive Visits That Members of the Standing Committee Made in July

People’s Daily published an article that reported the comments from experts on the intensive visits that members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau made to a number of different regions during July. The article said that those visits were an indication that the political bureau is gathering firsthand information to prepare for the upcoming fourth plenary session of the Party’s 18th Central Committee. According to the article, the fact that all the visits they made to these sites included stops at the local manufacturing companies indicated that the members were evaluating the effectiveness of the economic stimulus plan that the central administration had initiated. Meanwhile, the article suggested that the visits to the Ningxia autonomous region and Gansu and Fujian Provinces could indicate that the central administration might speed up of the development of the “Silk Road economic belt and the 21st-century maritime Silk Road” strategy. Lastly the article said the fact that more visits were made to the regions that had minority nationalities was a sign that the central administration intends to improve the living standard in these areas in order to minimize ethnic conflicts.

Source: People’s Daily, July 25, 2014
http://politics.people.com.cn/n/2014/0725/c1026-25344645.html

Senior Chinese Official on Trial over Election Vote Buying

On July 24, 2014, the Beijing Second Intermediate People’s Court held a public hearing on negligence charges lodged against Tong Mingqian, the former vice chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference of Hunan Province, in relation to a major election fraud scandal. 

During the Hunan provincial elections in 2013, as the Party secretary of Hengyang City in Hunan, Tong "did not carry out his duties properly and he did not take timely and effective measures to investigate and handle cases of bribery that were exposed before and after the election." The 596 officials, as well as the 749 People’s Congress representatives in Hunan, resigned or were dismissed. Of those, 466 were reprimanded or disciplined. The Hunan Provincial Procuratorate Office investigated 68 and 50 of them were later charged. 
Sources: 
Xinhua, July 24, 2014 
http://news.xinhuanet.com/legal/2014-07/24/c_1111781506.htm 
The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China, June 19, 2014 http://www.ccdi.gov.cn/xwyw/201406/t20140619_24314.html

The CCP Is Worried about Chinese Intellectuals’ Distrust of China’s Political System

On July 22, 2014, Qiushi Theory, a periodical on political theory run by the Chinese Communist Party Central Party School and the CCP Central Committee, criticized Chinese intellectuals in China’s academia (for example in the fields of economics, law, political science, sociology, and international relations) for their agreement with Western constitutional democracy and universal values. The article asserted that those intellectuals do not have confidence in China’s socialist road and China’s political system because they do not have a sufficient understanding of China and Marxism. However, China needs a large group of researchers to develop a Chinese Discourse System in order to tell China’s stories and spread China’s voice around the world. Therefore a wake-up call is needed to awaken most of the intellectuals in the ideological field and call on them to summarize, categorize, and beautify the “Chinese style discourse system” so as to spread it among the international mainstream discourse system and eventually turn it into the authoritative national voice of China.

Source: Qiushi Theory, July 22, 2014
http://www.qstheory.cn/wp/2014-07/22/c_1111732295.htm

China Is Developing Special Chinese Discourse System to Promote China around the World

On July 23, 2014, People’s Daily published an article on the development of a “Chinese discourse system.” The 3rd Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (Nov. 9 to 12, 2013, in Beijing) stressed the need to develop “a discourse system” for foreign affairs and international relations so as to “tell China’s story and spread China’s voice" skillfully.

According to the article, the original Marxism and contemporary Chinese Marxism are the theoretical basis and the guidelines for the development of the Chinese Discourse System. Selected portions of the ancient Chinese culture are the “rich nutritious sources” for the Chinese Discourse System. China’s dream of national rejuvenation (the China Dream) and the practice of socialism with Chinese characteristics are the foundation and root of the Chinese Discourse System.

Source: People’s Daily, July 23, 2014
http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrb/html/2014-07/23/nw.D110000renmrb_20140723_2-07.htm
http://www.qstheory.cn/zhuanqu/zywz/2014-07/23/c_1111749353.htm