Government/Politics - 214. page

During a recent interview with Portrait Magazine, Feng Xiaogang, a famous movie director and the chief director of the 2014 CCTV Chinese New Year Gala, said that he was not able to inject his personal style into the 2014 Chinese New Year Gala when he was the chief director. Feng said during the interview that “No matter what you wish to do, they always want you to follow their protocol. They claim that we must make the public happy. That is sheer nonsense. The prerequisite for the general public to be happy is that you must make the leaders happy because if the leadership is not happy, the public will not even get to see anything.” Feng also disclosed that the reason that he took this position this year was simply to return a favor he owed for the “Back to 1942” movie he directed in 2012.

[Editor’s Note: The CCTV New Year’s Gala also known as the Spring Festival Gala and commonly referred to by the abbreviation Chunwan (春晚), is a Chinese New Year special produced by China Central Television shown on the eve of the Chinese New Year. The program was criticized as having subtle political enhancements to glorify the progress China made under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party. Since it was launched in 1983, the viewership of the program has continued to decline year after year.

Source: Xinhua, February 22, 2014
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2014-02/22/c_126174516.htm
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CCTV_New_Year%27s_Gala

Qiushi Theory (Seeking Truth) a bi-monthly periodical on political theory published by the Central Party School and the Central Committee of the Communist Party circulated an article stating that cyberspace security has become the major battleground between China and the U.S. The article predicted that, in the next five to 10 years, China will shift from being in a defensive position to gaining control and dominance in cyberspace security.

According to the article, the U.S. currently leads the world in Internet infrastructure; the U.S. is the most competitive [country] in the Internet industry and it is the most powerful in cyber warfare. According to the article, the U.S. is also the only country in the world that has the capacity to be aggressive in its cyberspace strategy, even though it claims its strategy is a defensive type.

The article also pointed out that the U.S. utilizes its discourse right to frame China as the cyber attacker but neglects to mention that the U.S. is the origin of cyber attacks and has the largest base for cyber attackers. It pointed out that the U.S. dominates in cyberspace infrastructure including the root name server and IP name server. Both of these are under the control of the U.S. government, while U.S. companies have the absolute advantage of dominance as the supplier in building Internet infrastructure.

The article anticipated that the dominance of cyberspace will shift to China due to the fact that China’s netizen population is three times that of the U.S. The main task for China is to finish improving its cyberspace security defense strategy. The article concluded that China also has an urgent need to finalize its top level national strategy so that it fits China’s capabilities and its growth trend. At the same time, it must come up with the proper strategy and wisdom to face competition in the cyberspace industry and in the media war.

Source: Qiushi Theory, February 22, 2014
http://www.qstheory.cn/zz/wwtj/201402/t20140220_322880.htm

Xinhua reported that a Mr. Zhou was taken into custody because he forwarded an online message that a doctor in Yichang City, Hubei Province died of bird flu. 

On January 27, 2014, Study Times, a journal of the Party School of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, published an article on how to ensure the voice of authority of the Chinese Communist Party’s publications. According to the article, the Party’s publications must promote all kinds of achievements, lead the diverse social thought trend with the socialist core value system, and have the courage to face and actively respond to social hot spots and emergencies so as to lead public opinion. Internationally, the Party’s publications must create new concepts and new expressions that both China and the West accept and they must propagandize China and the Chinese Communist Party around the world.

“The essential attribute of the Party’s publications is to uphold the Party’s principles and lead public opinion. As for the management system, the organizations of the Party’s publications must be important departments of the Party and the government. In terms of the propaganda content, the Party’s publications must mainly promote the Party’s theories, the Party’s line, the Party’s principles, the Party Central Committee’s important decisions and plans, and the Party Central Committee’s major analyses and judgments on (China’s and the world’s) situation. Politically, [the Party’s publications] must maintain a high level of consistency with the Party’s Central Committee and resolutely safeguard the authority of the Central Committee. As for staffing, most news propaganda workers must become determined Marxists.”

Source: Study Times, January 27, 2014
http://www.studytimes.com.cn/shtml/xxsb/20140127/3864.shtml

China National Radio reported that, according to an inside source from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the State Council will soon introduce the “State Council’s opinion on further optimizing the market environment for the merger and acquisition of State Owned Enterprises.” The opinion will provide merger and acquisition guidance mainly to the steel, cement, vessel, photovoltaic, and baby formula industries. The article said that the current structure of these industries is in small scattered locations. There is no centralized planning; they often are deficient; and they have a serious excess production capacity. In these industries, these issues have been a major obstacle to reform. However, mergers and acquisitions in these industries also face serious difficulties, including heavy merger and acquisition taxes, financing, and a lengthy approval process. The opinion requires that the state should simplify the approval process while instituting policies that will provide optimized solutions on these issues.

Source: China National Radio, February 2, 2014
http://china.cnr.cn/ygxw/201402/t20140201_514778867.shtml

Qiushi, a theoretical journal for the Chinese Communist Party, published an article listing the three major risk factors that can potentially change the political landscape of China: 

On January 28， 2014, Huanqiu, the Chinese edition of Global Times, published an editorial titled, “Supporting the Dissidents in China; the ‘Open Conspiracy’ of Western Countries.” According to the editorial, Chinese dissidents have become well-known because of the support they receive from the Western media and governments. Without the Western media’s substantial reports and Western governments open support, Chinese dissidents would be nothing but “fleeting meteors.” It is the Western governments’ “open conspiracy” to stand side by side with Chinese dissidents as they share the same values. Western countries’ support has inspired Chinese dissidents spiritually.

Recently, Xu Zhiyong, an activist who organized a grass-roots New Citizen Movement to express public discontent over government officials’ corruption, was sentenced to four years in prison for “gathering a crowd to disturb the public order.” The U.S. government’s “deep disappointment” and the Western mainstream media’s strong support have increased Xu’s influence among Chinese dissidents.  

Source: Huanqiu, January 28, 2014
http://opinion.huanqiu.com/editorial/2014-01/4797284.html

On January 26, 2014, Qiushi Theory, the Chinese Communist Party Central Party School and the CCP Central Committee’s political theory periodical, reprinted an article from “Consensus Network.” The article analyzed the new power relations of the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese government that have developed since the establishment of the Central Leading Team for Comprehensively Deepening Reform and the new National Security Committee. As the Chinese Communist Party oversees the Chinese government, it is hard to distinguish whether the power is in the Party’s hands or in the government’s hands, but the two new leadership groups have a higher authority to crack down on special interest groups that were formed in the past.

The new National Security Committee is responsible directly to the Politburo. It is chaired by the General Secretary and Vice Chairmen, representing the Party, the government and the National Congress. Its power is much greater than the U.S. National Security Council. Therefore, the new power structure in China is a strengthened combination of the Party and the Government.

Source: Consensus Network, January 26, 2014
http://www.21ccom.net/articles/zgyj/ggcx/article_2014012699727.html
http://www.qstheory.cn/zz/wwtj/201401/t20140128_317204.htm