Government/Politics - 218. page

People’s Daily reported that the China International Documentary Film Festival was held in Guangzhou China from December 8 through 12. 2,071 documentary films from 72 countries and regions participated in the festival. Participants reached agreements on documentary film contracts having a total value of150 million yuan (US$24.7 million). This was the highest amount reached in the film festival’s history.

The focus of the film festival centered on how the domestic documentary film industry can collaborate with the international market in order to “let China step outside and let the world understand China.” Reports indicated that a formal channel and procedure has been set up by the General Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television to standardize the process of producing and marketing documentary films. There were also discussions on how to make domestic documentary films adapt to the international market and make their contents fit so that overseas audiences can better understand them.

Reports also indicated that the General Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television will not only increase its funding on documentary films; it has also requested that 34 television stations air a minimum of 30 minutes of domestically produced documentary films each day.

Source: People’s Daily, December 13, 2013
http://culture.people.com.cn/n/2013/1213/c87423-23830039.html

Zhang Weiying, a professor at the Guanghua School of Management at Beijing University wrote that there are six misconceptions that hinder further reforms in China. 

On December 7 and 8 in Shanghai, the State Council Information Office of China held an International Symposium on the China Dream. China’s Foreign Languages Bureau and the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences hosted the symposium. Some 100 experts and scholars from more than 20 countries such as China, the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, India, and Japan discussed in depth the topic of the "world dialogue on the China Dream." People’s Daily posted a number of the guest’s speeches and interviews. 

On December 10, 2013, Huanqiu, the Chinese version of Global Times, published an article on the security threats that China faces. According to the article, China has to deal with complicated security threats from outside and inside of China, as well as security threats that are intertwined both externally and internally. External security threats from the outside mainly refer to the U.S. "return to Asia," while internal security threats refer to unbalanced economic development, pollution, the huge gap between the rich and the poor, social conflicts, and the splits in political consensus among the leadership. As outside "hostile forces" are in collusion with inside "hostile forces" through modern information technology (the Internet), China faces intertwined external and internal security threats, such as Western hostile forces’ political, ideological and cultural infiltration. Western hostile forces have also selected and trained some public intellectuals, Big Vs (online celebrities or influential microbloggers) and young government and military officials to spread a lot of dangerous information on the Internet in order to confuse the Chinese people. If the Chinese government does not watch out, China will be in chaos. The unrest in the Arabic countries is a good lesson.

The article listed several ways to solve the security problems. 1) Strengthen co-ordination under the leadership of the newly established National Security Council. 2) Strengthen power building in national security research, the military, information, technology, finance, transportation, nuclear, and the biochemistry industries. 3) Apply strategies wisely in order to isolate the small numbers of enemies and strengthen united front work. Increase scientific and technological innovation and have the courage to surpass others. China has the world’s most powerful conventional ballistic missile, the top killer weapon, to attack the most stubborn provocateur.

Source: Huanqiu, December 10, 2013 http://mil.huanqiu.com/paper/2013-12/4645920.html http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2012/08/24/chinas-ballistic-missiles-a-force-to-be-reckoned-with/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Artillery_Corps

According to an article in Huanqiu, the 8th annual Confucius Institute conference was held in Beijing on December 7. Over 2,000 university principals and Confucius institute representatives from 120 countries and regions attended the conference. The conference awarded recognition to 28 Confucius institutes, 30 individuals, and 10 universities in China. Huanqiu declared that the “Confucius Institute has become a bridge to connect the ‘China Dream’ with the rest of the world.”

Source: Huanqiu, December 8, 2013
http://world.huanqiu.com/exclusive/2013-12/4641125.html

According to Radio Free Asia (RFA), the Deputy Director of the State Internet Information Office recently spoke at the Internet Development and Management meeting held in Beijing. He stated that since the effort to attack Internet rumors was launched in May of this year, the end result has been effective. A number of microblog accounts have been closed and the related personnel have been punished because of their involvement in spreading rumors on the Internet.

Liu Qing, a China Human Rights activist told RFA that the “effort to clean up the Internet environment” was meant to make the contents that the Chinese government does not welcome or that provide truth clarification information disappear from the internet. Liu added, “They have done this so many times. … If the censored information were to be made available to the public for open discussion, the legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party would face a huge challenge and be threatened. Therefore they will try every means to control the Internet. … The Communist Party has taken control of the Internet and of information as its lifeline. They will not let it go that easily.”

The statistics indicate that, by June 2013, there were 331 million microblog users in China. Since its launch in 2011, the number of micro message users has broken 300 million. According to the top ten most influential Internet sites, over 200 million microblog exchanges take place each day.

Source: Radio Free Asia, November 28, 2013
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/meiti/nu-11282013141840.html

On November 29, the China Film Association held its 9th National Congress in Beijing. Liu Qibao, head of the propaganda department spoke at the meeting. Liu stressed the need to study the speech that Xi Jinping gave during the Party’s 18th National Congress. He stated that the movie industry should use the “China Dream” as an important topic as a movie’s production goes forward. Liu said that the workers in the movie industry should take it as their historic mission to paint a picture of the “China Dream,” to broadcast it, and to express people’s wishes for a beautiful China Dream.

Source: People’s Daily, November 30, 2013
http://politics.people.com.cn/n/2013/1130/c1001-23701296.html

Major General Luo Yuan of the People’s Liberation Army wrote an article in which he stated that China’s New State Security Committee is to handle long term security matters from a strategic perspective.