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Qiushi: Next Ten Years Will See Fundamental Changes

Xu Jian, a research fellow at the China Institute of International Studies, who leads the National Social Science Fund Project, "The International Environment and China’s Strategic Opportunity," wrote an article that was published  in Qiushi magazine (Seeking Truth), a bi-monthly political theory periodical published by the Central Party School and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.  

Xu wrote that, compared to the first decade of the 21st century, the next decade will see a major change rather than a mere continuation of the past. The change involves the transformation and upgrading of China’s development, which will be different from the rapid expansion that occurred in the past 10 years. This is the critical difference. It reflects that the trend for China will transform from a model of rapid expansion to a model that focuses on intense development to enhance quality. Xu expressed that this major change will bring about fundamental changes in government functions, economic structure, industrial policies, and other changes in society. 
Source: Qiushi, October 30, 2013 
http://www.qstheory.cn/zz/zgtsshzyll/201310/t20131030_284033.htm
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Xinhua: The U.S. Owes the World an Apology

Xinhua recently published a commentary calling for the U.S. to apologize for the newly reported U.S. wiretapping on German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The commentary pointed out that no one knows how many more important foreign government officials the U.S. intelligence organizations spied upon. The commentary also mentioned that the issue caused a huge trust problem among the U.S. allies in Europe. The author described the U.S. calling for “human rights” and “allies’ interests” as flat out lies after so many of its secret spying activities were exposed. The United States seems to have no intention of admitting any wrong-doing, even today. The commentator called it “ironic” that the U.S. is expressing its unhappiness over the victims because of their complaints. It concluded that the United States owes China an apology, owes Germany an apology, and, in fact, owes the world an apology.
Source: Xinhua, October 26, 2013
http://news.xinhuanet.com/comments/2013-10/26/c_117881373.htm
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People’s Daily Commentary: Chinese Party Officials Lose Faith in Marxism

People’s Daily carried an opinion piece criticizing some Party officials because they believe in superstitions such as lucky numbers and Fengshui, an indication that they are losing faith in Marxism. The article said that those Party officials have forgotten who they are and who they can rely on. It called on the Party to intensify ideology education and to “knock down Fengshui and superstition from the altar.”

Source: People’s Daily, October 27, 2013
http://opinion.people.com.cn/n/2013/1027/c1003-23337869.html

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Qiushi: There Is No Such Thing as Universal Values

Qiushi published an article proposing that there is no such thing as the "universal values" that the West advocates. 

Qiushi stated that the international community has never reached a common understanding as to a set of values. “There are so many countries in the world with such diverse cultures and value systems. Which of them has values that could be called "universal"? Which of their systems could not become “universal values”? There has to be an acceptable screening procedure that would allow all countries to express their views. If only a few Western countries have the final say on such an important matter, where in this world is there justice and fairness?” 
“Some Western countries prefer to use abstract concepts to bluff, while, behind the scenes, they engage in deliberations over their selfish strategic interests. Today, we ought to transform this abstract concept into something specific. Then we can ask a few whys so we will not be fooled by this Western discourse. The West spreads the concept everywhere that democracy is a ‘universal value.’ We can clearly respond: democracy can be a value most people agree to, but the Western democratic system was not, is not, and never will be a ‘universal value.’” 
Source: Qiushi, October 16, 2013 
http://www.qstheory.cn/zxdk/2013/201320/201310/t20131012_278157.htm
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Red Flag Manuscript: Take the Initiative in the Ideological Battlefield

An article titled "Take the Initiative in the Ideological Battlefield" appeared recently in Red Flag Manuscript, a main publication of the Central Committee of Chinese Communist Party. The article pointed to the importance of the Party’s ideology and also to the challenges the Party faces.

"Profound lessons should be learned from other countries and other political parties. For example, after Gorbachev came to power in the Soviet Union, he gradually abandoned the guiding position of Marxism and switched to an ideology of pluralism, an abstract humanitarian philosophy, neo-liberalism in economics, nihilism in history, and freedom of criticism in literature, resulting in the wide spread of non-Marxist and anti-Marxist ideas. This was an important cause leading to the collapse of the Communist Party and the Soviet Union. The recent color revolutions in West Asia and North Africa all began with the ruling party’s giving up control of the mainstream ideology."

"Ideological work faces challenges. The real danger from the Western anti-China hostile forces should not be underestimated. They vigorously promote Western-style democracy and the values of freedom and human rights and they maliciously attack the Party’s leadership in an attempt to disintegrate the Party’s ruling base in order to replicate the "color revolutions" in China. Some anti-China forces collude and support each other and do everything possible to rope in groups such as those advocating Tibetan separatism and Taiwan independence, the East Turkistanis, pro-democracy movements, and Falun Gong, in an attempt to foster a strategic alliance from within China. By seizing the hot issues in economic and social development, they have sentimentalized the theories of the failure of socialism, of the clash of civilizations, and the idea that human rights is above sovereignty. They have also deliberately hyped up the theories of China’s economic threat, energy threat, and military threat. The sinister intention of subverting and containing China is abundantly clear."

"Negative online information that confuses our common ideals and beliefs should not be underestimated. Although China’s Internet penetration rate is 42 percent and Internet users have reached 564 million, 80 percent of Internet information is provided by the United States, 90 percent is in the English language, and the export of China’s information is less than 1 percent of the global total. The passive pattern of ‘the West being strong and we being weak’ in online discourse rights is very prominent. Taking advantage of their network hegemony, Western countries cultivate and order some Internet "dissidents" and "opinion leaders" to speculate maliciously as to Party and military-related public opinion in order to concoct massive negative rumors and false information, so they can discredit the Party and the government’s image."

Source: Qiushi journal, October 23, 2013
http://www.qstheory.cn/hqwg/2013/201320/201310/t20131023_281706.htm

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Guangming Daily: The Party Must Use the Magic Weapon of Struggle

On October 21, 2013, the China National Defense University Research Center published a special commentary in Guangming Daily on Xi Jinping’s remarks that “[We] are engaged in a great struggle that has many new historical features; we face unprecedented challenges and difficulties.” 

According to the Report of the 18th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, “The Party is confronting the challenges to a ruling party, the challenges of reform and opening up, the challenges of the market economy, and the challenges from the external environment, all of which are long-term, complicated, and severe. The dangers of slacking off, of a lack of capacity, of being disconnected from masses, and of corruption are expressly placed in front of the whole Party.” 
The commentary stated that these tests and dangers are the test of the century for the Party and that carrying on the struggle is the necessary way to deal with them. “Faced with the danger of the demise of the Party and the country, the Chinese Communist Party can only bring about a bright future by using the magic weapon of struggle.” 

Source: Guangming Daily, October 21, 2013 
http://news.gmw.cn/2013-10/21/content_9229354.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

The Number of Officials Punished for Bribery Has Increased 60 Percent in the Last 5 Years

According to an anti-corruption work report that the Supreme People’s Procuratorate of the People’s Republic of China released, from January 2008 to August 2013, 32 provincial-level government officials were sentenced for corruption. Half of them were sentenced to death but received a reprieve. In the past 5 years, a total of 148,931 people were convicted of corruption. The number of officials investigated and punished for the crime of bribery has increased 60 percent compared to the previous 5 years.

The National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee reviewed the anti-corruption and anti-bribery report on October 22, 2013. This was the 2nd time since 1989 that the NPC Standing Committee has listened to an anti-corruption report.

Source: China Review News, October 23, 2013
http://www.zhgpl.com/doc/1028/1/4/7/102814723.html?coluid=151&kindid=0&docid=102814723&mdate=1023092425

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Qiushi: Universal Values and Constitutional Democracy Would Confuse the People’s Minds

On October 16, 2013, Qiushi Theory, a periodical on political theory that the Chinese Communist Party Central Party School and the CCP Central Committee run jointly, published an article titled, “Consolidate the Common Ideological Basis that the Party and the People share in their Concerted Struggle.” The common ideological basis at the present time, according to the article, is to walk on the socialist path with Chinese characteristics toward the goal of the rejuvenation of China under the sole leadership of the Chinese Communist Party.

The article criticized several popular Western ideological trends that would “confuse the people’s minds” and “crumble the common ideological basis of the Party and the people in their concerted struggle.” The "wrong ideas" listed in the article include “universal values,” “constitutional democracy,” “historical nihilism,” “neoliberalism,” the doubts about “the economic reform and opening up to the world,” and “the socialist nature of socialism with Chinese characteristics.”

Source: Qiushi Theory, October 16, 2013
http://www.qstheory.cn/zxdk/2013/201320/201310/t20131012_278250.htm
http://www.qstheory.cn/qszq/qsllwdt/201310/t20131017_279836.htm

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