Government/Politics - 222. page

Xinhua News Agency reported on Tuesday, June 25, that, at a special meeting of the Politburo, the Chinese Communist Party’s chairman Xi Jinping said, "To see whether the Politburo is strong or not and whether the Politburo members are strong or not, one has to look first at whether they are politically strong or not. To strengthen the work of the Politburo, we must give top priority to ideological and political development."

Xi urged the Politburo to "strengthen the study of Marxist theory, in particular, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the thoughts of the ‘Three Represents,’ and the scientific concept of development, so as to grasp the scientific world view and methodology, be equipped with ideological weaponry, remain firm with the ideals and faith, and strengthen political sensitivity and discrimination," in order "to understand correctly and to firmly safeguard the bigger picture of the Party and the state, of reform, development, and stability, of the Party’s leadership and the security of the socialist regime, and of the unity of the Party and the whole nation."

He also asked the Politburo members to play an exemplary role in "strictly disciplining their relatives and staff members, refraining from abusing power, and not seeking personal privileges."

Source: BBC Chinese, June 25, 2013.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/china/2013/06/130625_xijinping_speech.shtml

On June 21, 2013, China Review News published a report on Xi Jingping’s recent instructions to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) regarding the Party’s mass line education practice activities. Xi stressed the requirement that the PLA must oppose formalism, bureaucracy, hedonism, and extravagance in the army. The PLA must be absolutely reliable and obey Xi’s commands.

Source: China Review News, June 21 & 22, 2013
http://www.zhgpl.com/doc/1025/9/3/2/102593285.html?coluid=151&kindid=0&docid=102593285&mdate=0621225026
http://www.zhgpl.com/doc/1025/9/3/6/102593645.html?coluid=151&kindid=0&docid=102593645&mdate=0622090053

According to Huanqiu, in a recent interview with China Newsweek, Zhu Weiqun, the head of the Committee for Social, Legal，Ethnic, and Religious Affairs and former executive vice director of the United Front Work Department stated once again, “It needs be very clear and firm that Communist Party members are not allowed to practice religion.” According to Zhu, “If the Party members are allowed to practice religion, our Party will be demobilized in Party ideology and organizational structure while we will lose the Party’s advanced nature.”

Zhu also denied that his statement contradicts the “freedom to practice religion” as guaranteed in the constitution. He believes that one can choose either to practice a religion or to join the Party, but not both.

Zhu did acknowledge that the number of people who practice religion is growing and that the influence that religion is having on society is also increasing. He estimated the total number of people who practice the top five religions in China is over 100 million.

Source: Huanqiu, June 16, 2013
http://china.huanqiu.com/roll/2013-06/4031025.html

Outlook Newsweek, an official Chinese Communist Party publication, published an interview with Li Jie, Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences regarding the “China Dream.”
 
When asked what the critical factors are in realizing the "China Dream," Li stated, “Achieving the ‘China Dream’ depends on the strong leadership of the Chinese Communist Party. For making things happen in China, the key is the Party. It is particularly important that we always maintain the Party’s advanced nature and purity, always maintain the Party’s spirit of reform and innovation, always maintain the Party’s close ties with the masses, and always maintain the Party’s integrity.”

“The realization the the ‘China Dream’ depends unswervingly on taking the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics. … At present, [we] must be firmly confident in our path, theory, and system and continue to develop the socialist road with Chinese characteristics, the theoretical system, and the institutional system creatively, with confidence, and with persistence.”

Source: Outlook Newsweek reprinted by the Chinese Communist Party website, June 18, 2013 http://theory.people.com.cn/n/2013/0618/c40531-21877753.html

On June 18, 2013, Xi Jinping, the CCP Central Committee General Secretary and State Chairman, delivered a speech at the working meeting on the Party’s Mass Line Educational Practice. Xi said, “The CCP’s survival or death depends on the Public’s Attitude for or against the Party.”

To secure the Chinese Communist Party’s power, the Party must solve serious problems that the people report and let them feel satisfied. As many Party officials are separated from the masses, the CCP Central Committee will launch a large number of investigations, corrections, and cleaning within the Party. Called “Educational Practice Activities,” these activities will focus on self-cleaning, self-improvement, and self-innovation. It will be just like “looking into the mirror, straightening up one’s hat and clothing, taking a bath, and treating ones illness.” Those who have serious problems will be specially investigated and punished.  

Source: Xinhua, June 18, 2013
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2013-06/18/c_116194026.htm

Xinhua published an article about developing Party membership in Kunshan City, Jiangsu Province, where 98 percent of the economic production comes from private enterprises.

According to the article, in the mid 1980’s, as more and more foreign investments poured in from Europe, the U.S., Japan, and Korea, the municipal government of Kunshan formulated a clear direction: to treat the importance of appealing to foreign investments the same as when developing the Party structure in private enterprises. For every foreign investment plan that was to be developed, all levels of municipal departments were required to come up with a plan to develop the Party structure in order to ensure that the “Party’s development moved in parallel with the economic development for each investment opportunity.”

According to the article, the City of Kunshan sent 352 full time Party cadres to the private enterprises. Those cadres, together with 3,668 Party leaders selected from the employees of the private sectors, formed a Party development team in Kunshan. They received financial incentives, as well as retirement and pension plans from the city.

The article disclosed that, because of the consistent Party development efforts in Kunshan, Kunshan currently has achieved "total coverage of Party membership" in private enterprises. Over 2,700 Party organizations have formed in private enterprises. They include 20,000 Party members, which accounts for 35 percent of the total Party members in Kunshan City. Of those, 75 percent hold key positions in their company.

Source: Xinhua, June 16, 2013
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2013-06/16/c_124861568_3.htm

On June 14, China’s new Premier, Li Keqiang, hosted the State Council meeting where he introduced plans for ten air pollution prevention measures and promoted the development of the photovoltaic industry.

The ten measures for preventing air pollution included, but were not limited to: limiting air pollution emissions; limiting production and growth of industries that consume high energy and create pollution; actively promoting “clean” manufacturing while reducing pollution emissions for key industries by 30 percent or more; increasing the usage of natural gas and coal methanol in order to speed up adjustments in the energy structure; strictly enforcing clean energy guidelines; and promoting incentives on projects to save energy. … The Council also stated that the photovoltaic industry is an important field for new energy development, although it is suffering from weak demand in both the domestic and international markets. The council called for efforts to strengthen the photovoltaic industry and promote product innovation and development to regain the photovoltaic market.

Source: Xinhua, June 14, 2013
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2013-06/14/c_116152393.htm