Government/Politics - 225. page

On April 28, 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping attended a reception forum and met the representatives of the national model workers. In his speech, Xi re-emphasized the role that the working class played as the main force [of society] and called for creating a prosperous future through hard work, an old Chinese Communist tradition that the first generation of Communist leaders in Mao Zedong’s era had started. It is worth noting that Hu Zhiqiang, the Captain of the Daqing Oilfield 1205 Drilling Team, and Guo Fenglian, former Party Branch Secretary of Dazhai Village in Xiyang County of Shanxi Province were among the model workers invited to the reception forum. In Mao’s era, the Daqing Oilfield 1205 Drilling Team and Dazhai Village were the two most famous models representing the working class and the peasant class, respectively. In Mao’s era, Guo Fenglian herself [the most famous "iron maiden" in post-revolutionary Chinese history], was the model promoted to the whole country. The old adage was “Learn from Daqing in industry; learn from Dazhi in agriculture.” 

The China Dairy Industry Association (CDIA) recently commissioned a third-party testing organization to conduct a test of random samples of 25 brands of infant formula milk powder in the capital city of Beijing and the surrounding area. Of those tested, 13 were domestic brands; three were foreign brands produced domestically and manufactured in China, and 9 were imported products. 

On April 23, Jia Jiuxiang, a senior Court Official from the city of San Men Xia in Henan Province died just 10 days after he was placed in Shuanqui (a disciplinary measure outside the regular legal system in which Party members are detained and interrogated). This is the second similar case following another official from Wen Zhou City in Zhe Jiang Province, who also died during Shuanqui. According to Jia’s wife and sister who managed to see Jia’s body, his body showed obvious signs that he had been beaten.

Si Weijing, the defense attorney working on the case, told BBC Chinese that he has asked for an investigation of the case. Si also mentioned that, this time, it appeared that the Chinese media did not seem to block the news report on Jia’s death. Some commentators suggested that, if the official media covered this case, it may indicate that the central administration has started to pay attention to the rights of those people who are under Shuanqui.

According to Si Weijiang, China has adopted some changes to the legal system which restrict the illegal measures used during interrogation of suspects. However since Shuanqui is an internal disciplinary measure used within the Party system, it is not subject to the requirements of the legal system. Therefore a person under Shuanqui can be denied the right to sleep and is also subject to all kinds of torture. Si told the BBC, “The central administration has tried to curb corruption for so many years, but corruption does not appear to be contained. Therefore Shuanqui, a disciplinary measure that is outside of the legal system, is not an ideal way to fix the problem.”

Source: BBC Chinese, April 24, 2013
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/china/2013/04/130424_henan_death_official.shtml

On April 11, the Communication University of China and the China Public Relations Association established the first “Media Training Center for Leaders and Managers.” The training center will teach officials how to interact with the media and the public. The  first group of 50 officials will attend in mid-May. They will take a five day training course which includes the study of cases and theory; it will also include live demos and exercises.

According to Dong Guanpeng, the Principal of the Communication University of China, many leaders currently lack the skills needed to work with the media. They simply rely on the spokesperson in their work unit to deal with the media. However. that person is not the decision maker and does not have access to the overall information. There are many other media training classes in the public relations market but many of them teach skills related to how to delete social media postings rather than the skills of working with the media and public. Therefore, the first training center was meant to correct the chaotic situation in the market and attract officials from around the country. They have invited Wang Guoqing, vice-minister of the State Council Information Office to be the board director of the training center.

Source: Xinhua, April 28, 2013
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2013-04/28/c_124643018.htm

On April 23, 2013, an article titled, “China Red Cross Withheld Rescue Aid from Distribution While Waiting for TV Reporters” was circulated on several Chinese websites. On April 20, 2013, a 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit Ya’an City in southwest China’s Sichuan Province. There were more than 2,000 aftershocks. According to the information released by the Chinese authorities on April 20, 2013, 192 had died, 23 were missing and 11,470 were injured.  Nearly 2.2 million people were affected.

According to the China Forbidden News Blog, one microblogger who used the name “Mr. Long – Crowded Crazy Nest” angrily complained that the Sichuan Red Cross Department Head named Wang asked his staff members not to distribute any aid to the victims because TV reporters had not arrived there yet. 

Source: China Forbidden News and China News, April 22, 2013
http://zhongguojinwen.blogspot.com/2013/04/blog-post_125.html
http://bbs.chinanews.com/web/65/2013/0422/64012.shtml

According to an article in China Review News on April 23, 2013, resentment in China is increasing, which reflects people’s lack of confidence in the future. Below are the five reasons listed in the article:

1. The government is moving forward (getting richer) while the Chinese people are moving backward (getting poorer);
2. Home prices are rising too fast;
3. The income gap is huge;
4. Corruption is rampant;
5. Environmental Pollution, such as smog, is no longer bearable.

Source: China Review News, April 23, 2013
http://www.zhgpl.com/doc/1025/1/2/2/102512201.html?coluid=53&kindid=0&docid=102512201&mdate=0423075236

On April 6, an article in Lens Magazine, known for its photography, detailed torture implements with names like the "Tiger Bench" and the "Death Bed" that were used against prisoners in the Masanjia Forced Labor Camp. It immediately triggered an online outcry from hundreds of thousands, furious at the authorities for what the article depicted. The piece was quickly deleted from web portals. The article mentioned that the tortures were initially implemented upon "special groups," while not specifying the name of the group. It’s widely believed that the group refers to Falun Gong, a meditation practice suppressed by the authorities since 1999. The following is an excerpt from one of the documents obtained by Chinascope, showing that the Party was advocating labor camps to transform Falun Gong practitioners.

On August 23, 2000, Li Lanqing, former vice premier of the State Council and head of the "610 Office" (the department in charge of handling the suppression of Falun Gong), sent a personal letter to the “Experience Exchange and Commendation Meeting of The Ministry of Justice on Education and Transforming Work (i.e., Brainwashing),” complimenting the labor camps for their excellent work in transforming Falun Gong practitioners. 

Xinhua reported that, on April 19, 2013, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee held its fifth group study session on the topic of “combat corruption and build a clean government.” Xi Jinping hosted the meeting. According to Xinhua, Xi stressed that the party needs to “pay attention to historical experiences and learn from historical lessons,” while improving the leadership skills of Party members so that the Party can maintain a strong core leadership in the current socialist development with Chinese characteristics.

Source: Xinhua, April 21, 2013
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2013-04/20/c_115468016.htm