Government/Politics - 228. page

China Economic published a commentary stating that China has identified urbanization as a major solution for expanding domestic demand and enterprise development. The article argued, however, that the core of urbanization in China is to “urbanize people,” or to make farmers the same as or similar to city residents. The article quoted three scholars’ opinions. They argued that 50 percent of the total population in China now lives in cities, but only 35 percent of the total population have city Hukou – China’s unique household registration system which identifies a person according to his or her original area (e.g. from Beijing, Shanghai, or a rural village). This means that of the 700 million people who are identified as urban dwellers, 220 million of them are still labeled as farmers. These farmers are mainly the “immigrant farmers” and cannot enjoy the same social benefits, such as social security, employment, land ownership, housing, education, and so on, as city residents.

Source: China Economic Net, January 18, 2013
http://paper.ce.cn/jjrb/html/2013-01/18/content_141406.htm

Xinhua published a short news article with the title “Comrade Jiang Zemin Requested that the Party Central Committee List His Name among Other Senior (Retired) Leaders in the Party and State Leaders of that Rank.” The entire news article read, “A Reporter obtained information from a relevant party that, after the 18th National Party Congress, comrade Jiang Zemin made a request to the Party Central Committee that, from now on, his name should be listed among other senior (retired) leaders in the Party and state leaders of that rank. This reflects a Communist Party member’s integrity and open-mindedness.”

[Editor’s Note:
1. In China, the ranking order of top leaders is extremely important. It shows who has more power.
2. From this short news item, it is hard to tell if Jiang indeed made the request. One thing is likely to happen: Jiang’s ranking order will be lowered.]

Source: Xinhua, January 23, 2013
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2013-01/23/c_124266293.htm

Meng Jianzhu, Secretary of the Central Political and Law Commission, announced recently, at a meeting on national political and legal work, that China will abolish the “education through labor” system this year. Xinhua Net published the relevant news on the same day. However, the news report was removed that night. One week later, several labor camp bureaus claimed that they had not received any notification about labor camp reforms. Lawyer Zhou Ze believes that no agreement was reached on the issue due to the fact that different departments have different interests.  

Source: Radio Free Asia, January 14, 2013

http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/yf-01142013161055.html 

The State Newspaper, People’s Daily (overseas edition), published a commentary criticizing the current appointment system for officials at central government-owned enterprises. The commentary was titled “Senior Executive Positions in Central Government-owned Enterprises Are a Means of Compensation; If One Cannot Become Deputy Provincial Governor, He Will Be Appointed Chairman of the Board.” The commentary stated, “Due to pressure from vested interests, the current personnel management at Central Government-owned Enterprises lacks a mechanism of constraints and incentives. Senior executives have become a privileged class, which has a significant negative impact on the national economy. It is imperative that this administrative appointment and dismissal system of personnel management be reformed.” The commentary called those highly paid executive positions “golden rice bowls.”

Source: People’s Daily, January 16, 2013
http://energy.people.com.cn/n/2013/0116/c71661-20219834.html

On January 16, 2013, China’s National Audit Office released its 2011 audit report on the implementation of the budget and on other revenues and expenditures of the central government. The audit report showed that, as of the end of last October, the 50 central government departments and their affiliates spent 10.281 billion yuan in violation of financial management regulations. “As for repeat offenders, the person-in-charge at the National Audit Office observed that every year the audit report covered the same audit targets with the same audit scope. Thus, to a certain extent, the audit led to the discovery of problems that were similar to those of previous years. This gave the public the appearance that it revealed the same old face and the same old problems."

Source: Huanqiu, January 17, 2013
http://finance.huanqiu.com/china/2013-01/3514269.html

Huanqiu (Global Times) published an editorial trying to “clarify” and put an end to the Southern Weekend incident, which started when Guangdong Propaganda Department Chief Tuo Zhen re-wrote Southern Weekend’s New Year’s editorial. 

On January 8, 2013, the Epoch Times published an article titled, “Incidents of Censorship in China Offer Test of New Leadership.” At a December 4, 2013, political meeting, Party leader Xi Jinping said, “A country ruled by law should first be ruled by the constitution and lawful governance should be based on the constitution.” After the new year, two influential liberal publications, Southern Weekend and Yanhuang Chunqiu, published special editorials echoing Xi’s call for lawful governance based on the constitution. Both editorials were harshly censored.
 
In the case of Southern Weekend, provincial propaganda chief Tuo Zhen secretly re-wrote its special editorial. After the publication of the re-written editorial, the journalists from Southern Weekend went on strike. Hundreds of Chinese came to the newspaper’s offices, laying flowers and expressing solidarity with the journalists. In response, China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on January 4, 2013, that China upholds press freedom and “there is no news censorship in China.” On January 7, 2013, the Central Propaganda Department officials handed down three instructions: “It is an unbreakable basic principle that the Party governs the media; Tuo Zhen had nothing to do with the changes made to Southern Weekend’s New Year’s editorial; the incident involved hostile foreign forces.”

Source: The Epoch Times, January 8, 2013
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/china-news/cases-of-censorship-in-china-offer-test-of-new-leadership-333760.html

On January 5, 2013, the Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping reiterated the Party’s determination to adhere to the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics. He stressed that the issue matters for the success or failure of the cause of the future of the Chinese Communist Party. And the Chinese Communist Party must unswervingly adhere to the development of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

After 1978, Deng Xiaoping began to replace the Mao era socialism featured by “class struggles” with one centered around opening-up and reform. Many people believe there is a fundamental difference between Deng’s socialism and Mao’s socialism. Xi Jinping also stressed that one can neither use the historical period after the reform and opening-up to negate the historical period before the reform and opening-up, nor use the earlier period to negate the later period of reform and opening-up. "Socialism with Chinese characteristics is socialism and not any other doctrine. The basic principles of scientific socialism cannot be abandoned; otherwise it’s not socialism."

Source: Xinhua, January 7, 2013
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2013-01/07/c_124196084.htm