Government/Politics - 256. page

On March 26, 2012, Study Times published an article on the modern state-owned enterprise system with Chinese characteristics. The article described it as the modern enterprise system with the involvement of the Chinese Communist Party organizations, i.e., a combination of the advanced corporate governance structure of the modern enterprise system and the placement, responsibility, and tasks of the Party organizations. The Party organizations must be in the political core position in state-owned enterprises and fully play a central role in corporate governance. 

The modern state-owned enterprise system with Chinese characteristics has three critical components: 1) the Party’s Leadership, 2) the state as the controlling shareholder, and 3) a modern enterprise system.

Source: Study Times, March 26, 2012
http://www.studytimes.com.cn:9999/epaper/xxsb/html/2012/03/26/08/08_23.htm
http://theory.people.com.cn/GB/49154/17492277.html

According to Xinhua, on March 26, 2012, Premier Wen Jiabao delivered a speech to the State Council Fifth Independent Commission Work Meeting. Wen urged that a system be implemented to strictly require that leading cadres report relevant personal matters to their superiors and that oversight of those officials whose spouses and children have emigrated abroad (also called “naked officials”) be tightened. He recommended that the personal matters that the leading cadres report be open to the public, within a certain range, and that corruption cases be investigated and dealt with strictly.

Wen Jiabao stressed that corruption is the greatest danger to the ruling Party. If this problem is not resolved, the nature of China’s political foundation could change, leading to “the death of the people and an end to the government.” 

Source: Xinhua, March 26, 2012
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2012-03/26/c_111704718.htm

The Epoch Times quoted an unnamed source in Beijing that Wen Jiabao once proposed, when communicating with senior Chinese Communist Party officials, that they “redress June 4th (the Tiananmen Massacre on June 4, 1989), former CCP leaders Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang, and Falun Gong.” At that time, Jiang Zemin’s faction, which included Zhou Yongkang, objected to Wen’s proposal, while Hu Jintao remained silent.

The source stated that, after the development of the incident involving Wang Lijun, Bo Xilai’s right hand man, and the release of information about Wang’s involvement in harvesting the organs of Falun Gong practitioners, Wen Jiabao proposed removing Bo Xilai. Wen said at a Zhongnanhai internal meeting, “The Wang Lijun incident let the whole world know (about the organ harvesting). Let’s solve the Falun Gong issue by removing Bo Xilai. Now is the right time."

Source: The Epoch Times, March 26, 2012
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/12/3/26/n3550637.htm%E6%B8%A9%E5%AE%B6%E5%AE%9D%E6%8F%90%E5%B9%B3%E5%8F%8D%E6%B3%95%E8%BD%AE%E5%8A%9F-%E5%91%A8%E6%B0%B8%E5%BA%B7%E7%AD%8950%E5%A4%9A%E9%AB%98%E5%AE%98%E5%9C%A8%E5%85%A8%E7%90%83%E8%A2%AB%E8%B5%B7%E8%AF%89?p=all

On March 19, 2012, China Review News published an article on the CCP’s increased control over "migrant monks and nuns" and the reincarnation of living Buddhas in Tibet.

Party General Secretary Hu Jintao spoke to the Tibetan delegation at the annual session of the National People’s Congress on March 9, 2012. Hu gave instructions on ensuring overall social stability in Tibet. According to the article in China Review News, Tibetan regional Party authorities must “concentrate on keeping ‘migrant monks and nuns’ in line, clean up and regulate religious activities, strengthen the development of Tibet’s Buddhist institutes, tighten management of the reincarnation of living Buddhas, build a long-term management system for monasteries, push forward the regulation and legalization of the management of monasteries, unite patriotic monks and nuns, and reduce disharmonious factors in society.”  

Source: China Review News, March 19, 2012
http://gb.chinareviewnews.com/doc/1020/4/4/8/102044899.html?coluid=45&kindid=0&docid=102044899&mdate=0319082811

The state media Huanqiu published a commentary seeking an immediate clarification from top Communist Party leaders regarding online rumors that there is a rift among the top leaders over the change in the Party leadership of Chongqing. “Since the Chongqing incident, many people have made a lot of comments. It is normal, because the matter deserves this much attention. … It looks like rumors are running wild, but, in fact, the whole society is waiting for the authoritative voice of the Party Central Committee. … We believe the Party Central Committee is working on political issues of great concern to the public. We also hope the conclusions are reached quickly. The sooner the authoritative voice speaks, the clearer the picture that society has will be, and the more relieved the public will be. Sometimes, the significance of speed means more than the speed itself.”

Source: Huanqiu, March 22, 2012
http://opinion.huanqiu.com/roll/2012-03/2545323.html

Xinhua reported that, according to the Party’s Political and Legislative Affairs Committee, training sessions have been planned for the political bureau members at the provincial, city, and county levels for the first half of this year. The goals are to “further study and carry out the scientific development concepts as well as the key messages from the Two Conferences; to further strengthen the members’ understandings of politics, the overall situation, their responsibilities, and legal and clean governance; and to improve their leadership skills.” The first session will be held in Beijing starting next week. The news report stated that the large scale training will start at the end of April. Over 3,300 political bureau members at the provincial, city, and county levels are expected to participate.

(Ed. The order did not mention Zhou Yongkang who is the head of the Political and Legislative Affairs Committee.)

Source: Xinhua, March 22, 2012
http://news.xinhuanet.com/local/2012-03/22/c_122865300.htm

Observers noted that the political infighting in the upper ranks of the Chinese Communist Party seems to have extended to cyberspace. Politically sensitive terms related to the June 4 Tiananmen Square massacre and the Falun Gong spiritual practice were recently searchable—and some still remained available as of March 22. The term “June 4” in Chinese was briefly unblocked on Baidu, China’s main search engine, and the first item was about Wen Jiabao wanting to give the event a political rehabilitation. Terms related to Falun Gong were unblocked for a period of time as well. No message appeared saying results were censored.

The violent crackdowns and political sensitivities associated with those terms go to the heart of the Chinese regime’s ruling legacy. They are also both connected to former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin, whose allies form one of the factions within the Party.

Sources: The Epoch Times, March 23, 2012
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/china-news/chinas-internet-censors-take-break-during-party-infighting-209412.html

After Bo Xilai was ousted from his position as Chongqing’s Party chief, speculation has been running high on the next target, Zhou Yongkang, Bo’s patron at the Politburo Standing Committee. They are part of the same Jiang faction, Party seniors who remain loyal to former President Jiang Zemin instead of current leader Hu Jintao.

Zhou, one of the nine-member Politburo Standing Committee and the chief of the Party’s Political and Legislative Affairs Committee (PLAC), controls the police, the Armed Police, the courts, and the procuratorate—nearly everything having to do with law enforcement. Zhou has been China’s top cop for a long time—he has headed the PLAC since 2007 and before that was the Minister of Public Security. Bo was Zhou’s handpicked successor to head the PLAC.

On the evening of March 21 Party mouthpiece Xinhua announced that the PLAC would hold a nationwide training session, the first meeting of which would take place on March 26. However, on March 19 when Zhou held a full meeting of the PLAC, he never mentioned that a nationwide training would take place in one week. Also, the announcement on March 21 did not mention Zhou himself. However, the announcement did mention Party head Hu Jintao. The training session would be devoted to the study of Hu’s contribution to CCP ideology, the theory of Scientific Development, which is considered a sign of paying loyalty to Hu.

Also on March 21, the Financial Times quoted “one person with close ties to China’s security apparatus” as saying “Mr Zhou had been ordered not to make any public appearances or take any high-level meetings and was ‘already under some degree of control.’”

On March 21, Hong Kong’s Apple Daily reported multiple arrests of top figures. The paper quoted Wu Guancong, a CEO of Guangzhou Sports Development Company, as saying a person from Beijing with inside information told him that the Party Central had a severe split regarding how to handle Bo Xilai. “Wen Jiabao and Zhou Yongkang had a serious conflict,” Wu was quoted as saying. “I heard that the gang of four [of the Jiang faction], Bo, Zhou, Jia (Qinglin), and Li Changchun, have all been sacked.”

Source:
The Epoch Times, March 22, 2012
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/china-news/zhou-yongkang-lost-power-struggle-say-chinese-netizens-209107.html
Financial Times, March 21, 2012
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/650bb0f6-735f-11e1-aab3-00144feab49a.html#axzz1poJYt4qe
Apple Daily, March 21, 2012
http://hkmagazine.net/news1/apple/art_main.php?iss_id=20120321&sec_id=15335&art_id=16175010