Government/Politics - 260. page

In 1991, 20 years ago, the Chinese government published its first white paper, Human Rights in China. Since then, the government has published a total of 78 white papers. In 2011, it published nine white papers. They are:

1. China’s National Defense in 2010
2. China’s Foreign Aid
3. Sixty Years Since the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet
4. China’s Peaceful Development
5. The Socialist System of Laws with Chinese Characteristics
6. New Progress in the Development-oriented Poverty Reduction Program for Rural China
7. China’s Policies and Actions for Addressing Climate Change
8. China’s Foreign Trade
9. China’s Space Activities in 2011

Source: People’s Daily, January 5, 2012
http://politics.people.com.cn/GB/1026/16800546.html

Yang Jiechi, China’s Minister of Foreign Affairs published an article suggesting that China should do more targeted work in countries that hold elections. The website of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs published an article in which Yang reviewed China’s achievements in 2011 and provided an outlook for 2012. First and foremost, “[with respect to major countries, we] should enhance mutual trust, expand cooperation, properly handle differences, and promote the stable development of bilateral relations. As for those countries that hold elections, [we] should do more targeted work, avoid the interference that its domestic politics may cause to bilateral relations, and ensure smooth transitions and new developments in the bilateral relationship.”

Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, January 2, 2012
http://www.mfa.gov.cn/chn/gxh/tyb/gdxw/t892268.htm

On January 1, 2012, Hu Jintao delivered a speech at a New Year’s party held by the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in Beijing. In his speech, Hu emphasized the Party’s core leadership position and the socialist road with Chinese characteristics. Hu stated, “China must stick to the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, uphold the system of theories of socialism with Chinese characteristics, adhere to the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, and move toward established goals with unbounded confidence."

Source: China Review News, January 1, 2012
http://gb.chinareviewnews.com/doc/1019/6/1/8/101961876.html?coluid=151&kindid=0&docid=101961876&mdate=0101170512

In a high profile article published on Qiushi, the Chinese Communist Party’s flagship publication, Zhu Weiqun, the CCP’s deputy chief of the Department of Organization, proclaimed that a Party member must not have religious beliefs.

Zhu said, “At present there is a noteworthy phenomenon: there is a rising trend among Communist Party members of participating in religious activities and establishing close personal relationships with religious leaders. Some Party members have become de facto religious followers.” “If a Party member believes in a religion, he is bound to become the spokesperson for a certain religious force. In some regions, religious believers may administer the Party’s religious work and may make use of government resources to foster religious fervor.”

He added, “While domestic and foreign hostile forces have tried to use religion to engage in separatist activities in some ethnic minority areas, allowing religious beliefs for Party members will greatly weaken the Party’s combat strength in the struggle against separatism.” “Allowing religious beliefs for Party members will debilitate the Party in ideology and organization, causing the Party to degenerate from a Marxist political party into a non-Marxist political party.”

He suggested that “If a Party member is actively involved in religious life and missionary work, even using the identity of Party member to protect and promote illegal religious activities, the Party organizations should take timely measures to remove him from the Party,.”

Source: Qiushi, December 15, 2011
http://www.qstheory.cn/dj/201112/t20111215_129931.htm

Recently, Xinhua released a series of products and services at http://www.news.cn/yuqing/ designed to monitor and lead public opinion. According to Duan Saimin, the chief of the Xinhua public opinion center, when public opinion is properly guided, it will be conducive to the resolution of problems and can promote social stability and harmony. Otherwise, conflicts and problems will be amplified and affect local social stability and harmony. He acknowledged that few people in the local governments have recognized and understood the mechanism of public opinion. “They lack experience in responding to public opinion and some lack complete emergency procedures; … ultimately the conflicts and problems (that came up in the past) were amplified through the Internet, thus damaging the image of the government and enterprises, and causing irreparable harm.” According to Duan, since 2003, Xinhua has routinely provided public opinion reports to Communist Party leaders. Currently it has a team of over 100 public opinion analysts.

Source: Xinhua, December 20, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2011-12/20/c_122451786.htm

On December 19, 2011, Study Times, the publication of the Party School of the Central Committee of the CCP, published an article affirming that “the foundation for China’s revival is socialist ideology.” According to the article, capitalist countries use the principle of "human rights above sovereignty" as an excuse to plunder global resources. Different from “free capitalism,” the core principle of socialism is “fairness.” Socialist ideology is what justifies the ruling status of the Chinese Communist Party. The article proudly concludes that the successful practice of socialism in China for over 30 years proves that socialist ideology is becoming the trend for the development of human civilization.

Source: Study Times, December 19, 2011
http://www.studytimes.com.cn:9999/epaper/xxsb/html/2011/12/19/03/03_37.htm

Xinhua recently published an editorial commenting on the Canada’s withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol. The article expressed the belief that the sole motivation for Canada’s “betrayal” was to avoid a fine of CAN$14 billion due to the fact that Canada did not meet the requirements to which it had committed. The United States was referenced as another example of “Western selfishness” since the U.S. refused to even join the Protocol. Japan and Australia are considering the same action, following Canada’s move. The author of the editorial suggested that China should “pay close attention” to the “new signals in international relations” that appeared before and after the Climate Conference in Durban, and China should improve its readiness to face new strategic challenges in defending its national interests. The editorial concluded that moral standards no longer constrain some countries’ behavior, and the West will play more games showing a “loss of patience.”

Source: Xinhua, December 14, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2011-12/14/c_122418663.htm 

Zhou Nongbin, the former Deputy Chief Editor of Guangming Daily and a research fellow at the Marxist Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, published an article defending the need for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s leadership and ruling status. Zhou argued that China’s socialist system determines that it can only be ruled by the Communist Party, just like the capitalist system can only be controlled by capitalists. The author also dismissed the multiple-party system and said that the Communist Party will not allow capitalists to compete for the ruling position. Finally, the author clarified that the multi-party cooperation led by the CCP and the political consultation system is different from the multiple-party system. China will never adopt (multiple parties) or allow any parties other than the CCP to take the leading position.

Source: Qiushi Theory, December 9, 2011
http://www.qstheory.cn/dj/201112/t20111209_128957.htm