Government/Politics - 266. page

Huang Renwei, the deputy dean of the International School of Economics and Politics at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences (SASS) and deputy director of the Center for International Strategic Studies, wrote an article for Qiushi Theory titled “Deepen Our Realization of the Long-term, Complex, and Serious Test in Facing the World’s Political Environment.”

The article attributed the current situation to the shift in the world’s power that occurred after the world economic crisis in 2008 resulted in the weakening of the national power of such Western giants as the U.S., the EU, and Japan. The article said that while those Western giants still lead in the high tech, military and media industries, many have “adjusted their strategy to shift the conflicts and reduce their economic burden while using both soft and hard means to suppress socialist and developing countries in order to maintain the old political and economic order.”

It further stated that the models and ideologies that the Western developed countries adopted are “not only impossible for China to follow, but also show the uncertainty of their own future.” The article used the economic crisis in the US, the debt crisis in the EU, and the nuclear power leak in Japan as examples and said that they “exposed the inferiority and deadly weakness in their models and ideologies.”

The author also pointed out that the West has not done any self-reflection on its own issues and still uses its powerful media, Internet, and NGOs to attack developing countries and even "dreams of lighting up the ‘democratic fire’ in China that come from the turmoil in western Asia and northern Africa.” It noted that the Western courntries have been using their "universal values" to undermine the ideology and cultural values that are not part of their own system. "They use the Internet, email, microblogs, texting, games, TV, and movies to directly influence and win over the next generation. … They even form opposition groups to stir up riots in order overthrow political power.”

The article concluded that the Party’s leadership is the key to guaranteeing control in maintaining China’s peaceful development. “If we are clear headed, follow the new development, increase our strategic predictability, fully utilize the political advantage of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, and manage our internal and external affairs well, we are guaranteed to have firm control over China’s peaceful development.”

Source: Qiushi Theory, October 16, 2011
http://www.qstheory.cn/zxdk/2011/201120/201110/t20111014_116665.htm

The focus of the Sixth Plenary Session of 17th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, held from October 15 to 18, was on “cultural system reform and promoting the prosperity of socialist cultural development." This is the first time that the Chinese Communist Party has used “culture” as the focus of a plenary session since the 17th Plenary Session in 2007.

Party Chairman Hu Jintao spoke on July 1, during the 90th anniversary of Chinese Communist Party, emphasizing “the need to speed up the reform of the cultural system, build a public culture service infrastructure, and further promote Chinese culture on the world stage in order for China’s cultural soft power to be compatible with its world status and increase the international influence of Chinese culture.”

It is expected that more discussions on cultural strategy will occur after the session.

Source: China Review News, October 15, 2011
http://gb.chinareviewnews.com/doc/1018/6/9/3/101869348.html?coluid=151&kindid=0&docid=101869348&mdate=1015103736

Li Shenming, the Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), published an article in Qiushi on the lessons to be learned from the experience of the former Soviet Union. The failure of the former Soviet Union to effectively solve the problem of underground publications, dissidents, and informal organizations may have contributed to its downfall.

Initially, the works that were published underground were merely some censored poems and literary works. Later underground publications started to include political contents that were critical of the existing government. The publishing center in Moscow became the center of a “liberal democratic movement.” Dissidents were exceptionally active during the Gorbachev period. The Soviet authorities not only restored their reputations, but also encouraged and supported them in various political activities. Sakharov is a classic example. The first "informal organization" appeared in 1986. They usually were small, secretive, unofficial, flexible, and run by amateurs. As Gorbachev condoned these organizations, their publications become the media pioneers of the anti-socialist and anti-communist movement.

Source: Qiushi, October 11, 2011
http://www.qstheory.cn/zz/zgtsshzyll/201110/t20111011_115583.htm

According to Voice of America on October 9, 2011, Hu Jintao, the Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party stated in a ceremony celebrating the 100-year anniversary of 1911, the year of the Xinhai Revolution (named after the year in the Chinese calendar), that the CCP has been Sun Yat-sen’ most faithful successor.

Sun Yat-sen, the leader of the 1911 Revolution, ended the Qing Dynasty and established the Republic of China. Taiwan has been the home of the Republic of China since Chiang Kai-shek, Sun’s successor, fled the mainland in 1949. Sun’s ideal was to establish a republic with a democratic system similar to the United States, based on his three principles of nationalism, democracy, and the welfare of the people.

Hu Jintao said in the ceremony held in Beijing that the Chinese people have finally found the correct path and the core strength to realize the great rejuvenation of China. "The correct path is the socialist road with the Chinese characteristics; the core strength is the Chinese Communist Party."

Source: Voice of America, October 09, 2011
http://www.voanews.com/chinese/news/20111009-Sun-Devoted-Successor-131413743.html

After Hu Jintao’s July 1 speech, all Party organs were required to study and digest the messages that were conveyed. On October 8, Xinhua published the first article in a series that summarized the collected feedback that resulted from those studies. Below are the subtitles of each section:

1) Only socialism can save China: Hu’s speech highlighted the path that the Party has walked over the past 90 years. The truth is that there is no other ideology that can save China other than the socialist ideology.
2) Only socialism with Chinese characteristics can help China to develop and prosper: the economic achievements in the past 30 years of the "reform and opening-up" policy were due solely to the fact that the Party took the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
3) Firmly walk our own path: if we deviate from the path which has proven to be the only choice, or if we dream of adopting any other form of ideology or formality, it is doomed to have no hope and no future and to be meaningless.

Source: Xinhua, October 8, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2011-10/08/c_122129952.htm

An article in Study Times, a publication of the Central Party School of the Chinese Communist Party, emphasized the importance of ideology in China’s development. The article stated, "China has gone through more than 30 years of socialist reform and development as well as a rapid rise as a major socialist country. These happenings fully demonstrate … that socialist ideology is still the fundamental value that will guide us in actualizing the future ideal society and civilization. In order to establish the ‘socialist path’ as an important movement in human society’s progress and an important choice in the future direction of human civilization, China, as a major socialist country, shoulders a great historic responsibility for the fate of socialist development. As such, in the future, our socialist reform must use the core value of socialist ideology as our guide."

"All in all, using ideology as the ‘national belief’ makes it not only the guiding principle of a nation’s development, but also a fundamental manifestation of a country’s ‘autonomy.’ The essence of the establishment of China’s status in modern international civilization represents the splendor of our socialist ideology."
 
Source: Study Times, October 3, 2011
http://www.studytimes.com.cn:9999/epaper/xxsb/html/2011/10/03/03/03_30.htm

In his speech on July 1, 2011, the 90th anniversary of Chinese Communist Party, Hu Jintao said, “The entire Party must be keenly aware that at a time of profound changes in global, national, and intra-Party conditions, we are faced with many new developments, problems, and challenges in our efforts to enhance the Party’s leadership and governance and its ability to resist corruption and degeneration, to withstand risks, and to strengthen its governance capacity and advanced nature. … The whole Party is confronted with a growing danger coming from a lack of drive, incompetence, being separated from the people, lacking initiative, and corruption. It has thus become even more important and urgent than ever before for the Party to police itself and impose strict discipline on its members.”

On October 2, 2011, Guangming Daily published an article “On High Alert for the Danger of Lacking Drive,” which enumerates the causes, manifestations, and consequences of the “growing danger from the lack of drive.” The article lists the causes for the lack of the drive among CCP cadres, including a “feeling of achievement,” a “feeling of safety,” “inertia in governance,” and “the effects of wealth.” The lack of drive is exhibited among CCP cadres as mental and spiritual emptiness, being lazy, being content with mediocre performance, and spending extravagantly.

The article warns that, if the lack of drive continues, the Party will lose its popularity and its social base; by doing nothing, it will lose its leading and governing position. “Being slack will cause a chain reaction, resulting in a rigid way of thinking, stagnation in theory, moral decline, the collapse of ideology, and the death of the spirit of enterprise. It is an important reason for the Communist Party in some countries to have lost their advanced nature, lost popularity, lost their social base, and lost their leading and ruling position. These tragedies, involving the demise of the Party and loss of the country, were not so long ago. We must not repeat the same mistake.”

Source: Guangming Daily, October 2, 2011
http://epaper.gmw.cn/gmrb/html/2011-10/02/nw.D110000gmrb_20111002_2-01.htm?div=-1

On October 1, 2011, the website of Qiushi Theory launched its English edition at http://english.qstheory.cn/. The selections at the new site include news, leaders, politics, economics, culture, science and education, law, society, Party information, and letters to the editor.

According to Qiushi Theory, the mission of the English site is to “carry out the ‘Going Global’ strategy of central government media. It will further enable the publications of the Party’s central organs to improve their influence by timely and effectively broadcasting China’s voice to the world.” “In addition, it will carry political news and important articles from other key government news websites. Qiushi Theory English edition provides a new channel to enable international society to gain accurate and in-depth understanding of the ruling ideology, decision making, and development path of the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese government.”

Source: Qiushi Theory, September 30, 2011
http://www.qstheory.cn/llzx/201109/t20110930_114423.htm