Government/Politics - 288. page

On June 12, 2010, the politburo of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee held its 21st group study on the issue of strengthening the CCP’s grass roots development. Hu Jintao hosted the meeting and emphasized the importance of Party organization at the grass roots level. He said that the more complicated and labile the international climate becomes, and the deeper the changes happening in domestic society, the more important the grass roots Party organization will be. Wu Jieming, professor from China National Defense University, and Gao Yongzhong, researcher from the Institute of Party Construction of the Central Organization Department, also gave lectures at the meeting.

Source: Huanqiu, June 22, 2010
http://china.huanqiu.com/roll/2010-06/875831.html

China’s State Administration of Radio, Film And Television published an article in the Party’s journal Qiushi to underscore the significance of the Party’s control of media. The article states that reining in the media is a major issue that warrants urgent attention. “First, we should control the media according to the law, and (we should) further standardize and institutionalize the mechanism of control.” The Party’s Charter should guide control of the media, and govern the relationship between the Party and media. The article also urged that a law be passed to “regulate the conduct of the media,” so that the Party organizations at all level can follow and implement it.

Source: Qiushi, June 11, 2010
http://www.qstheory.cn/hqwg/2010/201011/201006/t20100611_32983.htm

Expanding the Communist Party branches or subsidiaries to the non-state sector of Chinese society has become one of the focal efforts of the Party ever since the fourth session of 17th National Congress in 2009. One example is the mid-sized Nanchong City in central China’s Sichuan Province. 

The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and State Council recently issued the “National Mid to Long Term Talent Development Plan (2010-2020).” The plan outlined a “Thousand People Plan” to attract 2,000 talented top-level overseas people to China for innovation or business in 5-10 years. A series of policies were created to support the talent plan, including offering preferential treatment on immigration and permanent residence, tax, insurance, housing, kids education, and spousal work arrangements, appointments to high-level leadership positions, assignments to important research projects, involvment in setting national standards, setting up government awards, establishing an overseas top talent database and a talent demand posting platform, and so on.

“Getting technology is better than getting foreign investments; getting talent is better than getting technology.” To change its economic development model, China must develop its strategic industries. Therefore, developing talent and bringing talent from overseas has become very critical.

Source: Xinhua, June 7, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2010-06/07/c_13337836.htm

The Public Diplomacy Division, located under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has been advanced to the Office of Public Diplomacy, indicating an elevated importance to the Chinese government. While the staff has increased from a dozen to sixteen or seventeen, the workload has doubled,” said its director, Wei Xin. Its responsibilities include hosting major open house events for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, maintaining the Ministry’s official website and its 204 sub-websites, monitoring online foreign affairs forums, and coordinating public diplomacy at the embassies and consulates. To push the agenda of the Party, China’s diplomatic missions have been aggressively pursuing public diplomacy activities, which include public speeches, op-eds in mainstream newspapers, interviews, forums, and conferences.

Source: Xinhua, May 31, 2010
http://big5.xinhuanet.com/gate/big5/news.xinhuanet.com/world/2010-05/31/c_12160553.htm

The Political Bureau of the CCP’s Central Committee held a meeting on May 28 to study further implementing the Western Development strategy and policy measures. Hu Jintao presided over the meeting. The meeting concluded that the development and stability of the western region of China is critical to different ethnic groups in China and the long-term stability of the country. The meeting stressed that due to its significant strategic position, the western region should receive special policy support from the central government. The policy measures should cover fiscal measures, tax, investment, financial industry, production industry, land, pricing, human resources, ecological construction, and government subsidies.

Source: Xinhua, May 28, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2010-05/28/c_12154095.htm

According to a reliable source, China’s 610 Office, specifically created to deal with Falun Gong, issued a top-secret document on how to manage the court trials of Falun Gong practitioners. The document has been sent to local public security bureaus, procuratorates, courts, judicial bureaus, and 610 offices. Highlights of the document are:
1. Get well prepared, including coordinating among all parties; get the family members of Falun Gong practitioners to cooperate; and carefully select the staff, time, and location (relatively isolated and far from downtown) for the court trial.
2. Control the court trial procedures and do not to leave any excuse for criticism, including that the procurator is not to debate on the nature of “Falun Gong” and the judge is not to let the defendant’s attorney debate.
3. Control the court’s security, including limiting the number of the defendant’s relatives attending the trial, and arrange trusted people from the street residence committee, policemen, and the 610 office staff to attend, so as to obtain a 2:1 majority.
4. Control the defendant’s relatives and social connections.

Source: A source in China who requires anonymity.

All nine politburo members attended the Central Work Conference for Xinjiang, which was held in Beijing from May 17 to 19. Hu Jintao stressed the importance of economic development and stability maintenance in Xinjiang. Wen Jiabao talked about the economic development plan.

On the afternoon of May 19, Politburo member and Party Secretary of the Political and Legal Committee Zhou Yongkang hosted a conference on implementing the Central Work Conference policies. The CCP Organization Department, the Propaganda Department, the United Front Work Department, the Political and Legal Committee, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Public Security, and the heads of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps attended the meeting. Zhou stressed the implementation of stability controls.

Sources:
1. China Review, May 20, 2010
http://gb.chinareviewnews.com/doc/1013/2/8/9/101328927.html?coluid=151&kindid=0&docid=101328927&mdate=0520223200
2. China Review, May 22, 2010
http://gb.chinareviewnews.com/doc/1013/3/0/4/101330453.html?coluid=151&kindid=0&docid=101330453&mdate=0522084843