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Government/Politics - 288. page

Wenzhou City Openly Hires Party Secretaries

Wenzhou, a coastal city in Southeast China, is to openly hire 25 Party secretaries to be posted in local private companies, according to the city’s Party organization department. The secretaries, paid by the private businesses, will organize and expand the Party branches inside the companies. Ever since the fourth session of the 17th Congress of the CCP in 2009, nationwide private enterprises have been required to set up local Party organizations as part of the regime’s efforts to build up the Party. Usually the secretaries are appointed by superior Party cadres; Wenzhou’s move is an innovation because it is integrating the political process with the market mechanism. 

Source: Zhejiang Online (flagship website of Zhejiang Province), May 19, 2010http://zjnews.zjol.com.cn/05zjnews/system/2010/05/19/016618714.shtml

Government Employees Subjected to Loyalty Training

Over 6 million Chinese government employees have attended various political training sessions over the past five years. Intensive orientation training of these “civil servants” includes indoctrination in Party tradition, loyalty pledges, and military boot camp. It is rumored that the training has been effective in improving the political awareness of these trainees and their thinking is now in line with the directives of the Communist Party. In recent years, topics such as social unrest and State security have been added to this on-the-job training. Government employees have also taken training overseas. Such training has been institutionalized and without the training, the employee cannot be promoted.

Source: Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security of China, May 17, 2010                   http://www.mohrss.gov.cn/Desktop.aspx?path=mohrss/mohrss/InfoView&gid=792b0119-2f0e-41ed-b168-6a64a362378a&tid=Cms_Info

China to Register and Manage All Religious Practitioners

On May 12, the State Administration for Religious Affairs held a video/audio conference on implementing the “Regulations on Religious Affairs.” 1700 religious affairs officials from all provinces participated in the conference. The Administration decided to complete the “Religious Practitioner Registration Practice” in three years, so that it can systematically and dynamically manage them over the Internet. It will also implement the “Financial Supervision and Management Practice for Religious Activities and Sites” in three years. For the remainder of 2010 and early 2011, local officials will start trial implementations.

Source: People’s Daily, May 14, 2010
http://politics.people.com.cn/GB/1027/11601559.html

Nobel Economics Laureate Gives Lecture to Chinese Officials

Robert Mundell, professor of economics at Columbia University and the recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics in 1999, gave a lecture at the Chinese Academy of Governance (CAG) in Beijing. CAG, subordinate to the State Council, is a government agency for training officials and Chinese Communist Party cadres. The lecture was about the global financial crisis, reform of the international monetary system, and China’s role in the global economy. 

Wei Liqun, the CCP Secretary of the CAG issued a certificate of Professor Emeritus to Prof. Mundell. 
Source: People’s Daily, May 13, 2010 
http://politics.people.com.cn/GB/1027/11592134.html

VOA: China’s New State Secret Law Detrimental to Health of Reporters

On April 29, The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress enacted a new People’s Republic of China law concerning guarding "State Secrets." The law will be in effect beginning October 1, 2010.

VOA quoted expert opinions that this law will further suppress reporting activities by reporters or any other person that might publish information that the government wants to keep secret, regardless of whether the information contains state secrets or not. Classifying information as a state secret after its published will allow the Chinese regime to imprison reporters without a legal process. This may also force the media and websites to monitor netizens’ postings and encourage informers to come forward.

China is the number one country in detaining reporters and imprisons the greatest number of reporters.

Source: VOA, May 6, 2010
http://www1.voanews.com/chinese/news/-20100506-CHINA-NEW-STATE-SECRETS-LAW-LEAVES-JOURNALISTS-EXPOSED-92961114.html

Ministry of Public Health: Local Health Organizations Must Apply for Permission before trip to Yushu

 

On April 19, 2010, the National Center for Health Inspection and Supervision of the Ministry of Public Health informed each provincial Public Health Bureau that local health organizations may no longer go to Yushu, Qinhai Province for earthquake relief activities without prior approval. They must apply through the chain of command. Once approved, they are free to go.

Information provided by unconfirmed source.

People’s Daily: China must not apply a “separation of powers”

On May 10, 2010, Xinhua reprinted an article from People’s Daily written by two Tsinghua University scholars emphasizing that China must not utilize a “separation of powers.”

According to the article, the CPC Central Committee Propaganda Department Theory Bureau has published the book “Six Whys – the Answers to Several Important Questions.” The book stresses that China cannot implement a “separation of powers.” The book tells the Chinese people that the “separations of powers” has only been put into operation in very few countries in the Western world.

The article says that the CPC Central Committee Propaganda Department Theory Bureau’s explanation is very important in clarifying and even correcting people’s ambiguous or wrong ideas about the “separation of powers.”  It concludes that China is a socialist country and must always uphold the Party’s leadership.

Source: People’s Daily, May 10, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2010-05/10/c_1282906.htm

Survey Suggests Internet Phobia is a Syndrome of Chinese Officials

People’s Forum, under the official People’s Daily, recently conducted a survey of “‘Internet Phobia’ of Contemporary Chinese Officials.” 5,943 netizens participated online and 300 officials and non-officials through pen and paper. 

70% of those surveyed believe that current Chinese officials have a syndrome of “Internet phobia.” Answers to the question “why do you think they fear the Internet?” include: 
“Being afraid that defective work is exposed and future careers will be damaged: 60%”; “Being afraid that personal information will be leaked and normal work and life affected: 28%”; “Being afraid that Internet public opinions only focus on wrongdoing instead of achievement, and draw biased conclusions out of context: 17%”; “Being afraid that Internet supervision will confuse right and wrong, and mess things up: 16%”; “Being afraid that some bad people will use the Internet for blackmail: 11%.” 
When the 300 officials and non-officials were asked, “Officials at which level fear the Internet most?,” 47% responded that it was those officials at the “county level.” 
Source: People’s Daily, May 6, 2010 
http://politics.people.com.cn/GB/1026/11535806.html