Government/Politics - 291. page

The official Xinhua News Agency reports that Communist Party membership increased by 11,859,000 between 2002 and 2006 averaging 2.37 million per year. As of the end of 2006, Communist Party membership reportedly totaled 2.391 million, of which 14.292 million were female and 55.472 million were 35 years of age or above. According to an overseas Chinese global media, the Epoch Times, between December 3, 2004, and July 16, 2007, over 23.8 million persons quit the Communist Party, the Communist Youth League and the Young Pioneers by renouncing their membership on the web.

At a press conference on August 2, 2007, the Communist Party’s Central Commission for Discipline and Inspection announced that it is in the process of drafting a Chinese Communist Party Inspection Visits Regulation. The new regulation will institute a new inspection and review mechanism.

The Chinese Communist Party claims it had "remarkable results" in its campaign to educate and control its members. Recent Xinhua News Agency articles set forth some key achievements in methods of control of Party members, including recruitment drives in all walks of life, and  an increased retention rate through using hotlines and long distance learning pilot programs.

The Neiqiu County Federation of Trade Unions in Hebei Province assigned union heads to private companies. "It is good to send cadres to head unions in the private mining sector," an article of the Hebei Provincial Federation of Unions proclaimed.

At a press conference held on August 6, 2007, Jiang Xiaoyu, one of the executive vice presidents of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games said, "We disagree with the attempt to politicize the Olympics. We are opposed to such a practice."

The Shougang Group (The Capital Steel Group), the third largest iron and steel company in China, is recruiting vehicle drivers from its employees for the Olympics. These drivers will serve members from the International Olympics Committee, delegation leaders from overseas, sponsor representatives and other international dignitaries. Applicants who are Communist Party members and Communist Youth League members are preferred while those who have been involved with Falun Gong and other banned religious groups will be excluded.

Li Jinhua, the Auditor General of China’s National Audit Office, stated that in 2006 the central government had questionable losses in the amount of 12 billion yuan due to corruption and mismanagement.

According to Legal Weekly reprinted by the official Xinhua site on July 27, 2007, some provinces in China are experiencing a serious shortage of judges. "In many courts in cities and prefectures such as Huahua and Xianxi in Hunan Province, we are missing over one-third of the needed judges," reported the article.