Government/Politics - 324. page

Outlook, a weekly magazine under China’s state media Xinhua News, published an article outlining expert-suggested approaches to promote "China’s Voice" on the international stage.

The article stated that "some Western media reported untruthfully about the serious violence in Lhasa, Tibet that took place in mid-March." To counter Western media’s distorted reporting of China, it is necessary to broaden the platform for China’s voice to be heard in the world.  In short, be able to participate in the settings of the international media agenda.  First of all, take initiatives in guiding world public opinion, instead of being criticized at will.  Second, improve the domestically produced foreign language content with more appropriate expressions and tone so that they are better quoted in Western media.  Third, track world affairs and international focal points; participate in media internationalization that helps to build the basis for an effective guiding force of public opinion in the world arena.  At the same time, build and refine the image of the state that will produce favorable results.

Source: Xinhua News (Outlook reprint), April 10, 2008.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2008-04/10/content_7950835_1.htm

On May 1, 2009, President Obama issued a statement for World Press Freedom Day (May 3). In his statement, he criticized China for its imprisonment and harassment of journalists and restrictions on freedom of the press in general. On May 4, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Chaoxu urged the United States to "respect the facts" and stop criticizing the press freedom situation in China.

Ma argued that that the Chinese Government has been "lawfully" protecting citizens’ freedom of speech and "fully encouraging" the supervision from news media and public opinion.

Source: China News, May 4, 2009.
http://www.chinanews.com.cn/gn/news/2009/05-04/1674891.shtml

According to a media report, China’s Public Security personnel will begin stationing in Taiwan, starting early next year.  The stated purpose is to fight serious cross-boarder crimes in a more coordinated way. Taiwan’s chief of criminal investigation said that this is just media speculation and details have not been finalized, but they will work toward that goal.

Source: Central News Agency, May 8, 2009
http://www.cna.com.tw/SearchNews/doDetail.aspx?id=200905080083

More than 2,000 Party secretaries of the Party’s discipline organs at the county level throughout China are gathering in Beijing to attend a focused training course, the first of its kind in the history of the Communist Party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

Xinhua reported that the training, held in the Party School of the CPC Central Committee, the National School of Administration, and the Training Center of the Supervision Ministry of the CPC Central Committee, has been aimed at improving their abilities to fight against corruption as well as maintain social stability.  The training began on May 8, 2009.

Source: Xinhua, May 12, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/legal/2009-05/12/content_11358058.htm

Xinhua has recently reported on several of Xi Jinping’s activities related to the “Scientific Outlook on Development” theory that was Hu Jintao’s main “theoretical contribution” to Communism. Xi is a member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and Vice President of China.

On May 6 and 7, Xi went to several universities in Beijing to conduct a study of the “Study and Practice of the Theory of Scientific Outlook on Development” movement at universities. On May 7, Xi also gave a speech at the Conference of the University “Study and Practice” Movement at the People’s University, in Beijing. On May 8, Xi Jinping met the participants of the National Conference on the Party’s Construction at the Government Offices. During all these events, Xi Jinping emphasized the need to further implement the “Scientific Outlook on Development” theory.

Source: Xinhua, May 7 & 8, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2009-05/07/content_11332299.htm
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2009-05/08/content_11337545.htm

Based on Chinese media sources, BBC Chinese reported on May 6, that the government of Hubei Province is investing 13 million RMB to rebuild the tomb of a famous person named Lian Shunbin. It is believed that Lian Shunbin is the ancestor of Lian Zhan, who is the former Chairman of the Taiwan Nationalist Party (Kuomintang, KMT) and former Vice President of the Republic of China.

Source: BBC Chinese, May 6, 2009.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/chinese/simp/hi/newsid_8030000/newsid_8035100/8035143.stm Last Update (Monday, 11 May 2009 )

On the one year anniversary of Sichuan Wenchuan Earthquake, Xinhua’s front page carried a number of articles praising the Party’s earthquake recovery effort. While the state media continues to attribute the earthquake to natural disaster, building structure defects have remained a major outcry among the grieving parents, whose voices were completely suppressed by state media. According to VOA, of those who tried to conduct independent investigations of the earthquake, 80 percent have been summoned by the police. Some had their photos erased while in police custody.

Source:
Voice of America, May 9, 2009
http://www.voanews.com/chinese/w2009-05-09-voa31.cfm
Xinhua, May 10, 2009
http://www.xinhuanet.com/politics/xw.htm

The recent implementation of an Internet regulation in Hangzhou city Zhejiang province raised some serious concerns over the ordinance itself being too fuzzy and with much gray area.

There are specific technical problems in identifying and determining vaguely defined unlawful conducts. At the same time, the deficiencies in protection of civil rights will result in rights abuses and will inevitably lead to distortion in the implementation of the new regulation. In addition, since the existing legal system in general is inadequate in providing enough open channels of public expression; lawful citizens have been repeatedly reported and retaliated as consequences of legitimate expression, introducing such a specific legislation will inevitable harm freedom of speech, suppress the already restricted cyber space that many rely on for anonymous public expression of opinions.

Source: Nanfang News, May 4, 2009
http://big5.southcn.com/gate/big5/opinion.southcn.com/soc/content/2009-05/04/content_5119294.htm