Government/Politics - 325. page

The Ministry of Education and the People’s Liberation Army General Political Department jointly issued a few days ago the requirements for the national defense students.  Students are demanded to cultivate the “core values” which Hu Jingtao put forward as "loyalty to the party, love for the people, service to the country and devotion to the mission and upholding honor."

[Editor’s notes: National Defense students are college students who are selected by the military as reserve officers. They receive national defense scholarship during their study and will serve the military as an officer after graduating from college.]

Source: Xinhua News, May 7, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2009-05/07/content_11331589.htm

The Central Propaganda Department recently banned all Chinese media from reporting on Chinese officials involved in the recent international Siemens bribery scandal. Relatives of two members of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee were on the bribery list.

Documents regarding the scandal that have been released by the US Justice Department revealed names of companies involved, including Chinese companies. Under US and German government pressure, Siemens also provided names to the involved governments, including China. The targeted media ban order was issued by Li Changchun, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau, the CPC Central Committee. However, Chinese media can freely report on the rest of the scandal story.

Source: Sina News, April 26, 2009.
http://dailynews.sina.com/gb/chn/chnnews/ausdaily/20090426/1711187101.html

Qiushi magazine published an article in its 9th issue on May 1 titled: "Why China Must Take the Path of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics as Its Only Solution." The article claims that "the path of socialism was a historic decision made by the Chinese people." "Socialist guidance for China’s development can never be allowed to be altered. China did not alter its socialist path in the past, nor will it do so in the future.”

Source: Xinhua, April 30, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2009-04/30/content_11289588.htm

The Party’s publication Study Times summarizes highlights of the recent guidelines that China’s General Administration of Press and Publications in China issued on April 6, 2009, to "further facilitate deepening reform of the press and publishing system." One, separate for-profit media companies from public interest media groups; two, encourage initial public offerings by media companies; three, acknowledge private publishing companies; and four, encourage media companies to go global.

Source: Study Times, April 27, 2009
http://www.studytimes.com.cn/WebPage/ny1.aspx?act=0&id=2602&bid=6

The China Press, a US based publication sponsored by the Chinese government, reported that the Chinese State Councilor Liu Yandong announced China’s support of the "800 Plan." The plan consists of: a scholarship for 800 people, an invitation to 800 US students to attend a summer camp in China and an invitation to 800 US education professionals to visit China every year.

The report suggested that the demand of learning Chinese is heating up in the States. It helps improve the strategic relationship between the two countries.

Source: The China Press, April 19, 2009.
http://www.chinapressusa.com/huajiao/2009-04/16/content_207951.htm

[Editor’s note: The plan is channeled through the Chinese state-sponsored Confucius Institute, which offers Chinese language courses with messages considered “positive” by the Chinese government.]

In order to enhance its global influence and carry out the directive from the central administration to focus on propaganda work overseas, China has laid out a media strategy to build up its overseas media power. It will "follow the rules of the games (with the Western media) but is also capable of expressing a completely different position and perspective."

Xinhua and CCTV are actively recruiting resources worldwide so they can "bring China’s voice overseas." With projected financial loss of 20 million yuan in the first year, Global Times launched its English edition on April 20, making it China’s second English language news media published outside of China (the other is the People’s Daily). Xinhua said it will add more languages to its online news and invest in mobile news services. CCTV will add Russian and Arabic to its foreign language channels and hopes to have 11 new channels in 7 languages within the next three years.

Source: Sing Tao News Network, April 27, 2009
http://www.stnn.cc/china/200904/t20090427_1018499.html

In gearing up for the 60 year anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party’s rule in China, the General Office of the Party issued guidelines for patriotic education. The guidelines consist of six parts with detailed requirements for all levels of government bodies to follow.

Source: Xinhua, April 26, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2009-04/26/content_11262168.htm

For the first time, 49 high-ranking officials in Guangdong province were sent to an emergency management training class for a period of 5 days. The training covered contingency plans for overseas incidents as well as information and press control in emergencies.

Source: Secret China, April 21, 2009
http://www.secretchina.com/news/289248.html