Government/Politics - 330. page

In speaking with Xinhua’s International Herald Leader, Li Wei, Chairman of “Center for Counter-Terrorism Studies” of “China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR)” named five groups as the top terrorist threat to the Olympics: Eastern Turkistan, Tibetan Separates, Falun Gong, oversea’s democracy movement groups, and individuals who seek retaliations. As to threats from international terrorism groups, Li said that the scale would not be a big concern but can’t be ignored.

Li disclosed that the western countries including US, Israel, UK, France, Russia, Australia, and Greece have assisted China in its anti-terrorism effort. Ministry of Public Security claimed last month that terrorism is the major threat to the Olympics security.

Source: ChinaGo, July 4, 2008
http://news.chinago.cn/o/2008/0704/1731.html

50,000 copies of a special Olympics edition of the Bible have been printed and shipped to the six Olympics cities, according to two state-run Christian organizations. The cover of the Bible that bears the Olympic Logo has been on the front page of major state-run newspapers. The two state-run Christian organizations are  the National Committee of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement of the Protestant Church in China and the China Christian Council. According to the two state organizations, the copies are being offered free as one of the major religious services that they are providing to the Olympics. The use of the Olympic logo on the Bible was licensed by the State Beijing Olympics Committee.

Source:
Chinese Protestant Church, July 14, 2008
http://www.chineseprotestantchurch.org/news/hot/2008/714/08714866.html
Chinese Protestant Church, June 23, 2008
http://www.chineseprotestantchurch.org/news/hot/2008/623/08623226.html

Customers of government postal services must produce a valid government identification card during the Olympics, says China’s State Post Bureau. The special notice from the government agency states that post offices will not provide postal service if a sender of particles either to or from 6 cities between July 20 and September 20 does not produce a valid government I.D. The 6 cities are Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Qingdao, Shenyang and Qinhuangdao.

Source: Xinhua, July 16, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/sports/2008-07/16/content_8557748.htm

People’s Daily posted an edited version of the translation from an article in The Times (London) written by Brendan O’Neill titled “The farce of bashing China’s human rights record”. The key message of the article stated: “…The West has no moral authority to lecture anyone, including China, about rights and democracy… Respect for liberty is at an historic low in Europe and the U.S…”

Source:
People’s Daily, July 15, 2008
http://world.people.com.cn/GB/57507/7514447.html
Times Online, July 14, 2008
http://143.252.148.161/tol/comment/specials/article4329902.ece

Recently, the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Disciplinary Committee issued “Seven Rules” to warn executives of State owned companies. The rules warned that violators will face punishment, including the revocation of party membership. The article did not explain what punishments might be applied to non-party members.

The rules include language such as “profit taking for oneself or others using one’s official position is not allowed”, “no beneficial trade for one’s spouse and children using one’s official position [is allowed]” and “forcing accounting and financial professionals to forge fake financial reports is not permitted.”

All seven banned forms of misconduct are already illegal activities, raising the question of why the Party has to tell its senior members to obey existing laws.

Source: Jing Hua Shi Bao, July 16, 2008
http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2008-07-16/005815937920.shtml

Xinhua reports that passengers traveling in and out of Beijing during the Olympics need to use their real names to purchase tickets. The Ministry of Transportation issued a notice requiring strict checkups on passengers traveling via land and water. The news report is provided with photos showing police with heavy firearms standing at checkpoints along a main road.[1] In a separate picture report, armed police are patrolling Beijing’s Capital Airport. [2]

Source: Xinhua, July 11, 2008
[1]. http://news.xinhuanet.com/photo/2008-07/11/content_8528263.htm
[2]. http://news.xinhuanet.com/photo/2008-07/01/content_8467743.htm

On July 10th, both the People’s Daily and Guangming Daily devoted the entire front page to an identical layout setting featuring the news, speech, and photos of Hu Jintao at the G8 Summit.  It was viewed as a media campaign effort to improve Hu’s image before the Olympics.

Source: Secret China, July 10, 2008
http://www.secretchina.com/news/253637.html

On Monday July 7, more than 15,000 Chinese scholars and experts signed a petition, calling on the government to end China’s forced labor camp system. They believe that the forced labor camp lacks legality, and it may lead to administrative power abuse. They also pointed out that the system failed to protect citizen’s rights.

The forced labor camp system was introduced in 1956 from the Soviet Union. Under the system, the government can send undesirables to do hard labor in a concentration camp without any trial. The Chinese government uses it to punish Christians, Buddhists, pro-democracy activists and Falun Gong practitioners.

Fan Yafeng, a sponsor of the petition and a Beijing-based social scientist said that the petition was intended to ease the worsening tension between the people and the government.

Source: Voice of America, July 8, 2008 
http://voanews.com/chinese/w2008-07-08-voa67.cfm