Government/Politics - 330. page

In the newly issued “Chinese Communist Party School Working Directions,” county Party secretary is included in the plan to take training course in central Party school. The first course started on November 10, 500 county level Party secretaries took the training. The training course lasted seven days, with an emphasis on how to implement policies of central government with heart, with brain, and with strength. In the fifth day, it was about handling the social stability and sudden events (riots) in the county. How to maintain social stability is one of main topic in the training course.

Source: People.com.cn, November 15, 2008
http://politics.people.com.cn/GB/1026/8345885.html

According to an official of China’s Justice Ministry, Xiao Yang, the former Chinese Supreme Court Chief Justice, was house-arrested in November 2008 for corruption.

Per unconfirmed internet sources, Xiao and his deputy, Associate Chief Justice Huang Songyou were involved in a corruption network that stole up to RMB 150 billion yuan (USD $22 billion).

Xiao, as the chief justice, is said to be a vice-premier rank official. He was a member of the 15th and 16th Communist Party Central Committee, Minister of Justice from 1993 to 1995, and served as Chief Justice for two consecutive terms from 1998 to 2007.

Source: http://backchina.com/news/2008/11/12/17860.html

In September, a Beijing journal called Yan (2) Huang (2) Chun (1) Qiu (1) (炎黄春秋) carried an article about the former Premier Zhao Ziyang. Written by a former editor in Chief of Xinhua branch office in Sichuan Province, the article was said to be the first positive article about Zhao since 1989. In mid-October, the Ministry of Cultural started to get involved because “a formal leader in the central government was uneasy about the article”. The latest development was that Ministry of Cultural requested the magazine to replace its leadership team because “they have exceeded the age limit”.

Yan (2) Huang (2) Chun (1) Qiu (1) is a monthly magazine started by a group of senior CCP officials in 1991. It is a self-funded business with readers among seniors in the party or intellectuals. The circulation is in the 80,000.

Source: Asia Weekly, Hong Kong, November 2008,
http://www.yzzk.com/cfm/Content_Archive.cfm?Channel=kk&Path=2203531622/46kk1a.cfm

Ministry of Foreign Affairs officially has declassified files from 1961 to 1965, reported Xinhua.  The files declassified pertain to evolution of China-Soviet relationships and the breakup of the two Communist Parties.  Included also are those on the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France and on No. 103 to 128 Ambassadorial talks between China and the United States.  

More than 41,000 files have been declassified since 2004.  3,400 persons/times have accessed the files.  Over 700 of them were from other countries.

Source: Xinhua, November 12, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2008-11/12/content_10347508.htm

Zhejiang Provincial Communist Party Committee expelled from the Party Mr. Yang, a district Party Secretary in Wenzhou city.  The Party committee also fired him from his position on the Wenzhou City Standing Committee.   The disciplinary actions were prompted by Yang’s refusal to return to China from a September trip to Europe.  The Party Committee determined that his unauthorized stay in Europe was in serious violations of the Party rules and has created bad influence.

Source: Xinhua, November 12, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2008-11/12/content_10348515.htm

Chinese internet users are stunned by web photos showing Taoists kicking goose-steps and saluting to flag-rising, wearing Taoist priest’s robe.

Wudang Taoist Academy is a three-year religious college recently approved by the State Administration of Religious Affairs (SARA), located at the Wudang mountain, where famous Taoist temples are seated.

The kicking of goose-steps is part of the military training that all newly enrolled students ought to undertake. The flag-rising ceremony aims to cultivate the patriotic passion of the students, according to the Nanfang Daily report.

Source: Nanfang Daily, November 12, 2008
http://www.nanfangdaily.com.cn/tpxw/200811120056.asp

In a recent report published by China’s Nanfang People Weekly (or Nanfang Renwu Zhoukan), mistresses of corrupt officials were found least subject to legal punishment.

The report investigates 41 corrupted officials at the ranking of governorship in the Communist Party, Government, People’s Congress, Political Consultative Conference, and Judiciary Branch, spanning from 1998 to 2008. The sources used are public information from the court system and media interviews with the defense lawyers and family members of the officials.

36 out of the 41 investigated have at least one mistress. These officials aged 62 on average at the time of being prosecuted, with their legal spouses around 60. The mistresses are on average 11 years younger than the spouses, while the largest age difference being over 30. After a comparative study, the report concludes that the motives of possessing mistresses have shifted from seeking sexual pleasure toward mutual benefits. The special group of mistresses of high officials are de facto playing the role of money managers.

However, the mistresses are more or less risk free from among the group of investigated, as only 8 out of the 36 were put on trial and 5 convicted, shows the report.

Source: Radio Free Asia, November 11, 2008
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/fubai-11112008110523.html

Xinhua magazine China Comment published an article calling the end of American style of free capitalism. The article says that U.S. government’s massive involvement in the market signals the end of the free capitalism of America. The author argues that the sudden collapse of the free capitalism is the result of the shortcomings of free capitalism. The article listed several deficiencies of the capitalism that resulted in the crisis. In the end, the author concludes: “…The financial crisis and the U.S.’s “nationalizing” market rescue shows that the American flag of freedom has already descended from the flagpole. For so many years, the United States has been offending other countries’ sovereignty and will to promote the free capitalist model, now many problems have come.

Source: Xinhua, November 11, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2008-11/11/content_10339611.htm