Government/Politics - 337. page

An article from Nanfang Daily (a Guangzhou newspaper) stated that it is time to return power back to the people. The article reported a “Biweekly Forum on Humanities” held by two prominent columnists and attended by over 30 on media commentaries in Mainland China.

The most important progress in the past ten years is Internet and media working together reporting social problems, thus pressuring the government to compromise, the columnists stated. Media commentaries are a matter of freedom of speech of the entire nation. They furthered that every citizen should be critical of the government and question what it says.

Source: Nanfang Daily, March 31, 2008
http://www.nanfangdaily.com.cn/southnews/jwxy/200803310070.asp

On April 1, 2008, China’s state media Xinhua republished a commentary articles from People’s Daily (oversea’s edition) that continued the recent campaign of attacking Dalai Lama. The article, titled “Dalai Lama Lied Again” and authored by deputy director of China’s Tibetan Cultural protection and development, attacked Dala Lama’s recent public statement of “not seeking Tibet independence” and “not involved in the recent Tibet protest” as lies. Under the title, a series of recent related articles were listed and linked to the full text, including:
Revealing Truth: Before and after the Fourteenth Dalai’s Fleeing (video clips of CCTV’s Documentary “Dalai Lama”)
The True Intention of Dalai Clique’s “Middle Path” Is to “Tibet Independence”
Lhasa Incident Exposed the Lies of Dala’s “Human Rights”
The Living Buddha of Tibet Asks Dalai not to Damage National Unity and Ethnic Harmony

Source: Xinhua, April 1, 2008

http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2008-04/01/content_7895862.htm

On March 28, Xinhua posted an article titled: “Legal Measures Taken by The Administration of Tibet Autonomous Region in Handling Serious Criminal Act in Lhasa Gained Wide Range of Understanding and Support from the International Community.” It claimed that so far there have been 120 countries and international organizations showed support to the righteous actions China has taken. It listed Thailand, Burma, Timor-Leste, Qatar, Central African Republic, Algeria, Columbia, Chile, Peru, and Bosnia-Herzegovina as the ones that recently showed their support.

Source: Xinhua, March 28, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2008-03/28/content_7877593.htm

At a press conference at Damascus, a Chinese diplomat expressed Beijing’s desire to expand the cooperation with Arabic countries. Sun Bigan, the government’s Middle East special envoy, told journalists that China has a friendly strategic cooperative relationship with Arabic countries. On issues such as Taiwan, Tibet, and human rights, Arabs have given “precious” supports, while China reciprocates by backing their sovereignty, territorial integrity, and national rights. In 2007, the bilateral trade amounted to 86.4 billion USD. Sun added that Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi will lead a delegation to the Second Ministerial Meeting of Sino-Arabic Cooperation Forum to be held in Bahrain in May.

Source: Xinhua, March 27, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2008-03/27/content_7871633.htm

China began patriotic education of Tibetan monks in 1996 and the education has been very successful, said Zheng Tui, Director of the Institute of Religious Studies under the China Tibetan Studies Center, in a press conference on March 26, 2008. Zheng stated, “to give monks this kind of education mainly is because of the long term interference from Dalai Lama with Tibetan’s construction. On one hand, it educates the monks. On the other, it helps resist the infiltration by handful foreign separatists into monks.” The patriotic education program not only improves the education level of monks but also increases their patriotic awareness, said Zheng. From his personal experience in the temples, he found such education “very successful.”

Source: Xinhua, March 26, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2008-03/26/content_7864207.htm

The Communist Party mouthpiece The People’s Daily posted an article today on its website entitled “Distorted Reports Astonishing – Where Is the Morality of Western Media?” The article quoted a commentary from Hong Kong’ pro-communist newspaper Wen Wei Pao, stating that after Lhasa incident, some Western newspapers, TV stations, and websites were full of reports of the Chinese government “suppressing” Tibetans, in which the distortion of the facts was astonishing. Some media used copy-paste, information-filtering means to mislead readers and audiences, spreading voices "demonizing China” voices. The article sharply criticized that these Western media outlets have even mixed the Olympics with these incidents and called for boycotting the Beijing Olympics.

Source: People’s Daily, March 25, 2008
http://world.people.com.cn/GB/1030/7040230.html

Under the guidance of Opinions on Deepening the “Olympics Security Operation” throughout the City [of Beijing], a commanding and coordinating task force for the “Olympics Security Operation” has been set up by China’s Central Government. The director is Jiao Huancheng, Deputy Secretary of the Party Leadership Group of the State Council, Deputy Secretary-General of the State Council, Director of the Bureau of Government Offices Administration of the State Council, and Director of the Social Security Comprehensive Control Office of the Central Government. The two Deputy Directors of the task force are Deng Xujun, Deputy Secretary of the State Organs Work Committee of CCP, and Gao Xiang, Deputy Director of the Government Offices Administration of the State Council. Other members of the team come from various central Party and government offices.

Source: Xinhua, March 20, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/legal/2008-03/20/content_7827267.htm

On March 21, Xinhua reported that some governments openly supported the Chinese government’s “handling of violence” in Tibet, and opposed the actions of “Tibetan separatism” and the politicizing Beijing Olympic Games. Those countries include Russia, Belarus, Pakistan, Lesotho, Singapore, and Arab countries. A spokesperson for the Russian government said that Russia hoped the Chinese government would take all necessary measures to end the illegal actions, and it recognized that handling the relationship between Beijing and the Dalai Lama was China’s internal affair, according to Xinhua. The report also said that the diplomatic representatives of Arab countries to Beijing expressed “shock” after learning about the violence in Tibet, and said they stood against any “plot” to link the incident with the Beijing Olympic Games.

Source: Xinhua, March 21, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2008-03/21/content_7829931.htm