Government/Politics - 340. page

During his visit to Xinhua and CCTV on May 16, Li Changchun, member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Party praised the media for reporting on the “courageous national spirit in fighting against the earthquake in Sichuan”, showing the "vast superiority of the socialist system” as well as “the glorious image of the party for its humanity and caring about its people”.

Li said that in the upcoming critical disaster relief phase, the news media around the country should loudly promote the main theme that the entire society is united in battling the earthquake disaster with courageous spirit. "The media need to focus on reporting all major policies and rescue efforts of the central government, and those touching examples of the PLA soldiers, military police and public security officers who are heroically sacrificing in leading the rescue efforts".

Source: Xinhua, May 17, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2008-05/17/content_8192346.htm

Amid the news of earthquake strike, General Secretary Hu Jingtao Immediately gave out order to rescue the wounded as soon as possible and Premier Wen Jiabao immediately flew to the disaster region to direct the rescue effort. Various other governmental agencies launched emergency operations to support the anti-earthquake relief effort in order to protect the lives and belonging of the people. All these are sufficient proof, claimed by this front page Xinhua commentary, that the Party and the Government are intimately connected with the hearts of the people in the disaster region. Such rapid response has demonstrated to the people the full-hearted determination toward the rescue effort and the deep-affection toward its people by the Party and the Government. This also show-cased the powerful social mobilizing ability of the socialist county, said the article.

Source: Xinhua, May 12, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2008-05/12/content_8154338.htm

All news and media agencies must strictly follow the Party guideline, firmly control the correct direction of public opinion, emphasize the positive propaganda, stimulate unity and stability, and provide powerful moral support for the earthquake rescue efforts. These are the propaganda directives from the Standing Politburo of Central Party Committee passing down by Li Changchun, a standing member of the Politburo, during an internal teleconference for nationwide propaganda departments. The teleconference, held earlier today, also calls for maximum effort to promote the images of the Party Central Committee and State Council for their extreme concerns and executive decisions to protect the safety of the people in the disaster-hit areas. It also emphasized the need to promote the heroic rescue efforts by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), Armed Police, and Public Security Police.

Source: Xinhua, May 13, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2008-05/13/content_8162344.htm

Secret Documents from Hong Kong Immigration Department were recently leaked. Among them is a partial list of names on the Special Region’s surveillance watch list. On Tuesday May 6 Hong Kong Security Bureau admitted that it holds a “surveillance list” of 11,000 names who are considered “dangerous individuals” to Hong Kong public security. A week earlier, Hong Kong Immigration has denied entry of at least six human rights activists into Hong Kong prior to the arrival of Olympic Torch Relay. The leaked documents were said to be stolen from a home PC of a new employee of the Immigration Department who allegedly downloaded the list from work.

Source: Voice of America, May 10, 2008
http://www.voanews.com/chinese/w2008-05-10-voa38.cfm

An article published by Xinhua on May 8 shows several pictures of prisoners in a Beijing prison celebrating the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. The article mentioned that “in order to create an atmosphere of everyone supporting the Games, the Beijing Bureau of prisons launched a series of education events one year before the opening date.” The summer event “undoubtedly becomes a precious medicine” for the prison guards to lead those serving the term to see the “light of life,” said the article.

Source: Xinhua, May 8, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/legal/2008-05/08/content_8126183.htm

State textbooks for secondary schools shape the patriotism of young Chinese generations, wrote Mrs. He Qinglian, a prominent writer on China.  Mrs. He wrote that in the State textbooks for secondary schools, the Communist Party has defined the relationship between the Party and Chinese people as that between mother and children, the relationship between Communist authorities and oversea Chinese as that between motherland and oversea orphans. The article believes that the authorities’ deprivation of freedom of information has turned patriotism to loyalty to autocracy as shown in recent breakout of nationalism against western media on Tibet and the Beijing Olympics.

Source: Epoch Times, May 4, 2008
http://news.epochtimes.com/gb/8/5/4/n2105085.htm

This Xinhua commentary article, titled “Soundly Blow the Strong Note of Patriotism”, quoting a speech by Party General Secretary Hu Jintao given during a recent visit to Beijing University, urges Chinese youth to carry on the glorious tradition of patriotism and steadfastly follow the Party down the socialist path with Chinese characteristics. The article calls on Chinese youth to strongly persist with patriotism and the socialist [path] and unite with solidarity around the core leadership of Hu Jintao to realize the great goal of the country’s revival.

Source: Xinhua, May 5, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2008-05/05/content_8109927.htm

A new security regulation, announced yesterday by Beijing’s municipal government, goes into effect today that all persons and vehicles entering the Tiananmen Square are subject to a random security search. The new regulation also adds a list of illegal items forbidden to be brought into the area, including guns, ammunition, knives, explosive and radioactive items, drug and adult materials, and other hazardous articles that can disrupt social order and endanger public security. Security searches around Tiananmen Square will become a routine that will stay in effect all year long, according to one official from the municipal government. Under the old regulations, security searches around the square were performed only during times of special events and major holidays.

Source: Xinhua, May 6, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/legal/2008-05/05/content_8106559.htm