Government/Politics - 344. page

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

Minghui, the official website of Falun Gong, reported that the Political-Legal Committee of Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee issued a secret document entitled “Working Suggestions for Maintaining Social Stability, Ensuring the Security of the Beijing Olympics” on February 19, 2008. The document was sent to all the provincial “Political-Legal Committees” and the corresponding "Offices for the Prevention and Handling of Cult Issues.” The document mandates that between March and September of 2008, relevant departments should “focus the time and manpower on implementing activities solely to exclude and dissolve conflicts;” “strengthen the management of foreign journalists reporting on the Olympic Games;” and “strengthen the management of Internet and mobile phone short messages.” The document especially emphasized the need to “strictly prevent and strike hard against Falun Gong.” According to the report, kidnapping and deaths cases of Falun Gong practitioners due to persecution have increased significantly following the issuing of the document. The report listed six confirmed deaths between February 23 and March 9 of this year in addition to multiple kidnapping cases.

Source: Minghui, March 17, 2008
http://www.minghui.ca/mh/articles/2008/3/17/174530.html

According to Beijing Communist Party Secretary Liu Qi, the Chinese military will play a crucial role in the Beijing Olympics on issues related to construction, security, anti-terrorist operations, performances and translation services. Earlier, the Communist Party committee in the Hebei military district had listed providing security to the Olympics as one of its top five priorities for the year 2008.

Beijing Olympic Security Command Chief Tian Yixiang stated in June 2007 that the primary threats to the Games include East Turkistan terrorist groups, pro-Tibet independence groups and Falun Gong.

Sources: Xinhua, January 21, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/sports/2008-01/21/content_7463404.htm
Hebei Daily, January 14, 2008.
http://www.heb.chinanews.com.cn/news/szdt/2008-01-14/20392.shtml
Voice of America, June 29, 2007
http://www.voanews.com/chinese/archive/2007-06/w2007-06-29-voa10.cfm?CFID=28130922&CFTOKEN=57196252

On March 11, 2008, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Qin Gang stated that Dalai Lama continues to distort the facts in an attempt to politicize the Beijing Olympic Games and that the attempt is unwise and will not succeed.

Qin made the remarks in response to a question at the daily briefing pertaining to the Dalai Lama’s statement on March 10, 2008 criticizing China for its tight control of Tibet in violation of human rights along with lack of freedom of speech and religion in Tibet.

Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, March 11, 2008 http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/chn/xwfw/fyrth/t413853.htm