Government/Politics - 54. page

The owners of private schools in China have been forced to turn over their facilities to the state.

On August 25, 2021, the Ministry of Education of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) responded to questions from the media regarding the “Notice on Regulating the Establishment of Public Schools or Participation in the Establishment of Private Compulsory Education Schools.” The Ministry of Education stated that schools must cooperate with the CCP and carry out education reform as an important political task. Under the new regulation, private schools will be either handed over to the state or cease their operation within two years. The CCP’s suspension of private schools appears to be politically motivated to strengthen ideological control and amounts to misappropriating private assets.

The fallout from the education reform is rippling across the country.

On August 25, 2021, Yingshang School in Anhui Province notified its students’ parents that it closed its doors. In 2020, the school was a flagship in Yingshang County’s investment promotion campaign. The Jiangsu Zhufeng Education Group established it and invested in it. It was to provide elementary, junior high, and high school education. The campus has a construction area of ​​130,000 square meters and can accommodate 6,300 students. The school year was scheduled to start at the end of August.

Recently, the Huaiyang No. 1 Senior High School in Henan Province announced that the school will be donated in its entirety to the local government to “repay society.” It had a teaching staff of 1,300 and more than 20,000 students. The Henan Provincial Department of Education approved the school in 2002 and started to admit students in 2005. The school was touted as a model high school in Henan Province.

Jiaxiang Foreign Language School in Sichuan Province was turned over to the local government and will operate as a public school. It is the first compulsory education school in Sichuan that was converted from a private school to a public school after the implementation of the “Notice on Suspending the Approval of the Establishment of Private Compulsory Education Schools” that the Sichuan Provincial Department of Education had issued on June 11, 2021. The Notice requires all local governments to suspend the approval of private schools in the compulsory education stage.

In Hunan Province, on June 22, 2021, the Department of Education issued a notice on regulating private compulsory education. It requested that private junior high and primary schools reduce their students to below five percent of the total compulsory education students. It amounts to a reduction of approximately 364,000 students. Further, Hunan Province will no longer approve new private compulsory education schools.

In Jiangsu Province, the CCP Education Work Leading Group issued a directive stating that it will no longer approve new private compulsory education schools. The order sets the goal of reducing students at private compulsory education schools to below five percent of the entire compulsory education students within two or three years.

Sources:

1.) The Government of the People’s Republic of China, August 25, 2021
http://www.gov.cn/zhengce/2021-08/25/content_5633202.htm

2.) Zhihu, August 3, 2021
https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/396201138

On August 30, Dong Jingwei, China’s Vice Minister of State Security (MSS), said that the number of espionage cases in the economic and financial sectors in 2020 were seven times what they were five years ago. At the same time, the MSS has “strengthened work in non-traditional areas such as bio-security, network security, and data security, and has achieved rich results.”

The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission held a press conference on August 30. Dong, who was once rumored to have defected and fled the country, made his public appearance and made the above statement in response to media questions.

Dong Jingwei said that the national security organs “organized and mobilized the whole society to fight the anti-espionage war.”

Dong mentioned that MSS has achieved comprehensive coverage of the National Security People’s Defense Line. After the activation of the national security reporting platform in 2018, the number of tips submitted by the public has continued to increase, reaching a total of more than 11,000. MSS has launched investigations based on many of the submissions.

Source: Central News Agency, August 30, 2021
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202108300301.asp

On August 27, China’s Cyberspace Administration issued two orders in a row targeting tech companies and online financial self-media accounts.

The first order was a draft version of a regulation that bans the tech companies from using an algorithm to block content, push recommendations or manipulate the ranking order of a top search list. The experts suggested that these restrictive measures will have a major impact on the growth and profitability of these tech companies.

The second order aimed at effectively curbing the online dissemination of financial information by clamping down on online self-media accounts to keep them from illegally publishing financial related information. The self-media mainly refers to those independent accounts on Chinese social media that are not officially registered but can publish their original content. The order listed eight types of violations including arbitrarily making a distorted interpretation of the official policies and predicting a gloomy future for the Chinese economy and financial market; irresponsibly posting news and commentaries from overseas; spreading rumors and false information; manipulating the official economic and financial news reports; acting as a “black mouth” which refers to the commentators who post comments that disturb the social order; using negative information to threaten, intimidate, or blackmail the relevant party for financial benefits; hype negative social events to incite emotion, anxiety and panic; or fraudulent use of the name of state officials or experts to open up a financial column.

On Saturday, China’s largest social media platforms WeChat, TikTok, Sina Weibo and Kuaishou quickly issued statements stating that they will comply with the requirement and clean up any violations.

Source: Voice of America, August 28, 2021
https://www.voachinese.com/a/china-cracks-down-on-harmful-financial-news-20210828/6076166.html

The Hong Kong government recently announced that it has submitted an amendment of the 2021 Film Censorship Bill to the Legislative Council. The amendment contains requirements for the film inspectors to determine whether the release of films they inspect will be detrimental to national security. It also empowers the Chief Secretary of Administration to revoke any previously issued approval if the inspectors believe that the release of certain films violates national security.

One senior Hong Kong director who wants to remain anonymous told the Central News Agency that it takes more than just a director to make a film. When they assessed whether to make a film in the past, they mainly focused on the box office revenue and audience reaction. Now, however, from the directors to the production companies, they must consider political issues too. Politics will be above everything, including the original creation and any business concerns. It is also hard to figure out where the red line is, that is, whether it violates national security.

Source: Central News Agency, August 29, 2021
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202108290055.aspx

On August 24th, the Ministry of Education held the first press conference of the 2021 Education Golden Autumn Series to introduce the curriculum materials for the overall planning of major themes in education. The Ministry of Education issued the “Guide to Including the Revolutionary Tradition in the Curriculum Materials of the Primary and Secondary Schools.” The guide affirmed that classes in primary and secondary schools should include the contents of the revolutionary tradition and the history of the (Communist) Party. The guide clearly requires that the three major subjects of Politics, Chinese Language, and History as focus subjects shall include education about China’s revolutionary tradition and selectively integrate the content in Art classes (for example, music and the fine arts.), and organically consolidate the education into other subjects, achieving full coverage.”

Source: Sina, August 24, 2021
https://k.sina.com.cn/article_7517400647_1c0126e4705901a3vl.html

The Ministry of Education held a press conference on the 24th to introduce the “Curriculum Guide to Include Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for the New Era,” which the National Textbook Committee recently issued.

Han Zhen, a member of the National Textbook Committee, said at the press conference that this is to incorporate the latest achievements of Marxism in China into the curriculum materials of all levels and types of schools. The “Guide” clearly requires that Xi Jinping’s thoughts on socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era be fully integrated into the curriculum materials. It should cover basic education, vocational education, higher education and different types of courses. It should also cover national, local and school-based courses and be integrated into philosophy, the social sciences and natural sciences; and be incorporated into every aspect and the whole process of ideological and moral education, cultural knowledge education, and social practice education to ensure that Xi Jinping’s thoughts on socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era are cohesive and progressive in all course materials of universities, middle schools and primary schools.

Source: People’s Daily, August 24, 2021
http://politics.people.com.cn/n1/2021/0824/c1001-32205655.html

On August 20, 2021, the Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress adjourned its meeting. Standing Committee Member Tan Yaozong from Hong Kong stated to Hong Kong 01 that the Standing Committee did not vote on the draft for incorporating the China Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law (June 210, 2021) into Annex III of the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) of China.  

The Basic Law is a national law of China that serves as the de facto Hong Kong constitution. With 160 articles and three annexes, the Basic Law was enacted under the Constitution of China to implement the Sino-British Joint Declaration and went into effect July 1, 1997, in Hong Kong. An affirmative vote by the Standing Committee on August 20, 2021, would have extended China’s Anti-Foreign Sanction Law to Hong Kong by adding it as Annex III of the Basic Law.

According to Tan, the Standing Committee deliberated on the proposal to add Annex III to the Basic Law, but the chairman’s meeting decided not to vote for the time being but rather, to continue to study related issues.

A few days earlier, Tan said that on August 20, 2021, the Standing Committee would discuss and consider including the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law in Annex III of the Basic Law. Tan Yaozong expressed that the draft to be discussed was relatively simple. It only required that the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law be included in Annex III of the Basic Law and that the SAR government establishes relevant systems. It would not discuss specific implementation details in Hong Kong and has not set a legislative timetable for Hong Kong.

On June 10, 2021, the 29th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People’s Congress passed the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law. The Chinese Communist Party intends the law to oppose foreign sanctions against China, counter foreign discriminatory measures, and respond to the “long-arm jurisdiction” of the United States.

According to the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law, China’s State Council may deal with measures such as denial of visa, denial of entry, deportation, seizure and freezing of property in China, and prohibiting or restricting doing business in China.

Hong Kong economist Luo Jiacong said that more than 200 banks are currently in Hong Kong, and more than 80 percent of them are foreign banks. If China extends the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law to Hong Kong, it is estimated that foreign banks will choose to leave Hong Kong because they will not give up their U.S. dollar business. 

Analysts warned that the surprising decision on August 20 to defer extending the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law to Hong Kong does not signal any retreat or U-turn on retaliatory steps against the West. Instead, the CCP may opt for a more tailored retaliatory approach in order not to jeopardize Hong Kong’s financial hub.

Sources:

1.) Hong Kong 01, August 20, 2021.
https://tinyurl.com/4s3n9yvm

2.) Radio Free Asia, August 13, 2021
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/gangtai/ec-08132021082231.html

3.) Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law of the People’s Republic of China, June 10, 2021
http://www.npc.gov.cn/npc/c30834/202106/d4a714d5813c4ad2ac54a5f0f78a5270.shtml