Government/Politics - 67. page

Recently, Epoch Times obtained a document that the Chinese Communist Party’s local branch at the Public Opinion Center of Xinjiang Cyberspace Affairs Office (the Public Opinion Center) issued on June 20, 2019.

According to the document, the Public Opinion Center currently monitors and inspects Xinjiang-related information on the entire Internet at all times, by all means, and through all platforms, with an average of more than 1 million inspections per day.

From its establishment in 2014 to June 2019, the Public Opinion Center “reported and investigated” (i.e., referred for investigations and penalties) a total of more than 1.07 million pieces of information related to the “CCP, government, military, violence, terrorism, and religious extremism.” It shut down over 4,800 websites, canceled over 4,440 new media accounts, and suspended over 760 websites. It interrogated over 690 persons in charge of the websites and investigated over 63,000 netizens.

The document stated that the Public Opinion Center focuses on the Internet postings about the “China threat theory,” the “China penetration theory,” the “Chinese hegemony theory,” and “strictly investigates officials who violate discipline and the law and engage in internal fighting.” The Public Opinion Center monitored and censored over 150,000 pieces of political information, including 145,000 pieces of information outside Xinjiang and over 5,000 pieces of information inside Xinjiang. The CCP Central Government’s Cyberspace Affairs Office repeatedly commended the Public Opinion Center of the Xinjiang Cyberspace Affairs Office.

The Xinjiang Cyberspace Affairs Office keeps an eye on more than 2,300 Xinjiang-related key people and key accounts.

To control the dissemination of videos, over 500,000 videos have been censored, information transmission has been blocked more than 6.3 million times, and 40,281 information samples have been blocked and filtered.

For example, the document stated that in May 2017, the CCP Central Committee and the Xinjiang autonomous region worked together to “purify the public opinion environment.” The Public Opinion Center directed the cyber information offices of all prefectures and cities across Xinjiang to dispose of more than 200,000 pieces of negative information.

To join the Public Opinion Center, one must pass a strict “political” background check, and must also be in good health to be able to monitor online 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and 365 days a year. As for language skills, people working at the Public Opinion Center are proficient in Uighur, Kazakh, English, Russian, Uzbek, Arabic, and other languages.

Source: Epoch Times, August 30, 2020
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/20/8/26/n12358317.htm

On August 20, Li Keqiang visited Chongqing, a heavily flooded area. The People’s Daily, CCTV, and Xinhua did not report any coverage of his visit until August 23, which is quite unusual. The Chinese government website (www.gov.cn) was the only site that covered Li’s visit on August 20. Meanwhile, Xi Jinping’s visit to Anhui province on August 18 through the 20th was among the top news in Chinese media.

In the videos and photos that the government website released, it showed that Li Keqiang wore rain boots and was walking in the mud. He inquired about the disaster and was concerned about the harvest and the lives of the victims. Mainland netizens highly praised Li, calling him “the prime minister of the people.”

In contrast, Xi Jinping was seen wearing leather shoes to visit the fields in Anhui that were once a heavily flooded zone but had since been recovering. People also discovered that in one picture, Xi was speaking to a woman holding a child, but the woman was suspected of being the deputy chief of the local Public Security Bureau. On Wednesday, August 19, Xi visited the Baowu Masteel Group. People said that those who Xi Jinping met were background actors who the officials had vetted, a common practice among CCP officials.

Xi’s visit to Anhui came after the floods in Anhui province had subsided. This was Xi’s first public appearance after the Beidaihe summit. Xi’s last public appearance was on July 31 when he attended the opening ceremony of the Beidou-3 global satellite navigation system. Xi was also criticized for not visiting the flood zone during the peak of the flooding time.

The rumors of infighting between Xi Jinping and his Prime Minister Li Keqiang have surfaced again. In recent months, Li Keqiang was seen to have different views and actions from Xi Jinping on a number of issues. There is speculation that Li knows that he is unable to take down Xi Jinping. Therefore, he is preparing for his departure in 2023; however, he can only use the Chinese government website to highlight his achievements so as to prevent future retaliation.

Source:
1.Radio Free Asia, August 19, 2020
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/zhengzhi/ql1-08192020061755.html
2. Central News Agency, August 20, 2020
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/firstnews/202008220085.aspx
3. Secret China, August 24, 2020
https://www.secretchina.com/news/b5/2020/08/24/944016.html

Documents that The Epoch Times recently obtained show how the CCP strictly controls the Chinese students who have returned from studying abroad. The CCP uses the “European and American Alumni Associations” in a number of cities and provinces in China and has the students serve the CCP’s Belt and Road initiatives and civil diplomacy.

The European and American Alumni Association is an organization that consists of overseas students. The Central Committee leads it and the United Front Work Department manages it. The official website shows that the European and American Alumni Association currently has 42 local organizations, 15 national and regional branches, and 220,000 members. There are seven special working committees and seven professional committees.

In the document that The Epoch Times obtained, Liu Shuhua, a member of the Standing Committee of the Henan Nanyang Municipal Party Committee and Minister of the United Front Work Department spoke at the inaugural meeting of Nanyang European and American Students Association held on October 27, 2019. Liu stated that the association should “… continue to expand its membership … further establish contacts with overseas students, experts, scholars, entrepreneurs and people from all walks of life, … attract more overseas students to return to China to start businesses in Henan province, … implement the decisions from the central, provincial, and municipal party committees, and take the work of overseas students as a new focus for united front work.”

In August 2016, the General Office of the Central Committee issued the “Opinions on Strengthening the Development of the European and American Alumni Association.” The “Opinions” show that the first major role of the European and American Alumni Association is to “establish a database of returned overseas students and receive timely updates about the returned overseas students.” Then it is to “create a think tank including the overseas students. Finally it is to use these people to carry out civil diplomacy and serve the Belt and Road initiatives.

A separate document that The Epoch Times obtained contains a list of 343 returned overseas students in Nanyang city of Henan province. They are currently working in colleges and universities, scientific research institutes, medical institutions, party and government agencies, financial institutions, and private enterprises. The list contains detailed information including their names, current employment and positions, date of birth, ethnicity, hometown, academic degree, political status, number of years on the job, countries where they have studied, institutions and majors, years of study, the year of their return to China, their social position, home address, contact information, and more. Also, among the 343 names, 129 are Communist Party Members.

Source: The Epoch Times, August 14, 2020
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/20/8/14/n12330248.htm

Bitter Winter, a media focusing on the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) human rights violations, reported that, in the past several months, several provinces in China have offered monetary awards, some even as high as 100,000 yuan (about US $14,000), to encourage people to report on religious groups that the CCP has banned, including Falun Gong, the Church of Almighty God (CAG), the Shouters, the All Sphere Church, and others. The CCP calls these religious groups “Xie Jiao,” or cult in English.

The CCP suppresses these groups because they refuse to submit to the CCP’s control, they have grown rapidly, and they have a large number of members, which the CCP views as a threat to its rule. The CCP charges members of these groups as criminals, according to Article 300 of the Chinese Criminal Code, and can sentence members to three to seven years in prison.

Zouping City, Shandong Province: In July, the Political and Legal Affairs Commission of Zouping City adopted its “Award-winning Reporting Measures for Cracking Down on Xie Jiao.” Anyone who reports on CAG members or Falun Gong practitioners may receive a maximum award of 2,500 yuan.

According to the Measures, the scope of the behavior being reported includes using the Internet to produce and disseminate the materials of the above-mentioned religious groups; producing and disseminating religious leaflets, pictures, slogans, newspapers, and publications; hanging religious banners and posters in public places; and publishing and printing publications that preach religion.

Hainan Province: On June 15, the Public Security Department of Hainan Province issued the “Notice on Rewarding Those Who Report Information on Xie Jiao Illegal and Criminal Activities,” offering a maximum reward of 100,000 yuan.

Guangdong Province: On May 1, the Public Security Department of Guangdong officially adopted the “Trial Measures for Rewarding Reports Involving Xie Jiao Illegal and Criminal Activities,” offering a maximum reward of 100,000 yuan. Nanfang Daily reported on June 17 that several Falun Gong practitioners from Guangdong Province were reported and arrested for preaching Falun Gong or distributing Falun Gong information cards to local residents during the epidemic.

The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region: A local official told Bitter Winter that, in October last year, the local government offered a maximum rewarded of 10,000 yuan for religious members and 50,000 yuan for out-of-town missionaries, once the missionary is arrested.

Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province: A believer of the Three-Self Church, a CCP controlled church system in China, told Bitter Winter that in mid-June, at the conference for local Religious Affairs Bureau officials and National Security Brigade captains, the CCP issued a document demanding a crack down on the CAG in three consecutive years and asked Three-Self believers to report CAG members.

To incite as many as possible to participate in the campaign to suppress banned religious groups, in addition to offering high monetary awards, the CCP also conducts omnipresent anti-xie-jiao propaganda campaigns across China.

During the past few months, despite the epidemic outbreak, the CCP has continued to arrest members of the banned religious groups.

Source: Bitter Winter, July 30, 2020

CCP Offers High Monetary Awards to Those Who Report on Banned Religious Groups

Recently, The Epoch Times reported a few “unbelievable” organ transplants in China.

Sun Lingling, a 24-year-old Chinese national, fell ill in Japan with a rare autoimmune disease that led to irreversible heart damage. In mid-June, her medical team flew her to China’s Wuhan Union Hospital on a chartered flight. The Chinese doctors gathered four matching hearts in the course of 10 days and used the last one to conduct the surgery. Sun recovered and was able to eat on her own.

Chinese newspapers reported Sun’s story with dramatic headlines, such as “A life or death race.” The Chinese embassy in Japan, which arranged Sun’s transportation to Wuhan, called the surgery “legendary” and touted it as a show of China-Japan friendship and cooperation.

Sun’s first matching heart came on June 16 from Wuhan, but doctors found the health condition not up to par and gave it up. The second heart came from nearby Hunan Province three days later, but Sun developed a high fever by then and could not have the surgery. On June 25, doctors got two more hearts: one from a female in Wuhan, and another one from a male in Guangzhou Province. The Chinese media report said they chose the latter because it had “better heart functions.”

The willingness to donate an organ is low among Chinese. Even in a country with a large base of those willing to donate, receiving four matching heats in 10 days is unusual. A professor at the Surgery and Heart Transplantation Department, Tel Aviv University, Israel, said Sun’s case is “beyond explanation.” “Rather, it follows an ‘on demand system.’”

There are more of these “unbelievable” cases.

China has also performed at least six double-lung transplants on COVID-19 patients since late February, at least two of which took place in Wuhan. The donors of both lungs, of course, could not survive. Chinese hospitals gave little information about where the organs came from.

In his book Bloody Harvest, David Kilgour, a former Canadian lawyer and member of the Canadian parliament, cited a Taiwanese organ tourist who was provided with eight kidneys during his two separate trips to Shanghai over the course of eight months—until his body accepted the final one.

There have been investigations including from the U.S. Congress and the E.U. Parliament indicating that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has conducted forced organ harvesting, removing vital organs from prisoners of conscience who were still alive, and then selling these organs for profit.

In June 2019, the London-based independent People’s Tribunal concluded “beyond a reasonable doubt” that the Chinese regime was targeting prisoners of conscience for their organs. The main source of organs was practitioners of Falun Gong who the CCP has persecuted severely for the past two decades.

Such practices are indicative of a transplant industry that “has a large pool, or stable, of political and religious prisoners that are already tissue-typed for transplant,” said Ethan Gutmann, a China analyst who authored the book “The Slaughter” about China’s illicit organ trade. He said Sun’s case exemplified the problems with the country’s transplant industry.

Source: The Epoch Times, August 11, 2020
https://www.theepochtimes.com/4-hearts-in-10-days-chinas-on-demand-organ-bank-raises-concerns-of-forced-harvesting_3457910.html

On August 17, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Party School announced that it has expelled Cai Xia, a retired Party School Professor, from the CCP and discontinued her retirement benefits because she “has serious political issues and made speeches that damaged the country’s reputation.” Cai, who currently resides in the U.S., responded with the following statement on her twitter account: “I have completely decoupled from this gang-like party! They expelled me from the party (which is a good thing for me).”

Cai Xia worked for the Party School for over 40 years. Considered as a liberal intellectual and party insider, Cai is known for her direct criticism of Xi Jinping and the CCP, which she expressed in recent years. Below is a list of examples.

1. In February 2016, Cai Xia criticized Beijing’s Qianlong Wang and China Youth Daily for their wild attacks against Ren Zhiqiang, a Chinese real estate tycoon. Ren openly challenged Xi’s statement that “The party’s media must bear the party as their last name [Editor’s note: party media must serve the party]. Ren disappeared from the public for over one month. Cai said that the media attacks were against the party’s constitution, blocked the communication channel, and damaged the party’s unity.

2. In March 2020, an open letter addressed to the Congress and State Council appeared on the Internet. More than 50 intellectuals co-signed the letter, requesting the implementation of the rights of freedom of speech granted by the Constitution. Cai Xia was one of the co-signers.

3. On May 30, Cia Xia’s letter on the Hong Kong Security Law was posted on Twitter overseas. Cai wrote: “…The CCP is now destroying Hong Kong’s status as a free trade port and destroying Hong Kong’s status as one of the world’s three largest financial centers. What does it mean? It means that the CCP is challenging the world…The CCP is an enemy of the whole world, especially the enemy of human civilization. The CCP is the enemy of mankind.”

4. Ren Zhiqiang was arrested in March 2020 again for openly criticizing Xi Jinping for covering up the pandemic. Cai wrote an open letter and said that Xi Jinping has turned the CCP into a “mob-like” party. In her letter, she accused Xi of promoting personal worship, suppressing freedom of speech inside and outside the party, consolidating political and military power under his own control, empowering SOEs to merge with and eventually overtake the private companies, using the anti-corruption campaign to weed out and replace his opponents, suppressing criticism and different opinions, demanding absolute loyalty, exercising terrorist control over the party and turning the entire party into a political zombie.

5. On August 17, in her interview with Radio Free Asia after the CCP announced it would dismiss her from the party, Cai said she has no intention of being part of the CCP gang and that she is happy to return to the ranks of the (normal) people. She said that inside the CCP, there is a group who want to replace Xi Jinping but under the CCP’s totalitarian control no one wants to take the risk. Cai said she can’t go back to China because she has broken a hidden an unspoken rule in China that “one can criticize the party but not Xi Jinping.”

Source:
1. CCP Party School, August 17, 2020
https://www.ccps.gov.cn/xyyw/202008/t20200817_142799.shtml
2. Cai Xia Twitter, August 17, 2020

我与这个黑帮样的党彻底脱钩了！他们一向怕见光，开除我出党只说我发表了有严重政治问题的言论，但就不说我对哪些问题、究竟说了什么。为此，我摘录对我宣读的开除出党决定的有关部分，告诉朋友们：1我针对港版国安法发了一短文，2、我的发言音频谈到“换习”；3、我参与了争取言论自由告同胞书签名。 pic.twitter.com/ipQXgeX3Ck

— 蔡霞 (@realcaixia) August 18, 2020

3. Radio Free Asia, July 24, 2020
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/pinglun/404gongheguo/404-07242020124812.html
4. Sound of Hope, June 1, 2020
https://www.soundofhope.org/post/385155

Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) disciplinary authority is investigating Gong Daoan, deputy mayor of Shanghai city and head of the city’s Public Security Bureau. The website of the CCP’s Commission for Discipline Inspection did not specify the date of the probe. However, according to Jiefang Daily, the mouthpiece newspaper of Shanghai’s CCP committee, Gong’s last public appearance was on July 31, when he participated in a national video conference that the State Council held.

Ranking number six among the eight deputy mayors of Shanghai, Gong is in charge of public security, judicial administration, stability maintenance, and traffic safety. He is the head of the Public Security Bureau, the Judicial Bureau and the Municipal Prison Administration.

Born in November 1964, Gong Daoan is the first deputy ministerial official in Shanghai that has been ousted since the 19th CCP National Congress. According to media reports, he is also the third senior public security official under investigation this year. The other two were Sun Lijun, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Public Security, and Deng Huilin, Deputy Mayor and head of the Public Security Bureau of Chongqing city. All three individuals were investigated for “serious disciplinary violations.”

Source: Voice of America, August 18, 2020
https://www.voachinese.com/a/deputy-mayor-shanghai-director-municipal-public-security-bureau-under-investigation-20200818/5548113.html