Government/Politics - 90. page

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs held a regular press conference on June 17. The mainland Chinese media has kept silent about the Hong Kong protests, but foreign media, Taiwan’s media, and Hong Kong’s media questioned the spokesperson at least five times. With regard to the fact that more than two million Hong Kong people took to the streets on June 16 asking chief executive Carrier Lam to step down, spokesperson Lu Kang said, “The Central Government gives full recognition to and will continue its firm support for the Chief Executive and the SAR government in carrying out their work according to law.”

Those at the June 16 parade also demanded an investigation into the responsibility of the Hong Kong police who fired guns and tear gas at the June 12 protesters and also that they retract the statement that the June 12 protest was a “riot.” The Central News Agency asked whether China still believes that the June 12 protest was violent or whether its position has changed. Lu said “the Central Government strongly condemns the violent behavior. We firmly support the police in lawfully punishing the perpetrators and safeguarding the rule of law, the social order, and the security in Hong Kong. You asked whether our position has changed. I can assure you that it hasn’t changed, not even a little bit.”

Source: Central News Agency, June 17, 2019
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/201906170223.aspx

On June 12, a video of a speech given by a Chinese military general started to circulate on the internet. The video was taken during the 12th National Outstanding Teachers’ Development Forum that was held in Chengdu from November 5th to 7th, 2018. Xu Yan, a military general, professor at the National Defense University, and a “star Internet professor” wore his military uniform while giving the talk. The topic was the Battles of the South China Sea. In his speech, Xu used class analysis to explore the nature of the Hong Kong’s social structure, claiming that the people in Hong Kong are “the worst.”

When talking about the Hong Kong issue, Xu said that, when the Chinese Communists entered Hong Kong in 1997, he and the leaders of the Hong Kong troops participated in a study of the social situation in Hong Kong. He said that “the social foundation of Hong Kong was the worst in China. It is even worse than Taiwan. There are not many people in Taiwan who really oppose the Communist Party. Eighty percent of the local residents in Taiwan do not care about the Communist Party and 20 percent of them were there because of the national civil war.” According to Xu, there are three types of Hong Kong residents. The first type is the original resident who received a Hong Kong and British education. They therefore do not have much hatred for the mainland. The second type consists of people who escaped to Hong Kong from 1949 to 1950 after the CCP launched different movements on the mainland. This group is “the worst” and has an “implacable hatred” for the Communist Party. The last group are the refugees who fled to Hong Kong during the Great Famine of 1958 to 1961 and don’t have a good impression of the Communist Party.  Xu claimed that it was a big mistake that the CCP did not implement “decolonization” work in Hong Kong. [Editor’s note: In this instance the Chinese word “decolonization” means “to enable the party to exert control of the political, educational, social, and economic systems so as to correct the concepts, thinking, and value systems left over from British colonial rule.]  It was this problem in the Hong Kong students’ education that caused them to “riot.” “Their teaching materials should have been changed to the ones that the mainland uses.” Xu pointed out one big lesson. It is that, in Hong Kong, there was an over-emphasis on the “two systems,” but not enough emphasize on “one country.” He also said that, after the new chief executive, Carrie Lam, took office, two things went well. The first is that the three student leaders from occupy central were put in prison. The second is that, starting this year, the textbooks in Hong Kong will be changed to the ones that the CCP uses in the mainland.

According to Epoch Times, the “decolonization” that Xu mentioned in his speech has been the consensus of the Chinese authorities for some time. In 2016, Jin Yinan, Director of the Institute of Strategic Studies at the National Defense University made similar remarks about a series of incidents in Hong Kong. Jin spoke about the key issues in Hong Kong. He said that these incidents occurred because “the work of ‘decolonization’ has not been done well.” The protests on the streets of Hong Kong are simply a “disgrace” to the CCP. He also said that the Hong Kong people who fled the CCP’s tyranny in 1997, when Hong Kong’s sovereignty was handed over, had committed an “evil deed.” Qiang Shigong, a Professor at Peking University Law School, said in 2015 that Hong Kong education has not yet been “decolonized.” For example, middle school education lacks modern Chinese history. He blamed this on the fact that there was no “decolonizing” work being done among Hong Kong’s political and cultural elite classes. In September 2015, at the forum on “Hong Kong’s Position and Role in the National Development Strategy” hosted by hundreds of Hong Kong political and business leaders, including the Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, Chen Zuoqi, President of the National Hong Kong and Macao Research Association also claimed that Hong Kong had not been “decolonized.”

Source: Epoch Times, June 13, 2019
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/19/6/13/n11320777.htm

In the run-up to 70th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party, the party launched an education campaign called, “Remain true to our original aspirations and keep our mission firmly in mind.” The Central Publicity Department called on more than 500 journalists to follow the “Long March” of the Red Army and write news reports about the journey. During the speech made at the opening ceremony, the chief of the Publicity Department said that the journalists need to “make a long journey” and profoundly reveal “how red power came into being, how the new China was built,” and “to echo strongly the theme song (of the Party).”

The Central Political Bureau decided in May that from June onwards, the whole party would carry out the theme education of “Remain true to our original aspirations and keep our mission firmly in mind” in two phases. On May 20, Xi Jinping inspected the Chinese Communist Party’s Red Army Long March gathering place in Jiangxi Yudu. The move was described at the time as “exploring the source of the [party’s] original heart.” Reports indicated that there would be 500 journalists from 30 news media in the mainland who would participate in the campaign. Several opening ceremonies were held in different locations including Yudu and Ruijing of Jiangxi province and Changdi and Nihua of Fujian province, which are considered to be the “red regions,” full of “red memories.”

The “Long March” promoted in the history of the CCP took place in the early 1930s. The Nationalist Government successfully chased the Communist Party forces in the southwestern part of the Yangtze River and the western part of Fujian Province and forced them to flee from their base to Yan’an in northern Shaanxi. It lasted for several years. The Communist Party called it the “25,000 mile long march.”

Source: Central News Agency, June 11, 2019
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/201906110196.aspx

On Tuesday June 11, the Beijing Municipal Education Commission issued the “Guiding Opinions on the Punishment of Teachers Who Commit Moral Violations at Beijing Colleges and Universities.” The Opinions stipulate 11 major acts of misconduct that university and college teachers might commit, including impairing the authority of Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, endangering national security, leaking state secrets, and conducting religious activities on campus. Other violations include plagiarism, academic forgery, malpractice, demanding bribes, accepting property from students or parents, and using public power for private gain.

The punishment measures include suspension of academic activities, canceling promotions, administrative discipline, and revocation of the teacher’s qualifications.

Source: Radio Free Asia, June 11, 2019
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/Xinwen/2-06112019135038.html

According to Bitter Winter, an organization focusing on religious liberty and human rights in China, China has launched a nationwide effort to crack down on foreign religious activities. The action is to implement the “Work Plan for the Investigation and Handling of Special Actions and activities of Overseas Christian Churches.” The Central United Front Work Department and the Ministry of Public Security issued the Plan. The document specifically mentioned some of the more prominent Christian churches in the United States and South Korea, including the “Jesus Youth Association,” the “School Missionary Society,” the “Evangelical Lutheran Church,” the “Pok Oi Church,” the “Love Church,” and the “Canaan Church.” It also called for the further suppression of the “Jehovah’s Witnesses” and some Korean Christian churches that had been severely attacked previously. The purpose is to prevent them from resuming religious activities.

The document stated that the main tasks of the special action include: “resolutely cracking down on foreign religious believers; “resolutely destroying the religious activities of foreign religious groups in the local area; and “resolutely preventing organizations from attending trainings in neighboring countries and regions. It also requires strict supervision of foreign-related missions on the Internet.

The document requires detailed investigation of foreign-related religious groups, including their background, organization, scale, scope of activities, meeting locations, personnel, online activities, funds and other information; and analysis of the relevant QQ group and WeChat group contents. All believers’ information will be entered into the data platform to establish a “Resistance to Foreign Christian Penetration Work Database.”

The crackdown effort includes closing the meeting places, training centers, seminaries, and other facilities; using a variety of comprehensive means to attack the participant’s beliefs, such as using work units and relatives to pressure them, cutting off welfare protection; using the transformation education system to convert the believers; and even imposing criminal sentences. The local party committee and government are responsible for the transformation and for completely cutting off any possibility of resuming religious activities.

The document requires that, while attacking religious believers, there needs to be an effort to develop undercover members within the church. “We must strive to build and develop a working relationship with those who are both domestic or in foreign countries so that it can be used for our work.”

The document requires that the Publicity Department produce articles and videos about the relevant religious groups and strengthen the publicity and education work for the general public while inciting them to “resist consciously any foreign-related religions.” The online department should do a good job of controlling “harmful information” and strengthening “positive guidance” online. The education department needs to strengthen management of teachers and university students, especially foreign teachers and students who have a religious background. The article also mentioned that there is another document entitled, “Investigating and Dealing with the External Correspondence of Christians from Foreign Countries,” but Bitter Winter was not able to obtain the specific contents of this document.

The document requires that, when carrying out crackdown activities, it should consider the timing so that it does not conflict with sensitive political events or holidays.

The document also requires strict enforcement of confidentiality disciplines. It is strictly forbidden to upload relevant documents to the website or through non-confidential channels such as WeChat.

The guiding principal of the document is based on Xi Jinping’s series of “important instructions” about resisting “international religious infiltration,” including “not allowing foreign religious forces to form a system within our country. We must not allow the formation of forces against the party and government in the religious field.”

Source: Bitter Winter, May 27, 2019

遼寧機密文件內容曝光　全國性打擊涉外教會行動已開始

Hong Kong’s massive Anti Extradition Amendment Protest on Sunday caused widespread concern in the German media. Media, including Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Das Erste, Deutschlandradio, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Der Spiegel, and Handelsblatt immediately reported on the protest.

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said that the protests expressed the Hong Kong people’s distrust of the mainland’s justice system. The people in Hong Kong believe that the revision of the Fugitive Offenders Bill will be a tool that the mainland will use to intimidate Hong Kong. Over one million Hong Kong people took to the streets and expressed strong protests. This is the biggest protest march that has happened in Hong Kong for many years. Critics believe that China’s judiciary is not independent and does not meet international standards. It persecutes political dissidents and 99 percent of those who are accused end up being sentenced. There are concerns that the new regulations are going to damage Hong Kong which is known to be the cornerstone of Asia’s economic and financial metropolis. As the public has strongly opposed the revision of the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance, this created a dilemma for Hong Kong’s Chief Executive, Lin Zhengyue, who is loyal to Beijing.

Le Monde reported that there was mixed information on the number of demonstrators. The organizer estimated that there were over one million people, and the police estimated that there were only 240,000 people. Sunday’s parade was the biggest parade since Hong Kong’s return to China. China intends to strengthen its political influence in Hong Kong through the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance. However, citizens of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region have expressed their protests on the streets and demanded that the government withdraw this evil law.

Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen pointed out that the parade that took place on Sunday in Hong Kong was the biggest parade since the Tiananmen Square gathering in 1989. On July 1, 2003, there was a similar parade in Hong Kong, when 500,000 people took to the streets to oppose the establishment of the national security law. After the demonstration, the law was withdrawn. In 2014, demonstrations in Hong Kong demanding democracy led to a partial shutdown in Hong Kong. To this end, Beijing is intent on tightening its control. However, many demonstrators strongly criticized the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance, saying that this was the worst law and it will trample on Hong Kong’s fundamental freedoms.

Das Erste stated that the demonstrations showed that the Hong Kong people are worried that the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance will not only affect Hong Kong citizens; it will also affect tourists who might come to Hong Kong because they could be taken to China. The status of Hong Kong as a financial center would also be weakened. What worries the Hong Kong people the most is that the freedoms of news, speech, and assembly that are not common in China and are only unique to Hong Kong would be undermined.

Source: Radio France Internationale, June 10, 2019
http://cn.rfi.fr/%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD/20190610-%E6%B3%95%E5%85%B0%E5%85%8B%E7%A6%8F%E6%B1%87%E6%8A%A5%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF%E5%8F%8D%E9%80%81%E4%B8%AD%E5