— Part II: Government Policies —
{Editor’s Notes: The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has adopted and, for many years, has carried out its strategy of “Culture Going Global.” The following is a report that Chinascope has created focusing on that strategy, on related government policies, and on the implementation of the CCP’s efforts. Continue reading
— Part I: The “Culture Going Global” Strategy —
{Editor’s Notes: The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has adopted and, for many years, has carried out its strategy of “Culture Going Global.” The following is a report that Chinascope has created focusing on that strategy, on related government policies, and on the implementation of the CCP’s efforts. Continue reading
Chinese Epoch Times published a few official documents from Liaoning Province that gave instructions on intensifying the work of “attacking” Falun Gong.
Yu Ming, a Falun Gong practitioner who recently escaped from China brought these documents out with him. Falun Gong is a mind-body exercise in the Buddhist school. It was introduced to the public in 1992 and, by the late 1990s had widely spread in China due to its teaching of the principles of “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance” and its effectiveness in healing illnesses and aiding fitness. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) banned it in 1999. The Central Leading Group on Preventing and Dealing with Heretical Religions (Central LGPDHR) is the leading CCP organ that manages the work against Falun Gong. The “610 Office,” so named because it formed on June 10, 1999, is the execution arm of this leading group.
These documents include:
1. “Pertaining to the Request for Instructions on Recent Work Arrangements on Preventing and Dealing with Heretical Religions,” by the Liaoning Provincial LGPDHR, on July 23, 2013. The document mentioned that Li Dongsheng (李东生), the Director of the CCP Central LGPDHR, instructed, during his visit to Liaoning, that Liaoning needed to increase the intensity of its work on preventing and dealing with (Falun Gong) and to take all necessary measures to intensify the education and transformation of (Falun Gong practitioners), to dig deeper to (find and) attack them, and to contain the resurgence of the Falun Gong issue.
It stated that the Provincial LGPDHR would call for a work coordination meeting on July 24, 2013, with top officials from the Liaoning Provincial Public Security Bureau, the Provincial Procuratorate, the Provincial Court, Provincial Judicial Bureau, Provincial State Security Bureau, Provincial Internet Management Bureau, and also the corresponding offices in Dalian (the capital city of Liaoning).
The request was sent to Su Hongzheng (苏宏章), Member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CCP Liaoning Provincial Committee, and Party Secretary of the Liaoning Provincial Political and Legal Affairs Committee; Pan Liguo (潘利国), Deputy Governor of Liaoning; and Wang Dawei (王大伟), head of Liaoning Provincial Public Security Bureau.
2. A notice without title, from the Liaoning Provincial LGPDHR, dated July 23, 2013. It was sent to secretary Qi to ask him to submit the drafted leader’s instructions on preventing and dealing with (Falun Gong).
3. “Comrade Liguo’s Instruction,” signed by Pan Liguo. It stated that each locality and each department must implement Li Dongsheng’s important instructions. The Public Security and State Security organs needed to maintain the high pressure (against Falun Gong), intensify intelligence collection, and intensify the struggle’s strength by adhering to the principles of “taking care of it early, or while it is small and attacking it whenever there is a sign.” Each local office must gather the information about stubborn Falun Gong practitioners and members of the “Quan Neng Shen” (another religion that the CCP called heretical) and fully utilize the current forced labor camp and resources, to push forward the intensified “transformation” work against them.
Source: Epoch Times, April 4, 2019
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/19/4/3/n11159391.htm
The Central Committee of the Communist Youth League (CCCYL), the leading authority of the communist organization for young people between the ages of fourteen and twenty-eight, recently announced that, over the next three years, it will send ten million college students to the countryside, in order to implement president Xi Jinping’s “important thoughts on youth work” and his Strategic Plan for the Vitalization of Rural Areas.
CCCYL issued the “Opinions on Further Implementing the Movement of Rural Vitalization and Accomplishment for Youth.” It swears that it will let Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, also known as Xi Jinping Thought, enter into young people’s minds and show in their actions.
The Opinions ask China’s young generation to participate in the rural projects to improve the local humanitarian environment without mentioning the details. It also includes entrepreneur projects where the young people start businesses and get rich. In addition, there are rural e- commerce fostering projects which are supposed to help 10,000 young people to use e-commerce to create jobs in the agricultural sector. College students will need to volunteer themselves to go to poor regions to gain experience.
It was very easy for Chinese people to relate to a Mao Zedong era movement half a century ago. In 1968, Mao believed that “it was necessary for young intellectuals to go to the countryside and be re-educated by the poor peasants.” He launched the “Up to the Mountains and Down to the Countryside Movement.” It is estimated that more than 16 million young Chinese intellectuals, including Chinese president Xi Jinping, were forced to relocate to the countryside during the ten-year Great Cultural Revolution between 1966 and 1976.
Many parents worry that the state will inevitably force their children to go to the countryside. Possible means (the state might use) include not issuing a diploma and youth not being able to work for the government.
Source: Central News Agency, April 10, 2019
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/201904100216.aspx
Duowei, a Chinese government controlled news media stationed in North America, published an article stating that, in the Sino-U.S. trade negotiations, China cannot give the U.S. “reciprocity.” The article said, “As long as it meets the needs of economic and social development, China does not mind forming a reciprocal relationship with the United States on market rules.“
“However, China cannot achieve full reciprocity with the United States in terms of market access and industrial policies. First, China still belongs to developing countries. Under the WTO’s trade rules, China has the right to set up barriers to market access and tariff policies. Second, China’s transition from a planned economy to a market economy has been relatively short and China has developed a unique economic system that cannot be aligned with the U.S. economic system. Finally, China’s development of technology is far less than that of the United States. It is unfair to adopt the same industrial policy for the development of Chinese industry. Because the United States has absolute advantages in capital and technology, the United States is keen to promote trade liberalization and market opening. However, major economies around the world have set different levels of tariff and non-tariff barriers in order to protect their own economic interests. According to WTO data, the main developed economies have higher barriers than the United States, both in terms of tariff barriers and non-tariff barriers. Therefore, the United States’ requirement of trade equivalence will inevitably damage the fairness of trade.”
“In market openness and industrial competition policy, China cannot give the reciprocal relationship that the United States wants. In order to expand openness and develop the economy, China will make compromises in some areas. At the same time it will use external pressure to promote internal reforms. However, due to the huge differences in the level of development and in the political systems between China and the United States, China and the United States are destined to be unable to establish a comprehensive ‘reciprocal’ trade relationship.”
Source: Duowei, April 10, 2019
http://economics.dwnews.com/news/2019-04-10/60128174.html
China News Agency reported that Xu Xiaohong, chairman of the China Three-Self Church, threatened to eliminate the foreign influence on churches in China. The Three-Self Church is the full name of the Chinese Christian Three-Self Patriotic Movement Committee. It is politically obedient to the political leadership of the Chinese government and its ruling party. It is not subject to the management and intervention of foreign churches. It implements “autonomy, self-support, and self-promotion” and is regarded as a “Christian church with Chinese Characteristics.”
According to the Sing Tao Daily report, Xu Xiaohong, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, spoke at the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference on March 11. In his speech, Xu emphasized the elimination of the “foreign flavor” of Chinese Christianity. He criticized (Christians in China) who “receive foreign infiltration and continue to have private gathering sites.” He said that “the Western anti-China forces have attempted to subvert the Chinese regime through Christianity and (we) firmly support the country in bringing them to justice.”
Xu Xiaohong later said in an interview with Sing Tao Daily that the Qiuyu Church in Chengdu, which was banned last year, is a church that the “anti-China forces” have influenced and that “there are more of those remaining” throughout China. According to the article, Xu Xiaohong said, “The anti-China forces in the West are attempting to continue to influence China’s social stability and even use Christianity to subvert China’s political power. It is doomed to fail. We firmly support the country to bring those to justice who use Christianity as a cover for their involvement in subverting national security.”
In December 2018, members of the Qiuyu Church in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, were arrested on a large scale. The pastor Wang Yi and his wife were accused of inciting subversion of state power. Their whereabouts are still unknown. Qiuyu Church is one of China’s well-known family churches. The Chinese government considers it illegal because it has not been officially registered.
According to statistics, more than half of China’s 60 million Protestants are worshiping in unregistered churches.
Source: China News Agency, March 12, 2019
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/201903120052.aspx
On March 27, 2019, China’s Ministry of Justice announced that, by the end of August 2019, it will implement a professional evaluation system and assessment mechanism for lawyers throughout the country in furtherance of the reform in managing lawyers. The review criteria include the political performance of lawyers. In other words, it assesses whether they support the leadership of the Communist Party.
The professional evaluation system and assessment mechanism first began in March 2017 as a pilot program in Inner Mongolia, Shanghai, Anhui Province, and Shaanxi Province. The Ministry of Justice said that the rating process is conducive to distinguishing good lawyers from bad ones.
According to the website of China’s Ministry of Justice, four criteria must be met: political performance, integrity, years of practice, and the ability to practice.
The focus will be on the first two criteria. The first criterion “political performance” requires that lawyers participating in the rating process must support the leadership of the Communist Party and the socialist rule of law. Under the second criterion “integrity,” if the Communist Party disciplined a lawyer or if he received administrative punishment within the past five years, he will not be eligible to participate in the rating process. Big data will be used to gather information about lawyers’ political performance and integrity.
Source: China’s Ministry of Justice, March 27, 2019
http://www.chinalaw.gov.cn/government_public/content/2019-03/27/tzwj_231623.html
Recently in China, multiple incidents have occurred in which students reported on university and college faculty members after which these faculty members were dismissed. The students who report on their teachers are called “academic informants.” In Chinese universities, an institution exists in which some students are designated to serve as informants. They report to the school authorities on a regular basis. Student informants are the eyes and ears of the school’s party and political authorities and are also a part of the ideological and political work team.
According to the Wuhan University of Science and Technology’s (WUST), “Administrative Measures for Student Academic Informants at Wuhan University of Science and Technology” were published on its official website in October 2018. Student informants are generally students with an excellent academic performance. Their duties include: “to collect and organize a wide range of teaching and management related information”; “to report promptly on the students’ opinions and suggestions about the teachers’ teaching attitude, content, methods, and quality of teaching, homework grading, and extracurricular tutoring.” The student informants fill out the teaching information feedback form once every two weeks. The Administrative Measures also require that the school be responsible for the confidentiality of students who report teaching information. In addition, the school will issue a certain amount of remuneration each semester based on the informant’s performance.
In an interview with Radio Free Asia, Song Yongyi, a scholar living in exile in the United States and a staff member at California State University, Los Angeles, said that the student informant has always been a tool for controlling colleges and universities.
“That is the spy culture of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). In order to control colleges and universities, the CCP often directly develops spies among students. There is now a large-scale use of student informants because in the past, the party organizations in universities and schools were very obedient. If they hear some remarks, they will report immediately. Today, the party organizations in colleges and universities are not so obedient, so the CCP trains agents to be informants.”
Source: Radio Free Asia, April 5, 2019
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/kejiaowen/nu-04052019105014.html