Social Stability - 120. page

According to VOA, an officer from the Suzhou Petition Office made some shocking remarks while being videotaped. The video then spread widely over the Internet, causing many heated discussions. A local businessman from the city of Suzhou encountered resistance when he went to the Petition Office to file a complaint against a land developer. During the argument, an officer from the Petition Office shouted, “If the policeman does not beat people up, then why do we have policemen?” One writer responded with an online post saying, “The official made a true statement. This has been on people’s minds, but no one has dared to speak up.” Another post commented, “This officer’s mentality is scary, but at least it was a true statement. It contains much more powerful information than the national news program that CCTV aired just 30 minutes ago.”

VOA called the Suzhou Petition Office to interview the officer, but the office declined the request. The office stated that they could not validate the legitimacy of the reporter’s status.

In interviews with VOA on this topic, people told VOA that many local legal departments have become thoroughly corrupt. Jiang Tianyong, a rights lawyer, told VOA that the official’s remarks reflect the reality in China, making the issue a social tragedy. Hu Xingdou, a China expert from the Beijing Institute of Technology, stated that the police force has a poor public image and has become a thug for the government.

Source: VOA, July 2, 2013
http://www.voachinese.com/content/suzhou-video-clip-20130702/1693378.html

Despite heavy rain, 430,000 Hong Kong residents took to the streets on Monday, July 1, 2013, demanding that the Chinese Communist Party-backed Hong Kong chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, resign. They also demanded universal suffrage and democratic reform. July 1 is the Chinese Communist Party’s birthday and also the anniversary of the Hong Kong territory’s handover from Britain to the People’s Republic of China 16 years ago. Every year on this day, Hong Kong residents protest Beijing and demand democratic reform.

Sources: RFA and ABC, July 1 & 2, 2013
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/gangtai/sy-07012013105950.html
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2013/07/hong-kong-nationals-protest-beijing-in-annual-march/

State media are reporting that, according to the Ministry of Public Security statistics, brutality against suspects during police interrogations has declined by 87 percent. Guo Shengkun, the Minister of Public Security, said “Over 90 percent of the police stations have completed upgrading the functional areas. Case handling, reception, office work, and living quarters are now in separated areas. The case-handling area has installed electronic surveillance. All suspects are now handled in the case-handling area and the entire interrogation of suspects is now videotaped.” “According to the Ministry of Public Security, brutality against suspects during police interrogation has declined by 87 percent.”

Numerous comments have been posted online.

“How did they know the number of interrogations in which police used brutal methods to extract confessions? Did they count and keep records on these abuses?”

“The report is untrue. A lot of incidents are not recorded.”

“Ah. Now I know. It used to be 100 percent.”

“Isn’t it true that the law prohibits the use of brutality to extract confessions? How come they now say that such brutality has declined? I am lost.”

“So in 17 percent of the cases, the police still beat people up to get a confession?”

Sources:
People’s Daily, June 27, 2013
http://politics.people.com.cn/n/2013/0627/c1001-21985534.html
Sina.com blog
http://comment5.news.sina.com.cn/comment/skin/default.html?channel=gn&newsid=1-1-27513471

RFA reported that Tibet has become the first region in China to have completed the real-name Telephone, Cell Phone and Internet registration process. RFA said it believed the measure was an effort the Chinese government used to intensify information control in Tibet, .

The statistics suggested that there are 2.7 million land line and mobile telephone users as well as 1.4 million Internet users registered in Tibet. However a Tibetan resident told RFA that, if they paid a high enough price, they could buy a mobile phone outside of Tibet and use it in Tibet.

Also the effect of the real name registration process is questionable. People told RFA that it is extremely difficult to control the flow of information in today’s advanced information era. “Even though China made a requirement last year that all microblog users register using their real names, online criticisms against the government did not diminish. According to RFA, this is a clear indication that the real name registration system has limited effectiveness in media control.”

Source: RFA, June 19, 2013
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/shaoshuminzu/xql-06192013151943.html

The Social and Sciences Academic Press recently published the “2013 Youth Development Report” on China’s youth. According to the report there are currently 160,000 members of the “Ant Group” “蚁族” in Beijing. Their average income is 4,133 yuan (US$644) per month, which is US$88 below the average income level in all of Beijing. Close to 70 percent of the group resides in a living space that is less than 10 square meters (108 square feet) and pays monthly rent of 518 yuan (US$85).

[Editor’s note: The “Ant Group” refers to "low income college graduates" who are either unable to find jobs after they graduate or are college students who have taken low-income jobs while living somewhere between the urban and the rural areas.]

Source: Xinhua, June 9, 2013
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2013-06/09/c_124836011.htm

Xinhua carried an article on an art exhibit held in Beijing; the subject was China’s missing children. Li Yueling, an artist who assists families in finding their children was the organizer. A total of 61 paintings were on display at the exhibit. The artwork was for those children who have been missing from one to 22 years. Reports indicate that over 200,000 children go missing in China each year. Of those, only 0.1 percent are ever found. Zhang Zhiwei, director of the international anti-human trafficking center of the University of Political Science and Law was at the exhibit and said that those who buy children suffer little punishment. He called for harsher legal punishment.

Source: Xinhua, June 2, 2013
http://news.xinhuanet.com/edu/2013-06/02/c_115997624.htm