Social Stability - 152. page

On March 29, 2010, the last day of a training session for nationwide Public Security Bureau chiefs, Yang Huanning, the Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Executive Deputy Minister of Public Security, spoke on social stability and corruption:

(We ought to) have a clear understanding of the influence and challenges to social stability at China’s current economic and social development stage, effectively enhance the sense of responsibility and sense of mission of safeguarding national security and social stability, conduct an in-depth study on how to effectively and properly dispose of social unrest, how to further strengthen foundational and preventive work, and how to further improve the public security authority’s law enforcement ability and quality….(We ought to) study and solve the current problems in fund management from the policies and system aspects, manage and make good use of state and local fiscal funds, firmly prevent extravagance and waste, and resolutely prevent the occurrence of different forms of corruption.

A China Youth Daily article questioned the rule of law in the light of a series of recent arrests of online bloggers for their outspoken postings against the government. Earlier, on February 26, Mr. Chen from Yunxi County, Hubei Province was arrested for his “trouble-making” remarks on the Internet. In response to the public outcry on the Internet against the arrest, local police stated that they were "in strict accordance with the law" and the decision to arrest was reported to and approved by superiors “to uphold the law." After eight days of detention on charges of “insulting and defaming others,” Chen was released due to “pressure from the Internet,” said the Yunxi Public Security Bureau.

China Youth Daily questioned, “Now that the pressure from the Internet forced them to release the guy, then what exactly was the pressure that forced them to arrest the guy?”

Source: People’s Daily, reprint China Youth Daily, March 12, 2010
http://media.people.com.cn/GB/40698/11131970.html

China will face tougher and more complex social unrest in 2010, says Outlook, a weekly magazine under Xinhua. In the past several years, social unrest has centered on issues of rural land use, the demolition of urban housing, state-owned enterprise reform, military discharges and retirement, and lawsuits. But 2009 saw intensive social unrest over welfare benefits, medical malpractice, unemployment, environmental pollution, workplace accidents, civil disputes, and investment fraud. Incidents tend to involve large crowds from multiple segments of the public and from extended geographic areas. Protests have accelerated to surrounding Party and government buildings and blocking traffic. Further, “instigators of most of the mass group events use the Internet and mobile phone text messages to contact and organize. This approach has the characteristics of a wide range of provocation, strong appeal, no warning signs, easy and quick gathering of people who have no direct interest, and so on.”

Source: Outlook Weekly, March 7, 2010
http://news.sohu.com/20100307/n270642035.shtml

The recently published 2010 Rule of Law Blue Book, a Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) annual report on the nation’s judicial progress, revealed the typical “White-Black-Red” trinity structure in Mafia organizations in China. “White” refers to legitimate business leaders, “Black” denotes the Mafia "Big Brother," and “Red” are the people with political ties offering a protective shield. Ten percent of the underground criminal enterprises are headed by public servants. 

The Qiushi journal, the official periodical of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee, featured an article by Zhou Yongkang, a Politburo member and the nation’s security czar. The article, signaling serious social instability and problems within the public security authority, was from his speech at a conference of public security officials last year. The speech was carried by major official media. 

On February 2, 2010, People’s Daily published an article on a current media rule, the “Golden 4-Hour,” for reporting an unexpected incident in China. “Golden 4-Hour” requires Chinese journalists to release an authoritative news report on a sudden incident within four hours so as to lead public opinion and quell the incident.

As for how to report an emergency, a considerable number of local leaders, such as Tianjin Mayor Huang Xingguo and Shanghai Party Secretary Yu Zhengsheng, have reached a consensus to “release a news report immediately but be wary about any causes or reasons” with follow-up reports on the government’s effort in terms of what has been done, what is being done, and what will be done. 

Source: People’s Daily, February 2, 2010
http://politics.people.com.cn/GB/1026/10905674.html

Recently cell phone carriers started disconnecting cell phones in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangdong. The disconnected phones were believed by the service provider to be sending “inappropriate” text messages, which had sex related content. The reactions from the public were mixed. Some believed it was a good idea, but people’s privacy should be protected as well. Some believed the focus should not be on the end users but the ones who originally produced these messages and made a profit from them.

The current system monitors all users’ text messages, filters out the ones in question, and then it cuts the user’s service connection and alarms law enforcement.

Source: Xinhua, January 21, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/internet/2010-01/21/content_12849824.htm

In preparation for the upcoming “two conferences” (plenary sessions of the National People’s Congress and Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference), the NPC is conducting a survey of the top ten most important issues. Currently, the top 10 issues, according to readers’s votes, are corruption, income disparity, land use for urban housing, government intervention in the housing market, democracy, judicial impartiality, medicare reform, education, unemployment, and retirement pensions.

Source: National People’s Congress
http://npc.people.com.cn/GB/28320/180060/index.html