Social Stability - 159. page

Nearly 10,000 ethnic Uyghur protesters gathered in front of the Urumqi City government, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region on Sunday, July 5. The government responded with riot police and tanks, using machine guns to kill and injure thousands. The protest spread to Kashgar, the second-largest city in Xinjiang. The government has sent 30,000 riot police to major cities in Xinjiang.

The Chinese government reported 140 deaths and 828 injuries on July 6; on July 7, it revised the numbers to 156 dead and 1080 injured. The spokesperson of the World Uyghur Congress said the true numbers are much higher and that most victims are Uyghurs killed by gun fire. He also accused the Chinese government of attempting to distort the conflict between the ethnic Uyghurs and Beijing as a conflict between Uyghurs and the Han people.

After taking control of the city, the Chinese government opened Urumqi to foreign reporters, intending to show the Uyghur mobs and Han victims. More than 100 reporters have gone to Urumqi since July 6. An official tour backfired when journalists crossed the street to talk to Uyghurs. Beijing’s one-sided story stirred up so much animosity toward the Han people that the rioting constinued on July 7.

The originally Uyghur protest was held to express dissatisfaction with the government’s improper handling of the June 26 incident at a toy factory in Shaoguan City, Guangdong Provice. A disgruntled, unemployed worker had started a false rumor on-line that six males from Xinjiang had sexually assaulted two girls at the toy factory. Uyghur workers were accused of the raping Han workers, which led to a bloody clash between the Uyghur and Han workers, causing 79 Uyghur injuries and 2 Uyghur deaths.

Source:
[1] Epoch Times, July 7, 2009
http://epochtimes.com/gb/9/7/7/n2581460.htm
[2] BBC Chinese, July 7, 2009
http://news.bbc.co.uk/chinese/simp/hi/newsid_8130000/newsid_8138000/8138098.stm
[3] Deutsche Welle, July 7, 2009
http://www.deutsche-welle.de/dw/article/0,,4462185,00.html
[4] BBC Chinese, June 27, 2009
http://news.bbc.co.uk/chinese/simp/hi/newsid_8120000/newsid_8122100/8122109.stm

A number of rights lawyers in Beijing have been denied renewed law licenses during the annual license review conducted by the Beijing Lawyers Association. The rights lawyers stated that the charter of the Beijing Lawyers Association only provides for regular reviews, not annual reviews, and that if the Beijing Lawyers Association continues acting outside its charter, the rights lawyers will move for removal of its leadership. Staff from the Beijing Lawyers Association stated that the Beijing Bureau of Justice had authorized them to conduct annual reviews.

Source: Voice of America, June 17, 2009
http://www.voanews.com/chinese/w2009-06-17-voa42.cfm

On June 15, more than 10,000 people gathered in front of City Hall of Nankang, Jiangxi Province to protest the new law increasing the tax burden on furniture sales, which is the city’s main industry. Right after the protest, under the Party Secretary of Jiangxi Proinvce’s direction, the Nankang city government issued orders to terminate all measures related to the tax law immediately. He announced the decision through radio, television, text message, and the Internet.

Epoch Times pointed out that it is very rare to see the government give in to public opinion so quickly, indicating that the government fears that hte local group event will trigger nationwide turmoil. Nevertheless, on June 22, Jiangxi-China, under the Propaganda Department, Jiangxi Province Party Committee, published an article stating that “it is the people’s voice” to “go after the organizers and planners of the event.”

Source:
[1] Epoch Times, June 17, 2009
http://epochtimes.com/gb/9/6/17/n2560477.htm
[2] Xinhua, June 16, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/society/2009-06/16/content_11552118.htm
[3] Jiangxi-China, June 22, 2009
http://jxnews.jxcn.cn/525/2009-6-22/30108@532266.htm

Epoch Times reported that as many as 70,000 residents from Shishou City, Hubei Province protested in the streets and clashed with the police several times on June 19 and June 20. About ten thousand riot police were called in and conducted forced clean-up at 3 a.m. on June 21. The confrontations between the riot police and residents were recorded on mobile phone videos and still images appeared on websites.

The uprising was triggered by the mysterious death of Mr. Tu Yuangao, a 23-year-old cook at the Yonglong Hotel. It was reported that Mr. Tu was killed after finding out that the hotel owner, the head of the local public security bureau, and the wife of the head of the court were smuggling and selling drugs. Local residents went to the hotel to support Mr. Tu’s family’s request for a fair investigation. They stopped the police several times from forcibly taking Mr. Tu’s body.

China censored all reports about this incident on the Internet. On July 20, the article China News Agency published instead was titled “Several Departments in Shishou City, Hubei Province Held a Joint Commuter Bus Fire Drill.” 

Source:
[1] Epoch Times, June 20, 2009
http://epochtimes.com/gb/9/6/20/n2564437.htm
[2] Epoch Times, June 21, 2009
http://epochtimes.com/gb/9/6/21/n2564903.htm
[3] China News Agency, June 20, 2009
http://www.chinanews.com.cn/sh/news/2009/06-20/1742317.shtml

According to Zhou Yongkang, a member of the Central Political Bureau Standing Committee, and Secretary of the Central Political and Legal Commission, China is facing an arduous task in maintaining social harmony and stability. Zhou admitted that increasing internal conflicts, a high crime rate, as well as “complex struggles against our enemies,” still exist.

Zhou was speaking at the “National Recognition of the Comprehensive Management of Social Order and the General Assembly.” The full text of speech can be found in Qiu Shi magazine.

Source:
[1] China News, June 16, 2009
http://www.chinanews.com.cn/gn/news/2009/06-16/1735600.shtm
[2] Qiushi Journal, June 16, 2009
http://www.qsjournal.com.cn/qs/20090616/GB/qs%5E505%5E0%5E1.htm

Study Times published an article stating that the public is unable to get the government to hear their opinion, which, the author argued, is a major reason for the increase in large scale group events throughout China. “To get their opinions taken care of, some people have tried to escalate the event to get higher level official’s attention.” Another phenomenon is what the author called the “double-track information delivery system.” When the government sets up a research forum or conference, they will get one message (normally that everything is good); but in private settings such as when dining, they will hear different, even completely opposite information.

Source: Study Times, June 8, 2009
http://www.studytimes.com.cn/WebPage/ny1.aspx?act=1&id=2702&nid=9827&bid=5&page=1

In the run-up to its 60th anniversary celebration on October 1, China been holding national anti-terrorism exercises, “Great Wall 6,” in the regions surrounding Beijing, to test their ability to face terrorist attacks. The first one was held in Huhehaote, Inner Mogolia Autonomous Region on the afternoon of June 9.

The areas the exercise tested include the effectiveness of handling “nuclear bomb” attacks as well as multiple sites and chemical factory attacks. Shanxi and Hebei Provinces were picked as the next sites and the exercises are said to have ended in mid-June.

[Editor’s note]: A search through Google suggested that this news posting carried by the official news sources including Xinhua, Sohu, China News, People’s Daily were deleted after they were posted. However, as of June 14, 11:30 EST, a few city level websites, such as the Tengzhou City webpage still carried this posting.

Source: The Tengzhou City Website, June 12, 2009
http://news.tz0632.com/html/5/10/10018/1.htm

The Hong Kong China News Agency reported that all mainland media remained mute during the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre. Chinese officials promoted maintaining social stability (Editor’s Note: that translates as no protests or petitions) to keep June 4 quiet. The report listed a few examples:

At end of the May, Liu Qi, Beijing City Party Secretary went to the Beijing West Train Station to check the implementation of the “maintaining stability” work there. On June 2, Zhang Gaoli, Tianjin City Party Secretary said that maintaining stability is a top priority and challenged the Tianjin officials to  make Tianjin the “safest” area in China. On May 31 and June 1, Wang Yang, the Party Secretary of Guangdong Province visited the maintaining stability pilot center for the township’s comprehensive appeals offices and stated that stability is the number one responsibility (for the government).

Source: Hong Kong China News Agency, June 4, 2009
http://www.hkcna.hk/content/2009/0604/13817.shtml