Social Stability - 161. page

On July 24, over 10,000 workers from the Tonghua Iron and Steel Group (TISG), Jilin Province, protested the government’s decision to allow a private company, the Jianlong Group, to take control of the company. Jianlong’s newly appointed General Manager, Chen Guojun, who threatened to fire all current employees, was beaten by angry workers and died. The Jilin Province government immediately announced that the merger would stop. Workers used firecrackers to celebrate their "victory".

In 2005, Jianlong owned 36% of TISG. But it experienced a huge loss in 2008. In Q1 2009, its loss was 1 billion yuan. Jianlong managed to exit from TISG. TISG immediately became profitable. By June 2009, it had 60 million yuan in profit. In July, Jianlong managed to take back ownership of 60% of TISG. That triggered the event. It’s a failed M&A instance of a private firm trying to acquire a state-owned enterprise. Employees are leery about the government selling the nation’s properties and ignoring the workers’ interests. There is also a question about Jianlong’s ability to easily exit from TISG, and then regain ownership of TISG.

Source:
[1] BBC Chinese, July 28, 2009
http://news.bbc.co.uk/chinese/simp/hi/newsid_8170000/newsid_8171700/8171701.stm
[2] Epoch times, July 26, 2009
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/9/7/26/n2602653.htm

Study Times, a newspaper 0f the CCP Central Party School, recently published an article on grain supply. The article suggested that, to ensure the reliability of the grain supply, the government has to protect and improve comprehensive capabilities of grain production. It is very important to apply tight control over grain procurement, processing and market operation channels to prevent a foreign take-over. To achieve this goal, a few steps must be taken: (1) establish market access control systems on grain processing and seed sales channels; (2) establish central government macro-level industry control to eliminate the possibilities of a local “break-in;” (3) establish large scale grain production groups to grab market share; (4) improve technological creativity to increase competitiveness.

Source: Study Times, July 20, 2009.
http://www.studytimes.com.cn/WebPage/ny1.aspx?act=0&id=2804&bid=4

The government and local authorities have been trying to deregulate in order to stimulate the economy, but they have over-done and set up potential problems, warns Study Times. The authorities have adopted measures to expedite processing of permits and deregulated certain restrictive policies. “However, there has been a tendency to over-relax.” “Some cognizant departments have approved projects outside their authority, have turned a blind eye to violations of regulations originally implemented to increase economic efficiency and employment, have done absolutely nothing to stop the resurgence of programs already eliminated, and have excused serious violations of law that would protect workers rights and interests.”

Source: Study Times, July 6, 2009
http://www.studytimes.com.cn/WebPage/ny1.aspx?act=1&id=2766&nid=10035&bid=4&page=1

The state media has issued a number of rebuttal articles expressing dissatisfaction with western media coverage of the “July 5 incident” in Xinjiang.

Beijing Daily said the western media’s reporting on the “July 5 incident carries double standard.” It labels the words “peaceful demonstration,” “discriminating ethnic policy,” and “violent suppression” as “biased.” It states that the western media were “wearing tinted glasses” to mislead their readers and audiences in the west. It said that some have “used distorted facts which favor the violent party and hence they lost their basic professional moral standard.”

Global Times said that the western media were trying to intensify ethnic conflicts with “ill intentions to split the nation.” It asked all parties to ignore the “noise and firmly stick to domestic rules and laws (established by the Party).”

Source: China News, July 12, 2009
http://www.chinanews.com.cn/gn/news/2009/07-12/1771707.shtml

Xinhua praised the party members and leaders’ for their ability to deal the Xinjiang riot and called them a critical force in ensuring social stability. It also warned them that “as the situation in Xinjiang improves, domestic and foreign enemies will not give up, so maintaining stability in Xinjiang remains a most important task and a test for all the party members.”

Source: Xinhua, July 12, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2009-07/12/content_11697608.htm

On July 6, the Central Propaganda Department issued an emergency order to all major Internet sites to list "Urumqi City Riot" and its related words as sensitive information which must be filtered when conducting keyword searches online.

Fearing the further development of the Urumqi City Riot, the Central Propaganda Department specifically required all media agencies to follow and be consistent with the reporting done by Xinhua and People’s Daily. "The content should focus on the "crimes committed by East Turkistan so the Chinese people can know its true nature." the order stated.

Source: Radio Free Asia, July 7, 2009
http://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/internet_xinjiang-07072009113426.html?encoding=simplified

The International Strategic Research Center of the CCP Central Party School recently published a research paper discussing five major serious social problems the Party now faces. The so-called five “cancers” are: the conflict between efficiency and fairness, the disproportionate development in different geographic areas, the conflict between economic development and environmental protection, the conflict between the economy and available resources, and the lack of social integrity and credibility.

The paper indicated the Reform between 1979 and 1993 was a “win-win” for all groups in society, while the one since 1994 has not been. A portion of society has been turned into “losers.” With the five “cancers,” society may enter an era of turbulence and setbacks.

Source: Secret China, July 2, 2009.
http://www.secretchina.com/news/299484.html

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