Social Stability - 162. page

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

China Human Rights Defenders reported that for the past few years, a total of 10,110 Corp or Division Rank Retired Cadres have jointly signed petition letters to the Central Military Commission, requesting that the problems of housing and other issues of unfair treatment of the 60,000 Corp or Division Rank Retired Cadres be solved. Many of them also went to Beijing to petition. Retired military cadres and soldiers have become a significant part of the defense of rights in China. Their defense of their rights takes various forms: 1. Open petition letters; 2. Demands for political reform, defending human rights, justice, a respect for life, and, in addition, requests for the same treatment as the soldiers on active duty; 3. Electing representatives for a dialog with military officials; 4. A vote allowing the deposing of current officials; 5. Direct resistance actions; and 6. Gathering petitions.

Recently, there have been demands for nationalization of the military. The Chinese Communist Party has been trying hard to suppress the demand. It also uses such methods as promotions, better benefits, or even allows military officers on active duty to be corrupt. However, it ignores the retired officers.

Source: China Human Rights Defenders, May 25, 2009
http://crd-net.org/Article/Class53/200905/20090525123046_15570.html

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