Social Stability - 166. page

2009 will be most challenging for social stability with increasing risks, said a high level Party official. Mr. Chen from the Party’s Politics and Law Committee states that new social conflicts will emerge as the old ones intensify; particularly growing complaints of the government and strong rights ideology may lead to extreme actions. Mr. Chen stated that forceful "attack" is the No. 1 action that the authorities will take to maintain social stability and it is the requisite for implementation of other measures of control.

Source: Xinhua, January 12, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2009-01/12/content_10643830.htm

Escalated social unrests, major industrial safety incidents and food and medicine safety incidents marked the year of 2008, concluded Outlook, a Xinhua magazine. The public attention focus on a few problems: abuse of power combined with money has infringed on the interest of the people; lack of actions of the government officials in response to public appeals has intensified social conflicts; accountability of government officials must be institutionalized and enforceable, final solution of major incidents must predicate on democratic consultation with the public to neutralize any potential outbreaks, etc.

Source: Xinhua, December 22, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/legal/2008-12/22/content_10541258.htm

Beijing Health Bureau announced that one person died of H5N1 on the evening of January 5, 2009. Ms. Huang, 19, was admitted to hospital on December 27, 2008. This is the first case in Beijing and twenty first in China. Authorities have tightened inspection of poultry shipments into Beijing. No other cases were found.

Source; Xinhua, January 7, 2009.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/health/2009-01/07/content_10615433.htm http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2009-01/07/content_10618460.htm

Beijing will implement measures to re-enforce political education at higher educational institutions, reports Xinhua. The measures include increase of faculty members, funding for student activities, training and research funds for faculty and quality assurance. Student informants will be deployed to collect feedback and evaluate the effectiveness through sitting in classes and organizing forums for students and faculty members.

Source: Xinhua, January 8, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2009-01/08/content_10626114.htm

Chinese authorities arrested 1,295 ethnic Uyghurs in Xinjiang (East Turkestan) region in the first 11 months of 2008 on suspicion of endangering state security. Of them, 1,154 were formally charged and faced trials or administrative punishment, reported the official The Procuratorial Daily on the December 27, 2008 conference of Xinjiang procuratorial authorities. . In 2008, the judicial authorities in Xinjiang took the maintenance of social stability as its top priority and struck hard on the three forces of terrorism, separatism and religious extremism that endanger state security" in the run up to China’s hosting of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Source: People’s Daily, January 4, 2009
http://unn.people.com.cn/GB/14748/8618257.html

Due to a flurry of factory bankruptcies across the nation, the number of migrant workers going to Beijing to appeal is increasing markedly. Beijing requires all local governments in the political-legal committee to emphatically work on preventing and controlling “petition riots.” An article from the website of the People’s Daily on December 23, 2008, recommends that the whole country follow the regulation issued by (the government of) Sanxi Province to give harsh punishments to petitioners. The article reveals that the office of the Taiyuan Municipal Party Committee and the Political-Legal Committee issued a notice to punish those who go to Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, Zhongnanhai, foreign embassies in China, central government leaders’ places, and provincial and municipal Party and government offices to appeal, as well as those who organize and instigate group appeals.

Source: Boxun, December 23, 2008
http://news.boxun.com/news/gb/china/2008/12/200812231119.shtml

120 veterans went to protest in front of the Guangdong provincial office and requested a settlement for medical benefits. The veterans have been working in a factory that produces nuclear material and claimed to have been exposed to various levels of nuclear radiation over the years. According to Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch, many of them have been diagnosed with various chronicle diseases but are unable to afford medical care. One veteran told the reporter that he suffers from extreme fatigue. Some of his colleagues have died at an average age of less than 40 years old.

Source: Radio Free Asia, December 19, 2009
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/junren-12192008092201.html

The first commencement of China Democracy Movement School was held at Harvard University in Boston on December 16, 2008. About 300 graduates attended the ceremony. Initatives for China, the China Democracy Party, the Freedom and Democracy Party of China established the school to teach the principles of democracy and train democracy activists.

Source: Participation, December 18, 2008
http://canyu.org/n4635c6.aspx