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Recent School Killings in China

A new crime wave stunned China recently. From March 23 to May 19, seven school killings across China were reported by news media. These pre-meditated crimes appeared to be random killings targeting innocent children (see box).

The sudden outbreak of senseless crimes highlighted China’s already shaky security condition and growing social discontent, and prompted high profile official reactions.

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The Party Agency Calls for Intensified Social Control

The ever deepening social instability, as shown in recent killings of school children and other incidents, has caught the Party’s attention. The Committee for Comprehensive Management of Public Security (CCMPS), an agency under the Central Committee of the Party in charge of societal control, is having a national conference for directors of provincial offices of the Committee. CCMPS is headed by Zhou Yongkang, the Party’s security czar and also head of the Political and Legal Committee. 

The conference calls for “enhancing the capacity to solve social conflicts, preventing the root cause,” “enhancing management of the migrant population, mental patients, drug addicts, and former prisoners,” and “enhancing management of the Internet, new social organizations, and new economic organizations.” 

Source: People’s Daily, May 27, 2010 
http://politics.people.com.cn/GB/1026/11705663.html

Beijing to Bring In 1000 High-Level Experts from Overseas

In December 2008, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCCCP) issued the Suggestions on the Implementation of Introducing High-Level Overseas Talent. A “1000-Talent Project,” implemented by the Organization Department of the CCCCP has since been underway to bring experts from other countries into China. At present, as many as 662 high-level overseas experts have been recruited. Among them, there are 448 overseas Chinese that already acquired foreign citizenship and 20 non Chinese. The 662 experts include 293 full professors, 9 associate professors, 72 research fellows in top research institutes such as Harvard, MIT, and Bell Lab; 75 high-level research personnel, and 43 senior management staff from multinational corporations, such as Boeing, GM, and Morgan Stanley.

Source: People’s Daily, May 25, 2010 
http://politics.people.com.cn/GB/1026/11683361.html

National Talent Working Conference

In a very rare meeting attended by all of the nine members of Standing Committee of the Politburo, Hu Jintao gave a lengthy speech about the importance of talent to the country. The National Talent Working Conference held in Beijing on May 25 and 26 was also televised to Party and government agencies at the provincial level. While stating that talent is the “paramount resource,” and “the talent issue is the key issue that matters for the development of the cause of the Party and the country,” Hu emphasized to “adhere to the principle that the Party controls the talent.” 

In 2009, the Party issued the Development Plan Outline for Medium and Long Term Talent Development (2010—2020), sketching out the strategies to build up the country’s human resources. 
Source: People’s Daily, May 26, 2010 
http://politics.people.com.cn/GB/1024/11705655.html

Guangdong Stepping up Efforts to Resolve Social Conflicts Locally

The Guangdong Provincial Supreme Court and the provincial social stability office jointly released a statement that local courts, police, and community stability offices will join hands to resolve “civil disputes” at a “one-stop” at the local level. They initiated a streamlined process of mediation, summons, execution and post-judgment stability.  

According to the Guangdong Provincial Supreme Court, social conflicts have led to more cases filed, with a 12.33 % annual growth from 2006 to 2009. In 2009 alone, the courts in Guangdong Province handled 536,212 cases. As of February 2010, 1,584 communities have set up social stability centers with over 17,000 full time staff and large numbers of part time personnel

Source: Guangdong Daily, May 25, 2010
http://gzdaily.dayoo.com/html/2010-05/25/content_974950.htm

China Honing in on European Political Parties

Li Yunshan, Politburo member and head of the Communist Party Propaganda Department, spoke at the May 24 reception of the China-Europe High-Level Political Party Forum in Bejing. The premise of his speech was “deepening strategic mutual trust and promoting across-the-board cooperation.” Li made three recommendations: one, to enhance strategic awareness and establish and perfect the communication mechanism; two, to enhance common understanding of win-win positions and broaden the cooperation channels; and three, to enhance inclusivity and solidify friendly co-existence. Communist Party officials from the International Department of the CCP Central Committee, the Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Commerce, the National Development and the Reform Commission attended the event.

Source: International Department, Central committee of Communist Party of China, May 24, 2010 http://www.idcpc.org.cn/dongtai/100524-4.htm

China Review News on US-China Relations: No Fundamental Changes

An editorial of China Review News states that neither the current warmth or the freezing coldness back in January or the honeymoon last year has resolved the fundamental issues in US-China relations. The only benefit is that it avoids confrontations on strategic issues. There are two possible reasons according to the editorial. One is that the U.S. drives the US-China relations, with the determining factor being the U.S. policy toward China and not China’s policy toward the U.S. Two, the U.S. policy toward China has been weaving back and forth between strategic considerations and specific interests.  The U.S. is accused of causing significant damage to bilateral relations because of the arms sales to Taiwan, Internet freedom issues and a slew of others, which are, in the mind of the editorial, meant to strategically restrain China.

Source: China Review News, May 25, 2010
http://gb.chinareviewnews.com/doc/1013/3/1/4/101331490.html?coluid=1&kindid=0&docid=101331490&mdate=0525001216

610 Office Document on Court Procedures for Falun Gong Cases

According to a reliable source, China’s 610 Office, specifically created to deal with Falun Gong, issued a top-secret document on how to manage the court trials of Falun Gong practitioners. The document has been sent to local public security bureaus, procuratorates, courts, judicial bureaus, and 610 offices. Highlights of the document are:
1. Get well prepared, including coordinating among all parties; get the family members of Falun Gong practitioners to cooperate; and carefully select the staff, time, and location (relatively isolated and far from downtown) for the court trial.
2. Control the court trial procedures and do not to leave any excuse for criticism, including that the procurator is not to debate on the nature of “Falun Gong” and the judge is not to let the defendant’s attorney debate.
3. Control the court’s security, including limiting the number of the defendant’s relatives attending the trial, and arrange trusted people from the street residence committee, policemen, and the 610 office staff to attend, so as to obtain a 2:1 majority.
4. Control the defendant’s relatives and social connections.

Source: A source in China who requires anonymity.