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China to Launch Space Station in 2020

China will launch its own space station in 2020, says chief scientist of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program. According to the plan, in 2010 China will launch a small space laboratory module called "Tiangong 1" with two separate cabins for a lab and resources. Then, the unmanned Shenzhou 8 spacecraft will be launched to dock with Tiangong 1. In 2015 Tiangong 2 and 3 will be launched, leading ultimately to the launch in 2020, Tiangong, China’s own space station. The scientist also confirmed that China is building a new lunar launch site at Wenchang City, Hainan Province, because the Long March 5 rocket to launch the lunar probe will be 5 meters in diameter and can only be transported via waterways.

Source: Chengdu Evening News, November 11, 2009
http://www.cdwb.com.cn/html/2009-11/11/content_741526.htm

Chinese Media Editorial on the Berlin Wall: A World without Walls

Southern Metropolis Daily, a relatively liberal state-owned media in Guangzhou, published an editorial commenting on the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. “Although the class struggle has ended, the shadow of ‘the philosophy of the people’s struggle’ has not dissipated. The resultant social divide and class discrimination are also a thick wall for the Chinese people to tear down. Although the wall is dilapidated, there are still countless walls standing in our way to move forward. When we distinguish enemies from friends, urban from rural, the West from the Orient, ‘leftist’ from ‘rightist,’ people born in the 1980s from people born in the 1990s, men from women, people using the Internet from people not using the Internet, the wise from the retarded, and etc, we must exercise extreme caution because in every case, there is a potential danger of erecting a wall.” “Don’t miss any small effort to overthrow all the walls that should not be there – whether it is virtual or physical, whether political or spiritual – this is the best way to commemorate the collapse of the Berlin Wall, because they are all Berlin Walls.”

Source: Southern Metropolis Daily, November 9, 2009
http://gcontent.nddaily.com/1/d9/1d94108e907bb831/Blog/634/6baa03.html

First Time, Guangzhou City Released Government Budget

On October 16, 2009, the Guangzhou City Finance Bureau released budget information for all municipal offices, totaling more than 20 billion Yuan, on its website (http://www.gzfinance.gov.cn). Traffic has flooded the website. On October 23, it even caused the server to go down. This is the first time a government entity has released budgetary information to citizens.

However, details were still omitted, including dining on public money, traveling using public cars, and traveling abroad on public money, the infamous “three public” expenses, which represent a significant portion of government spending. Guangzhou’s budget also showed 60 million Yuan in “subsidy” given to 9 child daycare centers serving employees of the municipal offices, averaging 20 thousand Yuan per child.

Guangzhou’s action was in reply to the request from a volunteer group, “Public Budget Observer Volunteers.” The group submitted 33 budget requests to central ministries and municipal governments. All except Guangzhou rejected the request. Shanghai claimed the information was a “national secret” and "could not be released." After Guangzhou’s action, Shanghai reversed its position. It announced on October 29 that it will improve its budgetary openness and transparency and would research ways to release the information.

Source:
1. The website of the Central People’s Government of the People’s Republic of China, October 26, 2009
http://www.gov.cn/jrzg/2009-10/26/content_1448828.htm
2. People’s Daily, October 24, 2009
http://media.people.com.cn/GB/10251652.html
3. Nanfang Weekends Magazine, October 28, 2009
http://www.infzm.com/content/36515
4. Eastday.com, the official website for Shanghai government, October 29, 2009
http://sh.eastday.com/qtmt/20091029/u1a649370.html

Hu’s Group and Jiang’s Group Fight Openly over Bo Xilai

Chongqing City Party Secretary Bo Xilai’s controversial campaign against gangsters in Chongqing has caused an open fight among the top leaders of China. Liu Fengyan, Deputy Secretary of the Central Committee for Discipline Inspection, led an inspection team to Chongqing in October for a three-month inspection. Liu was said to state that the fight against the gangsters cannot become a movement or “red terror,” nor should it bypass the legal system (criticizing Bo Xilai). Liu is loyal to Hu Jintao and had put Chen Liangyu, former Shanghai chief into jail.

On the other side, the Chongqing government website reported that Zhou Yongkang, a member of the Central Committee’s Political Bureau Standing Committee, the Secretary of the Political and Legal Committee, a Jiang Zemin loyalist, has given a special praise to Bo Xilai recently. Xinhua also published a commentary on Zhou’s trip to Jinggangshan on November 3, as to send warning messages to three groups of people in the public security system. The third group is those who want to “stir things up” by criticizng Bo’s fight against gangsters.

Background: Bo Xilai is the son of Bo Yibo who was a senior CCP leader. Bo Xilai is considered a leader of the princelings with wide connections with princelings and the media. He started an ideology campaign of singing the “red songs” (songs to praise the CCP) and sending “red text messages” (quotes from CCP leaders) earlier this year. He started the gangster campaign in June 2009. The media has overwhelming praise for him. The fight over him is about his political ambitions as the  CCP leaders must choose successors to Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao.

Sources:
1. Radio Free Asia, October 26, 2009
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/pinglun/jwp-10262009095713.html
2. Chongqing News, the official site for Chongqing government, October 28, 2009
http://pl.cqnews.net/sz/200910/t20091028_3713364.htm
3.  Xinhua, November 8, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2009-11/08/content_12407989.htm

Supreme Court: Improving Justice Based on Party Development

Xinhua reported on November 6 that Shen Deyong, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of the Supreme Court, emphasized in the Fourth Training Class of Presidents of the Basic and Intermediate Courts that justice work should be based on improving Party development, which is the strongest “political assurance” of the “scientific improvement” of the people’s court system. He required the court presidents to “systematically study” basic Marxism, Socialist Theories with Chinese Characteristics, the core value system of socialism, and the socialist concept of rule of law. He also called for sharing the Party’s cares and worries.

Source: Xinhua, November 6, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2009-11/06/content_12401416.htm

Military Expert: Texas Shooting Will Slow US Overseas Deployment

According to the China Internet Information Center, the central government’s portal site published an interview with Military expert Yue Gang about the severe shooting event at the US military base [Fort Hood] and its impact on US international military activities. Yue believes that the US government is taking this event very seriously because Obama made an announcement on the event very rapidly. He also suggested: (1) A delay in overseas deployment of troops is likely to happen since time is needed to reinforce internal discipline; (2) The U.S. may need to rethink its “military culture” which currently has a low standard caused by a lowered bar of entry due to heavy global military operations. Yue believes the immediate action needed by the US military is to tell the soldiers why they are fighting and who they fight for.

Source: China Internet Information Center, November 6, 2009.
http://www1.china.com.cn/news/txt/2009-11/06/content_18840354.htm

Study Times: On China-US Relations before Obama’s Visit to Beijing

Study Times, a newspaper by CCP Central Party School, recently published an article on the current status of Sino-US relations. The article pointed out that Obama is the first US President to visit China in the first year of his first term. The author believes this is based on the facts that Obama will have a unique cooperative policy and that China is making a positive contribution to the international financial crisis. The article also indicated: (1) more contradictions do not necessarily mean more problems (between the two countries); (2) new economic growth points favor better Sino-US relations; (3) the two countries should have mutual respect for each other’s core interests.

Source: Study Times, November 2, 2009.
http://www.studytimes.com.cn/WebPage/ny1.aspx?act=1&id=3017&nid=11025&bid=2&page=1

Wen Jiabao Emphasizes Science and Technology

In a keynote speech to a group of scientists, Premier Wen Jiabao said that China’s science and technology “will surely support and lead the country toward its grand goal of modernization.”

Quotations from Wen’s speech:

“History tells us that science and technology determine a nation’s prosperity and a country’s fate.”

“The world is experiencing an unprecedented financial crisis in this century. Those who can lead the technological innovation will be able to grasp the initiative in development and be the first to recover and prosper. In response to this international financial crisis, the world’s countries are competing with each other to dominate in the economy and technologies. The world will enter an unprecedented era of innovation-intensive and industrial revitalization. We must strive to grow in this competition by leaps and bounds.”

Wen stressed the research in energy, sensor network, microelectronics, optoelectronic materials, nanotechnology, life science, space and ocean exploration.

Source: Xinhua, November 3, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2009-11/03/content_12377681.htm