Skip to content

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

China Develops Supercomputer

China unveiled its fastest supercomputer yesterday, known as a petaflop. At its peak speed, it can do more than one quadrillion calculations per second.

The birth of the supercomputer, named "Tianhe," which means "Milky Way," makes China the second country, after the United States, to build a petaflop computer. This gigantic device can do as many calculations in one day as those done by an ordinary dual-core personal computer in 160 years, said Li Nan, director of the Tianhe Project Office under the National University of Defense Technology, developer of the supercomputer.

The supercomputer has many practical applications, and will be used in seismic data processing, for oil exploration, bio-medical research, development of aerospace vehicles, long-term weather and climate forecasting, financial data analysis and pollution control in the Bohai Sea area.

Source: People’s Daily, October 29, 2009
http://scitech.people.com.cn/GB/25509/10280952.html

Joint Communique of China, India and Russia Released

On October 27, 2009, foreign affairs ministers of China, India and Russia met in Bangalore, India. A Joint Communique was issued afterwards and published in People’s Daily.

The Communique stated that the improved economic conditions of the three countries will facilitate even faster growth. “The strengthened communication of the three countries will benefit improvement of their overall influence, promotion of the democratic process, and development of a multi-polar world.”

The Communique enumerated mechanisms for the three countries to launch talks on global economic management, climate change, trade policy, development, and cooperation.

The Communique asked for a “comprehensive reform” of the United Nations. China and Russia support India’s wish to play a larger role in the UN.

Source: People’s Daily, October 29, 2009
http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrb/html/2009-10/29/content_371134.htm

Xinhua: National Police Chiefs Repledge Loyalty to the Party at Jinggangshan

Xinhua reported that on November 3, 2009, Zhou Yongkang, a member of the CCP Central Committee’s Political Bureau Standing Committee, the secretary of the Central Political and Law Commission, and Meng Jianzhu, state councilor and deputy secretary of the Central Political and Law Commission, Minister of Public Security, led all the Central Political and Law Commission members and the National Police Bureau Chiefs Forum participants to the Jinggangshan [1] Revolutionary Martyrs Cemetery. They presented flower baskets to the revolutionary martyrs and re-read the Party Oath.

Now, there are over 2 million police and over 3 million political and law personnel all over the country with over 70% being CCP members. How to make all the police officers maintain their belief (in the CCP) has become the primary subject of public security work.

Source: Xinhua, November 5, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2009-11/05/content_12394516.htm
[1] Jinggangshan is known as the birthplace of the Chinese Red Army and the "cradle of the Chinese revolution." It is where Mao Zedong and a few fellow Communists set up the first peasant soviet in 1927.