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Netizens Challenge the Credibility of Official Statistics

The International Herald Leader reported discontent from the public as its members challenged the credibility of official statistics. According to the July 28 report of the National Bureau of Statistics, urban disposable per capita income actually grew 11.2% for the first 6 months of 2009, while the same income for rural residents increased 8.1%. Income for both urban and rural residents exceeded the 7.1% GDP growth. However, netizens cast their doubts by claiming that their income was “being generated” (by the official statistics). A Party School director also questioned the accuracy of the numbers. “The rapid growth of per capita income of urban residents contradicts the drastic decrease of the personal income tax amount.” According to a poll, urban residents perceived the fluxuation in their income for the second quarter of 2009 to be -8.6%, the lowest income since 1999.

Source: Xinhua, August 3, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/herald/2009-08/03/content_11815511.htm

PLA Daily: Resolutely Oppose Military Nationalization

Compared to “nonpartisan armed forces” and “nonpolitical armed forces,” military nationalization is the most demagogic, according to an article from People’s Liberation Army Daily. “Hostile forces use it to confuse the relationship between the Party and country/armed forces and to put the military’s concerns in conflict with the country’s concerns so that the country’s concerns related to the military trump the political concerns of the military, thus negating the absolute leadership of the Party over the military. It is not only politically harmful, but also lacks theoretical support and will not work in practice – it is a false paradox.”

The PLA article asserts that military nationalization is in conflict with Marxist nationalization, harmful to the concerns of our armed forces, out of touch with the practical requirements of our political party, and contrary to the fundamental interests of the country.

Source: China News Service, May 7, 2009
http://www.chinanews.com.cn/gn/news/2009/05-07/1681239.shtml

International Herald: China’s J-10 Fighter Goes to South China Sea

Around August 1, the PLA Daily reported that the Air Force in the Guangzhou Military Command conducted a J-10 fighter aerial refueling. The International Herald explained that J-10 is the most advanced fighter jet in China. Its flying range is 3,400 km and effective air combat radius is 700 km. As the islands and water in the South China Sea that China and ASEAN countries dispute are over 1,000 km from China’s mainland, the aerial refueling resolved the J-10’s flying limitation.

The International Herald further commented that this is a milestone for China’s Air Force to go beyond land-based defense, an announcement that China will expand its control of the air and sea, and a demonstration of China’s joint combat capability between the Air Force and the Navy as the J-10 is taking on what is traditionally the Naval Air Force’s responsibility.

Source: International Herald, August 3, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/herald/2009-08/03/content_11815461.htm

China Peaceful Reunification Association Establishes a Regional Hong Kong Association

The Hong Kong Regional branch of the China Peaceful Reunification Association was formed on July 30. At the ceremony at the Hong Kong Convention Center, Du Qinglin, Minister of the United Front Work Department of CPC Central Committee, said the Hong Kong Association will build a bridge to promote exchange between the two sides (China and Taiwan); firmly defend national unification and territorial integrity; continuously expand the force to promote reunification and prevent (Taiwan’s) independence.

The President of the Hong Kong Regional Association, Gao Jingde, outlined three areas for the association to focus on: 1. Actively connect with the organizations and individuals in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and overseas to form a peaceful reunification force; 2. Promote trade and exchange of culture, education, technology, media, sports, and tourism; 3. Conduct real and good work for a peaceful relationship between the two sides.

Source: United Front Work Department of CPC Central Committee
http://www.zytzb.org.cn/zytzbwz/newscenter/benwang/200907/t20090731_567248.htm

China News Agency: The U.S. Lowered Itself to China for Its National Interest

China News Agency quoted an article from the Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao commenting on the U.S.’ behavior at the First Round of Sino-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogue in Washington, DC on July 27 and 28. Ming Pao said that Obama lowered himself to China, demonstrating the U.S.’ flexibility of being soft in exchange for its national interest.

However, how well the Sino-U.S. relationship goes depends on the following three main issues: 1. How much additional speaking power will the U.S. allow China to have in international organizations such as the IMF? 2. Will the U.S. stop the ban on selling advanced technologies to China? 3. When the U.S. economy stabilizes, will it reduce its spending or devalue the dollar to solve its financial problems but cause huge losses to China who owns a large amount of Treasury bonds?

Source: China News Agency, July 29, 2009
http://www.chinanews.com.cn/hb/news/2009/07-29/1794786.shtml

Defeating Cyber Attacks: Ghosts Cannot Live in Sunlight

Formed in 2006, the Global Internet Freedom Consortium (GIF) is an alliance of several leading organizations that are developing and deploying anti-censorship technologies for Internet users living under oppressive regimes. The Consortium partners have contributed significantly to the advancement of information freedom in China, Iran and other “censorship” countries. Two of GIF’s most popular anti-censorship software tools, FreeGate and UltraSurf, have played a critical role in enabling Iranians in the recent election aftermath to connect and communicate over the Internet when their government blocked most overseas news and social networking websites overseas. It is estimated that, on June 20, 2009, alone, over 1 million Iranians used GIF to visit previously censored websites.

In addition,GIF itself has constantly been fending off cyber attacks launched against it.

On October 22, 2009, the U.S. Congressional Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the U.S. Helsinki Commission, held a hearing on the ways in which new media and Internet communication technologies affect the balance of power between human rights activists and authoritarian governments. Zhou Shiyu, Deputy Director of GIF provided testimony at the hearing. Zhou estimated that over 90% if anti-censorship traffic comes through GIF servers. GIF has the current capacity to support 1.5 million people per day. It is working on expanding its capacity to meet the rapidly growing demand.

Chinascope recently interviewed Dr. Peter Li, GIF’s Chief Technology Officer.

Chinascope:  Recently President Obama launched the cyber security plan. Are cyberattacks a real threat to U.S. national security? Continue reading

The Journey of Clarifying the Truth While Being Persecuted — Falun Gong Practitioners From Mainland China Tell Their Personal Stories (From 1999 To the Present)

On July 20, 1999, the then leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Jiang Zemin, banned the Falun Gong spiritual practice. At the beginning of the suppression, Jiang intended to eradicate Falun Gong in “three months.” Intelligence agents locked onto Falun Gong practitioners whom they thought to be “leaders,” and its propaganda machinery prepared potent fabrications to vilify Falun Gong and turn the public against it. In so many previous persecutions, these two steps alone were enough to break the backbone and spirit of any victim group.

After failing to eradicate Falun Gong in a quick way, CCP has largely remained quiet about Falun Gong in its state-run media over the last several years, making the impression that Falun Gong is no longer in existence in China. So, did Jiang and the CCP achieve their goal? Where are the practitioners in China? What do they do these days? With these questions in mind, Chinascope interviewed the editor of the Chinese website, minghui.org. Minghui, whose English counterpart is clearwisdom.net, is the primary website for Falun Gong practitioners to obtain Falun Gong related information, report their activities, and share their experiences with each other.

Continue reading

Taiwan CNA: The CCP Has Started Selecting Cadres for the Eighteenth NPC

The Central News Agency (CAN) of Taiwan recently published a report based on news from the Hong Kong magazine Mirror. The report suggested that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has started selecting high ranking officials for the Eighteenth National Party Congress (NPC). There are two “hard” conditions: the candidates must be below 45 years old and must be current bureau-level officials. The Organization Department of the CCP Central Committee determines the selection process: The Department officials will meet and vote on the candidates, and then the leaders of the Department will bring back the results for “consideration”. Voting results will not be announced.

Source: CAN, July 29, 2009.
http://www.cna.com.tw/ShowNews/Detail.aspx?pSearchDate=&pNewsID=200907290314&pType0=READTIME&pType1=&pTypeSel=0