On July 10th, both the People’s Daily and Guangming Daily devoted the entire front page to an identical layout setting featuring the news, speech, and photos of Hu Jintao at the G8 Summit. It was viewed as a media campaign effort to improve Hu’s image before the Olympics.
Source: Secret China, July 10, 2008
http://www.secretchina.com/news/253637.html
An article posted by Xinhua named Richard Gere, Bjork, Mia Farrow, George Clooney and Ben Affleck as the "Ugly Five". It charged the five actors with criticizing China’s human rights.
In addition, Gere was blamed for his friendship with the Dalai Lama; Bjork for shouting loud “Tibet!” at a Shanghai concert in March; Farrow was singled out for her leading role in linking Darfur with China; Clooney was attacked for linking the Beijing Olympics with human rights; Affleck was listed for his comment: “be careful of communist China invading Taiwan.”
Source: Xinhua, July 11, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/overseas/2008-07/11/content_8530584.htm
Early July local Flushing NY residents launched a campaign to remove two lawmakers from office for conduct unbecoming lawmakers. Since mid May, pro-Communist thugs repeatedly assaulted Falun Gong on the streets of Flushing, NY. Ms. Ellen Young, a New York State Assemblywoman, and Mr. John Liu, a New York City Council Member, both American Chinese, offered through pro-Communist Chinese language newspapers and in person assistance to the pro-Communist thugs involved in the violence. The two had previously rejecting meeting requests from their constituents who are victims of the violence, including a mother who has two sons currently serving in Iraq.
Continue reading
Editor’s Note: This is an article published on Xinhuanet.com Website at the end of 2004. For the Chinese communist regime, giving up control over the army is equivalent to giving up its reign over the Chinese people. In the recent years, there have been different voices demanding for the nationalization of the Army from civilians, even from within the Army, but the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) would make no concession in this aspect. The following is the translation for the Xinhuanet.com news article. [1]
[Xinhuanet.com News Center, Beijing, December 25th, 2004] The Resolution released at the 4th Plenary Session of the 16th CCP Central Committee mandates: “Adhere to the Party’s absolute leadership of the Army; always put the ideological and political education in the forefront as top priority in order to maintain forever the nature, the unique characteristics and the style of the People’s Army.” The Resolution provided guidance for us to improve the Party’s capability in managing the Army. The Party’s absolute leadership over the Army is the never ever-changing spirit of our army as well as a unique political advantage. It is also the demarcation line between our army and any other armies in capitalist countries.
People’s Liberation Army of China is the People’s Army established by and under the absolute leadership of the Chinese Communist Party; it is an armed force serving to carry out the political tasks of the Party. The principle of adhering to the Party’s absolute leadership, which was the foundation upon which the Army was created, had been formed and gradually been fully developed by the Party on the basis of its scientific understanding of the objective principles of China’s revolutionary struggles.
To adhere to the Party’s absolute leadership over the Army is, most fundamentally, to firmly uphold the banner [of the Party leadership], to support the core [of the Party], to keep consistent with the CCP Central Committee in ideology and political views, to strictly follow the instructions from the CCP Central Committee, and to firmly uphold the authority of the CCP Central Committee led by Comrade Hu Jintao as Secretary-General. This is the highest political discipline of our army, as well as the fundamental requirement to ensure the Party’s absolute leadership over the Army.
To adhere to the Party’s absolute leadership over the Army, we must firmly take Mao Zedong’s military ideology and Deng’s ideology of military development in the new era as our guidance, and fully implement the important ideology of the “three represents.” We must persevere in taking the ideology of the “three represents” as the important guiding ideology in leading and developing the military, making sure it is carried out in all aspects of the development of the Party Committees within the Army, and implementing it in all activities of the Army’s preparation for military battles. We must do so to truly resolve the two historical tasks: always winning the battles and never changing the nature of the Army. It is the basic ideological guarantee to ensure the Party’s absolute leadership of the Army.{mospagebreak}
To adhere to the Party’s absolute leadership over the Army, we must firmly resist the wrong ideological trends such as “Separating the Army from the Party,” “Depoliticize the Army” and “Nationalization of the Army.” We must further strengthen the Party’s absolute leadership and discipline ourselves in this respect.
To adhere to the Party’s absolute leadership over the Army, we must firmly uphold and improve the fundamental principle of the Party’s leadership over the Army, which mainly includes: (1) the ultimate leadership and chain of command is under the CCP Central Committee and the Central Military Committee. The CCP Central Committee is the top leadership and decision-making regime, and the Central Military Committee is the Party’s top leadership body inside the Army. (2) The Party establishes CCP committees at or above the regiment levels, and establishes the Party grass-root committees at the battalion level. The CCP committees at different levels are the core of leadership at each level. (3) According to the principle of democratic centralism, under the collective leadership of each CCP committee with committee members responsible for different portfolios and duties. (4) General Political Department is set up for the Army. At or above regiment levels, there are political commissar’s offices. (5) At the company level or equivalent, there are CCP branch committees which are the grass root regimes of the Party in the Army – the core of leadership at its level.
To adhere to the Party’s absolute leadership over the Army, we must stick to the practice of ideological and political education as top priority before any other agendas in the Army. It is the requirement to ensure that the Party will tightly control the Army in ideology and politics.
To adhere to the Party’s absolute leadership over the Army, we must continuously strengthen the development of CCP committees and cadres in the Army.
Endnote:
[1] Xinhua, December 25, 2004
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2004-12/25/content_2379107.htm
As of the end of June 2008, China had 8.6 million domestic enterprises, 280,000 foreign-owned enterprises and 27.28 million small businesses (“individual industrial and commercial households”), according to a recent release by the China State Administration of Industry and Commerce.
Source: Xinhua, July 10, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2008-07/10/content_8524946.htm
On Monday July 7, more than 15,000 Chinese scholars and experts signed a petition, calling on the government to end China’s forced labor camp system. They believe that the forced labor camp lacks legality, and it may lead to administrative power abuse. They also pointed out that the system failed to protect citizen’s rights.
The forced labor camp system was introduced in 1956 from the Soviet Union. Under the system, the government can send undesirables to do hard labor in a concentration camp without any trial. The Chinese government uses it to punish Christians, Buddhists, pro-democracy activists and Falun Gong practitioners.
Fan Yafeng, a sponsor of the petition and a Beijing-based social scientist said that the petition was intended to ease the worsening tension between the people and the government.
Source: Voice of America, July 8, 2008
http://voanews.com/chinese/w2008-07-08-voa67.cfm
2008 was a record year for China’s unemployment rate. A total of 250 million people are currently out of a job. Many of the 6 million college graduates will find it harder to find work this year. Affected by a strong Chinese Renminbi and rist in the cost of materials, many export-oriented companies have gone bankrupt. Due to a central government policy of eliminating ‘backward’ businesses, state owned companies were being closed at a peak rate.
In a recent estimate by Tian Chengping, former minister of China Labor and Social Security Ministry, in 2008, China’s unemployed population will reach 50 million in urban areas and 200 million in rural areas.
Source: China New Digest, July 9, 2008
http://www.cnd.org/my/modules/wfsection/article.php%3Farticleid=20038
On July 1, 2008, the 87th birthday of the Chinese Communist Party, Yang Jia, a 28 year old Beijing resident went to the Police Headquarters of Shanghai’s Zhabei District and killed six policemen and injured four with a knife.
According to stories posted on the Internet, Yang was tortured by the police last year over a bicycle theft charge. He was later found innocent and released. Later a doctor told him that his reproductive organ had been permanently injured by the police. After his attempt to seek compensation failed, he went on to the rampage. He was selective and targeted at middle aged men while sparing women and younger men.
A majority of the Chinese Internet surfers cheered his action. They called him a hero who was seeking justice for the people. Some compared him to Rambo.
Source: China News Digest, July 7, 2008
http://my.cnd.org/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=20022