Some people think that the emergence of the Internet is the biggest threat to the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), and the CCP has therefore been trying to control the Internet. In mainland China, the CCP still places a lot of emphasis on controlling the Internet. Outside of China, the CCP likewise influences a majority of Chinese language websites. The following is a report by Xinhua.net (the CCP’s official media site) about Hu Jintao’s speech regarding “Construction of the internet culture.” [1]

In the CCP Political Bureau’s 38th group study, Hu Jintao stressed:
“Create and manage the Internet culture with the innovation needed to meet people’s growing spiritual and cultural needs.”

Based on news on January 24, from xinhua.net, the CCP Central Committee Political Bureau completed its 38th group study on January 23 in the afternoon. The CCP Central Committee General Secretary Hu Jintao hosted the study. He emphasized: strengthen the establishment and management of the Internet culture, and fully demonstrate the importance of the Internet in socialist culture. This can help to improve the whole nation’s ideology and social ethical quality, can help to expand propaganda and ideological work, help to improve the charm and influence of the socialist construction of the ideological infrastructure, and help to enhance China’s soft power. We must adopt a positive attitude and innovative spirit to develop and spread a healthy Internet culture, truly construct the Internet well, utilize it well, and manage it well.

The content for this group study of the CCP Central Committee Political Bureau deals with the development of the global network and Internet culture, and its construction and management in China. The Central Foreign Affairs Office Internet Bureau director Li Wufeng, the Telecom Research Institute of the Ministry of Information Industry Prof. Cao Shumin, and senior engineers discussed this issue, and shared their opinions and suggestions on the Internet culture construction and management in China.

Several staff members of the CCP Central Committee Political Bureau carefully listened to their presentation, and discussed the related issues.

Hu Jintao hosted the study and gave a speech. He pointed out: the rapid development of Internet culture in China has play a positive role in spreading information and knowledge, and in promoting the party’s theoretical guidelines and policies. At the same time it has brought up the issue of our construction of socialist ideology. Whether we can actively use and effectively manage the Internet, whether we can truly use the Internet as a new tool to spread the advanced socialist culture as a new platform for public culture service, and as a new dimension for people’ healthy spiritual culture, are issues related to socialist cultural undertakings and cultural industries, related to the nation’s culture of information and the nation’s long-term stability, related to the overall situation of a socialist system with Chinese characteristics.
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Hu stressed: to strengthen the construction and management of China’s Internet culture, we must start from the overall layout of socialist development with Chinese characteristics, and the strategy of cultural development; persist in the guidance of the “Deng Xiaoping Theory” and “Thought of the Three Represents;” comprehensively implement Scientific Outlook on Development in accordance with the requirements of developing an advanced socialist culture; adhere to positive use, large scale development, and scientific management; use advanced technology to spread the advanced culture, to promote harmonious cultural construction, to better meet people’s growing spiritual and cultural needs, and to provide a powerful ideological guarantee and public media support in building a well-off society in an all-around way.

Hu Jintao introduced five requirements on strengthening Internet culture construction and management. First, we must adhere to the direction of developing an advanced socialist culture, loudly sing the main theme of ideological culture on the Internet, advocate scientific truth, spread advanced culture, promote the scientific spirit, shape good minds, and promote a healthy social environment. Second, we must improve the capability to service and supply Internet culture products, improve the scale and professionalism of the Internet culture industry, take the profound Chinese culture as the important source of the Internet culture, push our advanced culture to be digitized and Internet-ized, improve the spread of the higher grade culture of information, strive to form a group of high quality Internet products which are brand rich in the Chinese style, embodied with the modern spirit, and push the internet culture to take effect in nurturing the soul, cultivating character, and pleasing both body and mind. Third, we need to strengthen the ideological and public opinion construction on the Internet, dominate public opinion on the Internet, improve the level of guidance on the Internet, pay attention to the art of guidance, actively use the new technology, increase the intensity of positive publicity, and form positive pubic opinion. Fourth, promote construction of the Internet with civilization, purify the Internet environment, strive to create a civilized, healthy, and positive Internet culture environment, and create a sharing spiritual home. Five, we must adhere to management in accordance with law, to scientific management, and to effective management, combine the use of law, administration, economy, technology, ideological education, industry, self-regulation and other means, to speed up the dissemination of Internet information under management that is according to law, industry self-regulation, society supervision, and an orderly manner, and truly safeguard the security of the nation’s cultural information.

Hu Jintao pointed out: the CCP committees and governments at all levels should take action to strengthen the planning, improve the system, standardize management, and add staff, etc., to strengthen the development of the information industry and of Internet culture, and to truly apply the requirement of both development and management to Internet technology, industry, content, security and other aspects. It is necessary to formulate policies and create conditions to strengthen and improve the information and service closely related to people’s work and living. We must accelerate the building of Internet teams, form teams suitable for the Internet culture construction and management, such as a management team, a media guidance team, and a research and development team. We need to train a group of people with high political quality and strong technology. Government leaders at all level must pay attention to studying Internet knowledge, improving leadership and control, and striving to create a new situation for the nation’s Internet culture construction.

[1] Xinhua.net，Jan. 24, 2007
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2007-01/24/content_5648188.htm

On July 3, 2008, the International Herald Leader under Xinhua News Agency published a report titled “The U.S. Attempts to Set Up Its Stronghold in Tibet to Facilitate Its Entry Into Tibet.” This report reveals the Chinese government’s response to the U.S. government’s proposal to set up a consulate in Tibet. The following is the translation of the report.

By Lin Jie, International Herald Leader Staff Reporter from Beijing

It is very obvious that the United States has its political agenda in having a consulate in Lhasa; which is, setting up a stronghold in Tibet for the United States.

Not for the first time, the American politicians who are overly “concerned” about Tibet once again proposed to set up a consulate in Lhasa.

On June 26, the U.S. Senate passed an urgent fund appropriation act. Included in the additional articles of this act was a proposal to appropriate five million dollars to establish a consulate in Lhasa. The House of Representatives passed this act on June 19 before it was sent to the Senate.

The U.S. Has an Obvious Political Agenda

When interviewed by the International Herald Leader, Professor Niu Xinchun of the Institute of American Studies, China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, explained the seriousness of the act passed in the Senate: “Although similar proposals have been brought up in recent years many times, this time it is passed in the form of Congress Law, making it more formal. That means the U.S. Congress will implement this act accordingly.”

What on earth is the true motive of those American politicians who are making such a great show to demonstrate their earnestness?

Professor Ye Hailin at the Institute of Asia Pacific Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, has been an expert in consulate affairs. He told reporters of the International Herald Leader that there are two necessary requirements in choosing the site for a consulate. One is the consulate must be located in a region where the bilateral economic exchange and cultural exchange are both very active; the second is the overseas residents from the particular foreign country are populous in that region. However, in Tibet, neither of these two requirements is met. In addition, in terms of the U.S. consulate distribution in China, the United States already has a consulate in Sichuan Province, the neighboring province of Tibet. If the United States needs to accomplish certain consulate tasks, its consulate in Chengdu should be sufficient to handle them.
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“If we use the elimination method,” said Professor Ye Hailin, “the only motive for the U.S. to set up a consulate in Lhasa is a political motive. It has nothing to do with the normal functions of a regular general consulate.”

The U.S. ‘Priority Project’ to Meddle With Tibetan Affairs

Then, what is the political agenda of the United States? According to Professor Niu Xinchun, the United States intended to “establish a stronghold in Tibet.”

As early as April this year, the U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stated clearly that trying to set up a U.S. consulate in Tibet is meant to help explore a channel for American diplomats to get into Tibet. Back then, Rice made this statement when addressing the fund appropriation committee of the Senate. She also mentioned that the U.S. government was studying the possibility of establishing a consulate in Tibet. The NGO organization in the United States, “International Campaign for Tibet,” which had been instigating the Congress and supporting the establishment of a U.S. consulate, claimed that having a U.S. consulate in Lhasa would “improve the quality and quantity of the information obtained from inner Tibet for U.S. government officials.”

As a matter of fact, at the very beginning of the motion, it had a close tie to the activists in the United States advocating an independent Tibet and those forces supporting an independent Tibet. On April 24 of this year, the Dalai Lama’s Special Envoy Lodi Gyari made his way to the hearing of the Senate, claiming that establishing a U.S. consulate in Lhasa should be listed as the “Most Priority Project” by the U.S. congress in meddling with Tibetan affairs. Also present was the American actor Richard Gere, who willingly works hard for “Tibet Independence activists.” He is one of the organizers of the “International Campaign for Tibet.”

It Requires Bilateral Agreement to Establish a Consulate

At present, there is only one consulate in Tibet—the consulate of Nepal. This consulate was established before the Dalai Lama escaped to India in 1959. Lhasa has played a significant role in the active economic and cultural exchange between China and Nepal. The direct transportation line between Nepal’s capital Kathmandu and Lhasa is serving passengers traveling between the two cities.

India was the second country with a consulate in Lhasa at that time. However, after the rebellion in Tibet in 1959, the Indian Consulate in Lhasa played an extremely shameful role. When the Sino-India war broke out in 1962, the Indian Consulate in Lhasa was abolished. A few years ago, Indian government had thought of resuming the consulate in Lhasa; after a bilateral negotiation, the consulate was finally chosen to be set up in Guangzhou City. According to analysts, such an arrangement conformed to the principle of equality in setting up a consulate, because India is not allowed to enter the sensitive northwestern region of China either.
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Therefore, a senior international law scholar also pointed out, if China rejects the American proposal of setting up a consulate in Lhasa, it does not constitute a violation to any international law. In addition, China does not have to provide any explanation. There isn’t any problem in the legal aspect either.

Endnotes:
[1] Reference: International Herald Leader, July 3, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/herald/2008-07/03/content_8480905.htm