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Chinese Consulate General in NY Rejected Earthquake Donations from Democracy Activists

On May 27, 2008 representatives of Chinese democracy activists visited the Chinese Consulate General in New York wtih donations for victims of the Sichuan earthquake.  The Consulate staff refused the check without explanation.

The donations were colleted in an earlier fundraising event held by the Chinese Democracy Party in front of the Chinese Consulate calling for donations from Chinese democracy activists to help victims of the Sichuan earthquake.

Source: Epoch Times, May 31, 2008
http://news.epochtimes.com/gb/8/5/31/n2137431.htm

Epoch Times Chicago Office Received Threat Letter with White Powder

Late afternoon on May 30, 2008, the Chicago office of the Epoch Times received a threatening letter containing white powder and statements such as "Long Live the Communist Party."  Enclosed in the letter was a newspaper clip of an Epoch Times report in Chinese on the arrests of pro-Communists during earlier violence in Flushing, New York against Falun Gong volunteers at the "Quit the Chinese Communist Party Service Center" in Flushing.

Epoch Times is a New York based media company.  Started as a Chinese language newspaper, it has become a multi-language publication distributed throughout North America, Europe, Asia, Oceana, Africa and the Middle East.

Source: Epoch Times, May 31, 2008
http://news.epochtimes.com/gb/8/5/31/n2137580.htm

Annual Lawyer Registration is a Mechanism of Party Control

Two lawyers in China were denied the renewal of their licenses during the 2008 annual registration.  Local lawyers who passed the annual registration described the reasons behind the mandatary annual registration.  "The government is afraid of lawyers.  It is a very unique feature that in China, the authorities must have a mechanism to counter the role that lawyers play. … The more one complies with the law, speaks the truth and upholds justice, the less likely you will have your license renewed."

Source: Epoch Times, June 1, 2008
http://news.epochtimes.com/gb/8/6/1/n2138386.htm

The Chinese Military’s Emergency Preparedness Plan

In November 2006, the Central Military Commission authorized and issued a “General Emergency Preparedness Plan” for the armed forces to manage sudden outbreaks. [1]  What worth noting is that the People’s Liberation Army has always been the troop for fighting against the foreigners. The People’s Armed Police are usually in charge of the domestic suppressions. But “the 2006 Emergency Preparedness Plan became the common program for both the PLA and PAP. This document is the guiding principle and standard for the arm forces to respond to various domestic societal conflicts in the two years prior to the Olympic Games. [1] Below is a China News Agency’s report on the promulgation of the document.

The Chinese Military Issued a “General Emergency Preparedness Plan” for the Armed Forces to Direct Sudden Outbreaks

Bejing, China – 18:09, November 14, 2006.  Several days ago, the Central Military Commission (CMC) authorized and implemented  “A General Emergency Preparedness Plan” for the armed forces to control sudden outbreaks. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the People’s Armed Police (PAP) are both involved in managing sudden outbreaks with the same guiding principle and standard.

The Emergency Preparedness Plan stipulates that the five major tasks of controling sudden military outbreaks, assisting local social stabilities, handling major terrorists or destructive incidents, joining local disaster relief and handling sudden public security incidents are the basic tasks of military involvement in sudden outbreaks. Under emergency situations, division and regiment level troops and above can skip the lines of communication to report to higher levels directly, and higher levels can also skip the lines of communication to directly command the lower levels. The Emergency Preparedness Plan also stipulates that during initial major outbreaks, the news should be proactively publicized.

Today the official news media quoted the person in charge of the office of military-handling-sudden-outbreaks leadership group, “The military is a major force in handling sudden domestic outbreaks, and has played an important role in handling
various sudden outbreaks. The Emergency Preparedness Plan absorbed lessons learned from decades of experience in handling sudden outbreaks and referenced related foreign military laws and regulations. It has strong operational qualities and applicability, and will make the operational procedures clearer, more prompt, more obvious in results; it can effectively upgrade the military’s ability to handle sudden outbreaks.

This person in charge stated that the Emergency Preparedness Plan is an important component of the country’s general emergency response preparedness plan. It has, for the first time, regulated military involvement in government-organized operations. In the past, when the military was involved in local disaster relief and rescue operations, there were no related laws, policies or regulations; therefore, coordinations and links were relatively poor. The Emergency Preparedness Plan provides an effective basis for military involvement in handling major sudden outbreaks. It also formulated the military’s functional tasks into several preparedness plans that can be either carried out alone or as a whole.
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This responsible person mentioned that when it comes to critical moments, involving a country’s sovereignty and the safety of people’s lives and properties, cutting the middle links will enable the military respond more rapidly to sudden outbreaks. In addition, during major outbreaks, military leaders in the regions of the outbreak can also “pre-handle” the outbreak; that is, reporting while handling. This way, it can minimize the losses to people’s lives and property, to public security, etc. caused by the sudden outbreak. It is also a necessity for a human-based [2], harmonious society.

The Emergency Preparedness Plan stipulates that news should be proactively publicized during initial major outbreaks. This person in charged said that society pays close attention to major sudden outbreaks; therefore, we should release the real situation to the society without delay, using the release of authoritative information to avoid guessing and social panic caused by irresponsible reporting.

[1] China News Services, November 14, 2006
http://www.chinanews.com.cn/hr/zgxw/news/2006/11-14/820607.shtml
[2] According to Baidu (a popular search engine) Encyclopedia, “The human-based idea is proposed by our Party [after] abandoning the limitations of landlord class, capital-owning class [as] found in the of old philosophical idea of humanism and the defects of historical idealism.” The purpose of proposing human-based scientific development is to have human development uniformly lead the development of economics, social development, so as to align the result of societal development with our Party’s character and aim.

Has News Media Really Opened Up Due to the Earthquake?

The Earthquake in Sichuan has shifted the focus of the world’s media away from Tibet and the Olympics. The outside world may have been misled by a false impression that the Chinese government has opened up its news media, according to the author of this article published in Taiwan News. The authorities had learnt from the past, starting in 1991 during flooding in the central part of China, that opening up the media to report in the event of a natural disaster helps to improve the official image and attract foreign donations especially from overseas Chinese. The authorities have never lost control of the media as demonstrated in the current situation where official media reports have been centered on praising the Party and government leaders.

Source, Tainwan News, 6/2/2008
http://news.epochtimes.com/gb/8/6/3/n2140347.htm

Chinese Authorities Refuse to Renew the License for Two Human Rights Lawyers

BBC quotes Human Rights Watch’s report that the Chinese authorities refused to renew the licenses for two Chinese prominent human rights lawyers, Teng Biao and Jiang Tianyong. The reason is that they offered help for the Tibetans arrested during the 3.14 Event. Teng Biao was the lawyer for Shandong human rights activist Chen Guangcheng. Jiang Tianyong was involved in famous rights activist Hu Jia’s case. Early in April, the Ministry of Justice already threatened that those who expressed to help to Tibetans would be diciplined and have their licenses withheld.

Source: BBC, May 30, 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/chinese/simp/hi/newsid_7420000/newsid_7427900/7427943.stm

Party Journal: Reform of Power Structure is the Key to Political Reform

On May 21, 2008, Study Times, the Journal of the Party School of Communist Party published an article entitled “Objectives of Political System Reform.” The article holds that there are four aspects to such reform: “One, the building of legal system. Two, the reform of power structure and checks and balances. Three, the reform of personnel system. Four, the reform of administration system. The reform of power structure and checks and balances is the key to the political system reform. The main task is to establish checks and balances and to maintain highly transparent exercise of the power to prevent corruption and abuse of power."

Source: Study Times, May 21, 2008
http://www.chinanews.com.cn/gn/news/2008/05-21/1257572.shtml

Reservoir May Have Caused the Sichuan Earthquake

Wang Lowei, an expert on water at a German Engineering firm, stated that the construction of Zipingpu Reservoir might have caused the May 12 Sichuan earthquake.  Similar views have been posted online inside China.  Zipingpu Reservoir was built right on top of the Longmenshan Fault. Completed in 2006, Zipingpu Reservoir is one of the larger reservoirs, with a storage capacity of 1.112 billion cubic meters.

Source:
Observe China, May 28, 2008
http://observechina.net/info/artShow.asp?id=49497
Internet Posting, People.com, May 28, 2008
http://bbs.people.com.cn/postDetail.do?view=2&pageNo=1&treeView=1&id=86446095&boardId=2