Half of the cities in China have severely polluted groundwater; 300 million people in the rural areas are drinking water with safety problems. In some areas, "all the rivers have dried and all the water has been polluted." A member of the Chinese NPC Standing Committee stated that "The pollution is a result of profit pursuing. However, the cost to treat the water pollution will be more than a dozen times the profit we have gained."
Newspaper Wins Outstanding News Award with Forged Page
On August 28, the China Journalists’ Association announced the winners for the 17th Outstanding News Awards. The following day, it was pointed out that the entry from Yangzhou Evening News, which won the third prize, was forged. [1]
Government Think Tank on Collapse of Former Soviet Union Stalin’s Autocracy is the Cause
The root cause of the collapse of the former Soviet Union is not so much the one-man act of Gorbachev, but lies deeply in its system dating back to Stalin’s autocracy, according to a government think tank article published by the official Xinhua news agency.
High Ranking Officials’ Poor Health Raises Alarm
From April to June, China’s high-ranking officials at the provincial and certain district levels were given complete physical exams. Over 90 percent of the officials were found to have "modern diseases" such as hepatic steatosis, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes. Over 95 percent were overweight. An undisclosed number of officials had sexually transmitted diseases. The Chinese public often relates these modern diseases to government officials and even calls them "Luxury Diseases," "Bureaucratic Weight Gain," or "Symptoms of Corruption." [1]
China Officials: the Pope Wants to Appoint Anti-Communist Bishops
Since 1958 when China and the Vatican stopped having diplomatic relations, the CCPA (Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association) has appointed all bishops in China. The current Pope, Benedict XVI, has been trying hard to bring Catholics in China back to the Roman Catholic Church. However recently, according to a high official in the CCPA, the Vatican has been attempting to appoint anti-communist bishops in China. [1]
Chinese Professor Questions U.S. Responsibility in Recent Product Recalls
On September 4, 2007, Outlook Weekly (瞭望), a magazine under Xinhua New Agency, published an article written by a professor at the Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s Research Institute. The article suggests that the U.S. should take responsibility for the recent increase in the number of Chinese products being recalled. [1]
Website Ordered to Delete the Henan AIDS Report
Domain name provider www.net.cn has been ordered to delete a report on the Henan AIDS disaster from its website, according to the Beijing Aizhixing Institute.
Global Times: A Long-term Uncertainty in U.S. Policy toward China
Global Times, a daily newspaper under People’s Daily Press, published an article that pointed out, "Up to the present, and for a long period of time, it has been difficult for the U.S. to establish a clear China policy similar to its policy toward the former Soviet Union during the Cold War period. China needs to deal with this lack of clarity."