Aboluowang reported that the relevant documents of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection have recently revealed that the mainland state-owned enterprises and private enterprises based in Hong Kong have openly established party branches.

According to the article, People’s Daily disclosed in September that a document that the Central Disciplinary Commission issued at the end of 2017 corroborated the evidence that a Chinese Communist Party’s grassroots party branch had been set up in the State Owned Enterprises in Hong Kong. The “Guiding Opinions on Strengthening the Prevention and Control of Integrity Risks of Central Enterprises” requires that “the Central Party Committee and the Discipline Inspection Commission effectively fulfill the political responsibility of managing the party and the integrity of the risk prevention and control in party development work overseas.” The guidance disclosed that the international subsidiaries and Hong Kong branches of China Mobile must be under the supervision of the branch office in Shenzhen.

One academic scholar from Hong Kong Baptist University told Voice of America that, in the party organization, work in companies stationed overseas used to be carried out secretly. In recent years, however, the activity has grown more and more open. The goal is obviously “to strengthen the monitoring of all enterprises outside the country, in order to ensure that these enterprises show in their actions that they listen to the party’s commands and obey the party’s mechanism to do things.”

According to an Apple Daily article, there are 123 publicly traded State Owned Enterprises in Hong Kong that have established party offices. Among them, eight of them are blue chip companies. They include, among others, PetroChina, Sinopec, the Industrial and Commercial Bank, the Bank of China, and the Bank of Communications. In addition, there are party branch offices established in private enterprises in Hong Kong. After Suning Appliance acquired Hong Kong Laser Appliances in 2009, the company’s party committee quickly sent people to Hong Kong to set up the “Suning Appliance Hong Kong Laser Company Party Branch,” making it one of the company’s 65 party branches.

The Aboluowang article also mentioned that an article Xinhua published on November 25 disclosed that the party’s newly issued “Regulations on the Work of Party Branches” emphasized that it is necessary to carry forward the tradition and to set up party branches on a company basis. The regulations do not specifically address the operation of party organizations in overseas enterprises. However, it could mean that all enterprises with party members must have party organizations.

Source: Aboluowang, December 16, 2018
https://www.aboluowang.com/2018/1216/1219078.html

Central News Agency (CNA) reported that Hong Kong authorities have enacted the National Anthem Law Bill, which stipulates that China’s national anthem must be played during the swearing in ceremony of the Chief Executive, members of the Executive Council, Legislative Council Members, and judicial officers. Radio Television Hong Kong quoted the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau as saying that the draft is close to being completed and will be submitted to the Legislative Council for initial review as early as next year. The draft also stipulates that anyone who arbitrarily falsifies the national anthem or sings the national anthem in a distorted or derogatory manner can be sentenced to a maximum of three years and a fine of HK$50,000 (US$6,399). The draft also mentions that “middle schools and elementary schools should teach students to sing the national anthem” but there are no specified penalties.

In recent years, since people in Hong Kong started to advocate “Hong Kong independence” or “self-determination,” many would boo China’s national anthem when it was played during certain events such as a soccer game. This has caused Beijing to pay close attention to the issue of using laws to legalize China’s national anthem.

Source: Central News Agency, December 14, 2018
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/201812140214.aspx

Mao Yushi, born in 1929, is a Chinese economist. He co-founded the Unirule Institute of Economics, which promotes private property, freedom of choice, voluntary exchange, the rule of law, and other attributes of a free market economy. On May 4, 2012, Mao Yushi was awarded the Cato Institute’s Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty for his work in classical liberalism and free-market economics. In October 2014 Beijing began a “crackdown on dissent” and banned the publication of his works. In January 2017 they shut down his Web site.

In a recent interview with Voice of America, Mao said the main obstacle to China’s transition toward a market economy is the intervention of power. To solve these problems requires a clean political clarity, freedom of speech, supervision by ordinary people, and an emphasis on an independent judiciary.

Mao believes that in today’s era, the communist ideology is becoming part of the past. The world is changing in the direction of democracy, the rule of law, constitutionalism, and human rights. “Willingly or unwillingly, this is a matter of fact.”

“I have also thought it through. I don’t want to stay in the (CCP) party any more. Many intellectuals share this thought.” Mao added that top leaders and the middle class Chinese are sending their children to the United States. This shows the power of the historic trend.

Mao projects that the time before the advent of China’s political reforms “will not be long.” The change will come true.

Source: Central News Agency, December 15, 2018
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/201812150102.aspx

The Wanda Group is a Chinese multinational conglomerate based in Beijing. It is a private property developer and owner of the Australian Hoyts Group, as well as a majority shareholder of the American AMC Theatres.

On December 13, Yan’an city’s municipal government and Wanda Group signed an agreement in Beijing. Wanda will build a red themed town in Yan’an – Yan’an Wanda Town.

Yan’an is a city in China’s northwestern Shaanxi Province. From late 1935 to early 1947, it was the center of the Chinese Communist revolution. Chinese communists celebrate Yan’an as the birthplace of the revolution.

The project has a total investment of 12 billion yuan (US$ 1.74 billion). It is said to integrate patriotism education, tourism, the holiday, and an intangible cultural heritage experience. The town will consist of red themed blocks, a red themed indoor park, a red themed theater, and a resort hotel group. Yan’an Wanda Town plans to start digging in the first quarter of 2019 and be open to the public in the first half of 2021. Wanda said that the project will serve as a gift for Yan’an to celebrate the one-hundredth anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party.

Wang Jianlin, chairman of Wanda Group, said that the Wanda Group will carry forward Yan’an’s spirit with a sense of historical mission and social responsibility, and will make Yan’an Wanda Town a new national red tourism brand.

Source: The Paper, December 13, 2018
https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_2736036