VOA reported that on April 25, the Beijing Civil Aviation Administration informed 36 foreign airlines that they could no longer list Taiwan as a country on their websites or in their marketing materials. If they did, their service in China would face termination. Despite the fact that the White House blasted the request as “Orwellian nonsense,” about 20 airlines including Air Canada, Lufthansa, and British Airways, chose to comply with Beijing’s request. However, some major U.S. airlines and one Australian airline have still not caved in. They include United Airlines, American Airlines, Delta, Hawaiian Airlines and Qantas Airways.

Source: VOA, May 22, 2018
https://www.voachinese.com/a/airline-20180522/4405392.html

According to an article published in RFA, on May 21, Wang Xiaoming, the deputy secretary-general of the Beijing municipal government, committed suicide by jumping off the building. Medical records indicate that Wang had been suffering from depression for a long period of time. The article reported that, in China, it is not uncommon for government officials to commit suicide. Statistics show that from 2009 to 2016, 243 municipal officials committed suicide. They range in age was from 45 to 55 years old. Most of them suffered from depression. The article quoted a few comments which revealed that government officials work under high pressure. They work in what is considered a high risk profession. If they don’t have the correct background, they have to pay a high price in order to get promoted. If they are the subject of an investigation, they usually don’t have many options because they know China does not operate under the rule of law. Thus the anti-corruption campaign has resulted in an increase in suicides. Corrupt officials choose suicide for three reasons: to eliminate criminal evidence and protect their peers; to protect the vested interests of their family members; and to protect their reputations.

Source: RFA, May 22, 2018
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/zhengzhi/yf2-05222018101629.html

Epoch Times reported that a video recording from an internal stability mobilization conference held in Hebei Province was recently leaked. The recording showed that China imposes strict control over mobile phones and WeChat activities and still maintains the strategy of having “tight control internally over its people but appearing relaxed on the surface” while imposing a harsh cracking down on dissidents such as petitioners. It is unknown when the meeting was held, but in the recording, the person who is the head of the Political Consultative committee said that, as long as one has a cell phone, his whereabouts would be very easy to track. Any posting on Wechat is traceable. He stressed that all the surveillance activity must be handled quietly and that anyone planning to go to Beijing to petition for their rights is considered “anti-party” and “anti-government” and must be stopped using any means. The recording showed that the participants include people in charge of the local Political Consultative committee, the civil court, the public security bureau, cadres from the police station, and managers of departments at the village and county levels.

Source: Epoch Times, May 15, 2018
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/18/5/15/n10396913.htm