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RFA: During 19th National Congress, Foreign Media Reporters Subjected to ID Checks; Complain about Lack of Contents to Cover

According to an article Radio Free Asia (RFA) published, during the 19th National Congress, reporters from foreign media have been under tightened security and have been limited in what they could report. The article stated that the reporters have been subjected to ID checks at hotels throughout Beijing. On certain occasions, reporters have only been allowed to listen during delegate meetings but could not raise any questions. Even when they were allowed to ask questions, reporters complained that there was not much to write about. All they heard was that almost all the delegates they interviewed gave similar answers such as, “Support Xi’s core values and line up with the central administration,” “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era,” or “The central administration is centered on comrade Xi.” The article stated that the police, the armed police, the special police, and the plain clothes police could be seen everywhere. Hotel staff have been told to pay special attention to reporters and to perform ID checks on them.

Source: Radio Free Asia, October 19, 2017
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/zhengzhi/ql1-10192017095300.html

Epoch Times: The “610 Office” Continues to Carry Out Orders that Jiang Zemin Initiated

According to an article the Epoch Times published, prior to the 19th National Congress, an internal order was issued within the Public Security Bureau to conduct “door to door” visits to Falun Gong adherents to collect their personal information, take videos, or photo or monitor their activities. The action started in February of 2017 and took place in over 28 provinces and cities. Some of the Falun Gong adherents ended up being “kidnapped,” their houses were searched illegally, they were arrested, or they were sent to brainwashing sessions. Some were tortured to death, and some were forced to flee China. The article stated that the actions were contradictory to what Xi Jinping has been advocating according to the “rule by law” and his effort in cleaning up the judiciary system. It observed that the Public Security Bureau was still carrying out the orders that Jiang Zemin issued to the 610 office (a security agency named for the date of its formation on June 10, 1999, established specifically for the purpose of coordinating and implementing the persecution of Falun Gong). That agency is still operating and is following the policy that Jiang used his influence to initiate.

Source: Epoch Times, October 21, 2017
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/17/10/21/n9757224.htm

Apple Daily Comments on Xi Jinping’s Work Report at the 19th CCP Congress

The following is a summary of Apple Daily/United Morning Post’s observations on Xi Jinping’s report at the 19th Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Congress:

Reading the full text, the first impression is that it is trying to de-personalize (downplay) the names of Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao, and even Deng Xiaoping {from the CCP’s chapters}. The reports of the recent Party congresses have constantly mentioned Deng Xiaoping Theory, the three represents, and the scientific concept of development. However, Xi almost failed to mention the names of Jiang and Hu in his report. He only mentioned the three represents and scientific development once. Even Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping’s names only appeared once.

On the contrary, “socialism” and “people” were mentioned 146 and 202 times respectively. These two words in the political context of the Chinese Communist Party have special implications with a deep mark of Mao Zedong’s brand. During the Cultural Revolution, they appeared frequently together with Mao Zedong Thought, great leaders, and class struggle in the CCP’s mouthpiece and documents. Xi’s report repeatedly mentioned Marx (19 times), which was also rare in the past Party Congress report.

Second, Xi Jinping spent more than half of the report describing how the past five years’ commitments got fully implemented and at the same time depicting the beautiful landscape of future development — the “new utopia” for the CCP and the Chinese people.

Strangely, Xi Jinping achievement that he is most proud of — anti-corruption  — was not discussed much in the report; it was only mentioned seven times. Xi talked more about his strict rule of the rectification of the party. Perhaps, he did not want to let Wang Qishan {Xi’s chief assistant in the anti-corruption campaign} grab the limelight or perhaps anti-corruption has caused dissatisfaction within the party and thus talking about anti-corruption too much was not appropriate.

Source: Wenxuecity (republication of Apply Daily/United Morning Post), October 18, 2017
http://www.wenxuecity.com/news/2017/10/18/6670555.html

Duowei: Whoever Is Bringing Disaster to the World, China Comes to the Rescue

Duowei, a Beijing-controlled Chinese news media stationed overseas, published an article discussing China’s “Belt and Road” initiative as the future of global governance. Below is an excerpt from the article:

A number of problems and difficulties have gradually emerged in the current practice of globalization and global governance. Globalization has suffered twists and turns, including de-globalization, anti-globalization phenomena. The global challenges are increasingly grim. The shortcomings of the existing global governance system continue to emerge. These shortcomings are mainly reflected in the imperfect value system of global governance, the ineffectiveness of the governance mechanism, a lack of consensus between sovereign states, especially between major powers, and the large number of negative effects the hegemony of the United States has contributed in recent decades. This is especially true since the U.S. put forward its national priority strategy. Therefore, seeking new global governance values and practices has become the consensus of the international community.

Given this situation and context, the “The Belt and Road” initiative is undoubtedly an innovation to the existing global governance model.

At “The Belt and Road” Construction and Global Governance International Forum held at Renmin University of China on September 30, Wu Zhicheng, director of the Institute of Global Issues of Nankai University, and special researcher from the Contemporary World Research Center at the International Department Central Committee of the CPC (Communist Party of China), pointed out that the “Belt and Road” initiative is a new value in global governance that focuses on peaceful development. The Western countries are the main creators of the values of the current global governance. It has become more and more outdated in meeting the needs of current global governance practices. Countries looking for development are gradually freeing themselves from the Western “universal values” and the “Washington consensus” superstition and are beginning to explore other development paths.

Starting from Eurasian countries, the “Belt and Road” initiative is taking the approach of step-by-step cross-regional governance. It will also have a radiation effect in the Eurasian continent, slowly affecting more areas, and more countries and regions. That is, from points joining to a surface, from a line to a region, it will form a cross-regional and global cooperation governance situation.

Source: Duowei News, October 5, 2017
http://news.dwnews.com/china/news/2017-10-05/60016049.html

WSJ Chinese: Chinese Government Trying to Gain Shares of Private High-Tech Companies

Wall Street Journal Chinese recently reported that the Chinese government is considering investing in one or two percent of the shares, called “special administrative stock” in Chinese domestic high-tech companies. Trials have started in two companies. This ownership investment is intended to acquire one or more seats on the board of privately owned large high-tech companies in order to participate in their management and operations. Over the past 20 years, Chinese high-tech companies have enjoyed massive growth and obtained significant shares in critical industries such as financial, insurance, transportation, communication and entertainment. These companies also own a large amount of data regarding the day-to-day behavior of the Chinese population. Examples of these companies are Tencent and Alibaba. Owners of these companies privately expressed their deep concerns about this potential move, since this type of government stock ownership may result in lawsuits for those companies that trade overseas. For the Chinese government, the cost is also a concern. For example, just to hold one percent of Tencent will require US$4 billion. The biggest worry among shareholders and the company owners is the potential to lose independence as well as the capability of innovating.

Source: WSJ Chinese, October 12, 2017
http://cn.wsj.com/gb/20171012/biz132448.asp

SINOPEC Is Selling Its Argentina Assets at a Loss

Well-known Chinese news site Sina recently reported that SINOPEC (China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation) is looking for buyers for its assets in Argentina. The primary asset is located in the Santa Cruz region and is priced at US$0.75~1 billion. This asking price is not even half of the cost SINOPEC paid in 2010 when it first bought this asset from U.S. Occidental Petroleum at US$2.45 billion. SINOPEC has been losing money (around US$2.5 billion as of 2015) in Argentina and it is also facing labor troubles. It is estimated that there may be 15 potential buyers mainly from the U.S., Europe, Africa, and Latin America. However, Russia and Mexico are also interested. The SINOPEC selling plan has not yet been announced publicly, so all information sources remain anonymous. New oil fields have been found near the SINOPEC fields that sold recently. This may further hurt SINOPEC’s deal. SINOPEC is the largest oil refiner in Asia.

Source: Sina, October 9, 2017
http://finance.sina.com.cn/stock/hkstock/ggscyd/2017-10-09/doc-ifymrcmm9556742.shtml