On January 29, New Epoch, a weekly in Chinese, published its forecast for the Chinese year of Horse. The Chinese year of Horse starts on January 31, 2014.
Huanqiu Editorial: Western Countries’ Support Provides Spiritual Inspiration to Chinese dissidents
On January 28, 2014, Huanqiu, the Chinese edition of Global Times, published an editorial titled, “Supporting the Dissidents in China; the ‘Open Conspiracy’ of Western Countries.” According to the editorial, Chinese dissidents have become well-known because of the support they receive from the Western media and governments. Without the Western media’s substantial reports and Western governments open support, Chinese dissidents would be nothing but “fleeting meteors.” It is the Western governments’ “open conspiracy” to stand side by side with Chinese dissidents as they share the same values. Western countries’ support has inspired Chinese dissidents spiritually.
Recently, Xu Zhiyong, an activist who organized a grass-roots New Citizen Movement to express public discontent over government officials’ corruption, was sentenced to four years in prison for “gathering a crowd to disturb the public order.” The U.S. government’s “deep disappointment” and the Western mainstream media’s strong support have increased Xu’s influence among Chinese dissidents.
Source: Huanqiu, January 28, 2014
http://opinion.huanqiu.com/editorial/2014-01/4797284.html
New Leadership Groups Have More Authority to Crack Down on Special Interest Groups
On January 26, 2014, Qiushi Theory, the Chinese Communist Party Central Party School and the CCP Central Committee’s political theory periodical, reprinted an article from “Consensus Network.” The article analyzed the new power relations of the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese government that have developed since the establishment of the Central Leading Team for Comprehensively Deepening Reform and the new National Security Committee. As the Chinese Communist Party oversees the Chinese government, it is hard to distinguish whether the power is in the Party’s hands or in the government’s hands, but the two new leadership groups have a higher authority to crack down on special interest groups that were formed in the past.
The new National Security Committee is responsible directly to the Politburo. It is chaired by the General Secretary and Vice Chairmen, representing the Party, the government and the National Congress. Its power is much greater than the U.S. National Security Council. Therefore, the new power structure in China is a strengthened combination of the Party and the Government.
Source: Consensus Network, January 26, 2014
http://www.21ccom.net/articles/zgyj/ggcx/article_2014012699727.html
http://www.qstheory.cn/zz/wwtj/201401/t20140128_317204.htm
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Social Security Benefits Becoming the Worst Gap between Urban and Rural
People’s Daily published an article on the gap between the urban and rural areas in China. The article said that the gap in income has always been considered the major gap between the urban and rural areas. In 2012, however, that gap was reduced to 3.10:1, the lowest in ten years. This was mainly due to the central administration having a policy that supported agriculture and to the urbanization that has brought surplus labor from rural to urban areas.
However, the article predicted that the gap in social security benefits will become the worst hidden gap. Taking pension funds as an example, according to the 2014 Blue Book of China’s Society, on that issue, the difference was as large as 24 times. For farmers, the social security benefits issue was never as sensitive as the income disparity issue because they used to own their land. According to the article, as urbanization has continued, farmers have been losing their land and have been moving to urban areas where the fair share of social benefits they have been able to gain has not matched that of the urban residents. The statistics from the Ministry of Statistics suggest that, in 2012, the urbanization rate was 52.57 percent while only 35 percent of the migrant workers have gained urban residential status or Hukou which would enable them to sign up for the same residential welfare benefits that urban residents are entitled to receive.
The article explained that, if 250 million farmers were to be included in the social security system, there would be a shortfall of 30.69 trillion yuan (US$5.07 trillion) in pension funds alone which neither the business enterprises nor the local government bodies would be able to cover. It concluded that, in order to close the social security gap, it will require the attention, active intervention, and responsive measures from the government.
Source: People’s Daily, January 26, 2014
http://finance.people.com.cn/money/n/2014/0126/c218900-24227557.html
Yu Zhengsheng: Religious Groups to Play Active Roles in China’s Comprehensively Deepening Reform
On January 26, Yu Zhengsheng, a member of the Politburo Standing Committee and chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, held a Chinese New Year celebration conference and invited representatives from a number of religious groups to attend. Yu praised the religious groups’ efforts for being closely united with the Party and the government and for persistently demonstrating their patriotism. Yu hoped that the members of the religious organizations would become an important driving force in China’s development of socialism with Chinese characteristics. He also wished that the religious organizations would strengthen their organization, ideology, behavior, and talent development and guide their religious members to “conduct religious activities that comply with the rules of law and with the government’s policies.”
The participants attending the conference included Liu Yandong, the Vice Premier; Ling Jihua, head of the United Front Work Department; and directors from the Buddhist, Taoist, Islamic, Catholic, and Christianity Associations of China as well as the National Committee of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement of the Protestant Churches.
Source: Xinhua, January 27, 2014
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2014-01/27/c_119142267.htm