On October 21, 2013, the China National Defense University Research Center published a special commentary in Guangming Daily on Xi Jinping’s remarks that “[We] are engaged in a great struggle that has many new historical features; we face unprecedented challenges and difficulties.”
The Number of Officials Punished for Bribery Has Increased 60 Percent in the Last 5 Years
According to an anti-corruption work report that the Supreme People’s Procuratorate of the People’s Republic of China released, from January 2008 to August 2013, 32 provincial-level government officials were sentenced for corruption. Half of them were sentenced to death but received a reprieve. In the past 5 years, a total of 148,931 people were convicted of corruption. The number of officials investigated and punished for the crime of bribery has increased 60 percent compared to the previous 5 years.
The National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee reviewed the anti-corruption and anti-bribery report on October 22, 2013. This was the 2nd time since 1989 that the NPC Standing Committee has listened to an anti-corruption report.
Source: China Review News, October 23, 2013
http://www.zhgpl.com/doc/1028/1/4/7/102814723.html?coluid=151&kindid=0&docid=102814723&mdate=1023092425
Chinese Newspaper Says Reports that Property Prices Will Collapse Are Not Credible
On October 21, 2013, Qilu Evening News (http://www.qlwb.com.cn/), the biggest official newspaper in Shandong Province in the People’s Republic of China, published an article commenting on reports that “Property Prices Will Collapse,” a message currently circulating on the Internet. According to this message, the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee has sent out an internal early warning that property prices in 15 cities, including Qingdao and Yantai in Shandong Province, will collapse. Most of the 15 cities are on the east coast of China.
The Qilu Evening News article challenged the credibility of the Internet message by listing a series of statistical data, including the data released by the National Bureau of Statistics of China, which has shown a steady increase in property prices in China, particularly in Qingdao, Yantai, and on the east coast.
Source: Qilu Evening News, October 21, 2013
http://epaper.qlwb.com.cn/qlwb/content/20131021/ArticelA15002FM.htm?jdfwkey=0quvp3
Qiushi: Universal Values and Constitutional Democracy Would Confuse the People’s Minds
On October 16, 2013, Qiushi Theory, a periodical on political theory that the Chinese Communist Party Central Party School and the CCP Central Committee run jointly, published an article titled, “Consolidate the Common Ideological Basis that the Party and the People share in their Concerted Struggle.” The common ideological basis at the present time, according to the article, is to walk on the socialist path with Chinese characteristics toward the goal of the rejuvenation of China under the sole leadership of the Chinese Communist Party.
The article criticized several popular Western ideological trends that would “confuse the people’s minds” and “crumble the common ideological basis of the Party and the people in their concerted struggle.” The "wrong ideas" listed in the article include “universal values,” “constitutional democracy,” “historical nihilism,” “neoliberalism,” the doubts about “the economic reform and opening up to the world,” and “the socialist nature of socialism with Chinese characteristics.”
Source: Qiushi Theory, October 16, 2013
http://www.qstheory.cn/zxdk/2013/201320/201310/t20131012_278250.htm
http://www.qstheory.cn/qszq/qsllwdt/201310/t20131017_279836.htm
CRN: Japan Arranged a Maritime Countries Conference
Xinhua: European Council Authorized Investment Agreement Negotiations
China News: Xi Jinping Pushes China-Australia Free Trade Agreement
A Clash of Values, Part V
The U.S.-Sino Relationship
Differences Between the Governing Principles of the United States and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)
Previously, this series focused on the differences between the United States and China as to their foundations and theoretical underpinnings. While America’s Founding Principles grew out of a revolutionary war fought for freedom and the rights of the governed, the Communist Party fought a revolutionary war to establish its authoritarian rule. While the U.S. based its legitimacy on the consent of the governed, Mao Zedong proclaimed in Chapter Five of The Little Red Book, “Every Communist must grasp the truth: Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.” While the U.S. adopted a Constitution designed to limit governmental power and guarantee specific individual rights, the Communist Party designed the Chinese government to assure its supremacy over China and ensure that it was firmly ensconced in power.”