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China Faces Severe Shortage of Pediatricians

According to an article in Guangming Daily, China is facing a severe shortage of pediatricians. The article said that Shanghai Pediatric Hospital published statistics showing that there is less that 1 pediatrician for each 1,000 children in Shanghai. Their number was between 0.5 to 0.6 per 1,000.

The information released by the Website for China Medical Profession Talent Pool had similar findings. The website quoted the data from the Pediatrician Division of the China Medical Doctors’ Association which showed that the average number of pediatricians in China for one thousand children was only 0.26. This means there is a shortage of over 200,000 pediatricians. Some of the reasons that people are not attracted to this profession are the high risk, a heavy workload, limited personal growth, and low pay. The website stated that in 2012, most pediatricians worked over 10 hours a day in a hospital and had almost no time off on weekends.

Another concern in the pediatrics profession is an inconsistency in education and job skills between hospitals and clinics in urban and rural regions. College pediatrics graduates tend to be centralized in urban hospitals. Only 3.4 percent of the pediatricians in rural regions have college graduate degrees, while 28.8 percent holds associate degrees, and 54.2 percent are graduates from vocational schools.

Source:
Guangming Daily, June 28, 2013
http://politics.gmw.cn/2013-06/28/content_8101470.htm
Website for China Medical Profession Talent Pool, April 16, 2013
http://www.120job.cn/News/12831.html

Meng Jianzhu Called for Tough Measures to Crack Down on Violent Crimes in Uyghurian Region

On June 30, Meng Jianzhu, secretary of Central Politics and Law Commission, attended and spoke at the "anti-terrorist operation for maintaining the peace" rally held in Xinjaing. The Xinjiang Police Armed Forces in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, held the rally. Meng praised the work the local police had done and called for tough measures to crack down on recent violent crimes.

According to VOA, there have been a number of recent violent attacks reported in the Uyghur region in Xinjiang. On June 28, over 100 people rode motorcycles and held long knives to attack a local public security bureau in He Tian County. On the same day, about eight people broke into an armed police station and clashed with the police. On June 26, a fight broke out in Piqan County in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region between the local Uyghurs and the local police, resulting in 35 deaths.

Source:
People’s Daily, June 30, 2013
http://politics.people.com.cn/n/2013/0630/c1001-22020068.html
VOA, June 29, 2013
http://www.voachinese.com/content/xinjiang-20130629/1691732.html

Xi Jinping: Maintain Party’s Key Leadership and Build Gigantic High-caliber Cadre Team

On June 28 and 29, prior to 92nd anniversary of Chinese Communist Party, President Xi Jinping spoke at the central Organization Department meeting held in Beijing. Xi emphasized that the Party and the Party members are the key components in accomplishing the goals and tasks set by the Party’s 18th National Congress. According to Xi, the Party must “maintain the key leadership role” while the Party members must be “a group that has high caliber cadres.” Xi’s talk also covered other areas, including the qualities a cadre should have, the selection and development of a cadre, as well as the roles that the organization department should play during the process. Liu Yunshan, President of Central Committee, was present and also spoke at the meeting.

Source: Xinhua, June 29, 2013
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2013-06/29/c_116339948.htm

Xinhua Special Interview: U.S. Didn’t Just Harm China a Little Bit

On June 26, Xinhua conducted a special interview with military expert Wang Changqin, a Professor at the PLA Academy of Military Sciences. Xinhua used the Snowden incident to continue its anti-American propaganda. In the more than one hour interview, Wang harshly attacked the U.S. while commenting on the “Prismgate" incident. 

Wang said, “The United States has a lot of different faces. In the network area, they include the so-called ‘safety victims,’ ‘moral persons’ and ‘freedom defenders,’ but, after all, these are ‘disguises.’ We the people have a saying, however: no matter how well you disguise yourself, there will always be a time when your ‘true face will be exposed.’ ‘Prismgate’ let the United States expose its ‘true face.’” 
"Now we have evidence. Everyone clearly understands now: it is not others that ‘harm’ the U.S.; it is the U.S. that harms others, especially China." “Not long ago, they were still shouting: PLA hackers attacked us. … Even the ‘big boss’ Obama also claimed that this was ‘stealing American property.’ Now we understand: the purpose of their screamingly and shouting was to conceal their act of ‘theft’!” 
“From the revelations of Snowdon, the United States didn’t just harm China a little bit [it harms China a lot instead].”
“This kind of hegemony, which is an apparent violation of human fairness, justice, and conscience has met opposition from most of the countries and people in the world, including some Americans. … Therefore, as the saying goes: He who is unjust is doomed to destruction. If the United States does not learn its lesson and stop its hegemonic acts, it will eventually ‘shoot itself in the foot,’ fall in the no-return path of ‘imperialism’ and will never be able to get up.” 
Source: Xinhua, June 26, 2013 
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2013-06/26/c_116297101.htm

Police Brutality during Interrogations Declined 87 Percent

State media are reporting that, according to the Ministry of Public Security statistics, brutality against suspects during police interrogations has declined by 87 percent. Guo Shengkun, the Minister of Public Security, said “Over 90 percent of the police stations have completed upgrading the functional areas. Case handling, reception, office work, and living quarters are now in separated areas. The case-handling area has installed electronic surveillance. All suspects are now handled in the case-handling area and the entire interrogation of suspects is now videotaped.” “According to the Ministry of Public Security, brutality against suspects during police interrogation has declined by 87 percent.”

Numerous comments have been posted online.

“How did they know the number of interrogations in which police used brutal methods to extract confessions? Did they count and keep records on these abuses?”

“The report is untrue. A lot of incidents are not recorded.”

“Ah. Now I know. It used to be 100 percent.”

“Isn’t it true that the law prohibits the use of brutality to extract confessions? How come they now say that such brutality has declined? I am lost.”

“So in 17 percent of the cases, the police still beat people up to get a confession?”

Sources:
People’s Daily, June 27, 2013
http://politics.people.com.cn/n/2013/0627/c1001-21985534.html
Sina.com blog
http://comment5.news.sina.com.cn/comment/skin/default.html?channel=gn&newsid=1-1-27513471

State Media: The Moral Decline of the United States

One of China’s state media, the International Herald Leader, published a commentary stating that morality in the United States has been declining, particularly since September 11, 2001, although there are still “righteous people” stepping forward.
 
“The United States asks others to abide by international law, while the U.S. itself has repeatedly violated international law. Recently, however, a series of events occurred, indicating that there are righteous people in the United States who come forward.”

The commentary cited Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden. “The fact that Manning disclosed how the U.S. has violated a large number of U.S. laws and the laws of other countries undoubtedly demonstrates that the U.S. system is in a serious moral decline. Likewise, in his daily work, former CIA [sic] employee Snowden also became extremely unhappy with the U.S. government’s abuse of power, excessive monitoring of its own citizens, and vigorous violations of the cyber security of other countries. He has been exposing such acts of the U.S. government so that other countries not only understand how fragile their own cyber network is, but also understand how the U.S. government plays the thief who cries ‘stop thief,’ and to what extent its morality has degenerated.”

Source: International Herald Leader, June 24, 2013
http://ihl.cankaoxiaoxi.com/2013/0624/228922.shtml

Xi Jinping Seeks Unity and Discipline among Politburo Members

Xinhua News Agency reported on Tuesday, June 25, that, at a special meeting of the Politburo, the Chinese Communist Party’s chairman Xi Jinping said, "To see whether the Politburo is strong or not and whether the Politburo members are strong or not, one has to look first at whether they are politically strong or not. To strengthen the work of the Politburo, we must give top priority to ideological and political development."

Xi urged the Politburo to "strengthen the study of Marxist theory, in particular, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the thoughts of the ‘Three Represents,’ and the scientific concept of development, so as to grasp the scientific world view and methodology, be equipped with ideological weaponry, remain firm with the ideals and faith, and strengthen political sensitivity and discrimination," in order "to understand correctly and to firmly safeguard the bigger picture of the Party and the state, of reform, development, and stability, of the Party’s leadership and the security of the socialist regime, and of the unity of the Party and the whole nation."

He also asked the Politburo members to play an exemplary role in "strictly disciplining their relatives and staff members, refraining from abusing power, and not seeking personal privileges."

Source: BBC Chinese, June 25, 2013.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/china/2013/06/130625_xijinping_speech.shtml

Xi Jinping Strips the Amnesty Privilege from Politburo Members in the Anti-Corruption Campaign

An article, originally published by a Hong Kong monthly magazine QianShao, is being spread widely on the Internet. The article speculates that former Politburo Standing Committee member Zhou Yongkang might be the targeted “big tiger” in Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign. China’s State media reported that Zhou’s crony, former secretary Guo Yongxiang, is being investigated. 

The article reports, “at an expanded meeting of the Politburo Standing Committee, Xi Jinping said that he drafted an anti-corruption proposal together with Premier Li Keqiang. The proposal requires that anti-corruption actions must target “Tigers” [high-level, heavy-weight officials]. Xi also defined "big tiger" and upgraded it to the level of a member of the Politburo Standing Committee.” 
“Meanwhile, Xi proposed to abolish the internal rule that ‘no investigation should be initiated on a member of the Politburo Standing Committee.’ Instead, Politburo Standing Committee members, whether incumbent or retired, must accept a criminal investigation as long as the evidence is solid and it has had a negative influence at home and abroad.” 
Source: Wenxuecity, June 25, 2013 
http://www.wenxuecity.com/news/2013/06/25/2476767.html