The State Newspaper, People’s Daily (overseas edition), published a commentary criticizing the current appointment system for officials at central government-owned enterprises. The commentary was titled “Senior Executive Positions in Central Government-owned Enterprises Are a Means of Compensation; If One Cannot Become Deputy Provincial Governor, He Will Be Appointed Chairman of the Board.” The commentary stated, “Due to pressure from vested interests, the current personnel management at Central Government-owned Enterprises lacks a mechanism of constraints and incentives. Senior executives have become a privileged class, which has a significant negative impact on the national economy. It is imperative that this administrative appointment and dismissal system of personnel management be reformed.” The commentary called those highly paid executive positions “golden rice bowls.”
Source: People’s Daily, January 16, 2013
http://energy.people.com.cn/n/2013/0116/c71661-20219834.html
Chinese People Continue to Petition for Press Freedom
On January 13, 2013, a group of people in Beijing held petitions in front of the office building of the Beijing News newspaper, expressing support for the editors and reporters of the newspaper who the authorities had disciplined. On January 12, dozens of people in Guangzhou gathered in front of the Southern Newspaper Group to express solidarity with the Southern Weekend and support the value of freedom of the press. On the same day, some of the residents of Suzhou City (in Jiangsu Province) arrived at the tomb of Lin Zhao, who died in the tragic persecution during the Anti-Rightist Campaign and the Cultural Revolution, showing banners in support of the Southern Weekend. These activities clearly relate to the incident of Southern Weekend’s New Year’s editorial being censored.
Li Xiaobing, a Professor and Director of the Western Pacific Institute at the University of Central Oklahoma, said that since the new Communist Party’s leadership of Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang, China has not seen real freedom of the press, but people want to have an independent media.
Source: Radio Free Asia, January 13, 2013
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/sd-01132013142859.html
People’s Daily: The China Model Is Smashing the Hegemony of (Western) Universal Values
People’s Daily (overseas edition) published a commentary touting how the China Model will transform the world’s universal values and establish the direction for the future of human civilization.
PLA: Get Ready for War
The General Staff Department (GSD) of the People’s Liberation Army has issued the 2013 military training instruction manual for the entire military. It stresses “getting ready for war” and “training to meet the needs of a war.” People’s Daily reported the issuance using the title: Military Training Guide Issued; War-Fighting Has Become the Key Word.” According to the People’s Daily, the instructions “ask that all of the military forces and armed police strengthen their mental preparation for war; increase the sense of urgency, a sense of crisis, and a sense of mission; get ready for war, conduct difficult and strict training of troops based on the actual needs of war; improve the capability to fight war, …. adhere to the standards for war, and measure training effectiveness in accordance with the demands of an actual war.”
Source: People’s Daily, January 14, 2013
http://military.people.com.cn/n/2013/0115/c1011-20198682.html
Severe Air Pollution in Beijing Won’t Disappear Soon
According to a statement the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau made on January 14, 2013, “Severe air pollution in Beijing won’t disappear soon.” From January 10 to 14, 2013, the air quality in Beijing remained at the level of "severe to serious" pollution.
Source: http://news.china.com.cn/, January 14, 2013
http://news.china.com.cn/live/2013-01/14/content_18176487.htm
China to Continue Its One-Child Policy
On January 14, 2013, Wang Xia, Director of China’s National Population and Family Planning Committee, said at an NPFP Work Conference that China will continue its one-child policy. He stated, “We will adhere unwaveringly to the Planned Parenthood Policy, China’s fundamental national policy, and maintain a low birth-rate.”
Source: China News, January 15, 2013
http://www.chinanews.com/gn/2013/01-15/4487037.shtml
Huanqiu Editorial: How Shall We View Staring a War after Nearly 30 years Peace?
On January 15, 2013, , Huanqiu (the Chinese edition of Global Times) published an editorial titled, “How Shall We View ‘Staring a War’ after Nearly 30 years Peace?" According to the article, discussions about “starting a war” have appeared on Chinese media due to the tense situation in the Diaoyu Islands and the South China Sea. The article stated that the United States is everywhere behind the hot spots around China.
It concluded, “China should continue to build up the power of its national defense so as to form a strategic deterrent against the United States, which is behind all of the above thinking. The stronger China’s economic strength is, the greater China’s influence will be in the world order. China must have sufficient military power to suppress the ambitions behind any attempt to use non-economic means to change the rules of competition .”
Source: Huanqiu, January 15, 2013
http://opinion.huanqiu.com/editorial/2013-01/3494346.html