CRN: Experts Criticize China’s Official Gini Coefficient
[Editor’s Note: The Washington Post reported on December 11, 2012, for example, that a new study from Southwestern University of Finance and Economics found "that China’s Gini coefficient was, as of 2010, an alarmingly high 0.61."]
Red Flag Manuscript: The Decline of Western Market Fundamentalism
Huanqiu: China’s Has Urgent Need to Introduce the Grand Strategy of a Powerful Maritime Nation
Liang Fang, Professor of military strategy at the National Defense University of the PLA in China, published an article in Huanqiu (Global Times) urging China to implement a grand strategy to become a powerful maritime nation as soon as possible. He reasoned that “China’s maritime security faces unprecedented grim threats and challenges. The United States has carried out a full range of strategic encirclement and containment tactics in the Pacific by implementing its ‘Asia-Pacific re-balancing strategy.’ In the East and South China Sea, disputes with the neighboring countries over their maritime interests are becoming increasingly fierce. … The potential threat of conflict is increasing. At the same time, as the second largest economy in the world, economic globalization has transformed China into an export-oriented economy dependent on strategic maritime channels. Facing such a complex maritime security situation, China needs to develop and introduce a maritime strategy as soon as possible and speed up its development as a powerful maritime nation.”
National Audit Office Discovered Repeat Offenders in Central Government
On January 16, 2013, China’s National Audit Office released its 2011 audit report on the implementation of the budget and on other revenues and expenditures of the central government. The audit report showed that, as of the end of last October, the 50 central government departments and their affiliates spent 10.281 billion yuan in violation of financial management regulations. “As for repeat offenders, the person-in-charge at the National Audit Office observed that every year the audit report covered the same audit targets with the same audit scope. Thus, to a certain extent, the audit led to the discovery of problems that were similar to those of previous years. This gave the public the appearance that it revealed the same old face and the same old problems."
Source: Huanqiu, January 17, 2013
http://finance.huanqiu.com/china/2013-01/3514269.html
People’s Daily: Senior Executives at State-Owned Enterprises Have “Golden Rice Bowls”
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.