Chinascope – Page 915

People’s Daily: Overseas Chinese Media Need to Report More about China

On September 15, 2012, Wang Chen, Deputy Director of the Propaganda Department, met with the overseas media partners of People’s Daily overseas edition. Wang urged the oversea’s China media partners to carry more news reports about China so that they could help promote understanding between China and the countries where the media are located. Wang commended the Chinese media, especially the overseas edition of People’s Daily, for gaining an increased power of discourse on the world stage through establishing working relationships with the overseas Chinese media in different countries. According to Wang, People’s Daily has reached complete coverage around the world and formed a unique advantage in broadcasting China’s voice overseas.

Source: People’s Daily, September 16, 2012
http://politics.people.com.cn/n/2012/0916/c1026-19018967.html

Briefings | | October 8, 2012 | Geo-Strategic Trend

Does Beijing’s Hard-Line Stance over the Diaoyu Islands Dispute Target the United States?

[Editor’s Note: Over the years and by agreement, China and Japan have remained silent on the Diaoyu (Senkaku) Islands issue. When Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda announced that the Japanese government would make a bid to buy the islands, the Chinese government took a strong stance on the situation even to the point where it demonstrated a willingness to start a war. A number articles in China’s state-run media see the “black hand” of the United States behind the scenes, “fanning the flames” of discord. The following are excerpts from articles that express China’s view of and response to what it sees as U.S. involvement.]

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Reports | | October 7, 2012 | Report

China to Carry-Out Anti-Cult Propaganda and Education in the Sixth Five-year Law Publicity Plan

In August and September 2012, a number of local government departments and institutions posted a notice on their websites regarding the implementation of the plan to carry out anti-cult propaganda and education during the “sixth five-year” (2011-2015) law publicity work. China’s anti-cult propaganda and education work under the communist government is a pretext for discussing the struggle against “Falun Gong.”

The notice is based a classified document [2012 issued #5] by The State Council Office of Cult Prevention and Treatment, the Ministry of Justice, and the National Office of Law Publicity. Chinascope has a copy of the original document. The document was initially issued to the following government entities on April 21, 2012: the Offices of Cult Prevention and Treatment; the Justice Department (Bureau); the Governance Office of Law Publicity and Observance from all Provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps; the Law Publicity Offices from all ministries, commissions, departments and bureaus of the Central and National Government; and the Propaganda Divisions of the Work Committee of the Central Government Departments, the State Organs Work Committee, and the PLA General Political Department. Each local government entity incorporated its own specific measures into the notice posted on its website.

In discussing the importance of the education program, the notice admitted that “the tenacity and recurring nature of the cult, particularly the support and utilization by the overseas Western hostile forces, (have determined) that the struggle is still very serious, complex and labile. ‘Falun Gong’ has frequently been adjusting its strategies and changing the means it uses to confront us and compete for the masses with us in collaboration with domestic ‘Falun Gong’ members.”

Sources: Websites of the Qinghai University Propaganda Department, the Political and Law Department of Fuzhou City (Fujian Province); the Health Department of Qinghai Province, Gengyu Township of (Jiangshu Province), and others, August-September, 2012

http://210.27.177.217/index.php?a=show&m=Article&id=290 http://www.fzpf.gov.cn/fzpfw/2012/0929/248942.html http://www.qhwst.gov.cn/ywgl/fajc/2012/09/21/1348221345879.html http://www.shuyang.gov.cn/shuyanggwz/infodetail/?infoid=9d5fc5d2-99d5-4084-bd26-485aa0005222&categoryNum=007

Briefings | | October 5, 2012 | Government/Politics

Party Officials Undergo Training to Improve Governance Skills

The China Executive Leadership Academy Pudong (CELAP) is a Shanghai-based national institution funded by the central government. Since its establishment in 2005, CELAP has conducted trainings in over 1,400 workshops and classes for close to 70,000 Party officials. At simulated press conferences or TV interviews, Party officials are asked direct questions such as “What do you think about the organ transplant situation in China?” “What are the pros and cons of planned parenthood?” or “Have Muslims in Ningxia ever been forced to eat during Ramadan?” The simulations are recorded so that teachers and students can play back the videos and critique the simulations.

Source: Xinhua, October 4, 2012
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2012-10/04/c_113278213.htm

Briefings | | October 5, 2012 | Government/Politics

A Communist Capitalist Sues President Obama

The Chinese-owned Ralls Corp. has added President Barack Obama as a defendant in a lawsuit alleging the U.S. government exceeded its authority in blocking the firm’s planned wind farm projects in Oregon near a Navy base. In an amended complaint, Ralls Corp. said Obama “acted in an unlawful and unauthorized manner” in citing national security grounds to order it to halt construction of four wind farm projects near the Naval Weapons Systems Training Facility in Boardman, Oregon.

Two senior managers with the Chinese SANY Group, a private company and the largest construction machinery manufacturer in China incorporated Ralls Corp. in the United States. According to BBC Chinese, it’s believed that SANY has a military background, which may be related to its founder Liang Wengen, who had three years of experience in a Chinese military enterprise. There is no doubt that Liang, who, in 2011, was listed as China’s richest man, is a private sector entrepreneur with close ties to the government. Liang joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 2004 as the chairman of SANY. In 2007 and 2012, he became a representative of the 17th and 18th Congress of the CCP. Liang is said to be a likely alternate member of the Central Committee of the CCP, a group of 370 of the most politically powerful people in China. SANY is said to have an unwritten rule that anyone who wants to be promoted to a management position must submit an application to join the Party. Liang once said, “It was not until I started my own business that I realized that one can only fulfill his ideals by connecting himself to the cause of the Party.”

[Editor’s note: Foreign investment in U.S. companies is reviewable by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). CFIUS recommended denial of the investment from China because the wind farms are all within or near the restricted air space of the naval training facility.]

Source: BBC Chinese, October 3, 2012
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/chinese_news/2012/10/121003_sany_liang_wengen.shtml

Briefings | | October 4, 2012 | US-China Relations

Why Japan Dares to Be Aggressive on the Diaoyu Islands Issue

A Xinhua article offered an interpretation of Japan’s aggressive actions on the Diaoyu (Senkaku) Islands issue, saying that Japan is acting in concert with the U.S. strategic plan to contain China. The article further explained, “From the perspective of the geo-military strategy, Japan is the most important partner in the United States’ return to Asia. The Diaoyu Islands issue is a chess piece in U.S. hands. Japan has an ulterior motive in its act to ‘nationalize’ the Diaoyu Islands. Its purpose is to test China’s reaction to Japan’s cooperation with the U.S. plan to return to Asia. For some time now, the United States, along with Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, and other countries has been holding frequent joint military exercises in the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea, and the South China Sea, with the goal being to strengthen its strategic encirclement of China.”

Source: Xinhua, September 30, 2012

http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2012-09/30/c_123781185.htm

Briefings | | October 4, 2012 | US-China Relations

BBC: China’s Economy Affects the Hurun Rich List

The Hurun Research Institute published China’s 1,000 Rich List for 2012. The shift in China’s economy has affected the list in that the super rich candidates from China showed a net decrease in assets.

In 2012, although 43 out of the top 100 candidates were from the real estate business, for the first time, the number of those who came from the manufacturing sector surpassed those in the real estate sector. Meanwhile, the threshold that delineated the top 1,000 was 1.8 billion yuan, down from 2 billion yuan the previous year. Of these, the number of candidates who held over 10 billion in asset totaled 120, down by seven from the prior year. Of the 1,000 candidates, the net assets of 469 of them decreased, with 37 of them showing a rate of decrease that was 50 percent or more. The professions that were most affected were in the solar energy, clothing, and retail sectors.

The list also showed that 157 or 15.3 percent of the candidates held political titles, including members of the National People’s Congress or the National Committee. Beijing is the city that had the most rich people, with Shanghai in second place and Shen Zheng in third place.

Source: BBC Chinese, September 25, 2012
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/chinese_news/2012/09/120925_china_richlist.shtml

Briefings | | October 4, 2012 | Economy/Resources

Wu Guoguang: Xi Jinping’s Reversal of the Course, Will China’s Transition be Peaceful or Marked with Bloodshed?

Cheng Xiaonong: U.S.-China Strategic Relations Have Crystallized

Xinhua Commentaries: “Exposing the Three Major Political Deficits of the U.S.”

The CCP’s Performing Arts Troupes in the U.S.