New Tang Dynasty Television has reported that it obtained a hard copy of a confidential notice indicating that, at the end of 2010, the State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television of China issued an official notice that would prevent New Tang Dynasty Television, an independent oversea’s Chinese language television broadcaster, from obtaining movie and television airing rights from any of their sources. The notice was sent to the administrative offices of Radio, Film, and Television at various provincial and municipal levels with copies to the 610 Office.

According to the notice, all of the entities under the State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television of China were strictly prohibited from providing movies or television programs to New Tang Dynasty either directly or indirectly through a third party. Violators would be subject to strict fines and punishment.

New Tang Dynasty has also reported a number of instances in the past few years when overseas Chinese television movie distributors backed out of movie distribution agreements because they feared pressure from their Chinese suppliers.

(Ed: Founded by Falun Gong practitioners, New Tang Dynasty (NTD) Television is a television broadcaster based in New York City, with correspondents in over 70 cities worldwide.)

Source:
New Tang Dynasty Television, June 10, 2012
http://www.ntdtv.com/xtr/b5/2012/06/10/a715396.html

Shanghai University of Finance and Economics and Tsinghua University jointly conducted a study on “Fiscal Transparency.” The study indicated that the none of the 31 provincial governments and only 7 out of the 81 municipal governments studied passed the fiscal transparency test.

The report indicated that even though China executed the “Regulation on the Disclosure of Government Information” four years ago, both the provincial and municipal governments have been willing to share their budget decisions; however none of them has allowed their actual spending to be publicized.

The report also suggested that the budget information that was shared was overly simplified and hard to understand. According to Deng Shulian, a professor at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, the reason that the governments have overly simplified their budgets is that they know that some of the spending will not meet the governments’ requirements and because accountability measures are still lacking for those who fail to reveal their budget information.

Many expect that, at the upcoming 27th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Eleventh National People’s Congress, the budget law will go through its second phase. It will then require that government bodies reveal their spending related to work associated with overseas travel, auto expenses, and entertainment.

Source: Xinhua, June 16, 2012
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2012-06/16/c_123291793.htm

According to Sina.com, Hu Jintao may visit Hong Kong before July 1, 2012, in commemoration of the 15th anniversary of the return of Hong Kong to mainland China. Song Xiangyan, Deputy Director of the People’s Bank of China’s international trade department, announced, "President Hu Jintao will visit Hong Kong before July 1, and a set of measures to boost Hong Kong’s economy and improve local residents’ livelihoods will soon be announced." Song did not provide further details. Song said that he has taken note of the controversies involving former Hong Kong Monetary Authority Chief Joseph Yam Chi-kwong’s views about the need to reconsider the HK-US dollar peg to allow more policy leeway on jobs and growth in Hong Kong.

Source: Sina.com, June 14, 2012
http://news.sina.com.hk/news/1663/3/1/2691443/1.html