Observers noted that the political infighting in the upper ranks of the Chinese Communist Party seems to have extended to cyberspace. Politically sensitive terms related to the June 4 Tiananmen Square massacre and the Falun Gong spiritual practice were recently searchable—and some still remained available as of March 22. The term “June 4” in Chinese was briefly unblocked on Baidu, China’s main search engine, and the first item was about Wen Jiabao wanting to give the event a political rehabilitation. Terms related to Falun Gong were unblocked for a period of time as well. No message appeared saying results were censored.

The violent crackdowns and political sensitivities associated with those terms go to the heart of the Chinese regime’s ruling legacy. They are also both connected to former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin, whose allies form one of the factions within the Party.

Sources: The Epoch Times, March 23, 2012
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/china-news/chinas-internet-censors-take-break-during-party-infighting-209412.html

After Bo Xilai was ousted from his position as Chongqing’s Party chief, speculation has been running high on the next target, Zhou Yongkang, Bo’s patron at the Politburo Standing Committee. They are part of the same Jiang faction, Party seniors who remain loyal to former President Jiang Zemin instead of current leader Hu Jintao.

Zhou, one of the nine-member Politburo Standing Committee and the chief of the Party’s Political and Legislative Affairs Committee (PLAC), controls the police, the Armed Police, the courts, and the procuratorate—nearly everything having to do with law enforcement. Zhou has been China’s top cop for a long time—he has headed the PLAC since 2007 and before that was the Minister of Public Security. Bo was Zhou’s handpicked successor to head the PLAC.

On the evening of March 21 Party mouthpiece Xinhua announced that the PLAC would hold a nationwide training session, the first meeting of which would take place on March 26. However, on March 19 when Zhou held a full meeting of the PLAC, he never mentioned that a nationwide training would take place in one week. Also, the announcement on March 21 did not mention Zhou himself. However, the announcement did mention Party head Hu Jintao. The training session would be devoted to the study of Hu’s contribution to CCP ideology, the theory of Scientific Development, which is considered a sign of paying loyalty to Hu.

Also on March 21, the Financial Times quoted “one person with close ties to China’s security apparatus” as saying “Mr Zhou had been ordered not to make any public appearances or take any high-level meetings and was ‘already under some degree of control.’”

On March 21, Hong Kong’s Apple Daily reported multiple arrests of top figures. The paper quoted Wu Guancong, a CEO of Guangzhou Sports Development Company, as saying a person from Beijing with inside information told him that the Party Central had a severe split regarding how to handle Bo Xilai. “Wen Jiabao and Zhou Yongkang had a serious conflict,” Wu was quoted as saying. “I heard that the gang of four [of the Jiang faction], Bo, Zhou, Jia (Qinglin), and Li Changchun, have all been sacked.”

Source:
The Epoch Times, March 22, 2012
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/china-news/zhou-yongkang-lost-power-struggle-say-chinese-netizens-209107.html
Financial Times, March 21, 2012
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/650bb0f6-735f-11e1-aab3-00144feab49a.html#axzz1poJYt4qe
Apple Daily, March 21, 2012
http://hkmagazine.net/news1/apple/art_main.php?iss_id=20120321&sec_id=15335&art_id=16175010

On March 19, 2012, People’s Liberation Army Daily published an editorial criticizing the idea of nationalizing the military. The editorial firmly rejected the ideas of “non-affiliation between the military and the CCP, depoliticizing the military, and the nationalization of the military.” “[We] must unswervingly uphold the principle of the absolute leadership of the Party over the military and ensure that the military follows the command of the Party and Hu Jintao, the President of our country and the Chairman of the Party’s Military Commission.”

The PLA editorial was published immediately after the abrupt removal of Bo Xilai, the former Party Secretary of Chongqing. His removal appears to have touched off fierce clashes among the Party’s leaders.

Source: People’s Liberation Army Daily reprinted by People’s Daily, March 19, 2012 http://wap.people.com.cn/newsView.php?sid=&cnid=1323815&chid=1_11&coid=1_11_3_1&wv=2&v=l&return=channel&fromid=&uc_param_str=dnup

Xinhua published an editorial that was critical of Western countries’ intervention in countries ruled by authoritarian dictators. The article said that the Western countries’ military strike on Libya to overthrow the Gaddafi regime one year ago set a new “example" for how Western countries intervene in other countries’ internal affairs. The “New Interventionism” has become a cloud hanging over international relations.
 
The article described the “New Interventionism” as being very deceptive. Compared to traditional interventionism which included an explicit armed invasion and a military coup, "the ‘New Interventionism’ is under the guise of being legitimate.” “It is troubling that the West is showing a pattern of spreading the use of ‘New Interventionism.’ Western countries have already chosen Syria as another target following Libya; they aim to overthrow the Bashar government.”

“As a matter of fact, their so-called ‘democracy’ and ‘freedom’ are only excuses for the West’s ‘New Interventionism.’ There is no fundamental difference between ‘old interventionism’ and ‘New Interventionism.’ They are both authoritarian politics and hegemonism with the same goal of protecting the West’s strategic interests.“ “No matter how the West makes its point, it will not erase the disaster that the ‘New Interventionism’ brings to the affected country.”

The article concluded that "the ‘New interventionism’ is a violation of the principles of the ‘United Nations Charter’ and is an action against the tide of history. [We] should be vigilant against the spread of the ‘New Interventionism.’”

Source: Xinhua, March 18, 2012
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2012-03/18/c_111669360.htm

Tibet Daily published a commentary on the talk that Hu Jintao gave during his visit to the Tibetan delegation at the Two Conferences. Hu encouraged the delegation to further promote the “old Tibetan Spirit.” The commentary stated that, in order for them to further promote the “old Tibetan Spirit,” it would be necessary to be firm on anti-secession and to maintain solidarity with the central administration that Hu heads. The commentary also called for recruiting and training Party leaders who are “politically reliable, capable of safeguarding national unity, firm on anti-secession, and who dare to oppose those loyal to the Dalai Lama.”

Source: Xinhua, March 20, 2012
http://news.xinhuanet.com/local/2012-03/20/c_122855073.htm