Hugo Boss Shows in Beijing

Posted: 20 May 2012 08:24 PM PDT

Hugo Boss plans to make more suits for Chinese consumers, but that's about the only aspect in which the company will tailor its efforts to the world's fastest-growing luxury market.

Reformist Crosses Swords with Hard-Liners in China’s South

Posted: 20 May 2012 07:46 PM PDT

Wang Yang, an apparent reformer going up against hard-liners at a political meeting in Guangdong, March 2010. (Liu Jin/AFP/Getty Images)

NEWS ANALYSIS

China's communist regime usually demands of its cadres a certain brutality and adherence to the Party line, and deviation can often be fatal for the offending official. But in the bustling southern province of Guangdong, Party Secretary Wang Yang is making a name for himself as an apparent reformer open to new ways of doing things.

That doesn't sit well with other cadre's content to keep the status quo, and the Party's vice-like grip on power, however. Wang has aligned himself closely with current leader Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, the latter of which has given indications that he wishes to see a China that enjoys much greater freedom. But that poses a threat to cadres who've built their careers by cracking down on ordinary Chinese.

Now, key figures in the "bloody-hands faction" are facing censure. These cadres rose through the ranks under former leader Jiang Zemin by zealously carrying out Jiang's command to wipe out the Falun Gong meditation practice.

Guangdong Province has become an important battlefield in an internal power struggle within the CCP leadership between that faction and the Hu-Wen alliance. It is here that Hu and Wen have been testing reforms for a better China and here that remaining members of bloody hands faction have been positioning themselves to block those efforts.

Hu and Wen have already taken steps to constrain Zhou Yongkang, the highest ranking member of the hardline clique. Zhou—formerly head of the regime's Political and Legislative Affairs Committee (PLAC)—presided over the regime's all-pervasive domestic security apparatus, millions strong regular police force, courts, and millions strong paramilitary police force. Zhou has reportedly been forced to hand over the reigns of power to the PLAC to a former subordinate and is now reportedly being investigated.

That doesn't sit well with two of Zhou's most powerful allies, current propaganda chief Li Changchun and head of the National People's Congress Zeng Qinghong. The pair have been operating behind the scenes to counteract moves made by Hu and Wen in hopes of revenge and self-preservation.

Propaganda versus Press Freedom

Li is now using his position as propaganda chief to manipulate the media in Guangdong against Wang in advance of the 18th National Congress set for sometime late this year. At the congress, seven of the nine members of the all-powerful Standing Committee of the Politburo will be replaced, including Zhou and Li. Information leaked to The Epoch Times by a well-placed source indicates the congress could mark the beginning of the end of the communist regime, which makes jockeying for position in advance of the congress critical to all involved.

Li recently dispatched Tuo Zhen, the Vice President of Xinhua News Agency, one of the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP's) official media outlets, to take over as the director of Guangdong's Propaganda Department. Li's Vice Director of Propaganda, Yang Jian, also from Xinhua, has taken over as the Party Secretary for Southern Media Group and the 11 newspapers it controls in Guangdong.

Hong Kong's Oriental Daily reported the recent change in leadership was forced on Wang by higher-ups in the party.

With opposing cadre's now in control of much of the media landscape in Guangdong, Wang is already being tripped up. Wang has been a vocal supporter for a freer press, and newspapers in southern China, which includes Guangdong, are known for being bold and outspoken in their reports. Wang has encouraged the press to help uncover corruption, something most cadre's work to keep buried.

"We have to encourage news reporters to secretly visit and report on factories that counterfeit and vendors selling counterfeited products. We should also arrange people from Public Security to protect them," Wang's Vice Secretary-General in Guangdong, Lin Ying, said on May 7.

Ying said reporters needed protection so they could "investigate more thoroughly and expose the facts more accurately."

But what Wang wants to see the light of day, Li wants kept in the shadows.

After the Southern Metropolis Daily recently published an outspoken report on counterfeit chemicals, the Propaganda Department acted against Wang and forced the paper to take the article down.

The report exposed a secret factory in Huizhou City where local government seized 70 tons of counterfeit coagulation accelerating agents being used to build Dongguan's subway system. The owner of the factory was also overseeing the project, and helped sell the chemicals.

The article was taken down a few hours after publication. Insiders from the Southern Metropolis Daily revealed that pressure came from "above," suggesting the Propaganda Department of Dongguan City and Guangdong Province ordered the deletion. According to the insider, such orders had been rare for the newspaper.

The censorship is likely the first sign of Li's expanding efforts to block Wang and obstruct the apparent Hu-Wen opening agenda.

Continued on next page: At the same time, Wang has been butting heads with hardliners …

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China Focus: What Chen's Case Means for Broader Rights Issues

Posted: 20 May 2012 02:03 PM PDT

Falun Dafa Information Center Spokesperson, Erping Zhang and Matt Gnaizda, NTD China Analyst sit down with Shelly Zhang of NTD, to discuss blind Chinese legal activist Chen Guangcheng landing in the US on Saturday and does it mean for broader human rights

Top China Stories from WSJ: Chen in the U.S., Solar Tariff Protest, Wen on Economy

Posted: 20 May 2012 06:31 PM PDT

Chen Guangcheng's departure from China raises difficult questions; premier Wen Jiabao stressed the importance of adjusting policies decisively to prevent a rapid economic slowdown; China unleashed a storm of protest criticizing the U.S. decision to impose a 31% antidumping tariff on Chinese solar-panel makers.

China Focus: What Chen's Case Means for Broader Rights Issues

Posted: 20 May 2012 07:15 AM PDT

Daniel Wagner: China, the Philippines, and the Scarborough Shoal

Posted: 20 May 2012 11:45 AM PDT

The message to China is simple: The South China Sea is not China's bathtub to do as it pleases. China must decide whether it wishes to maintain an antagonistic approach to territorial claims outside its legal and territorial reach.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Letters: Finding the funds to bail out Greece

Posted: 20 May 2012 04:05 PM PDT

If the European elites really are to break out of their "static ideology" (If the eurozone is serious about growth, it can have it, 18 May) and preoccupation with malfunctioning institutions, then they should begin immediately to establish and coordinate a social stability fund for, and in, Greece. The suffering of the Greek people and their understandable alienation from EU policies could be checked by direct aid for health, welfare and employment. Such "gift" funding could be kept separate from the leaky and controversial state budgets, the useless banks and derided state departments, by using NGOs and agencies such as Unesco.

It could prioritise jobs for unemployed Greeks both in administering and channelling the aid; as well in urgent restorations of infrastructure. If the wider costs of a Greek financial currency default are as high as 1tn euros, then even an EU fund equivalent to Greece's 2007 social protection budget (48bn euros) would be good value for both the long-suffering Greek people and for the stabilisation of the EU economy.
Dr Bryn Jones
University of Bath

• Not being part of the G8, China is not among the countries you discuss (National interests, 18 May). But China stands to lose heavily if a Greek exit wrecks the eurozone and, with it, imports from China. China has such gigantic foreign currency reserves that I would have thought it would hardly notice the dent made by a bailout for the Greeks. Humiliating for Europe and the US, but the political payoff for China would be enormous.
Ralph Blumenau
London

Patrick Devillers describes Neil Heywood as 'noble soul'

Posted: 20 May 2012 11:46 AM PDT

A French architect linked to Gu Kailai, the powerful Chinese woman accused of murdering a British businessman, has described him as a "noble soul".

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

China Focus: Rep. Chris Smith, Reggie Littlejohn on Forced Abortions

Posted: 20 May 2012 07:40 AM PDT

US Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Women's Rights Without Frontiers President Reggie Littlejohn sit down with NTD host Kean Wong on this episode of China Focus

China 'collecting Dalai Lama blood samples'

Posted: 20 May 2012 11:27 AM PDT

Chinese agencies are secretly collecting samples of the Dalai Lama's blood, urine and hair and are stepping up efforts to harm him, the Tibetan government in exile said on Sunday.

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Chen Guangcheng's 'bittersweet' first day of freedom

Posted: 20 May 2012 10:28 AM PDT

Chen Guangcheng, the blind dissident, spent a "bittersweet" first day of freedom in New York, beginning a new life in America even as the Chinese government continued to his detain friends and relatives.

Chen Guangcheng arrives in US – video

Posted: 20 May 2012 10:05 AM PDT

Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng arrives in New York to begin a new life in the United States

Chen Guangcheng's family and friends 'still at risk' in China

Posted: 20 May 2012 07:00 PM PDT

Blind activist begins exile in US with call for greater rule of law at home as supporters fear for those left behind

Supporters of Chen Guangcheng have warned that his family and friends in China are still at risk after the blind activist arrived in New York to begin a new life in the United States.

Chen — whose daring escape from house arrest last month prompted a diplomatic crisis — arrived on Saturday night to cheering crowds, and used his first speech to press for greater rule of law in the country he left behind.

"I hope everybody works for me to promote justice and fairness in China," Chen said through an interpreter, ahead of his enrolment for a fellowship in the US-Asia Law Institute at New York University School of Law.

He was also careful to thank the Chinese government, knowing the wellbeing of relatives and associates could be influenced by an upcoming shift in the Communist party leadership. Instead, he criticised the provincial authorities in Shandong for years of persecution, including 18 months of house arrest, beatings and harassment of his relatives.

Chen said "acts of retribution may not have abated" in his village of Dongshigu, which was still under lockdown. "We hope to see a thorough investigation into these events," he said.

The figurehead of the rights movement suggested his own role will temporarily diminish. "I am requesting leave of absence and I hope they will understand," he said. "For the past seven years, I have never had a day's rest so I have come here for a bit of recuperation for body and spirit."

He Peirong – who played a key role in the escape by driving Chen from Shandong to Beijing – said she sympathised, even though the reverberations of Chen's flight remain unclear. "I support any decision made by Chen, but it's too early to say whether his departure is a good thing for China's rights movement. Things are not settled. Problems are not solved. His family is still in China. The people who helped him escape are still in China."

He – who was detained for several days after Chen's escape and remains under surveillance – spoke of her admiration for Chen.

"He has done more than you could expect from any individual … Although he has experienced so much injustice and so many threats, he sticks to his beliefs. He is like a piece of jade: always smooth and warm."

Others supporters, relatives and lawyers, including Guo Yushan and Liu Weiguo, were not answering their phones. Several have been told not to speak to the foreign media. Zeng Jinyan, who met Chen before he took refuge at the US embassy, said her computer had been hacked and infected with a virus that made it difficult to communicate.

Chen's nephew has been arrested and charged with attempted murder after using a kitchen knife to fight off local officials who intruded into his home.

The activist's brother has described how he was chained to a chair and beaten for three days. His lawyer and friend, Jiang Tianyong, was punched so powerfully by state security officials that he lost his hearing. He said police continued to impose tight restrictions on rights activists and he expected the pressure to intensify ahead of a key party congress this autumn.

"There won't be any big changes for us now that Chen Guangcheng has left. There are still many reasons to keep up control and stability preservation," Jiang told Reuters.

A supporter in Shandong told the news agency the authorities were unlikely to ease pressure any time soon. "The Communist party doesn't want to set a precedent over this case by easing up after a dissident has escaped detention," said Sun Wenguang, a retired professor, who is monitored 24 hours a day by security officers.

Although supporters in the US say Chen is now free to "speak truth to power'" it is far from clear that his voice will be any easier to hear in his homeland. In the past, Chinese dissidents who sought exile in the US have found their influence muted by distance and Beijing's "Great Firewall" – which filters internet content from overseas.

Few are allowed to return. Last week, Wu'er Kaixi – the student leader during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests – was refused permission to return to China to see his ailing parents.

Nonetheless, Chen's escape could make a difference in China because of the timing. The ability of a blind man to evade dozens of guards raises awkward questions for party hardman Zhou Yongkang, who has a bigger budget for internal security than the People's Liberation Army has to protect China's borders. Zhou is due to step down this autumn.

Chen's arrival in New York could also play in US politics and diplomatic strategy. Presidential candidate Mitt Romney had criticised the Obama administration's handling of the case when it was unclear whether Chen would leave China.

But the Democrat former House speaker Nancy Pelosi described Chen's flight to the US as "a milestone in the cause for human rights in China".

"The courage of Chen Guangcheng to risk his life and livelihood to advocate for disadvantaged people in China is an inspiration to freedom-seeking people around the world," she said.

Human rights campaigners warned against complacency.

"Chen's departure for the US does not and should not in any way mark a 'mission accomplished' moment for the US government or any other government which values human rights and rule of law in China. The fact is that getting Chen Guangcheng and his family on a plane is the easiest part of this saga. The harder, longer term part is ensuring his right under international law to return to China when he sees fit," said Phelim Kine, senior Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch in New York.

Jonathan Watts

29 Chinese held in North Korea freed

Posted: 20 May 2012 07:27 AM PDT

All 29 Chinese fishermen kidnapped earlier this month by unidentified armed North Koreans have been freed and are on their way home, Chinese state media said on Sunday.

Exclusive: Chinese Security Chief Zhou Yongkang To Be Investigated

Posted: 20 May 2012 07:16 AM PDT

China security czar Zhou Yongkang (L) and Premier Wen Jiabao (R), composite image. Chinese leader Hu Jintao has agreed to Wen's request to have Zhou investigated, The Epoch Times has learned from well-placed sources in Beijing. (Liu Jin/AFP/Getty Images and Feng Li/Getty Images)

Chinese leader Hu Jintao has agreed to have public security chief Zhou Yongkang investigated, The Epoch Times has learned from well-placed sources in Beijing.

Zhou headed up the Chinese regime's massive public security apparatus and controlled the courts, police, and domestic surveillance, but was recently stripped of his authority. He is also widely implicated in severe human rights abuses and considered the current top-ranked member of a faction of party cadres known as the "blood-debt gang" that rose to prominence under former leader Jiang Zemin by zealously suppressing the Falun Gong meditation practice.

The decision to investigate Zhou was made at a recent meeting of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Politburo that included the Standing Committee, members of the Politburo, local high-ranking officials, top military leaders and retired senior officials of the CCP such as Zeng Qinghong, said the Beijing sources.

At the meeting, top-ranking cadres also affirmed damning evidence against former Chongqing Party Secretary Bo Xilai.

Click www.ept.ms/ccp-crisis to read about the most recent developments in the ongoing crisis within the Chinese communist regime. In this special topic, we provide readers with the necessary context to understand the situation. Get the RSS feed. Get the new interactive Timeline of Events. Who are the Major Players?

According to the sources, none at the recent meeting challenged the litany of allegations leveled against Bo with evidence presented by Ling Jihua, director of the general office of CCP Central Committee and secretary of the Central Department of Secretaries.

Ling Jihua submitted evidence in the Bo investigation that included "astonishing corruption," "suspected involvement in murder," and "political ambition and plotting a coup."

Bo, once China's Minister of Commerce and the face of business for visiting officials and business leaders, was demoted to Party secretary of Chongqing in 2007 after Premier Wen Jiabao argued Bo was unfit for a promotion due to lawsuits filed against him around the world stemming from his persecution of Falun Gong adherents.

After Ling's presentation, Premier Wen Jiabao challenged Zhou on two fronts. First, Wen reproached Zhou for continuing to support Bo and divulging information to Bo about the Central Committee's attitude following the Wang Lijun incident. Wang, Bo's former top cop in Chongqing, attempted to defect to the U.S. consulate in Chengdu. Wen questioned Zhou's purpose for backing Bo at the time.

Second, Wen brought up a plot by Bo and Zhou to force Xi Jinping, who is expected to take control of the Chinese regime after the National Congress later this year, to leave office after only a short while as leader, and for Bo to assume power. Wen said the plot set an abominable precedent for the Party. Based on those two points, Wen called for an investigation into Zhou.

Top Party Officials Said to Face Off in Tense Meeting

Chinese leader Hu Jintao backed Wen's request to have He Guoqiang, the chief of the powerful Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) investigate Zhou.

Zhou had tried to attack Wen by demanding an investigation into Wen's wife, though this tactic appears to have had little impact.

chinareports@epochtimes.com

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Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng arrives in New York

Posted: 20 May 2012 05:01 AM PDT

The human rights activist Chen Guangcheng arrives in the United States to begin a new life after fleeing from house arrest in China.

Taiwan President Offers Cloudy Second-Term Vision

Posted: 20 May 2012 02:48 AM PDT

Those hoping Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou's second inaugural address and the press conference that followed would offer a clear blueprint came away disappointed.

A Deafening Silence About Chen in China

Posted: 19 May 2012 09:00 PM PDT

With a few notable -- if hard to find -- exceptions, microblogs, Web sites and traditional media ignored the arrival of Chen Guangcheng in New York, or were censored. But the campaign against 'foreign trash' continued.

Chen Guangcheng arrives to new life in the US

Posted: 19 May 2012 09:40 PM PDT

Chen Guangcheng, the blind activist Chinese activist who escaped from house arrest and fled to the American embassy in Beijing, arrived to a new life in the US last night.

Chen Guangcheng Arrives in the United States, Issues Thanks [with Video]

Posted: 19 May 2012 08:49 PM PDT

(Chen speaks to reporters upon arrival at New York University. Video courtesy NTD Television)

NEW YORK—After being spirited away from the airport after his 6:30 p.m. arrival, Chen Guangcheng, his wife and their two children were taken to his New York University's residence on Mercer Street in lower Manhattan at around 7:30 p.m. It was a joyous day for human rights activists, politicians, and supporters who had helped Chen Guangcheng fight for his freedom. Chen's family members, however, still remain in China under the shadow of the Chinese regime's security forces.

"At the most critical moment, the U.S. Embassy in China gave me an opportunity for emergency asylum and helped me get through the most dangerous time. The American government too, gave me a lot of help," Chen said to the press after arriving at his residence as a crowd stood cheering behind a police cordon.

Chen Guangcheng gestures beside his wife Yuan Weijing before making remarks to the media, upon his arrival at New York University campus on May 19. (Andy Jacobsohn/Getty Images)

He thanked the U.S. officials for their effort to rescue him.

"Acts of retribution in Shandong have not been abated and my rights to practice law have been curbed—we hope to see a thorough investigation into this," he said.

Chen Guangcheng's dramatic April 22 escape from house arrest in his hometown of Linyi, Shandong Province, drew international attention and became a focal point of U.S.-China relations.

Chen was helped by several friends, before being picked up by staff from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing on April 27. He first left the embassy on May 2, under pressure from Chinese authorities who threatened his family if he did not leave American custody immediately; at the same time, a deal had been brokered that would have allowed him to stay in China and study.

The initial deal began to look less appealing when Chen was in hospital, however, in light of the probable interventions of Chinese security czar Zhou Yongkang. Security officials ultimately directed by Zhou kept Chen isolated. They seized and beat friends and colleagues who attempted to see him, and continued persecuting Chen's family members.

When Chen finally expressed a wish to leave China, Jerome Cohen, a professor and expert of Chinese law at New York University, engineered an invitation for him that was supposed to save the United States and the Chinese regime further diplomatic embarrassment. On May 4 Chinese diplomats gave an indication that Chen would be allowed to leave, a process that was completed with short notice on May 19.

Supporters who worked for Chen's release were relieved that he was allowed to travel to the U.S., but would not call the incident an unqualified success.

Representative Chris Smith, a staunch ally and prominent critic of the Communist Party's human rights abuses, was excited about Chen's freedom but said it doesn't stop there. "Chen Guangcheng is free, but not all the Chens are free. There are lots of family members, his brother and nephew who are at great risk of retaliation. The United States and governments around the world need to rally for all the other Chens, their life and freedom."

Rep. Smith chaired two congressional hearings on Chen's case before the blind lawyer's fate was decided. The first hearing led to a dramatic phone call from Chen, speaking from his hospital bed in China via the iPhone of Bob Fu, president of the Christian human rights organization ChinaAid.

China's Security Chief Ordered Persecution of Blind Lawyer Chen Guangcheng

Chen pleaded for an exit from China and supporters redoubled their efforts. They have not been able to help Chen's nephew Chen Kegui, however. Chen Kegui was arrested by Chinese police and charged with "intentional homicide," despite the fact that he did not kill anyone, after he defended his family from men that appeared to be thugs breaking into his home following Chen Guangcheng's escape. Chen Kegui met the intruders with two kitchen knives he had hastily grabbed, slashing at them until they left. He went into hiding but was later placed into custody. Chen Kegui has been denied a choice of legal representation by local courts controlled by communist authorities.

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