Tag: Communist Party of China

Feng Li/Getty The Communist Party of China (CPC) is making its members celebrate their "political birthday," or the day they joined the party. Celebrations are not like typical birthdays: Members are told to host study groups and discussions on CPC's politics. Applicants have to go through multiple background screenings, exams, and interviews in order to join the CPC. The CPC's new "political birthday" directive comes as it ramps up members' loyalty to the party and its leader, President Xi Jinping. The Communist Party of China (CPC) is telling its members to celebrate two birthdays a year: The day they were born, and the day they joined the party. "But for Chinese Communist Party members, there are two birthdays. At the top is Chinese President Xi Jinping, while many prominent Chinese people like Alibaba founder Jack Ma, whose membership was revealed last year, are part of the party. The CPC's push for loyalty The CPC's new "political birthday" directive comes as it ramps up members' loyalty to the party and its leadership. The country has also been on a massive anti-corruption campaign since Xi became president in 2012. Under his rule, the CPC has punished at least 1.3 million party members, many of whom are high-profile figures in the country, according to the South China Morning Post.

As of now, the atheist government in Beijing and the bureaucrats in the Vatican are acting as if they were allies, having signed a deal last September that neither the Vatican nor the communists have released to the public, and that will govern how Catholic bishops are appointed in China. Does China's atheist regime try to force Catholics to act in ways that are contrary to their faith? The State Department said last May: "The CPA does not recognize the authority of the Holy See to appoint Catholic bishops. So, a man appointed as a bishop in China's "official" church could only qualify for that position if he were to pledge support for a party that demands its members be atheists. Yet last Sept. 22, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, announced that the Holy See had signed a "Provisional Agreement between the Holy See and the People's Republic of China Concerning the nomination of Bishops." He also indicated that the bishops in China's "official" church had been legitimized. But the Vatican did not release the text of the agreement or explain in detail what is in it. Nor did they tell Cardinal Zen or other faithful Chinese Catholics. "Candidates will be chosen at the diocesan level through the 'democratic election' system that the Chinese authorities introduced in 1957, whereby the priests of the diocese, together with representatives of women religious and laypeople, vote from among the candidates presented by the authorities that supervise church affairs," said America Magazine. That is all he can do," said Cardinal Zen.

After becoming the leader of the Communist Party of China in 1978, following Mao Zedong’s death two years earlier, Deng launched a program of reform that ultimately saw China become the world’s largest economy in terms of its purchasing power in 2014. Deng recognised that the outcomes produced by the planned economy were poor, with more than 60% of the population living in poverty. That’s why he launched a series of measures such as opening up the economy to foreign trade and investment. The impact of the reforms The outcomes of Deng’s reforms have been without historical peer. Compared with other centrally-planned economies such as the former Soviet Union, this made the task of shifting labour from producing low-productivity agricultural output to higher productivity industrial goods easier. SOEs may account for one-fifth of China’s value-added output and employment. They observed that this compared favourably with international standards, including with the US. The prominent and vibrant role the private sector plays in China today means that its economic growth may be more sustainable than some of its critics imagine. For example, in terms of subjecting Chinese firms to increased competition from overseas firms, China’s trade-weighted average tariff in 2000 stood at 14.7%. Overall, China is less open to foreign investment than high-income countries and many emerging markets as well.

A top-secret Government report has uncovered a decade-long attempt by the Chinese Communist Party to compromise Australia's major political parties. The departmental effort was led by one of the Prime Minister's former advisers, John Garnaut. It is those proposed laws – and the commentary around them – that have been a major factor in the recent chill in the relationship between Australia and China. The Prime Minister referred to the existence of the secret report when he tabled the foreign interference bills in December. "But I can say the reasons for initiating this work were justified and the outcomes have galvanised us to take action. Mr Turnbull has not named China as being the country of most concern to Australia but the secret report does. "Under the uncompromising leadership of President Xi Jinping, China's activities have become too brazen and aggressive to ignore," Mr Garnaut said. "A re-evaluation is taking place in half-a-dozen established democracies around the world, including Australia and the United States. He did not refer to his secret report but noted the scope of the Chinse influence operations had appeared in media reports around the world. Dr Chau has two defamation actions afoot and one names Fairfax Media as a respondent for articles written by Mr Garnaut, when he was that company's Asia Pacific Editor.

China's ruling Communist Party has recently proposed to abolish term limits on the presidency, paving the way for President Xi Jinping to stay in office as long as the party is willing to keep him there. "In traditional Chinese culture, there is a need for a guiding voice, a leading will," explains Wang Yiwei, professor of International Relations at Renmin University of China. Five years later, Xi Jinping took power, having marketed himself as an anti-corruption champion. And the media outlets reporting on that story played a central part in it. When they do actually report, they only put out good news, and reduce so-called 'negative energy' or whatever is critical. Control of the press is at an unprecedented level." Weibo has long been a principal platform for political dissent, with users signing up with fake names. Since last year, Beijing has made it mandatory for Weibo users to register with their real names. Is it possible that the party can control even more media? Lead contributors: Chang Ping, writer and journalist Deng Yuwen, political commentator Megha Rajagopalan, China Bureau chief, Buzzfeed Dr Wang Yiwei, professor of International Relations, Renmin University of China Source: Al Jazeera News