Day: October 11, 2021

The ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has set out plans to ban private investment in the media, amid an ongoing program of regulatory changes aimed at tightening state control over the private sector.

Under proposed rule changes posted to its official website on Oct. 8, the State Development and Reform Commission (SDRC) said it was soliciting public opinion on adding private sector investment in media organizations to a list of banned investments.

The list, which is intended to apply across China without local variation, requires that “organizations with no public sector investment shall not engage in business involving newsgathering, editing or broadcasting.”

Banned organizations would include news agencies, newspaper publishing groups, radio or television broadcasters and providers of online news, editing services or publishers, it said.

The recommendation was signed by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television and the General Administration of Press and Publications, as well as the Cyberspace Administration.

Private investors are also banned from investing in political, economic, military, or diplomatic organizations, and from “major social, cultural, technological, health, education, sports and other services.”

In particular, there must be no private sector involvement in “political and public opinion guidance or value orientation,” the proposed list of banned investments said.

Previously the GAPP was simply tasked with “guiding and regulating” private-sector involvement in press and publications.

A retired lecturer at Shanxi University surnamed Luo said the central government no longer trusts the private sector to deliver its brand of ideological guidance to the general public.

“The government is making sure that it controls its message — it won’t hand over the pen to anyone else,” Luo said. “It wants a dominating voice to rule over everything.”

“The message is very clear: don’t mess with the media or try to do anything connected with it,” he said.

‘Brainwashing’

Beijing-based current affairs commentator Zhang Tianqi said the CCP under general secretary Xi Jinping has continually tightened control over public speech and the media since Xi took power in 2012.

“It is not surprising, because this will be conducive to a more thorough brainwashing of the population,” Zhang said.

“They used both military force and propaganda to take power back in 1949, and the news media, the power of the pen, has remained a very important pillar of the regime ever since,” he said.

Private capital was banned from investing in the media as early as 2005, but the ban was overturned by then president Hu Jintao and then premier Wen Jiabao in a bid to make mainstream media more attractive to readers increasingly turning to online platforms for their news and other content.

“Ten years ago, Hu and Wen allowed private sector investment in the media, because they thought it could save the mainstream media,” Zhang said.
 
Li Guangman, columnist and former editor of the trade publication Central China Electric Power, said in an online op-ed piece that the move is part of the “profound revolution” he wrote about in August.

Li, whose essay on Xi Jinping’s move away from the pro-market policies of the past four decades propelled him to instant fame in China, said the proposed changes would eradicate “capitalists” from China’s news and other media content.

“It is very wise,” he wrote on Oct. 11. “Once the list is released and implemented, we will see profound and significant changes in this country’s news media.”

Li’s earlier essay said that the CCP has launched a “profound revolution” with its crackdown on celebrity culture, billionaires, and the private sector generally, citing Beijing’s blocking of Ant Financial’s initial public offering (IPO) in New York in late 2020, as well as an ongoing probe into the business operations of ride-sharing app Didi Chuxing.

“It represents a return to the original aims of the CCP … and to the essence of socialism. This revolution will wash all of the dirt away,” Li wrote at the time.

Critic of propaganda film detained

The ban on private sector investment in the media would also ensure that there is no way for a “cultural elite” to control public opinion, or for foreign venture capital to gain a foothold in the sector, Li wrote of the ban.

Li said the ban was closely linked to the decision to prosecute an outspoken former news editor, Luo Changping, for defaming revolutionary martyrs in online comments about a CCP-backed wartime propaganda blockbuster titled “The Battle at Lake Changjin.”

Luo, 40, was detained by police in the southern island province of Hainan on Thursday, on suspicion of “impeaching the reputation of heroes and martyrs,” state broadcaster CCTV reported.

His detention came after he criticized the film’s depiction of China’s role in the Korean War (1950-1953).

“Police will carry out a stringent investigation and punish” Luo’s actions, CCTV said.

Feng Chongyi, a professor of political science at the University of Technology Sydney, said Luo’s detention sends the message that the CCP won’t tolerate the slightest criticism of the official party ideology.

“This kind of brainwashing means you aren’t allowed to criticize or argue with any of it,” Feng said. “If you do, you will be besieged by all the [pro-CCP] little pinks or fifty centers, and the state could go after you through the law enforcement system.”

An online commentator who gave only the surname Chen said the CCP expects its propaganda films to be taken as gospel, and that such films are considered part of the official canon.

“Propaganda films like The Battle at Lake Changjin … set out what will become political correctness in official propaganda,” Chen said. “Anyone who damages this political correctness and [questions the] general propaganda direction will bring down the full force of the criminal system on themselves.”

Luo Changping is a former chief reporter of at the China Business Daily, former chief editor of the in-depth reports section of the Beijing News, and a former deputy editor of Caijing magazine.

He was the 2013 winner of a Transparency International Integrity Award.

Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

Logging companies and criminal gangs are destroying forests in East Asia at an unprecedented rate.

Myanmar is grabbing world headlines for its citizens’ struggle against a military regime that overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected National League for Democracy on Feb. 1.

Less well known about the country of 54 million people is the ongoing illegal logging that has been destroying the forests of Myanmar, which along with Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand are deforestation hotspots in Southeast Asia.

The National Geographic magazine reports that half of the world’s remaining wild teak, one of the world’s most valuable hardwoods, grows in Myanmar.

National Geographic fellow Paul Salopek witnessed teak being transported on barges piled high with huge logs and described the scene as “a forest on the move.”

He described teak as “easily worked lumber.” It‘s rich in weather and pest-resistant oils and is highly rated for use in patio furniture and countertops.

Teak’s high silica content creates a smooth surface when it’s polished and also works well in the construction of yachts.

“Forest clearance in Southeast Asia is accelerating, leading to unprecedented increases in carbon emissions,” said a study by University of Leeds researchers published in July.

“The findings show that forests are being cut down at increasingly higher altitudes and on steeper slopes in order to make way for agricultural intensification,” it said.

Criminal gangs

Meanwhile, the London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) reports that with some of the highest deforestation rates in the world, East Asia could by 2030 lose some 70 million hectares of natural forest, the equivalent of 25 percent of the projected global total.

Forests provide many benefits. They absorb toxic gases. They help to prevent soil erosion. And they provide much-needed shelter for animals and birds.

In previous years some trees were removed simply to provide more space for agricultural expansion. But in today’s Myanmar, profit-making has drawn the attention of illegal loggers.

Criminal gangs have a long history of involvement in illegal logging, in Myanmar and elsewhere in East Asia.

In recent years, they’ve become better organized and highly efficient in harvesting and exporting illegal timber.

As the EIA describes it, such gangs “now have the capacity to move into a forested area and rapidly extract all available hardwoods.”

Logging companies as well as the gangs form strong links with local government and military officials and are believed to have no qualms about paying bribes to them.

In Myanmar, you can find dedicated forest rangers, but their numbers have been limited at least until recently.

Endangered national park

In 2014 the Myanmar government finally took strong action. According to Paul Salopek, the government imposed a ban on wild teak exports. Police arrested 153 mostly Chinese illegal loggers, who were sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Since then, Myanmar has loosened the ban to allow sales of stockpiled timber or plantation trees.

Salopek spoke with an environmentalist named Aung who works in the Mawlaik region in northwestern Myanmar.

Aung said that the bosses in charge of cutting down teak trees pay their workers half of their wages in cash and the rest in drugs. In this way, he said, the workers become addicted to the drugs and dependent on their bosses.

Farm labor pays roughly three to five dollars a day in Myanmar, whereas cutting down teak trees pays a minimum of six dollars.

A group called Global Conservation (GC) reported that as of 2018 Myanmar’s largest national park, home for elephants and other wildlife species, had only 12 forest rangers patrolling it.

Protecting more than 150,000 hectares of deep jungle and rain forest with only 12 rangers, GC said, was “challenging.”

The Aleungdun Kathapa National Park lost 80 percent of its intact forests to illegal logging, but having a 2,000-foot cliff surrounding 60 percent of the park has helped it to survive decades of heavy logging.

According to the World Bank, storms, floods, and waterlogging have been identified as key sources of poverty, particularly in rural areas.

Dan Southerland is RFA’s founding Executive Editor.

Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen has vowed not to cave in to growing military threats from China, after Chinese Communist Party (CCP) general secretary Xi Jinping once more insisted that the democratic island must “unify” with China, contrary to the wishes of most of its 23 million residents.

Speaking at an Oct. 10 National Day ceremony, Tsai warned against “letting down our guard” in the face of pressure from China.

“The situation in the Indo-Pacific region is becoming more tense and complex by the day,” Tsai warned.

“After taking complete control of Hong Kong and suppressing democracy activists, the Beijing authorities also shifted away from the path of political and economic development that they had followed since reform and opening up began decades ago,” she said.

She said routine Chinese air force sorties in Taiwan’s southwestern air defense identification zone (ADIZ) “has seriously affected both our national security and aviation safety.”

“I want to reiterate that Taiwan is willing to do its part to contribute to the peaceful development of the region,” Tsai said, calling against for government-to-government talks with China, which Beijing has repeatedly refused.

“We … will not act rashly, but there should be absolutely no illusions that the Taiwanese people will bow to pressure,” Tsai said.

“We will continue to bolster our national defense and demonstrate our determination to defend ourselves in order to ensure that nobody can force Taiwan to take the path China has laid out for us,” she said.

“This is because the path that China has laid out offers neither a free and democratic way of life for Taiwan, nor sovereignty for our 23 million people.”

‘Unification of the Motherland’

Tsai’s speech came a day after Xi told a conference on the 1911 revolution that toppled the Qing Dynasty and led to the Republic of China under Sun Yat-sen, that he was determined to bring Taiwan under Chinese control.

“The historical task of complete unification of the Motherland must necessarily be realized … without fail,” Xi said, accusing “Taiwan independence forces” of trying to undermine the process.

Taiwan operates as a self-governing state using the Republic of China name, celebrating National Day on Oct. 10. Recent opinion polls continue to show that its 23 million people have no wish to be forced to “unify” with China under the CCP.

Tsai’s speech was backed up with a show of military strength, a flypast of 12 choppers, fighter planes and bombers, an aerobatic display by the Thunder Tigers, and two huge Republic of China flags carried over the presidential palace by a CH-47 Chinook helicopter.

The parade also wheeled out Taiwan’s homegrown Hsiung Feng III, Hsiung Feng II anti-ship missiles, and Tien Kung III surface-to-air missiles, along with Tien Chien II Surface-to-Air missiles mounted on military trucks.

Authorities in Hong Kong, which has been placed under close political and ideological control by the CCP following the 2019 protest movement, have effectively banned any celebration of democratic Taiwan’s Oct. 10 National Day, a custom with a strong minority following in the city.

Double Tenth warning

Secretary for security Chris Tang warned last month that celebrating the Double Tenth could constitute support for Taiwanese independence — a crime under a draconian national security law imposed on the city by the CCP from July 1, 2020, and at least one restaurant canceled bookings for a planned gathering on Sunday, the Hong Kong Free Press reported.

The “Double Tenth” anniversary marks the beginning of the revolution led by nationalist leader Sun Yat-sen that toppled the last Qing dynasty (1644-1911) emperor, and is marked in mainland China in a fairly low-key manner, with Oct. 1 celebrated as National Day marking the proclamation of the People’s Republic of China by Mao Zedong in 1949.

Hong Kong has long been home to a community of supporters of the Kuomintang, which is currently Taiwan’s opposition party, but which founded the 1911 Republic of China and took it to Taiwan after losing the civil war to Mao Zedong’s communists in China.

Conflict between KMT supporters and Hong Kong communists led to the Double Tenth Riots of 1956 in Tsuen Wan and Kowloon, in which dozens of people were killed.

Security personnel cordoned off the Red House in Tuen Mun, which once formed a base for anti-Qing activities in Hong Kong, barring anyone from entering the public gardens, according to social media posts.

China’s Kuomintang (KMT) nationalist government under Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek relocated to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war to Mao Zedong’s communists on the mainland.

The island began a transition to democracy following the death of Chiang’s son, President Chiang Ching-kuo, in January 1988, starting with direct elections to the legislature in the early 1990s and culminating in the first direct election of a president, Lee Teng-hui, in 1996.

Beijing has threatened to invade if Taiwan seeks formal statehood.

Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.