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Hundreds of Chinese government analysts worked nonstop for months studying every detail on President Trump in preparation for his state visit to China this week.
The information gathered includes hundreds of details about the president to be fed to reports for Chinese supreme leader Xi Jinping who will hold talks with Trump for his first visit to China as president. Continue reading
Something to keep an eye on in Red China is the reaction of an already supressed population under Communism. The suicide bombing is a new phenomenon that could also become the norm when the opressive clamp of a dictatorship on every facet of day-to-day life is tightened even more.
This much is known: last Thursday, at the start of business hours in Qiaojia county, in the remote northeastern corner of China’s Yunnan province, someone walked to the front door of a local government office and blew themself up.
The other facts of the case – such as who the bomber was and why they did it – remain hotly disputed a week after the bombing, which shocked China and left four people dead and 16 others injured.
As the official story shifts, and new bombers and motives are found, the already battered reputation of China’s justice system is emerging as another casualty. Some blame it some for causing the sense of desperation that inspired the bombing in Qiaojia. Others accuse it subsequently of trying and failing to cover up what really happened there.
Initial news reports distributed over the official Xinhua newswire were tragic to read. Quoting from local newspapers that had spoken to eyewitnesses, Xinhua reported that a woman had detonated the explosives outside the office, which was handling compensation payments for local residents whose homes were slated for demolition. Other reports, quoting local villagers, suggested the woman’s home was about to be knocked down to make way for a hydroelectric power station. Some said she had a 15-month-old baby strapped to her when the bomb went off.
The worst part about the story was that it was believable. Suicide bombings are very rare in China, but if there’s anything that might drive a Chinese citizen to such a rash action, it could be the relentless effort of local governments to force poorer citizens out of their homes and land so the property can be used for other purposes. Forced evictions have bred a string of appalling stories in China in recent years, including that of a 70-year-old grandmother beaten and then buried alive by bulldozers in 2010 after she refused leave her home that had been slated for demolition.
China’s justice system favours the rich and the connected, meaning acts of desperation are sometimes all that’s left. On May 4, a man in another land dispute set his motorcycle on fire outside the same office in Qiaojia where the bombing occurred six days later. Last month, police there beat another man to death for opposing the demolition of his home.
A suicide bombing, however, was a new level, one that risked setting a dangerous new precedent for such disputes.
As a result, many in China smelled a diversion when the Yunnan government declared the day after the bombing that the initial reports had been wrong. The suicide bomber, they said, was not a woman carrying a child, but another of the four people killed in the blast, a 26-year-old man named Zhao Dengyong, a motorcycle-taxi driver who had no known dispute with the property office. Producing angry quotes from messages Mr. Zhao had allegedly sent to a friend via an online service, police said the bombing had been the work of someone who had been angry at society as a whole, not the local government.
“Society has become so much crueler, it is pressing me to revolt. I do not know how many people I will kill if I become really sick of my current situation,” read the police transcript of Mr. Zhao’s alleged conversation in 2009.
By Monday, the head of Yunnan’s Public Security Bureau, Yang Chaobang was publicly declaring the case closed, even though police had yet to identify even what type of explosive had been used in the blast. “I will stake my reputation and career on it: Zhao Dengyong is the suspect in the case,” Mr. Yang told a press conference. “As to whether there were other people involved, police are still investigating.”
And that’s when many Chinese, including someone within the justice system, began to question what was going on in Yunnan. “As a legal professional, this kind of talk should either seldom be spoken, or not spoken at all,” someone wrote in a public response to Mr. Yang, using the official Weibo (a Chinese Twitter-like service) account of the prosecutor’s office in the city of Shaoxing, in faraway Zhejiang province. “Proving whether or not someone is guilty of a crime depends of proof. A question: Can your reputation and future be used as proof?”
Full article: Mysterious suicide bomb raises suspicion in China (The Globe & Mail)
Amidst the alleged coup that took place in China, here is a quick list of who’s who in today’s Chinese movers and shakers (click link for pictures):
Hu Jintao
Current paramount leader of Chinese Communist Party.
Promoted for persecution in Tibet.
To be replaced by Xi Jinping.
Allied with Premier Wen Jiabao.Wen Jiabao
Premier
Argued against Bo Xilai’s promotion to vice premier during 17th Congress.
Wants to reform CCP.Xi Jinping
Next Chairman, current VP, vice chair Central Military Commission
Unaligned, tolerated by both factions but was possible target for overthrow by Bo Xilai and Zhou Yongkang.Wang Lijun
Former Head of Chongqing Municipal Public Security Bureau
Attempted to defect while at the U.S. Consulate Feb. 6.
Rumored to have betrayed Bo to Hu-Wen faction, possibly leading to Bo’s arrest.Jiang Zemin
Former leader of communist party
Is said to be the real No. 2 of the Standing Committee. Helped further Bo Xilai’s political career.Zhou Yongkang
Secretary of Political and Legislative Affairs Committee.
Rumored to have been recently purged. Hard-liner and ally of Jiang; rose through persecuting Falun Gong.Bo Xilai
Former Chongqing party secretary
Ally of Zhou and Jiang, once a possibility for Standing Committee, recently purged and arrested. Rose through persecuting Falun Gong.
Full article: Major Players in Beijing Power Struggle (Epoch Times)
Global Geopolitics 