Latest Articles about Domestic/Social
Kyrgyz Government Reduces Rights of Religious Groups
On November 5 the Kyrgyz parliament agreed to increase the number of members required to register religious organizations from 10 to 200. According to the ruling Ak Zhol party, such measures were necessary to restrict the spread of religious extremism in the country and modify... MORE
Is Yushchenko’s Top Aide Backing Ruthenian Separatist Movement?
The leaders of Subcarpathian Ruthenians (pidkarpatski rusyny) have urged Kyiv to grant autonomous status to their native area, Ukraine’s westernmost Transcarpathian Region. There was no official reaction from the Ukrainian government, but several parties accused them of separatism; and a criminal investigation has been launched.... MORE
Hu’s New Deal and the Third Plenary Session of CCP’s 17th Central Committee
The just-concluded Third Plenary Session of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) 17th Central Committee has pledged a "new deal" with Chinese characteristics for the country’s 730 million-odd farmers through boosting their “material benefits and democratic rights.” The plenum communiqué promised that the party would raise... MORE
The Hu-Wen Leadership Battles “Warlords” over Economic Policies and Bureaucratic Reform
For the Hu Jintao-Wen Jiabao leadership, the party is pretty much over. After the coming-out extravaganza of the Beijing Olympics, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) hoped to extend the festive mood through to late September for the launch of the country’s third manned space flight,... MORE
Media Control and the Erosion of an Accountable Party-State in China
In recent weeks, a scandal of international proportions involving the consumption of tainted Chinese milk has emerged beginning with the Sanlu Group extending out to include 22 producers of baby formula—among them China’s major dairy companies Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group and Mengniu Dairy Company—impacted... MORE
Milk Powder Scandal Exposes China’s Worsening Administrative Malaise
China’s formidable state machinery was able to stage the largest Olympics in history and to have a “Taikonaut” perform a 20-minute “spacewalk” last week. Yet the world-scale scandal emanating from contaminated milk products has exposed the worsening malaise in the country’s political and administrative structure.... MORE
Beijing’s Post Olympic Shakedown in Xinjiang and Tibet
While the catchwords and slogans of the just-ended Beijing Olympics trumpeted “harmony” and “One World, One Dream,” the traditionally tense relations between Han Chinese and ethnic minorities – particularly Uyghurs and Tibetans – could worsen significantly in the foreseeable future. Four quasi-terrorist attacks in the... MORE
CCP Launches Personnel Reform to Stem “Mass Incidents”
While political reform is off the agenda, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has taken some visible steps toward improving the quality of its cadres in light of the large number of unexpected and near-disastrous “mass incidents” in this critical Olympic year. For example, the low... MORE
Beijing Revives Mao’s “People’s Warfare” to Ensure Trouble Free Olympics
Hardly anybody still believes that the Beijing Olympics will have the same kind of globalizing and liberalizing effect on Chinese politics that the 1988 Seoul Olympics had on the democratic development of South Korea. Yet even fewer expected the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) authorities to... MORE
The CCP Strengthens Control over the Judiciary
Chinese President Hu Jintao’s administration has boosted the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) control over the judiciary, a move designed to enhance Beijing’s ability to maintain stability and to crack down on dissent. More powers have been given to the party’s Central Political and Legal Affairs... MORE