The concurrent visits to China of the Middle East antagonists created some diplomatic awkwardness. Although the official Chinese Communist Party newspaper Global Times suggested the two might hold an impromptu meeting, Netanyahu’s itinerary apparently was arranged to avoid that possibility.

“Abu Mazen is in Beijing,” said an Israeli official who requested anonymity, using Abbas’ nickname. “They didn’t want to meet on the same ground.”

Netanyahu’s visit is the first by an Israeli leader since 2007, and Demick notes that he paid tribute to a neighborhood where thousands of Jews found shelter after fleeing Nazi Germany. He planned to meet Chinese prime minister Li Keqiang in Beijing on Wednesday, after Abbas had already departed the country.

Netanyahu’s visit also comes in the wake of an attack on Syrian military targets over the weekend, strikes that were reportedly carried out by Israeli forces. On Monday, A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman condemned the strikes without calling out Israel by name. From CNN:

“We oppose the use of weapons. We believe the sovereignty of any country should be respected,” said Hua Chunying, China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman on Monday, responding to reports that Israel carried out airstrikes against its neighbor Syria last weekend.

“China calls upon relevant parties to bear in mind peace and stability of the region, to exercise restraint and refrain from any actions that may escalate the tension,” she added.

Bloomberg reports that during his tour of a local synagogue in Shanghai, Netaynahu refrained from mentioning Syria but reiterated Israel’s right to self-defense:

“Today we have a state of our own, an army of our own,” Netanyahu said at the Ohel Moishe Synagogue, which once served 30,000 Jewish refugees who found shelter in the city during the war. “We need not beg to be saved. We can defend ourselves.”

© Scott Greene for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Benjamin Netanyahu, israel, Li Keqiang, middle east, Palestine, Syria, Xi Jinping
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Prime Minister Li Keqiang at the site of the Sichuan earthquake. (CCTV)

Sichuan Earthquake: At least 188 are dead and over 11,000 injured after Saturday morning’s 7.0-magnitude earthquake, which struck Lushan County in the mountainous southwestern province of Sichuan.

• Fan Jiyue (范继跃): Lushan County Party Secretary Fan Jiyue was seen inspecting the disaster zone with Prime Minister Li Keqiang [zh]. Savvy netizens, quick to catch signs of luxurious lifestyles in these photo opportunities, noticed Fan’s distinct watch tan, then dug up older photos of him wearing a watch on the same arm. Fan is likely hoping to avoid the ridicule which drove Watch Brother out of office last fall. Netizens are calling Fan the “clever county Party secretary” (机智的县委书记) and “Taking-off Watch Brother” (脱表哥).
• Lushan County Party Secretary (芦山县委书记)
• Li Keqiang+put on a show (李克强+作秀): Li Keqiang was photographed yesterday eating a simple breakfast in a tent near the epicenter of the earthquake [zh]. Bedraggled from a busy night, he repeatedly emphasized to reporters that saving lives is his “number-one” priority right now.” Former prime minister Wen Jiabao was notorious for acting like this to demonstrate his concern for victims of natural and man-made disasters earning him the nickname “movie star.”
• prime minister+movie star (总理+影帝)
• Three Gorges+Sichuan earthquake (三峡+四川地震): Many people believe the Three Gorges Dam is to blame for the severe earthquakes which struck Sichuan this weekend and in 2008. Geologist Yang Yang, quoted in the Financial Times, says that this is a possibility, but that it is too soon to tell.

Alternate Renderings of Xi Jinping (习近平 Xí Jìnpíng): All based on sound.
• West Gold-peace (西金平 Xī Jīnpíng)
• Western Jin Peace (西晋平 Xī Jìn Píng): The Western Jin Dynasty ruled from 265-420 CE.
• Fully-washed Peace (洗尽平 Xǐ Jìn Píng)
• Whistle-clean Peace (洗净平 Xǐjìng Píng)
• Wash into Bottle (洗进瓶 Xǐ Jìn Píng)
• Sikkim Bottle (锡金瓶 Xījīn Píng)

All Chinese-language words are tested using simplified characters. The same terms in traditional characters occasionally return different results.

Browse all of CDT’s collected sensitive words in this bilingual Google spreadsheet.

CDT Chinese runs a project that crowd-sources filtered keywords on Sina Weibo search. CDT independently tests the keywords before posting them, but some searches later become accessible again. We welcome readers to contribute to this project so that we can include the most up-to-date information. To add words, check out the form at the bottom of CDT Chinese’s latest sensitive words post.

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 2013 Sichuan earthquake, censorship, earthquakes, Fan Jiyue, Internet censorship, Li Keqiang, Ministry of Truth, natural disasters, Sensitive Words Series, Sichuan, Three Gorges Dam, weibo, Wen Jiabao
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The death toll climbed steeply to as high as 72 by early afternoon, as premier Li Keqiang and over 2,000 soldiers scrambled to the quake zone. From Jane Perlez and Chris Buckley at The New York Times:

The state-run news agency, Xinhua, said there were “serious collapses” of homes, with many old houses in Lushan destroyed. The Sichuan news service said that an official there said many people had been trapped in the collapsed homes.

[…] The memories of the devastating earthquake in May 2008 in which poorly constructed school buildings collapsed and killed thousands of students caused extra nervousness that Saturday’s quake would result in a much higher number of fatalities.

The earthquake in 2008 prompted a massive official relief effort, and a passionate outpouring of volunteer help. But some quake-stricken residents and observers faulted the government for putting rescue efforts in the wrong places, or failing to muster the equipment needed to lift victims from under slaps of concrete and brick. Instead, many troops and rescuers clambered over the rubble with sticks and spades. This time, the government appears intent on avoiding any accusations of laggardness, even if the quake is less destructive than the one in 2008.

An uncomfortable echo of the school collapses in 2008 appeared on Sina Weibo, in a photograph purportedly showing a kindergarten destroyed by Saturday’s quake:

A picture showing kindergarten shattered in Lushan County, Ya’an City, Sichuan Province. twitter.com/Edourdoo/statu…

— edde (@Edourdoo) April 20, 2013

The disaster took place on the Longmenshan fault, source of the 2008 earthquake. From the U.S. Geological Survey:

Four events of Mw6.0 or greater have occurred within 200km of the April [20] event in the past 40 years, including the May 2008 Sichuan earthquake and a subsequent aftershock. The northwestern margin of the Sichuan Basin has previously experienced destructive earthquakes. The magnitude 7.5 earthquake of August 25, 1933, killed more than 9,300 people, while the May 12, 2008 killed 69,197.

Tea Leaf Nation’s Liz Carter watched as news of the quake spread on Sina Weibo, where local reporter Chen Ying won acclaim for abandoning her wedding to cover the disaster, still in her white dress.

Some users commented on official updates to add information. “The earthquake was felt in Guizhou,” wrote one. Another added, “I was sleeping in Changsha [Hunan province]; it woke me up.” Others simply offered prayers for the safety of those affected. Even Xinhua’s official Weibo presence extended a heartfelt wish: “We pray together for the safety of those in the disaster area.”

[…] Ran Wang, an investor and businessman, posted his own hopes for the aftermath:

Hopes for the Ya’an Earthquake: 1) Rescue efforts are timely and orderly, keeping deaths and injuries as low as possible 2) media are permitted to report freely, and there is no censorship, cover-ups, or control, the rights of the people and society to be informed during natural disasters is respected; 3) NGOs are allowed to actively help in accordance with clear regulations and under third-party supervision, official charity organizations are not given the opportunity to steal money.

© Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 2008 Sichuan earthquake, 2013 Sichuan earthquake, earthquakes, Li Keqiang, natural disasters, Sichuan
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Its formal completion follows intense behind-the-scenes negotiations and came on the last day of Ms Gillard’s five-day visit to China in a ceremony in the Great Hall of the People on Tiananmen Square.

…

It is understood the push to establish a strategic partnership, a long-held Australian ambition, was accelerated last year by Ms Gillard who believed the looming change in China’s leadership from then president Hu Jintao and prime minister Wen Jiabao, to Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang respectively, presented a new opportunity.

After writing to Mr Hu last April, she dispatched one of Australia’s most senior bureaucrats, Dennis Richardson, to Beijing to build the case.

Gillard formally announced the annual talks after meeting new Chinese premier Li Keqiang in Beijing on Wednesday, the last stop on her “charm offensive” meant to promote broader ties with Australia’s largest trading partner. With the agreement, Australia has locked in face-to-face gatherings between Australia’s prime minister, treasurer, foreign minister and their Chinese counterparts.

John Garnaut of The Sydney Morning Herald ticked through the various other agreements reached between the two sides – including direct trading of the Chinese yuan, a pact on climate change, and even a defense strategy – and applauded the outcome of Gillard’s visit:

Julia Gillard has not been known as an international stateswoman and nor is she a Sinophile but on Tuesday she ended years of leadership neglect and policy confusion to put the China relationship on track.

Which is just as well.

These days China not only underwrites the Australian economy, it sits at or near the centre of all the global challenges that matter to us most.

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Post tags: Australia relations, climate change, foreign policy, Julia Gillard, Li Keqiang
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“Political reforms didn’t stop under Hu [Jintao] and Wen [Jiabao] – they went backwards. So just like when people started talking about the Hu-Wen ‘new deal’ in 2003, now we start to talk about the Xi-Li ‘new deal’, it’s just wishful thinking.”

[…] Asked what he would say to Mr Obama, if he ever got the chance, Mr Chen said that ignoring China’s record on human rights was undermining America’s standing in the world.

“I would tell Mr Obama there is no small matter in international diplomacy. If an agreement between the US and China can’t be fulfilled, then US credibility as the standard bearer of universal values, freedom and democracy will be jeopardised.”

In op-ed at The Washington Post, Chen and Geng He, wife of vanished rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, urge the White House to push for an end to persecution of activists, lawyers and their families in China:

Our stories are flip sides of the same coin. Geng He sought asylum in the United States after Chinese authorities detained and brutally tortured her husband, the rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng. Chen Guangcheng, a legal activist, was a prisoner of conscience for many years before escaping house arrest last spring. Now in America, he is studying at New York University and advocating on behalf of his relatives, who continue to endure persecution in China because of his activism.

While our stories are different, the theme is the same: The Chinese government targets rights advocates and their families.

[…] Our stories are just two examples of Chinese authorities acting with impunity and complete disregard for the rule of law. But the attacks on our families are especially worrisome because they show that the government targets not only activists and their families but also the lawyers who have an ethical obligation to defend their clients’ rights against government abuses. Gao once said that you cannot be a rights lawyer in China without becoming a rights case yourself. And when these essential advocates and their families are targeted by the government, the international community must speak out on their behalf.

© Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: asylum, Barack Obama, Chen Guangcheng, Gao Zhisheng, Hu Jintao, Li Keqiang, reform, rights lawyers, rule of law, Wen Jiabao, Xi Jinping
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Kunming PX Plant: A p-Xylene (PX) and purified terephthalic acid (PTA) processing plant is planned for the Anning Industrial Park [zh]. Anning County is located within Kunming Prefecture, Yunnan Province. Plans to build PX plants have been thwarted by concerned citizens throughout China over the past few years, notably in 2007 in Wuxi and last fall in Ningbo.

Clockwise from top right: Mao Zedong, Hu Jintao, Deng Xiaoping, and Jiang Zemin. (artist unknown)

• Anning+PX (安宁+PX)
• Kunming+PX (昆明+PX)
• boycott PX (抵制PX)

Xi Jinping:
• boss Xi (习boss)
• Xi+Peng (习+彭): Xi Jinping and his wife, Peng Liyuan
• Xi+first lady (习+国母)
• Xi+fake (习+假): We are unsure why this is blocked. Reader tips welcome.
• Xi+king (习+王): As in “Crown Prince Xi” (习王储), etc.
• Xi+Jiang (习+江): Xi Jinping and Jiang Zemin
• Xi+Li (习+李): Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang
• Xi+chief (习+总)

Other:
• hu+wen: Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao.
• nine presidents (九总统): Refers to the nine members of the outgoing Politburo Standing Committee (PSC); the number of PSC members has been reduced to seven.

In addition, the terms below have been blocked from Sina Weibo search results as of March 22:

• Huangpu River+dead pigs (黄浦江+死猪): Over 15,000 pig carcasses have been fished out of the Huangpu, the source of more than 20% of Shanghai’s water.
• Peng Liyuan+similar items (彭丽媛+同款): Netizens chatted eagerly about the overcoat Peng wore on her first trip as first lady. “Similar terms” is a search term on the shopping site Taobao; sellers listed her coat, complete with photos of her on the tarmac in Moscow [zh].
• first lady+similar items (第一夫人+同款)
• Auntie Peng (彭阿姨)
• Mrs. Xi (习夫人): retested
• Xi+old (习+老): As in Elder Brother Xi (习老大) Boss Xi (习老板), etc.
• Jiang faction (江派): Party leaders with allegiance to Jiang Zemin, such as Xi.

All Chinese-language words are tested using simplified characters. The same terms in traditional characters occasionally return different results.

Browse all of CDT’s collected sensitive words in this bilingual Google spreadsheet.

CDT Chinese runs a project that crowd-sources filtered keywords on Sina Weibo search. CDT independently tests the keywords before posting them, but some searches later become accessible again. We welcome readers to contribute to this project so that we can include the most up-to-date information. To add words, check out the form at the bottom of CDT Chinese’s latest sensitive words posts (March 24 and March 22).

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Anning, censorship, Hu Jintao, Internet censorship, Jiang Zemin, Kunming, Kunming PX, Li Keqiang, Ministry of Truth, Peng Liyuan, PX, Sensitive Words Series, weibo, Wen Jiabao, Xi Jinping, Yunnan
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Not unlike Deng’s return to power, China’s new leaders, largely ‘princelings’ whose formative experience was the Cultural Revolution– in which many of them first participated in and soon became victims of—take the reins of power at a time when China is facing enormous challenges. Compared with their nine predecessors, the seven men who now serve atop the CCP’s Politburo Standing Committee (PSC) are older, less-scientific, more conservative, and heavily weighted towards the Shanghai faction in China’s elite politics that is often associated with former President Jiang Zemin, who boldly reasserted himself into Communist Party decision-making in the months preceding the unveiling of the PSC members. Additionally, the PSC’s first-among-equals, Xi Jinping, appears to be far more charismatic than the man he replaces, a much welcome change for China followers both inside and outside the country.

The new leadership faces a host of pressing challenges, including: an increasingly politically conscious and activist public, armed with far more information than their parents thanks to new social media platforms; a slowing economy suffering from growing debt, weak global demand, official corruption, low domestic consumption, rising labor costs, and over centralization that is largely the result of too-big-to-fail but too-politically-powerful to easily break-up State-Owned Enterprises (SEO); and increasingly strained relationships with China’s neighbors and the United States.

For the Sydney Morning Herald, John Garnaut reports that Xi is in a strong position to lead the Party to overcome an ideological divide which was thrust into the public spotlight during the purge of Bo Xilai and to implement real change:

The new administration has ”corrected” the party’s course at its ”critical moment of life and death”, said one party stalwart, Hu Muying, at a recent spring festival gathering of children of revolutionary leaders. ”There is hope in the snake year now the party leadership has shown us the content and direction of socialism with Chinese characteristics.”

”Deng’s success was, after all, the result of his close relations with so many groups in the leadership and the party rather than any inflexible ideological or intellectual position,” says David Goodman, author of Deng Xiaoping and the Chinese Revolution.

He says Xi could have the makings of China’s strongest leader since Deng Xiaoping.

But unlike in Deng’s time, says Goodman, there is no consensus on how to move forward and Xi risks being trapped by the disparate groups that brought him to power.

Premier Li Keqiang has also spoken out in favor of reforms that would address a number of issues generating public anger and threatening the legitimacy of the Party. In a lengthy profile of Li, Caixin looks at how his journey up the ranks from Henan Provincial Governor may influence his leadership now, especially on economic issues:

Now heading the cabinet, Li faces many tough issues, namely that the pace of reforms to public hospitals is slow and welfare housing lacks a national system. There is still no diversified competition in the medical industry. Urbanization, the center of Li’s governance strategy, is still facing old problems regarding land, household registration and social welfare.

More importantly, in today’s China, economic development is increasingly determined by the comprehensive progress of reforms. Many ask how far can an “economic cabinet” go when facing entrenched interests and power structures without political reform.

Some argue that the Chinese market economy, benefitting from 30 years of reform and opening, is finally beginning to take shape and now is the time for action.

It would seem Li agrees. In a recent interview, he told People’s Daily: “Those who refuse to reform may not make mistakes, but they will be blamed for not assuming their historical responsibility.”

But Andrew Nathan of Columbia University cast doubt on Xi and Li’s rhetoric. From ChinaFile:

Why can’t the Party really root out corruption? Excuse me for being simple-minded, but doesn’t an effective attack on corruption require independent prosecutors and courts, and a free press? An authoritarian regime generates temptations for its all-powerful officials at every level to abuse power faster than its internal supervision mechanisms can catch the abusers. And a secret, internal self-policing process is irremediably infected with political and personal favoritism. The opportunity to exercise uninhibited power, or to get in bed with those who do, is one of the chief attractions of the system for its members and supporters—not a threat to its power but actually one of the mechanisms it uses to stay in power.

If the leaders keep saying one thing and doing another, that’s PR, not policy. Some people continue to buy it.

See also a Reuters video which questions whether the new administration is up to the task of reforming the economy:

For more on this topic, see: “Xi Jinping Should Expand Deng Xiaoping’s Reforms” by Zhou Ruijin on ChinaFile, and “China Gets a New Cabinet” from the Wall Street Journal, which looks at changes in government leadership at the ministerial level.

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: corruption, environmental degradation, Li Keqiang, NPC 2013, political reform, wealth gap, Xi Jinping
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“It was clear from the discussions that China has made a serious commitment to their reform agenda. The challenge will be to drive forward toward material progress,” Lew told reporters shortly before heading back to Washington.

On economic reforms, Lew said the dominant theme “was what can be done to generate more domestic demand and more growth.”

Keqiang told Lew that Sino-U.S. relations should establish “a new form of thinking” and that both sides should use a “strategic, global and long-term vision to view each other,” according to a Chinese government website.

The Wall Street Journal reported that while the meetings did not produce any breakthroughs on issues such as the exchange rate and cyber security, Mr. Lew’s decision to make China his first international trip as Treasury Secretary underscored the importance the U.S. places on Sino-U.S. relations:

It’s far from clear Mr. Lew made much headway. China’s premier argued that China was also the subject of cyberattacks, a U.S. official said. Mr. Lew countered that the cyberattacks on China and the U.S. weren’t equivalent, because state-sponsored entities were involved in the attacks on U.S. firms and the goal was to gain a commercial edge.

The Treasury secretary, addressing a long-standing controversy between the two countries, urged Chinese officials to allow their currency, the yuan, to rise and fall according to market forces.

“China’s exchange rate should be market-determined,” Mr. Lew said in the briefing. “That’s in our interest and China’s interest.”

Mr. Lew also made clear he thought the yuan should rise further, the U.S. official said—a view with which Chinese officials and some Chinese economists disagree.

If anything, according to The Wall Street Journal’s China Real Time Report, Lew’s Tuesday lunch tab at a Beijing dumpling house may have stolen the show:

Total outlay for Mr. Lew and two of his Treasury colleagues: 109 yuan, or around $17.50.

While the Treasury secretary no doubt has eaten his fair share of richly priced meals, his cheap lunch in Beijing earned no shortage of applause – along with a few raised eyebrows – on China’s top Twitter-like microblogging platform, Sina Weibo.

“One meal, 109 yuan. What emotion are you trying to evoke in our celestial officials?” wrote one sarcastic Sina Weibo user, attaching a photo that purported to show the bill from the meal. “Mr. Treasury secretary, aren’t you afraid of our gutter oil? You’re very brave! Our officials never eat in such places.”

News of Mr. Lew’s modest meal comes amidst a Communist Party crackdown on outward evidence of the opulent lives led by Chinese officials – part of a larger anticorruption drive aimed at bolstering the party’s scandal-scarred reputation. Mr. Xi has led the charge, coining a new catchphrase for bureaucratic austerity when he and his entourage ate a modest meal of four dishes and a soup while visiting a rural county outside Beijing in December.

Lew’s meal choice echoes the famous frugality of U.S. ambassador Gary Locke.

© Scott Greene for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Beijing, cybersecurity, dumplings, exchange rate, Gary Locke, Jacob Lew, Li Keqiang, Xi Jinping
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The rare interview with one of the world’s most powerful men seems newsworthy, but besides a brief mention in the Christian Science Monitor, I couldn’t find any major Western news outlet that picked up on his remarks. Even English-language Chinese media outlets (see here, here, and here) focused their coverage on the fact that Xi Jinping was giving an interview to foreign media before his trip, not on the newsworthiness of anything he said during the meeting. The Chinese-language edition of China’s Foreign Ministry website and a few other Chinese news outlets were the only places where I found a full transcript of the interview, or anything even like it. After reading it, it’s not hard to see why.

[…] On Sunday, many of Beijing’s foreign correspondents attended a press conference held by Li Keqiang, China’s new prime minister. (The New York Times wasn’t invited.) Peter Ford, the Christian Science Monitor’s Beijing bureau chief, and the president of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China (an organization in which I was a board member in 2011) also attended. Ford writes in his newspaper that Li “seemed confident and relaxed, but like his predecessors, he answered only questions that journalists had submitted in advance, and that his press office had approved. At Chinese press conferences you learn which topics the government thinks are important and what message it wants to transmit to the citizenry from the questions that the authorities allow. But you don’t get much fresh information from the answers.”

© Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Brazil, BRICS, FCCC, leadership, Li Keqiang, media access, media conditions, news media, Russia, soccer, Xi Jinping
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When the new leadership’s ministerial appointments were announced last weekend, Zhou retained his post, to the disappointment of those concerned about the environment. The public questioned why a minister with no achievements should remain in power.

When, on March 16, almost 3,000 representatives to the National People’s Congress voted on 25 ministerial appointments, Zhou received the lowest number of supporting votes, showing the level of discontent with his work.

The news was also met with catcalls from the public. Musician Zhao Tianming asked on his microblog if anyone knew what the minister’s achievements were. The vast majority of the 4,000-odd netizens who forwarded and commented on his message did not. One asked if the fact that one river was full of pigs and others had dried up; and the towns covered in smog and millions suffering from dust-related lung diseases could be classed as ministerial feats.

Liu does credit new premier Li Keqiang with some encouraging rhetoric and past achievements. But a campaigner quoted by Jonathan Kaiman at The Guardian argued that, in any case, the problem does not lie at the top of the political pyramid:

Ma Tianjie, the head of toxics campaign at Greenpeace East Asia, said that despite the lack of concrete anti-pollution action at the congress, bold environmental legislation may yet emerge over the next five years as new leaders acclimate to their roles and cement their alliances.

“Because they’re changing a lot of positions at the top, they have been a bit cautious in revealing their agenda,” he said. “The problem is not that the top doesn’t get it – they have got it for a while now. The problem is with lower level authorities, whether they can translate that kind of top-level consciousness to actual actions on the ground.”

© Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: environment, environmental policy, environmental protection, greenpeace, Li Keqiang, National People's Congress, Pan Yue, pollution
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“Corruption and the reputation of our government are as incompatible as fire and water,” Mr. Li told reporters at the Great Hall of the People.

Speaking on the final day of the legislative session that installed a new generation of leaders, Mr. Li vowed to ease impediments to private investment, rein in the powerful interests that dominate large sectors of the economy and scale back an unwieldy, intrusive bureaucracy that he acknowledged often frustrated entrepreneurs and citizens.

The new government, led by President Xi Jinping and the Communist Party’s Politburo Standing Committee, will impose a moratorium on the construction of government buildings and reduce spending on official vehicles, public meetings and overseas travel, Mr. Li said. The government’s sprawling work force, he warned, would be trimmed to increase spending on social welfare.

“Reforming is about curbing government power,” he said in his opening remarks, which were broadcast live on television. “It is a self-imposed revolution that will require real sacrifice, and it will be painful.”

Specifically, Li mentioned the problems that accompany China’s rapid urbanization, according to the South China Morning Post:

“Urbanisation will usher in a huge amount of consumption and investment demand, increase job opportunities, create wealth for farmers and bring benefits to the people,” said Li, who began exploring the topic as a doctoral student at Peking University.

But he also cautioned that it was also a “complex systemic project” that must be bolstered with various reforms.

In carrying out the project, the government would have to consider the different stages of development between cities and regions, he said.

“Urbanisation is not about building big, sprawling cities,” he said. “We should aim to avoid the typical urban malady where skyscrapers coexist with shanty towns.”

Li also discussed ways to free up the market in China to allow businesses more leeway to operate. From the Wall Street Journal:

The 57-year-old Mr. Li also said the government should give markets greater room to operate, including allowing private businesses to compete on an equal footing with state-owned enterprises. In finance, the market would play a greater role in setting interest rates and the exchange rate, and companies would have greater access to funding through the bond and equity markets, he said.

“Talking the talk is not as good as walking the walk,” he said. “We need to pursue market-oriented reforms.”

The premier’s annual news conference is the only time the Chinese public gets to see the leader who steers the world’s second largest economy being quizzed by the media, even if the questions and answers are mostly scripted.

Mr. Wen had sought to portray an avuncular man-of-the-people image, although he had a somewhat stiff manner on the podium. Mr. Li has a more informal style, and a down-to-earth delivery that resonated on China’s social networks, where many noted his absence of official airs.

Some observers have noted that Li’s targets for reform are less ambitious, but more specific, than those of his predecessor, Wen Jiabao. From the Financial Times:

The key question is not whether a Chinese leader is a reformer – but rather what kind of reformer he or she is.

The contrast between Mr Li’s programme and that of Wen Jiabao, his predecessor, is illuminating. Mr Li’s agenda, which he outlined at the end of China’s annual parliament on Sunday, is more limited and more singular in its focus on economics. It also appears to be more concrete and therefore more achievable.

Overall, Li’s style is more direct and less florid than Wen Jiabao’s, and received mixed reviews, according to the South China Morning Post:

The performance gained Li mixed reviews among critics and internet users, with some saying that they preferred his down-to-earth manner to Wen’s more florid style, while others said Li’s remarks were “flat” and avoided touching on sensitive issues.

Li kicked off the two-hour press conference by vowing that he would remain loyal to the constitution.

He also did not recite any classical Chinese works, which Wen often referenced to describe his personal feelings.

The most notable remark by Li in summing up his philosophy was: “Follow the great way, put the people first and benefit everyone.” It is a line he said he has learned through life experience.

Read also:
“Profile: Li Keqiang: a reform-minded premier” from Xinhua and “Li sets out strategic mission for next 5 years” from China Daily.

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: economic reform, high-level corruption, Li Keqiang, political reform, wealth gap
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The new leadership has stressed it will make a priority of social spending and other measures to spread prosperity more evenly and narrow a politically volatile gap between China’s wealthy elite and poor majority, as well combat endemic corruption that has angered the public.

“In face of the mighty trend of the times and earnest expectations of the people for a better life, we cannot have the slightest complacency, or get the slightest slack at work,” Xi told the nearly 3,000 delegates at the congress’ closing ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in the heart of Beijing.

“We must resolutely reject formalism, bureaucratism, hedonism and extravagance, and resolutely fight against corruption and other misconduct in all manifestations,” Xi said.

Xi, already the country’s overall leader since being named Communist Party general secretary in November, was installed as president during the 13-day session ending Sunday, and the party’s No. 2 leader, Li Keqiang, was named premier.

Premier Li Keqiang held a press conference Sunday, during which he was asked a number of pre-screened questions on a range of topics, including environmental degradation, reform of the re-education through labor system, and U.S.-China relations. Foreign journalists at the event live-tweeted his comments:

Li Keqiang has 3 rules for next 10 yrs. 1. No new govn’t buildings 2. Gov payroll will decrease 3. Entertainment budget will decrease.

— malcolmmoore (@MalcolmMoore) March 17, 2013

Li: no matter how deep the water, we must wade into it. There is no choice. The country’s future depends on it. #reform

— Damien Ma (@damienics) March 17, 2013

Li Keqiang laughs during response to @charleshutzler question: When will China stop hack attacks against the US?

— April Rabkin (@AprilRabkin) March 17, 2013

Li Keqiang breaks into full laughter while responding to hacking question

— April Rabkin (@AprilRabkin) March 17, 2013

Li on environment: it’s no good to be poor in a beautiful environment, nor any good to be well-off and live with environmental degradation

— Mark MacKinnon/马凯 (@markmackinnon) March 17, 2013

China Daily asks Li about time table on re-education through labor reform.

— Eric Fish (@ericfish85) March 17, 2013

Li: Plan on Re-education through labor reform may be unveiled by the end of the year.

— Eric Fish (@ericfish85) March 17, 2013

Journos around me chiding me for bothering to raise my hand. Allegation that I’m contributing to charade this is an actual press conference.

— Mark MacKinnon/马凯 (@markmackinnon) March 17, 2013

NYT has not been invited to Li Keqiang’s inaugural press conference Sunday. I was so looking forward to showing off my new red suede shoes!

— Andrew Jacobs (@AndrewJacobsNYT) March 16, 2013

Interesting – Li Keqiang says he knows many foreign journos didn’t get to ask a question…

— Mark MacKinnon/马凯 (@markmackinnon) March 17, 2013

Nobody asked a question that wasn’t pre-screened RT @ericfish85: Nobody asked how Li’s experience in Henan affected his view on AIDS policy.

— Mark MacKinnon/马凯 (@markmackinnon) March 17, 2013

This is literally true RT @malcolmmoore: Li Keqiang is now putting questions to himself on behalf of the foreign media.

— Tom Lasseter (@TomLasseter) March 17, 2013

Strikes me that Xi and Li were more philosophical this morning than usual, but still steadfastly dull.

— malcolmmoore (@MalcolmMoore) March 17, 2013

Well, show’s over. This was the reform and good governance speech. Li invoked rule of law and transparency more than I expected.

— Damien Ma (@damienics) March 17, 2013

South China Morning Post also posted live updates from the press conference.

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Post tags: CCP 5th generation, Li Keqiang, NPC 2013, political reform, re-education through labor, Xi Jinping
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As of March 15, the following search terms are blocked on Sina Weibo (not including the “search for user” function).

National People’s Congress:

• dissenting vote (反对票): One delegate voted against Xi Jinping in the presidential election, held at the Congress. Global Voices reports on netizen reactions.
• predict + leaders (预测+领导人): see Netizen Voices: At NPC, Nail-Biter of an Election.
• predict + chairman (预测+主席)
• predict + prime minister (预测+总理)
• lifetime achievement award (终身成就奖): A jab at outgoing prime minister Wen Jiabao.
• power + handover (权力+交接)
• Hu-Xi (胡习): Hu Jintao and Xi Jinping
• Xi-Hu (习胡)

Retested:

• Xi-Li (习李): Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang

All Chinese-language words are tested using simplified characters. The same terms in traditional characters occasionally return different results.

Browse all of CDT’s collected sensitive words in this bilingual Google spreadsheet.

CDT Chinese runs a project that crowd-sources filtered keywords on Sina Weibo search. CDT independently tests the keywords before posting them, but some searches later become accessible again. We welcome readers to contribute to this project so that we can include the most up-to-date information. To add words, check out the form at the bottom of CDT Chinese’s latest sensitive words post.

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: censorship, Hu Jintao, Internet censorship, Li Keqiang, Ministry of Truth, NPC 2013, Sensitive Words Series, weibo, Wen Jiabao, Xi Jinping
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As delegates in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing applauded on Friday, Li stood up, bowed and shook hands with Xi Jinping, who was named as China’s new president on Thursday, and his predecessor Wen Jiabao.

Li received 2,940 votes out of 2,949 cast, a 99.69 percent vote share, slightly lower than Xi’s.

“I announce that comrade Li Keqiang has been chosen as premier of the People’s Republic of China,” said Yan Junqi, a vice-chairwoman of the National People’s Congress, China’s parliament.

Li becomes the country’s first premier with an economics doctorate, according to Bloomberg News, “expertise he may need” as China seeks to restructure a growth model that has begun to stumble. Similarly, The Associated Press repots that China’s new top leaders now face a number of internal challenges:

An increasingly vocal Chinese public is expressing impatience with the government’s unfulfilled promises to curb abuses of power by local officials, better police the food supply and clean up the country’s polluted rivers, air and soil.

“What do ordinary people care about? Food safety, and smog if you are in a big city, and official corruption,” said the prominent Chinese author and social commentator Murong Xuecun, the pen name of author Hao Qun. “They just want to have a peaceful, stable and safe life. To have money and food, and live without worry of being tortured, or having their homes forcefully demolished.”

“The entire country is watching for Xi’s next step,” the writer said.

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Post tags: CCP 5th generation, ccp leadership, leadership transition, Li Keqiang, NPC 2013, Xi Jinping
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About 2,200 members of the 12th CPPCC National Committee will discuss major issues including the election of new leaders of the top advisory body and proposals for the coming National People’s Congress (NPC) on Tuesday. They will also review government work reports and hear recommendations for improvement.

“This year’s two sessions have a distinct feature, which is to witness the transition of the top government leaders,” Yun Jie, director of the administration research department at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Sunday, adding that a smooth leadership transition is crucial to China’s future over at least the next five years.

Chi Fulin, director of domestic reform think tank the China (Hainan) Institute for Reform and Development, expects the meetings to shed light on China’s future reforms because NPC deputies and CPPCC members will make proposals to the government on issues concerning people’s livelihoods and state affairs.

Lü Xinhua, a CPPCC spokesman, said 840 proposals had been submitted by members as of Saturday noon. The Global Times found many of the proposals tackle issues including fighting corruption, institutional restructuring and environmental protection, particularly curbing air and water pollution.

While last year’s congress was held amid the breaking scandal involving former Chongqing Party chief Bo Xilai, this year’s congress aims to refocus public attention elsewhere. From the New York Times:

Most analysts agree that the proceedings this year will ignore the plight of Mr. Bo, who is being detained awaiting prosecution on charges of corruption, abuse of power and obstruction of justice.

This year, the party’s new top leaders, Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang, have paved the way for the 13-day session with vows to end flagrant privileges and self-enrichment by officials and their families. They have also vowed to create a more efficient government, and reduce the acrid smog that has enveloped Beijing and other northern Chinese cities for weeks this winter.

“They’ve already taken many steps that have raised hopes among ordinary people — now we’re looking for signs that the hopes can be satisfied,” said Deng Yuwen, an editor for The Study Times, a weekly newspaper published by the Central Party School in Beijing. “The congress won’t have any breakthroughs, but it can indicate where and how fast the leaders want to take things.”

Yet the congress itself is widely viewed as a rubber stamp, with any debate or negotiations taking place behind the scenes. For the many journalists who attend the proceedings, it can be difficult to gain access to key players or to inside information about how proposals are introduced and debated. The Wall Street Journal’s China Real Time reports:

While delegates to the two meetings will get to discuss key plans for streamlining the government and even make recommendations, it’s hard to conceive of this pageant as much more than a talk shop when there is only one full session a year.

The quest for authoritative and objective reporting might be easier with a little less secrecy surrounding even the simplest information. A list of all delegates to the advisory body was released without explanation of what any of the more than 2,000 representatives did to get into this august body. Even the time of the CPPCC’s opening session was kept under wraps until the last moment – and they were similarly coy with the closing date for the parliament session, which formally opens Tuesday.

That presents a bit of a challenge for serious news coverage, leaving state media to occupy the role of stenographer. CPPCC chairman Jia Qinglin noted that over the last five years the advisory body had organized more than 500 in-depth studies, zeroing in on the economy, people’s livelihood and regional development, state media reported. Xinhua revealed that a total of 28,930 proposals had been submitted by CPPCC members over the past five years, and 26,583 of these had been addressed. There were no details on which had actually made it into policy or law.

For domestic media, reporting on the congress is tightly proscribed. CDT recently translated a list of ten topics that are off-limits for reporting during the session.

One piece of data – the annual military budget – was not revealed at the press conference on the eve of the session’s opening as expected [See update below]. As AP reports:

The legislature’s spokeswoman defended booming military spending Monday, saying the vast investment has contributed to global peace and stability, though she did not announce the coming year’s percentage increase, as usually has been done on the eve of the legislature’s opening.

With China now the world’s No. 2 military spender after the U.S., the amount of this year’s increase will be a barometer of the complicated relationship between Xi and the politically influential military. A big boost would show Xi wants robust backing for the People’s Liberation Army at a time when China has tense territorial disputes with neighbors and wants to reduce U.S. influence in the region. A smaller increase would show that Xi feels he already has strong military support without the need to pander to its recent demands for ever-larger outlays.

Growth in the military budget should match or exceed last year’s rate, if only to keep up with rising inflation, said Ni Lexiong, a military expert at Shanghai University of Political Science and Law. Tensions with Japan and others, he said, should ensure a bigger voice for the military.

Other changes that are expected to be announced during the congress include an administrative reorganization of government ministries. Notably, the scandal-plagued Ministry of Railways is expected to be demoted and broken into commercial and operational arms. From Reuters:

“Part of the Ministry of Railways will be merged with a super-Ministry of Transport,” said a second source who has leadership ties, requesting anonymity to avoid repercussions for speaking to foreign reporters. The source was referring to the operations of the railways.

A state-owned enterprise will absorb the ministry’s commercial arm, which has responsibility for passenger ticketing and freight operations, the sources added.

The Railways Ministry has faced numerous problems over the past few years, including heavy debts from funding new high-speed lines, waste and fraud. The government has pledged to open the rail industry to private investment on an unprecedented scale.

Individual delegates to the CPPCC and other activists have issued public calls for specific reforms at the NPC. As the New York Times reports, some delegates are calling for an end to re-education through labor, or laojiao, camps, following vague promises from the government on the issue:

“The reeducation-through-labor system to a certain extent makes citizens live in fear,” said Dai Zhongchuan, a delegate and law professor from Huaqiao University in Fujian Province, in a report by china.com.cn, the news portal of the State Council Information Office and the National Internet Information Office.

“Not to go through the courts to decide on a crime is to deprive and limit personal freedoms. Not to take steps to restrict and monitor this can very easily lead to the abuse of power,” said Mr. Dai.

Human Rights Watch issued a letter to Xi Jinping calling for the abolition of laojiao and a number of other reforms.

But as the New York Times article quoted above points out, deeper political reforms are unlikely to come to fruition at the current congress:

The apparent scaling back of the plans for administrative changes reflects how difficult it will be for the leadership to deliver on promises to free up the economy from state-owned enterprises and fight corruption, while still preserving single-party rule, said Zheng Yongnian, director of the East Asian Institute at the National University of Singapore. “In all these issues, there’s the same basic problem of deep distrust between the people and the government,” Mr. Zheng said. “Because there is so much distrust, the government is reluctant to make deep reforms. What they call reforms turns out be reassigning powers within government, not giving up powers to society. That’s not real reform — and then people feel increasingly frustrated.”

UPDATE: Early Tuesday morning Beijing time, Xinhua released the military budget:

China plans to raise its defense budget by 10.7 percent to 720.2 billion yuan (114.3 billion U.S. dollars) in 2013.

— Xinhua News Agency (@XHNews) March 5, 2013

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Bo Xilai, Li Keqiang, NPC 2013, political reform, re-education through labor, super-ministries, Xi Jinping
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