From Radio Free Europe/Radio LIberty:
Beijing has used its well-honed skills in public relations in recent years to present an image to foreigners of spectacular economic development and a “peaceful rise” that will soon make China a major factor in virtually all fields of international relations. Occasionally, however, the Chinese authorities let their mask slip and do something that reveals once again that China remains a one-party state ruled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) with “politics is in command” in the time-honored Leninist fashion.
Some recent developments in which the CCP — and especially its Central Propaganda Department — intervened in public life involved the media. The Propaganda Department, like the CCP, has an all-pervasive but shadowy presence. Neither institution has a clearly marked headquarters building in Beijing. The Propaganda Department has neither a listed telephone number nor a website. But it led no fewer than four government ministries in issuing a recent order strictly limiting the role that foreign investors can play in China’s huge but fragmented media market.
