Hunan Cadre nailed for sex with Russian prostitute, Chinese netizens suspect it was a set-up

Chinese anti-corruption official sacked for Russian tryst
Apr 12, 2007, 11:27 GMT

Beijing – A Communist Party official who was a top provincial campaigner against corruption has been sacked after he was caught in a hotel room with a Russian prostitute, the party’s official newspaper said on Thursday.

Du Xiangcheng was expelled from the party and sacked from his post as deputy secretary of the party’s Commission for Discipline Inspection in the central province of Hunan, People’s Daily and other state media reported. Du was found ‘in a compromising situation with a Russian woman’ at a five-star hotel while he was in Beijing on official business last December.
The party’s central discipline commission has also opened an investigation into Du’s assets and financial dealings, the reports said. Du had cemented a reputation as a stalwart campaigner against corruption through a case against the head of discipline inspection in Hunan’s Changde city in 2004. ‘Cadres are only human and they have desires, so all leading cadres should be able to handle such tests,’ Du told the official Xinhua news agency during the investigation into the Changde case.

Read more of this story here Chinese version of the story on Netease here

According to the Chinese press this happened on December of last year, but according to Sing Tao and Boxun,this happened in December of 2005 and reported on it in March of last year. Why did Sina fudge the dates by a year?

Whats interesting are the Chinese netizen comments on the Netease story, there are over 2,700 of them and its the hottest story right now. Besides netizens professing outrage, many have serious doubts, and believe this was a setup. Netizens speculated that as the Discipline Inspection Deputy Secretary, he most certainly has a number of enemies. And why would someone who knows the ins and outs of vice-investigation be caught in such a dumb act? According to the Chinese version of the story, the room he was in was rented out by a friend, and he had been at a KTV earlier that night.

Some of the netizen comments:

在北京五星级酒店嫖娼居然出事，会不会因为得罪的人太多？告发者早有预谋。
Unexpectedly at a 5 star beijing hotel have an accident with a prostitute? Maybe its because he offended allot of people? The accusers here were premeditated

“他是个好官!没有人说他贪污受贿!
如果是坏官他这样的职务用的着去嫖吗?
肯定是被陷害的! 居然有警察跑五星级酒店去查!“
“He is a good official! Has anyone heard that he was corrupt and accepted bribes?
If he was a a bad official, would he visit a prostitute under his official title?
This guy was framed! The police just all of a sudden go check 5 star hotels ?!”

被人盯上了的。
大家什么时候见过四星级以上酒店查房的？
Someone had their eyes on him.Who’s seen room inspections in 4 and 5 star hotels?

标准的蠢货,当上这么大的干部还去嫖娼.
Standard idiot, that big of a cadre still goes looking for prostitutes?

What really went on here I’m sure we’ll never know, but it highlights how fighting corruption and internal strife within the CCP does happen, and sometime’s its hard to tell who’s on what side.

Hospitial poisoning in Harbin intentional

From China Daily:

“Police are investigating how rat poison ended up in the breakfasts served at a Harbin hospital cafeteria on Monday, leaving one person dead and 202 others sick. The hospital’s patients and staff who fell ill had earlier eaten breakfast in Heilongjiang Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine located in the capital of Harbin.”

 UPDATE

In this one sentance report from Xinhua, the Heilongjiang Public Security Office spokesperson said that the poisoning was intentional and it is now under criminal investigation.

from Xinhua:

“新华网4月12日报道 黑龙江省公安厅新闻发言人12日在新闻通气会上说，经过调查，确定9日发生在黑龙江省中医研究院的中毒事件是一起故意投放危险物质的刑事案件.”

Chinese criticize US naval intelligence gathering in the China Sea

I saw this posted on almost every major Chinese website and the lack of English coverage on this intrigued me.

According to Sina’s Pioneer  magazine ( 国际先驱导报) and China’s Maritime Department, the United States has on several occasions (cited as 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005) “illegally entered” China’s maritime territory to conduct maritime surveillance.

The sina article states that:

“When America engages in military surveying, on the one hand it’s for helping the American military familiarize with the “battlefield environment,”  yet at the same time they are conducting surveillance, such as monitoring China’s naval activities in maritime territory China has direct jurisdiction over(管辖海域).  This clearly is an extreme threat to China’s maritime security.” (这显然是对中国海洋安全的极大威胁)

In one instance, the article claimed that a US Naval Survey Ship, while conducting operations in the China Sea for 23 days, was repeatedly warned to leave the territory and “by coincidence” the sonar array it was towing to gather sea-bed intelligence crashed into a Chinese fishing boat.

According to the Pioneer ,the American naval vessels were conducting surveillance in China’s “Exclusive Economic Zone”(中国专属经济区) which encompasses an area beyond what the United Nations recognize as a nations sovereign territory.  Thus the United States routinely wanders about these areas, and in extreme cases  these operations have led to diplomatic crisis such as the 2001 spy plane incident over Hainan.

The article also states that China is well aware of these activities, and despite unclear international laws, China has engaged in pursuit and monitoring operations in order to “sternly express the position of the Chinese Government.”

 Link to the article in Chinese

Three party cadres in Shanxi tried for slander in whisteblowing case

I have translated this article from the Southern Metropolis Daily which details how the government went about prosecuting with vigilance three mid-level party cadres who accused the local secretary of “losing the will of the people” after selling land for real estate development when it was was intended to be used for building parks or other forms of “symbolic architecture.” Original in Chinese can be found here.

 

Three cadres from Jishan, Shanxi punished for reporting questionable activities by local county secretary
Southern Metropolis Daily

After writing an anonymous letter reporting illegal activities, two cadres from Jishan in Shanxi province (山西稷山县) put in jail for slander, another already being sued.

Three section level cadres arranged and wrote out material reporting on the activities of Jishan County Party Secretary, then sent copies to 37 local government branches. After the local Public Security Office determined the identity of the materials authors, the local procurate brought the authors to court on the basis of slander. Currently, two of the authors have already been sentenced and another has been sued. Thus forth the local people have endlessly been talking about the crimes of the three cadres.

37 Copies of Anonymous Material titled “The People Call Into Question Party Secretary Li Runshan” Sent Out
On March of 2006, Shanxi Jishan county People’s Legal Working Committee (人大法工委) Director 杨秦玉 Yang Qinyu while talking with 南回荣 Nan Huirong and 薛志敬 Xue Zhijing at the country party committee’s office brought up the incident regarding some tracts of land that had been recently sold. Originally, the government had decided to build “Symbolic buildings” (标志性建筑) such as parks and statues, but it was suddenly sold to someone to be used for real estate development. The three thought that the government had made unpredictable changes in policy. After mentioning more of the counties problems they concluded that the local party secretary
李润山 Li Runshan had lost the will of the people. The three of them then decided to put these problems down in writing.

Nan Huirong did the writing while Xue Zhijing and Yang Qinyou stood by helping to revise and add additional points. After 10 days time, the letter titled <<The People Call Into Question Li Runshan>> was finished easily. The paper brought forth 4 problems with Li Runshan: “1: First we ask why did Secretary Li Runshan make sudden policy changes? Second, why has all the investment been met with disaster? Third, with such air of importance what kind of work does the secretary do in his presidential suite? Fourth, while your financial resources have swelled why haven’t our salaries moved a bit?”

“首问书记李润山，朝令夕改为哪般？二问书记李润山，为啥引资遭祸端？三问书记好威风，总统套间办啥公？四问书记财力涨，为何工资老不动？”

After every “Question” there were detailed explanations written proving their claims. At the end of the document it was signed by “The Tongue-tied of Jishan”

With concern for their safety, after writing the essay Nan Huirong went to a copy center in the nearby Houma City and made several copies, then he gave it to Yang Qinyu who sealed the envelopes and sent them out from Houma City. Their document was sent to the Party Secretary and Majory of Yuncheng City, the 4 biggest leadership groups in Jishan and all the leadership in every government department, in total there were 37 copies.

Participants arrested

Public Security Bureau Chief Personally Conducted the Interrogation with the Party Secretary

Just before dawn on 4/19/2006, Nan Huirong was brought by 6 police officers to the Jishan County Public Security Department’s Criminal Unit for questioning. After daybreak, he was sent to Pinglu County police station for further questioning which was over 100km away. 2:00pm that afternoon, Nan Huirong finally admitted that he had written the letter. Two hours later he was officially detained on criminal charges and sent to the Pinglu county detention center.

False advertising? Hey, I’m just an actor!

From Netease:
“On February 10th, the police uncovered Beijing’s biggest pyramid scheme case, exposing the fraud behind the”Yilin is your first choice for a forestation partner”scheme. Ge You acting as the spokesperson in the Yilin ad naturally received the publics questioning, and is now facing a reputation crisis. ”

Ge You, the Chinese star of movies such as The Banquet, is not the only one facing a PR crisis after doing advertisements for sham companies and unreliable products. In this Southern Metropolis Weekend article, several Chinese celebrities are interviewed and asked how they feel about doing advertisements and being a spokesperson for commercial products in light of recent events.

A famous TV star in China endorsing medicine

In translation: Original Chinese article can be found here.

Nailhouse torn down!

According to Chinese news outlets the Nailhouse was torn down after the owners Mrs. Wuping and her husband reached an agreement with the developer.   See more from Danwei 

An Idiot’s Guide to watching movies online in China

A few weeks ago 三联生活周刊 ran this story which details the state of the online video sharing and movie download industry in China. The article outlines how racy content and pirated movies can be found everywhere and most website are giving up trying to make their users pay for content.
While Beijing has been cracking down on pirated DVD’s sold on the street, little has been done to stop the explosive growth of pirated video sharing via bittorrent or video sharing websites. Software like Xunlei, a a bittorrent download manager, has over 100 million users, clouding the future for copyright protection in China.

Translated from Chinese, original can be found here, for more information look to Danwei’s post on this subject: Internet video in China: who are the players?. Another comparison of Chinese video sites can be found here on China Web2.0 Review.

Idiot’s Guide to watching movies online in China

By Zou Jianyu, Zhuanji, and Lie Yin

“How do you actually watch movies on the internet?” The person in charge for copyright protection at a website answered: “go to a Peer To Peer (P2P) webpage and look! 90% of all websites have them”

2006 was the year of frenzied investment in internet movie downloading and online viewing, it is said that within one year more than 200 new online movie websites were established. The equivalent of over 200 movie theaters being built without geographic restrictions, able to provide content over the internet at any time.

“Princeling” Boxilai rumored to be heading to Guangdong

According to Boxun.com, Bo Xilai who is the son of Bo Yibo, former Liaoning Party Boss, and now current Minister of Commerce, he is going to take over the reigns in Guangdong Province and serve as the Provincial Party Secretary. This would give him a highly coveted seat on the Politburo.

This goes against most speculation that says Beijing City Official Wang Qishan would be taking this post.

If this turns out to be true, it would be the second newly appointed high official that does not have a Communist Youth Party background, signaling that while Hu Jintao’s power is growing, he does not yet have the support to put his people in high-places or fill important seats on the Politburo. While Hu has been working to weed out the influence of Jiang’s Shanghai Gang， there has been strong resistance and “princelings” Xi Jinping and Boxilai could been seen as compromises. Another factor impeding Hu’s power is that most of his Communist Youth Party cadres are from the poorer interior provinces， and thus lack the kind of skills needed to manage the dynamic, international based economies of the coastal provinces.

Of course, Hu Jintao still has a number of opportunities to put his own people in， as many on the Politburo are near the mandated retirement age or are sick and out of capacity (Huangju).

薄熙来接替张德江 任广东省委书记
(博讯2007年3月28日 来稿 – 支持此文作者/记者)
中共十七大召开前夕,人事变动再次受到关注,继上海后,广东省省委书记一职也备受关注。外电传出有北京党内人士透露，张德江将调上中央,而前中共已故元老 薄一波儿子，国家商务部部长薄熙来将接替张德江，任广东省委书记一职。这意味着薄熙来将进入中共领导核心的政治局，可能是第五代领导人的重要人选。

And for kicks this is hot off the rumor mill at Observe China.

17大常委七人名单

中国信息中心 北京小道消息称，两会之前确定的17大常委七人名单如下：胡锦涛、吴邦国、温家宝、曾庆红、刘延东、周永康、李克强。这个名单主要是胡锦涛与江泽民商议，在确定留下的四常委之后，江泽民同意刘延东，提名周永康，剩下一名由胡定，胡最后确定李克强。

常委7人名单只是暂时的平衡物，中共的事情，不到最后一步，都存在极大的变数，就像16大，临开会了还没决定常委是7人还是9人，最后的记者会上，江泽民才决定出台9个人。17大权力平衡到最后，不是没有保持9人的可能。

Paulson seems to be playing his cards right

Last year US Treasury Secretary Paulson during his September trip to China, made a rare first stop in Zhejiang to meet with then Party Secretary Xi Jinping because he regarded him as a rising star among the communist party. It seems he was dead on.

Today China’s state media officially announced that Xi Jinping will take over from interm Shanghai Party Secretary Hanzheng and will now be the perminent secretary of China’s largest and most important economic center. He also gets a seat on the politburo. Last year former Shanghai Party Boss Chen Liangyu and protege of Jiang Zemin was ousted for corruption charges in a scandal that gripped the country.

It will be interesting to see what this will do for Paulson and his long term China goals. It’s also questionable if his goals can even be long term, after the 08′ presidential elections his own political future is in question as well.

Links:

原浙江省委书记习近平接任上海市委书记 Singtao.net

习近平调任上海市委书记 BBC Chinese

Xi Jinping’s biography on China Vitae

Paulson makes “important trip” to china for trade IHT

Interview with China’s most incredible holdout

This is a follow up on my previous posts with regards to “China’s most incredible holdout”, where a housing dispute led to the developer digging a moat around someone’s house who refused to move. This post is the translation of an interview with the owner of this “nailhouse” on an island, 40 year old Mrs. Wuping.

According to the interview, all Mrs. Wuping wanted was a space of comparable footage in the new building but the developer just wanted to give her a small sum of money. The local press was also forbidden to report on the story and the developer worked with the local government and courts to coerce Mrs. Wuping.

In this long interview you get an inside look into the local politics of relocation and the kind of difficulties people face if they chose to fight the developer.

You can also watch a CCTV legal society TV program which includes interviews with the developer and Mrs. Wuping and a number of Chongqing residents. Link to video HERE.

Translated from Chinese, original can be found here.
Another interview from a Beijing newpaper 新京报 here

On March 21st China.net reported that “China’s Most Incredible Holdout” which caused a huge stir on the Internet will soon disappear. Yesterday Chongqing Jiulong Hill District court held a hearing and ruled that the owner of the property (the holdout) has until the 22nd to tear down the building. Chongqing Court decides “Histories most incredible holdout” must relocate in three days became one of today’s hot topics on web forums throughout china. The following is the transcript of a telephone interview with the household’s owner, Mrs. Wuping

Facing the notification: I don’t have the power to appeal

Host: We saw the Chongqing courts decision on the Internet, can you explain to us in simple terms what the situation is?

Wuping: Among the residents moving, I am the largest private property owner, furthermore you can basically say I am the only one who has complete papers, such as a property rights land right certificates, they both clearly indicated that it is a building zoned for business. At that time I had just finished renovations, and they (the developer) said they had to tear everything down and people had to be relocated, as a result this was really damaging for us. According to my property right certificate, I am clearly in ownership of 219 square meters, so for this use it should be returned to me.