Western media 'troublemakers' barred from Xi Jinping speech // Believe in socialism not sorcery, China tells party members
China has trumpeted
this week’s pomp-filled Communist party congress as an example of its
increasing openness and transparency. But a number of major western news
organisations whose coverage has irked Beijing were excluded from Xi
Jinping’s unveiling
of China’s new ruling councilon Wednesday – in some cases for the first
time in more than two decades. Those refused access to Xi’s statement to the
media include the BBC, the Financial Times, the Economist, the New York Times
and the Guardian. Chinese officials offered no formal explanation for the
decision.
The Daily Telegraph,
which regularly publishes Communist party propaganda in the UK as part of a reported £800,000
annual contract with Beijing’s China Daily, is understood to have been
granted an invitation to Xi’s event. In a statement, the Foreign Correspondents
Club of China (FCCC) said it was concerned about the exclusions. “The press
conference is a high profile news event involving China’s top leadership and it
is hard to avoid the conclusion that these media organisations have been
singled out to send a message,” it said. “Using media access as a tool to
punish journalists whose coverage the Chinese authorities disapprove of is a
gross violation of the principles of press freedom,” the group added. Qiao Mu, a former
journalism professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University who
recently went into self-imposed exile in the United States, said China
appeared to have barred those it considered “trouble makers”. The move
reflected the frustration of Chinese officials at Xi’s inability to “control
the tone of the western media”. “The situation will get worse ... more
and more western media websites will be blocked, and journalists will be
expelled or [find it] hard to get visas,” Qiao added. He said that in Xi’s “new
era” there was room for only “one voice”. .. read more:
Believe in socialism not sorcery, China tells party members
One of China’s top
leaders has chastised Communist party cadres for putting “ghosts and gods”
before Marx and Lenin. Writing in the party’s official mouthpiece, the People’s
Daily, Chen
Xi accusedsome officials of becoming politically and morally “degraded” and
of looking to religion, superstition and – perhaps even worse – western-style
multi-party democracy as their faith in socialism faded. “Some don’t believe in Marx and Lenin but
believe in ghosts and gods; they don’t believe in ideals but believe in
sorcery; they don’t respect the people but do respect masters,” wrote
Chen, who was last month handed a spot on China’s 25-member
Politburo. He added: “As Comrade Mao Zedong pointed out … cadres need to
be both red and professional.”
Members of the
officially atheist Communist party have always been required to shun religion.
However, activists say hostility to religion has intensified since Xi Jinping
became China’s leader in 2012 and began clamping down on potential sources of
opposition. Chen’s article follows reports that Christians in the eastern
province of Jiangxi were being told to rid their homes of images of Jesus and
the cross and replace them with portraits of Xi. Qi Yan, a local
official, told
the South China Morning Post the move – which has already seen some
1,000 Xi portraits handed out and hung – was part of an anti-poverty drive that
seeks to convince misguided believers that Xi and his political disciples could
improve their lot, not the son of God. “Many rural people are ignorant. They
think God is their saviour,” Qi said. “After our cadres’ work they’ll realise
their mistakes and think: ‘We should no longer rely on Jesus, but on the party
for help.’”.. read more:
