Sunday, May 09, 2004
Hey All, recent events have compelled me to write a blog entry just for the blog. On April 29th, Wen Jiabao issued an order to harshly deal with local officials in Yangzhong for allowing land seizure, over-quota investment, and lax lending for a steel company named Tieben Steel. There are a couple of things that are curious about this case. First, Yangzhong is only a few miles away from Jiang Zemin's birthplace, Yangzhou. It is commonly assumed that officials in the surrounding area, including Yangzhou, Yangzhong, and Changzhou (my own ancestral home) are all Jiang loyalists. They have had plenty of opportunities to cultivate good ties, since Jiang often toured the area as party secretary general. Since Wen's order, the People's Daily have issued a series of editorials condemning the Yangzhong government for allowing such blatant violation of State Council rulings to occurr. At the same time, Hu Jintao made a trip to Jiangsu on April 30th, immediately after Wen's order. This trip perhaps signifies that the center has no problem with the Jiangsu government, which is controlled by a Hu loyalist (Li Yuanchao). The center's problem is, instead, with city level governments around Jiang's hometown.
Moreover, mysterious phrases appeared in these editorials. One of these RMRB editorials questions why irregular activities lasted for so long in Yangzhong and believes that "a deeper reason will reveal itself to the readers soon." What does that mean?! Meanwhile, we have the audit on China Netcomm at the same time, which, as you know, is Jiang's son's company. I believe that Wen and Hu are engineering a coup to force Jiang to give up his chair in the CMC. Wen of course supports this since it also fits his interest of increasing the power of the SC vis a vis local officials. Other editorials say that the national economy will be rectified by "the central committee led by the party secretary general Hu Jintao." Clearly, the editorial warns local officials in the Jiangnan region that Hu, not Jiang is in charge, so start following state policies.
But will Jiang sit "idly by?" the public press shows both Jiang and Zeng relatively subdued over the holiday. However, today, the Central Military Commission issued a new set of regulations for strengthening party leadership in the military. In the PLA Daily editorial on the new regulations, Jiang's name and his ideology, the Three Represent, appeared with very high frequency. Although the regulations have no doubt been in the works for some time, Jiang might have rushed the appearance of these regulations to show the world who is still in charge of the military. I guess we will see how things "reveal themselves" in the coming days.
Moreover, mysterious phrases appeared in these editorials. One of these RMRB editorials questions why irregular activities lasted for so long in Yangzhong and believes that "a deeper reason will reveal itself to the readers soon." What does that mean?! Meanwhile, we have the audit on China Netcomm at the same time, which, as you know, is Jiang's son's company. I believe that Wen and Hu are engineering a coup to force Jiang to give up his chair in the CMC. Wen of course supports this since it also fits his interest of increasing the power of the SC vis a vis local officials. Other editorials say that the national economy will be rectified by "the central committee led by the party secretary general Hu Jintao." Clearly, the editorial warns local officials in the Jiangnan region that Hu, not Jiang is in charge, so start following state policies.
But will Jiang sit "idly by?" the public press shows both Jiang and Zeng relatively subdued over the holiday. However, today, the Central Military Commission issued a new set of regulations for strengthening party leadership in the military. In the PLA Daily editorial on the new regulations, Jiang's name and his ideology, the Three Represent, appeared with very high frequency. Although the regulations have no doubt been in the works for some time, Jiang might have rushed the appearance of these regulations to show the world who is still in charge of the military. I guess we will see how things "reveal themselves" in the coming days.
Comments:
Post a Comment
