Thu, Nov 16, 2023 page2

• Xi launching military purge, MAC report says

  • By Chen Yu-fu and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer
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  Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is launching a purge of the country’s military, a report on China released on Monday by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said.

  Xi and other high-ranking government members this year toured the country to gain a better understanding of the country’s defense, high-tech industries and the stability of its borders, while the government stepped up anti-corruption efforts in the military, sports and healthcare, the report said.

  China’s judicial and political systems are also working to tamp down public dissent, it said.

  

  The flags of Hong Kong, left, and China flutter in an undated photograph.

  Photo: AFP

  Xi’s new purge of the ranks of the military has already begun, with many members of the Central Military Commission’s equipment development department and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Rocket Force being arrested, the report said.

  The report also said that PLA exercises with new aircraft carrier task force groups near Taiwan are focused on controlling the Taiwan Strait and preventing the US and Japan from intervening if China attacks Taiwan.

  Outside of the military, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is implementing Xi’s concepts of Chinese cultural primacy in its education policies, while emphasizing political loyalty, the report said.

  The party is also touting efforts to promote the independence of scientific and technological research, it added.

  Meanwhile, Xi glossed over the severity of flooding in northern China from July to September, focusing instead on hailing the government’s response, the report said.

  Economically, China’s growth in the first three quarters of this year was 5.2 percent, with the expansion of its domestic market the main driver of its recovery, it said.

  The Chinese producer price index fell 3.1 percent, and its consumer price index only increased by 0.4 percent during the nine-month period, highlighting the potential for deflation, it said.

  Total foreign trade in goods fell 6.4 percent year-on-year for the first three quarters, while exports dropped 5.7 percent annually and imports fell 7.5 percent.

  As of September, China had a 5 percent unemployment rate in cities and towns, with a 5.2 percent unemployment rate in major cities, the report said.

  The Chinese National People’s Congress is to step up efforts to monitor government debt, it added.

  Regarding social stability, people are protesting an ongoing crisis over cash-strapped developers not finishing housing complexes, while the expansion of China’s counterespionage law, which went into effect on July 1, has spurred efforts to apprehend “spies,” the report said.

  Meanwhile, the CCP is launching purges in Xinjiang, while the international community remains concerned over human rights abuses in the region and in Tibet, it said.

  Regarding Hong Kong and Macau, the number of people registering as first-time voters in the territories fell 50 percent this year, it said.

  The Hong Kong government said its economy grew 1.5 percent in the second quarter, spurred by a thriving tourism industry and increased expenditures in the private sector, the report said.

  Macau’s government proposed amendments to election laws, which are expected to passed before the end of the year, it said.
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