China Reform Monitor: No. 1012

January 11:

Zhao Xi, a reporter from the official CCTV news channel, was beaten while covering illegal sewage treatment at a paper mill in Pingjiang, Hunan. Zhao and four staffers from the All China Environment Federation visited Pingjiang to inspect and photograph the paper mill illegally dumping sewage into the Miluo River when a dozen employees surrounded them, threatened to use them to “feed the fishes,” and then beat them with flashlights and other objects. Zhao sustained head injuries and was sent to the hospital where the local Propaganda chief visited him, the South China Morning Post reports. Local officials announced an investigation into the mill’s illegal activities, the arrest of two suspects for the assault on Zhao, and the dismissal of three police officers that took an hour to respond to the attacks.

January 14:

To tighten surveillance and control of its people, North Korea has purchased tens of thousands of surveillance cameras from China, the Choson Ilbo reports. According to China customs data, over the last four years Pyongyang has imported over 100,000 cameras worth about $10 million dollars: 40,465 in 2009, 22,987 in 2010, 22,118 in 2011, and 16,420 in 2012.

[Editor’s Note: Already ubiquitous in Chinese cities, surveillance equipment including CCTV cameras, radio jamming equipment and internet monitoring hardware and software are regularly sold to autocratic regimes worldwide.]

January 15:

“There is a large number of People's Liberation Army (PLA) troops and Chinese workers in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir involved in construction of infrastructural projects,” said India Army Northern Command Chief Lt Gen T K Parnaik. Despite the sizeable Chinese presence, Parnaik said the PLA would be unlikely to “interfere” in border skirmishes between India and Pakistan, The Press Trust of India reports.

January 17:

By 2015 the Republic of China (ROC-Taiwan) will downsize its military to about 215,000 and transform it into an all-volunteer recruitment system “aimed at preventing and stemming armed conflict,” ROC President Ma Ying-jeou said. “I hope all of our men and women in uniform will work hand-in-hand to overcome difficulties and carry out the reform programs so that our new national defense system can operate without any glitches. I hope all military service personnel will embrace the new system,” Ma urged in comments carried by Taiwan’s China Post. He added that despite the rapprochement in cross-Taiwan Strait relations the ROC must continue to bolster its defense. “We cannot afford to relax our combat preparedness and defense buildup because military strength is indispensable in safeguarding national security.”

January 18:

Wang Xia, minister of the National Population and Family Planning Commission, has announced that China’s population control measures will be around “for a long time.” The comment comes in response to speculation that China might abandon the policy after official statistics confirmed that the number of working age Chinese between 15 and 59 fell -- by 3.45 million to 937.27 million –for the first time last year. But Wang dismissed speculation the one-child policy would be scrapped: “The policy should be a long-term one, and its primary goal is to maintain a low birth rate and be gradually perfected.” The one-child policy has caused serious social problems: an aging population, a large sex ratio imbalance, and the killing or abandoning of infant girls and babies with birth defects. To reduce the number of birth defects China will also expand free pre-pregnancy checks-ups for urban migrant and rural women, the South China Morning Post reports.