China Reform Monitor: No. 1151

February 20:

“To deal with foreign threats,” over the next decade the Indonesian military will build a joint command known as Kogabwilhan off the coast of Sumatra and Kalimantan. “In the future, we expect that the South China Sea will be a flash point,” said Indonesian Military Chief Gen. Moeldoko. “Kogabwilhan aims to pool the regional resources of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force into multi-service groups that will be positioned at certain defense flash points integral to preserving the country's territorial integrity and sovereignty,” the Jakarta Post reports. Jakarta will build a new Air Force command and add a division to the Army Strategic Reserves Command. Resources will be transferred from local military commands, Air Force operation commands, and the Navy to the new Kogabwilhan joint command. Indonesia is not a claimant in the South China Sea dispute, but is increasingly concerned about how China’s nine-dash line overlaps with the waters surrounding the resource-rich Natuna Islands, the Diplomatreports.

February 22:

In response to Beijing’s criticism of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to Arunachal Pradesh, a region China also claims, Indian Union Minister Kiren Rijiju said the trip is part of Modi’s “bounded obligation.” He said India’s claim to Arunachal Pradesh is unquestionable. “Arunachal Pradesh being a very important state of the country, there is no question of any dispute over is territory. There are problems in a few km of border for which negotiations are going on,” said Rijiju, a BJP MP that hails from Arunachal Pradesh. Beijing expressed its “diametrical opposition” to Modi’s visit to the region, which it said was not conducive for resolving the border dispute, theEconomic Times reports.

February 25:

Just ahead of China’s annual legislative meetings in Beijing, officials are studying Xi Jinping’s newest edict: the Four Comprehensives. The set of principles emphasizing the need to “comprehensively build a moderately prosperous society, comprehensively deepen reform, comprehensively govern the nation according to law and comprehensively be strict in governing the party.” Achieving Xi’s “unprecedented and strategic leap forward,” the official Global Times said, means “comprehensively building a moderately prosperous society is the main aim, and the latter three are means to realize this goal.” The official People’s Daily wrote in a front-page editorial that the idea’s “great weight and meaning are clear to see – its bears paying attention to. The ‘Four Comprehensives’ standing at the intersection of history and the future, a greater journey is unfolding before us.” It is unclear what, if any, impact Xi’s new theory will have on actual policy, the Wall Street Journal reports.

When he attends the annual National People’s Congress session in Beijing next month, Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying will seek to reduce the number of mainland Chinese visitors. “I have been telling the central government that because Hong Kong has a limited capacity in treating tourists, I disagree with increasing the number of cities in the scheme. There is no change in the Individual Visit Scheme - no new city will be added to the 49-qualified cities list,” he said. Meanwhile, hundreds of people are planning to hold a march in Yuen Long this weekend to protest the influx of mainland tourists, the Standard reports.

February 26:

The Communist Party is cracking down on independent civic groups, which it sees as sanctuaries for dissent, the New York Times reports. The authorities have moved against several groups, including one that fights discrimination against people with hepatitis B and a network of 22 rural libraries. Regulations took effect last month in Guangzhou, Guangdong and include intensified scrutiny of organizations that receive foreign donations. Beijing has also proposed legislation to tighten controls on foreign nongovernment organizations active in China. “The pressure on grassroots organizations has never been this intense,” Zhang Zhiru, who runs a labor rights group in Shenzhen, Guangdong. “The anxiety is overwhelming, not knowing if they are coming for you,” said Yang Zili, a researcher at the Transition Institute of Social and Economic Research in Beijing, who has been in hiding since November. “It’s frightening because as they disappear, one friend after another, the police are not following any law. They just do as they please.”