October 5:
Retired Chinese President Jiang Zemin’s attempts to reenter China’s political and military elite as “a super ordinary Party member" have caused an outbreak of bitter factional struggles in Beijing. Although the 83-year-old Jiang had officially withdrawn from the Central Military Commission (CMC) in 2004 most of the 10 generals on the CMC owe him their position. He still maintains a luxurious office in the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) headquarters (ba yi) in Beijing and holds regular meetings with CMC members. According to the Apple Daily Jiang’s interference and criticism of Chinese President Hu Jintao and his Communist Youth League faction began last March when violent protests rocked Tibet and were catalyzed by the Xinjiang protests in July. From behind the scenes Jiang has reportedly encouraged CMC members to criticize Hu.
October 6:
Nepal will deploy armed police along its largely undefended trans-Himalayan border with Tibet, Reuters reports. The move has raised criticism that it was prompted by pressure from China. Nepal’s Home Minister said armed police have been deployed along southern borders with India and the idea was to duplicate the effort in the north to secure its 1,414 km (884 miles) border with Tibet. More than 20,000 Tibetans live in Nepal since fleeing their homeland in 1959 with the Dalai Lama after a failed uprising against Chinese rule. Every year nearly 2,500 Tibetans cross the Himalayas and pass through Nepal en route to India where the Dalai Lama runs a Tibetan government-in-exile. Nepalese and Indian citizens are free to travel in each other's country without documents, but Chinese nationals need a visa to travel to Nepal. "What this reflects is China's extreme sensitivity to the possibility of Nepal being used as a springboard for Tibetan nationalism," said Kunda Dixit, editor of the Nepali Times weekly. Nepal has arrested some of the more than 10,000 Tibetan exiles who have staged regular protests against Beijing since last year's Lhasa protests.
October 12:
In the wake of the Fifth National Ethnic Solidarity and Progress Commendation Meeting held by the State Council, Xinjiang’s CPC Committee is conducting region-wide education on ethnic solidarity. The initiatives objective, according to Xinhua, is to “merge education on ethnic solidarity with the whole process of national education to create a harmonious atmosphere for Xinjiang's stability and development.” The program, which will target adolescent level children with “special courses” injected “into the curricula of primary and secondary schools and universities.” The initiative also calls on cadres and grass-roots party organizations “and go deep down to the first line to carry out mass work face to face and guide the mood of the people.”
October 13:
"China should have the courage to let the Yuan rise significantly against the dollar to maintain a balanced, market-based exchange rate," Yu Xuejun, director of the China Banking Regulatory Commission of Jiangsu province, has written in Finance Series, a supplement of Caijing magazine. A stronger exchange rate would prevent a further accumulation of foreign exchange reserves, which have soared in recent years. "If the Yuan becomes undervalued, as it used to be, hot money will pour into China, put greater (upward) pressure on China's foreign exchange reserves and worsen China's economic imbalances," Yu warned. Although Washington and the International Monetary Fund among others agree that China’s Yuan is undervalued, Yu's views do not reflect official Chinese policy. Yi Gang, a vice central bank governor, said earlier this month that China would stick to its current exchange rate policy, Forbes reports.
[Editor’s Note: Yu’s concerns are understandable. After barely rising in the first quarter, China's foreign exchange reserves piled up quickly again in the second quarter with a record monthly rise in May of $80.6 billion. China had a total $2.13 trillion in reserves at the end of June.]
Authorities now doubt the loyalties of those Uighur judicial personnel brought from all over Xinjiang to Urumqi to bridge the language gap during the hearings for 2000 suspects. Hong Kong’s Apple Daily (Ping Kuo Jih Pao) reports that that during the pre-trial process Uighur prosecutors sought to “cover up for Uighur suspects who committed serious offences in the July 5 riots.” After hard-line Xinjiang Regional Party Secretary Wang Lequan learned of the cover-up he reportedly ordered Uighur prosecutors replaced with Kazaki judicial personnel who speak Uighur.
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