China Reform Monitor: No. 981

[Editor’s Update: After a year on location in China CRM editor Joshua Eisenman has returned to the U.S. During the past year he visited ten provinces, Hong Kong and Taiwan while teaching three courses in Chinese politics and economics at New York University in Shanghai and conducting dissertation field research for his PhD in political science at UCLA.]

July 20:

China’s censors have banned mass media outlets and news portals from reporting on the first anniversary of the high-speed-train crash in Wenzhou, Zhejiang that killed 40 and injured over 200 people last July 23rd. The prohibition is part of a nationwide tightening of media control ahead of the Communist Party’s of China’s (CPC) 18th party congress later this year, the South China Morning Post reports. “The original plan was to publish eight pages for the anniversary,” said one Beijing-based journalist. “We received a call from the newsroom telling us that no reports would be published and we were asked to leave Wenzhou immediately.”

July 22:

In August, the Republic of China (ROC-Taiwan) will take delivery of the Ray Ting 2000 or Thunder 2000 multiple-launch missile system designed to destroy amphibious landing craft before they reach shore. The new multi-barrel system, which can launch 40 missiles per minute with a range of 45 km, will replace the current three-decade-old missile system, Taiwan’s China Post reports. The truck-mounted launchers can be deployed in eight minutes, less than half the time the current system needs. The ROC will spend $483 million to produce more than 50 Ray Ting 2000 systems.

July 24:

In accordance with a Legislative Yuan resolution Taiwan’s military will deploy 120 mm mortars and 40 mm anti-aircraft guns on Taiping Island in the South China Sea to support a coast guard task force already stationed there, the official Central News Agency reports. Taipei is still deciding whether to extend the island’s landing strip by 500m to improve safety and allow P-3C marine patrol aircraft to land there. The current runway, completed in 2008, is 1150m long and 30m wide and is used for C-130 transport planes. Hanoi said Taipei’s deployments on Taiping violate Vietnam’s sovereignty and international laws, the Taipei Times reports.

[Editor’s note: Taiping Island, the largest of the Spratly (Nansha) Islands, is one of two ROC-controlled islands in the region, along with the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands). Taipei, like Beijing, also claims sovereignty over the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands), Macclesfield Bank (Zhongsha Islands) and their surrounding waters.]

Police in Ningdu, Jiangxi have arrested two mainland activists that took part in Hong Kong’s annual July 1st anti-Beijing rally and sentenced each to a year in a forced labor camp. Ningdu police detained Song Ningsheng and Zeng Jiuzi for “feifang” or illegal petitioning. The South China Morning Post cited two confidential documents from the Hebei and Jiangsu security bureaus dated 2007 and 2008, respectively. The former said petitioning in Tiananmen Square, foreign consular offices areas, and Zhongnanhai – China’s leadership compound – was illegal. The later said those that file group petitions or submit them during “ceremonial events” would receive “legal education.” It also identified sit-ins, chanting slogans and waving banners as “radical” actions fit for punishment.

July 25:

Despite Hanoi and Manila’s objections, China has formally unveiled the Sansha Municipal Government and the Sansha CPC Municipal Committee to administer and defend its maritime claims in the South China Sea. In response, Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs summoned China’s Ambassador to lodge an official protest and Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson told the official Vietnam News Agency that “China’s establishment of the so-called Sansha city has seriously violated international law and Vietnam’s sovereignty. Vietnam resolutely opposes China’s activities and requests China respect its sovereignty, immediately stop and cancel its wrongful activities.” The official China Daily reports that Sansha will become a “base to safeguard China’s sovereignty” and announced that tourism, fishing and petroleum exploration will be its “three economic engines for the development.” Now under Hainan, Sansha city is located on 2.13-square km Yongxing Island in the Paracel Island chain.