Hi Snowshoe, <<They're afraid people will read articles like this...>> You must give the NYT/Washington their deserved ounce of doubt, because 93% of mainline journalists are registered __________ (oh, you know)
In any case, village level elections per se are indeed an increasingly common and pervasive discussion topic at all levels in China, openly, and the commie pinkos are (a) leading the way, (b) actively participating, (c) because all politics are local.
Message 15006626
"The experiments with village level elections has only been in place for several years (Shenzhen special economic zone, an economic experiment, was run for 10 years before being rolled out across the country)"
Message 16178484
"One expected but not thought of wrinkle in all this privatization process is that the Communist Party already knows it will have to face a genuine election one day and is studying the ‘hows’ and ‘whats’. Village level election under US observation has already taken place across the country. Experiences are being collated and discussed at the highest levels. The ‘communists’ themselves noted that elections would be bad for them but the lack of elections would be worse. One issue of particular concern is party financing. To get ready for going to the electorate with a begging bowl in hand is not on the agenda, and so, like the KMT in Taiwan, the answer to the sustainable financing requirement lies within the state-owned enterprise privatization process. I believe this is one of many reasons why the gold sector has not yet been ‘reformed’. Currently, the Party, the Government and the State-owned Enterprises are one and the same. One day, and that day gets closer everyday, this will no longer be true. So, what equity ownership (through foundations on the Taiwan model) the Party wants to arrange for itself, it is starting now. The Communist Party is in fact taking lessons from the grandmaster, the KMT, right now."
My guess on Google blockage? Because a bunch of police techies were assigned the job of Internet policing, and they are doing their job. The topics China does want to block: Tibet, Xinjiang, Taiwan Independence, labour protests/tax protests, unsubstantiate communist party member corruption (as opposed to substantiated and executed ex-members).
Village level election is not an off-limit topic.
Message 17001747
"This note is for mature readers only"
Chugs, Jay
P.S. Depending on WSJ, NYT, and Washington Post for analysis on China will lead to serious underestimation of what is taking place, via skewing of reality, mis-weighing consequence, and misunderstanding impetus. |
