CiCM 4th January 2024

NEWS IN CHINA

Xi Jinping presided over a Standing Committee meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee : On 4^th January, the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held a meeting to listen to the annual work reports of the five party groups such as the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the State Council, the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate as well as the Central Secretariat. This report meeting has been organized every year since the 18^th National Congress of the Communist Party of China every year. It was emphasized during the meeting that this year will be the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China and will be a crucial period for accomplishing the goals and tasks of the "14th Five-Year Plan". It was also stressed that the Secretariat of the Central Committee needs to heavily work on the deployment requirements by the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee.
New Provident Fund policies launched in some Chinese cities and provinces: Since the beginning of the new year, Shanghai, Hainan, Jining in Shandong, Luoyang in Henan, Qujing in Yunnan, Heze in Shandong, Zhangzhou in Fujian along with some other places have issued modified provident fund loan policies.[RKR1] The changes include extending the loan period, increasing the loan limits, reducing the down payment ratios and further expanding the scope of use. These policy changes are issued as ‘gift packages” subsequently as the beginning of a new year is a critical period for real estate market policies to gain momentum. Cities like Zhangzhou of Fujian Province have also converted phased housing provident fund support policy into a normal policy in order to increase the role of provident fuds in housing security. Consequently, the Chinese Finance Minister, Mr. Lan Fo’an, said in an interview with the People’s Daily that housing security expenditures had increased by 8.6 per cent during the first 11 months of last year.
China revises law allowing more public interest litigation for the protection of women's rights and interests: On 4^th January the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the highest procuratorial organ in China, issued a “Work tip” to expand the scale of public interest litigation cases for the protection of women's rights and interests along with the promotion of laws such as the Women's Rights and Interests Protection Law, the Anti-Domestic Violence Law, and the Special Provisions on the Labor Protection of Female Employees. The revised "Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Women's Rights and Interests" has been effective since 1^st January authorizing procuratorial organs to conduct public interest litigation. The work tips further require supervision of illegal activities that seriously infringe on the legitimate rights and interests of women, protection of women’s equal employment rights, implementation of mechanisms against domestic violence, strengthening protection of the rights and interests of vulnerable women groups like the disabled, elderly and rural, and cooperation with public security, courts, civil affairs, women's federations and trade unions.

China established its first Underwater Intelligent Rescue Team: The China Diving and Salvage Industry Association established the country’s first “Deep Blue Underwater Intelligent Rescue Team”. Chairman. Song Jiahui, said at the founding ceremony that the creation of this team is China’s first attempt in the field of underwater emergency rescue. He said that this attempt will act as a starting point for the members of the association to continuously endorse research and development of underwater intelligent rescue technologies. The Chief of the team, Mr. Guo Yueshan, stated that the rescue team is equipped with five sets of Deep Blue Dolphin series cable-controlled underwater robots and three sets of Orange Shark series autonomous underwater vehicles along with twenty selected outstanding backbones to the team and more than thirty scientific research personnel. The China Diving and Salvage Industry Association, consisting of around a thousand members, is a national 4A-level industry organization and a non-profit social organization that is known for providing services like diving, rescue, salvage and marine engineering along with other supporting services.
Chinese Anti-corruption TV feature film to be broadcast: The Propaganda Department of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the State Supervision Commission and China Central Radio and Television Station CCTV jointly produced a four-episode TV feature film called “Continuous Efforts and Deep Advancement" to strengthen the CPC’s discipline. The film will be broadcasted at 8pm from 6^th to the 9^th of January this year on the CCTV Comprehensive Channel. The four episodes are titled "Solving Unique Problems", "Political Supervision and Guarantee", "Strengthening Positive Work Styles and Suppressing Discipline" and "Integrated Promotion of Three Non-Corruption". The film looks into 12 cases interviewing disciplinary inspection and supervision cadres along with 170 people under investigation. The film portrays the strict efforts by the Party Central Committee and General Secretary Xi Jinping to correct the unique problems faced by large political parties.

SOCIAL MEDIA CHATTER IN CHINA
Chinese Taxi Driver who refunded the extra payment by a drunk passenger is praised online for his honesty: Du Liming, a taxi driver working for an affiliate of Guangzhou Public Transport Group, was praised on Chinese social media for his honesty when he voluntarily returned an extra amount of 170,000 yuan that was accidentally paid by a drunk passenger. The incident happened on 14^th December early in the morning when a passenger surnamed Chen accidentally paid Mr. Du an amount of 170,000 yuan instead of the actual fare of 60 yuan. Mr. Du noticed the additional amount in his Alipay account only at the end of his shift. He immediately reported it to the nearest police station and contacted his company and Alipay while leaving messages for Ms. Chen. Mr. Du said he wanted to return the money as soon as possible as he understood the pain of losing valuable belongings. He even took to local news media to share this story to find Ms. Chen which later went viral. Eventually, Mr. Du was able to find Ms. Chen and returned the money to her. Netizens were impressed by this act and praised him for doing the right thing. One said, “Du is so kind” and another netizen commented, “Du seemed more anxious than Chen. What a great man”.

INDIA WATCH

As we have read about China’s efforts to promote anti-corruption means, it is necessary to look back at India’s national efforts to combat corruption. Following the 2016 demonetization initiative by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Reserve Bank of India announced the withdrawal of the 2000 rupee currency notes from circulation with immediate effect from 19^th May 2023. This initiative has been primarily initiated to combat corruption in the country. While China has relied on party supervisory organs for such measures, India has relied on the judiciary, the legislature and citizen vigilance. The Prime Minister further said during the G20 Anti-corruption meet that “India has a strict policy of Zero Tolerance against corruption” stressing on India’s leverage of technology to create transparent and accountable processes. India has implemented several anti-corruption laws such as the Prevention of Corruption Act, the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, and the Whistleblowers Protection Act. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) are two main agencies that have been formed to investigate corruption cases in India. The government strengthened these agencies with the necessary resources and infrastructure to carry out their work effectively. The enforcement directorate has acted as a highly powerful agency in clamping down influential politicians across the country.

Prepared By

Adhithi Senthilkumar

Adhithi Senthilkumar is an undergraduate student pursuing a major in International Studies and a minor in Public Policy at FLAME University, Pune. She is fascinated by the complex dynamics of international relations and the substantial impact that policies can have on communities around the globe. Her passion for studying history, societies and contemporary global and domestic politics has been a driving force in her academic journey. She has participated in internships, attended conferences and engaged in volunteer work related to public policy gaining valuable insights into real-world application of policies. She aspires to apply her knowledge and skills to contribute to addressing pressing global issues and collaborate with like-minded individuals to make a positive difference through policymaking.