China's internal troubles (not the Far West)

[davidbfpo]

There is another separate thread on the domestic security situation in China's far west provinces, called 'China's Far West provinces: a Small War', which is in the Central Asia arena and on:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...read.php?t=246

China's internal security has popped up once before in a thread, in 2007:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...ead.php?t=3019

So I have created this new thread.

[AdamG]

Not just the Western reaches....

BEIJING– For years, in the name of social harmony, China’s ruling Communist Party has been highly successful in masking, placating or simply distorting the tens of thousands of protests – dubbed “mass demonstrations” – that occur here ever year.
The Wukan rebellion will prove a tougher dilemma for Beijing to solve.
From The Telegraph newspaper’s Malcolm Moore comes details of the stunning story of Wukan, a fishing village of 20,000 in China’s southern Guangdong Province. Earlier this week, the entire town rose up and threw out local party officials and police forces following years of having the people’s land sold out from underneath them.

http://behindthewall.msnbc.msn.com/

For the first time on record, the Chinese Communist party has lost all control, with the population of 20,000 in this southern fishing village now in open revolt.
The last of Wukan’s dozen party officials fled on Monday after thousands of people blocked armed police from retaking the village, standing firm against tear gas and water cannons.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...ught-back.html

[flagg]

Probably exaggerated, still of interest... the list could be a whole lot longer:

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/article...mic_apocalypse

Keep an eye on iTulip.com forum for analysis of the China slowdown.

It's well worth putting on the reading list for analysis on China as well as the entire GFC.

[davidbfpo]

The BBC report, with links to three related reports, is from a Beijing-based correspondent:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-16173768

It is noteworthy that this incident is in Guangdong Province, the richest, most populous province and a quarter of it's exports. For a glimpse check:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guangdong

Nearby are Hong Kong and Macau, which remain significant entry points and places to watch events from.

With the exception of say a city like Shanghai and the national capital Beijing, this incident couldn't happen in a worse place IMHO.

[davidbfpo]

A BBC reporter has gained access to the town, his short report:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-16195113

[bourbon]

Villagers say five people have been snatched from Wukan by police in recent days, prompting local people to mount nightly patrols to defend the village, he adds.

The villagers should grab some cops or government officials as counterhostages.

[davidbfpo]

FP Blog has a good update on the situation in Wukan; it opens with:

Peasants do not have a good record facing off with the Communist Party. Rural standoffs usually end with the arrest of the ringleaders and an increased security presence for the remaining residents. Yet on Thursday afternoon, Dec. 22, residents of the embattled village of Wukan scored a major achievement in their 11-day stand-off with local government, securing the release of one of the village's three detained leaders; the other two were released today.

Then asks is Wukan a crisis barometer:

The small farming village of 13,000 thousand embodies social changes brought about by more than 30 years of economic reforms in China.

I would suggest not:

...most Wukanese stressed that they only wanted resolution of their local issues, and that they maintained trust in the Communist Party.

Link:http://www.foreignpolicy.com/article...ption?page=0,0

[davidbfpo]

Hat tip to Open Democracy:

The western media are too easily tying each and every mass incident to the question of the country’s democratic reform. Instead we should have a new discourse that captures how ordinary resistance has become in modern-day China. The interesting question is not whether such protests can lead to reform, but rather: How it is that so many can occur without undermining the Party’s rule?

Link:http://www.opendemocracy.net/evelyn-...olated-anomaly

Despite the lack of coverage, the protest continues and a Google news search confirmed an absence of Western reporting since Xmas 2011, but found this commentary, which appears to be by Communist party cadres. Introduction states:

Wang Zhanyang, Director of the Political Science Department at the Central Institute of Socialism, contributed this essay to a forum on the implications of Wukan for the country as a whole. The forum responds to the December 22 People’s Daily editorial, “What Does ‘Wukan‘s Turn’ Mean for Us?”

Link:http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2012/01...lage-autonomy/

[davidbfpo]

An update on the events in Wukan, with Communist Party officials being expelled from the party:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-17821844

There are two links to other reports. On a quick read it appears that a compromise was reached some months ago, unlike other villages involved in conflict with the state and party.