Bao Tong, Political Secretary to Former CCP General Secretary Zhao Ziyang, Banned from Speaking Out Again
The Chinese National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and National People’s Congress (NPC) meetings this week will be compressed to one week, ending on March 11, due to the outbreak of the New Coronavirus (CCP virus). The start of school in Beijing‘s universities and colleges has been postponed until March 15. Bao Tong, the political secretary of former CCP General Secretary Zhao Ziyang, was again banned from speaking out, and independent media personality Gao Yu and more than a dozen members of the Guizhou Human Rights Seminar were forced to travel.
Tensions are running high in Beijing as the 4th session of China’s 13th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and 4th session of the National People’s Congress (NPC) open this Thursday (4) and Friday respectively. Bao Tong, Zhao Ziyang’s political secretary, was warned not to give interviews to the media or make comments online during the two sessions,” a source told the station. “A few days ago, the authorities approached Bao Tong and asked him not to give interviews, write articles, tweet, etc. Bao replied, “Got it. “
Gao Yu, a Beijing-based independent media personality, told the station that the authorities told her that she was not allowed to give interviews during the two sessions and that she would be guarded from Tuesday: “I received a notice from the authorities that I would be put under guard (surveillance), right in the courtyard. They already informed me yesterday.”
Gao Yu, an independent media personality in Beijing
More than a dozen people have been traveled to a human rights seminar in Guizhou
In Guiyang, more than 2,000 kilometers from Beijing, more than a dozen members of the Guizhou Human Rights Seminar were also taken out of their homes and forced to travel to the outskirts of the city by the Guizhou Municipal Public Security Bureau’s State Security on Tuesday this week. Li Renke, a member of the seminar, said when consulted by the station that he was notified by the police last Saturday: “On Saturday, the state security called me and told me to come and take a look and find out what was going on. Yesterday, they came and told me directly that they might take me out around noon today, Tuesday, and that I should make some preparations, and emphasized that I should not bring my cell phone and try to cooperate with them to complete this so-called mission.”
In the past, members of the Guizhou Human Rights Seminar were taken by state security to the outskirts of Guiyang for a “vacation” during the Communist Party’s “two sessions” or the anniversary of June 4, until they passed the so-called sensitive period. Li Renke believes that this Time is no exception. He said, “The situation of other friends and me is probably no different, basically they will all be taken away, because they (the authorities) are acting in unison. There are about ten people who may be taken away, including Zeng Ning, Huang Yanming, Liao Shuangyuan, Wu Yuqin, and Shen Youlian, Yang Shaozheng (a university professor), and it is estimated that all of them will be controlled and taken away. Estimated eight to ten days.”
To ensure that the two sessions of the university postponed the opening of the school
According to media reports and informed sources, in order to ensure that security measures during the “two sessions” are foolproof, the start of school in Beijing’s universities and colleges was postponed to March 15, and the session was shortened to one week. Gao Yu said, “The session was shortened, the CPPCC opened on the 4th and the NPC ended on the 11th.”
The 13th session of China’s National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and the National People’s Congress (NPC) will be held in Beijing this Thursday (4) and Friday, respectively. Beijing authorities have activated security measures and mobilized hundreds of thousands of people on patrol to ensure that no major incidents occur during the meetings.
In previous years, China’s two sessions have ended in mid-March. Since last year, the CPPCC and NPC sessions, which were scheduled to open in early March, have been extended by more than two months because of the new crown Epidemic.
This time, the sessions have been reduced to one week. Ms. Liu, a resident of Beijing, said that currently, visitors from other provinces are intercepted on the way into Beijing: “Some (visitors) from the three northeastern provinces are blocked at Shanhaiguan, and local government personnel come to pick them up, including on the train, basically they can’t get to Beijing. The personnel of the provincial offices in Beijing and public security cooperate with the Beijing public security, go to various villages, including small communities, take (visitors) ID cards and photos to check.”
Ms. Liu said that in the neighborhoods where the visitors gather, the public security officers take photos and go door to door to check whether there are any visitors living there, and once they are found, they are immediately repatriated to their places of origin.
Various press conferences are conducted by video
According to Chinese official media reports, no foreign media reporters were invited to cover the sessions this year, and all journalists in Beijing were required to get vaccinated beforehand, take a unified bus to the members’ quarters, and then undergo nucleic acid tests one by one. During the meeting, the press conference will be conducted by web video, when China Central Television will broadcast live. As a result, the space for journalists to cover the event on their own, was drastically reduced.
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