-Caveat Lector- Does this sound like the AOL/Ireland debate ? >From Associated Press Friday January 29 1:47 PM ET China To Hunt Sedition on Internet By CHARLES HUTZLER Associated Press Writer BEIJING (AP) - China has ordered police to hunt down people posting anti-government remarks on computer networks - the latest move to tighten government control over the Internet, a human rights group reported Friday. China's national police ministry has ordered special computer task forces to monitor Internet bulletin board services 24 hours a day, the Hong Kong-based Information Center of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China said. The directive ordered that once ``counter-revolutionary'' notices are found, the police are to notify the bulletin board service and track down the name of the sender, the group said. Any bulletin board that did not stop the ``seditious'' talk would be shut down, the group cited the order as saying. A spokesman for the Public Security Ministry, who only identified himself as Mr. Yang, said he had ``never heard of such a directive.'' But the rule is consistent with a clampdown on dissent and intensified efforts to control the Internet. With unemployment rising in the cities and farmers resentful over sagging incomes, Communist Party rulers are taking no chances in a year filled with politically dangerous anniversaries. Most sensitive are the 10th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square democracy movement and its violent quelling in June and the 50th anniversary of the Communists' 1949 victory. Chinese authorities have been keen to harness the Internet for business and education but leery of its capacity to spread dissent. Last week, a Shanghai court sentenced a computer entrepreneur to two years in prison for exchanging 30,000 e-mail addresses with an Internet democracy magazine run by U.S.-based dissidents. Despite the controls and threats, Internet use has soared in China. Users topped 2.1 million last year, a four-fold growth in a year, and another 1.5 million accounts are expected to be opened this year. Monday February 1 11:20 AM ET 6 China Companies Miss Bond Payments GUANGZHOU, China (AP) - At least six state companies in southern China have missed repayment of domestic bonds, adding to a string of defaults that have burned banks and investors. All of the companies are in Guangdong province. The amount involved appears to be below 500 million yuan ($60 million) - far less than the 36.15 billion yuan ($4.3 billion) owed by Guangdong International Trust and Investment Corp., which failed last month. But it could hurt support for domestic bonds China plans to sell to finance a spending spree meant to revitalize the slowing economy. A fresh blow to confidence would come at a bad time, with economic growth expected to fall to 7 percent this year from 7.8 percent in 1998. ``This could undermine the Guangdong provincial government's ability to raise funds in the domestic bond market,'' said Dong Tao, senior regional economist for Credit Suisse First Boston in Hong Kong. The biggest recent default was by Maoming Qinghua Co., an acrylic fiber maker. Its underwriter, Guangdong Securities Co., said the bond totaled more than 100 million yuan ($12 million). A Maoming city official said the city is considering putting the company into bankruptcy or merging it with another enterprise. Guangdong province is facing severe cash needs as it struggles to bail out bigger state-owned companies. Last week, Deputy Gov. Wang Qishan said Guangdong may inject as much as 30 billion yuan ($3.6 billion) into Guangdong Enterprises Ltd., the provincial government's main investment arm in Hong Kong. That sum is equal to half the Guangdong government revenue last year. Meanwhile, Guangdong International Trust is trying to renegotiate its debts after announcing in January that it couldn't repay them on time. The Hong Kong central bank on Friday urged creditors to cooperate in hopes of preventing a rush to call in loans at other China-linked Hong Kong firms. ``Aggressive collection actions will only be counterproductive and make the situation even worse for everyone,'' said a letter to banks from David Carse, deputy chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. >From Agence Presse France China updates constitution but party firmly in control BEIJING, Feb 1 (AFP) - China's constitutional amendments which mainly bolster private ownership were made without prior public consultation and underline the monolithic power of the ruling Communist Party rather than any fresh direction, analysts said Monday. Changes announced at the weekend give higher priority to the private sector, enshrine the rule of law, add "Deng Xiaoping thought" to the official ideology and eliminate the crime of counter-revolution. They were all agreed 16 months ago at a key meeting of the party. "These additions, which were already affirmed in the report of the 15th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in late 1997 have proved to be completely correct," said top legislator and number two in the party hierarchy Li Peng as he unveiled the changes. "Timely and meticulous amendments to the constitution will make it better meet the needs of reality and help maintain the authority of the constitution," he added. For two weeks before the announcement, China's media reported that changes were afoot but it was not authorised to give any public information on the content of the changes. Officials from both the government and the parliament -- which theoretically holds the highest power in China and is responsible for all constitutional change -- said there was no need for public debate. "You will know about the changes when they are announced," a spokesman for the parliament told AFP. "Until then, this is not an open subject." Since the founding of communist China in 1949, the parliament has promulgated constitutions in 1954, 1975, 1978 and 1982, all under the "guidance" of the Communist Party. The latest changes mean that private ownership is an "important" part of the economy instead of playing a supplementary role to the state sector. Already, the state sector is dwindling in importance and produces only one third of the value of China's goods and services. Collectives, foreign-invested firms and private enterprises produce the rest. Although the private sector currently accounts for only around 15 percent of economic output, the government expects sharp growth and is looking to the sector to soak up millions of excess labourers from struggling state enterprises. Other changes mean the government is mandated to rule "according to the law." And the reform-minded thoughts of late patriarch Deng Xiaoping have been given the high status of Marx, Lenin and Mao. The term "counter-revolution" has been removed as an offence and replaced with "acts against the state." The amendments were put before lawmakers Saturday, who voted 124 in favour and zero against and now have only to pass through the rubber-stamp full session of parliament to become law. "The constitutional amendments are hardly controversial or unexpected," said a western diplomat focusing on China's legal reforms. "But they underline the real contradictions in the system because the Communist Party is meant to be subservient to the parliament and the constitution, but in fact it tells them what to do, even in terms of ruling by law," he added. Even party leader and state President Jiang Zemin did little to conceal the ultimate power of the Communist Party in a speech on the changes broadcast on national television. "The Communist Party attached great importance to these amendments and the move is China's declaration to the world that, supported by the constitution, the Chinese people will unswervingly push ahead in the building of socialism with Chinese characteristics," he said. Back in 1997 when he announced the changes at the party congress Jiang warned that the party must keep tight control despite economic reforms. 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