BEIJING: The Communist love for propaganda
surfaced during a conclave that decided to strengthen the
Chinese media. It also took the long expected decision of
holding the next
Communist
Party congress in the second half of 2012. The party
congress is expected to formally decide on a successor to Hu
Jintao as the party general secretary and the country's
president.
The five-day conclave ended on Tuesday with the party
announcing it has decided to undertake "cultural reform" as
a means to enhance the capabilities of state-run publishers,
broadcasters and art performers. Culture has deep political
connotation in a country, which witnessed havoc during the
cultural revolution of the Mao era.
The official media said the meeting adopted a set of
"cultural guidelines". No details of the guidelines were
released. But it is bound to be seen as the second major
move in the Communist Party's history to use culture as a
political tool.
"China's
cultural
industry will play a more critical part in the
country's economic and social development," an official
statement said. "Culture is emerging as an important part of
the country's comprehensive competitiveness in today's
world," it said. The official media said the country faced
problems of "cultural security" and there was a need to
address the issue.
The official media did not discuss if crucial issues
concerning media censorship and the increasingly political
role played by a section of Internet users and micro
bloggers was discussed at the meeting.
The official media released very few details of the meeting
and it was not clear if vice president
Xi
Jinping, widely regarded as the person likely to
replace Hu as next president, played an important role
during the proceedings. The next party congress is also
expected to choose vice
premier Li Kiqiang as the successor of
premier
Wen
Jiabao. But the official media remained silent over
succession issues.
The 2012 party congress will take place in a "crucial
period" of China's efforts at "deepening of reform and
opening up, and the transformation of the pattern of
economic development," the official Xinhua news agency said
discussing the meeting attended by over 370 senior party
officials charged with the task of approving board decisions
on the direction of government policy.
The
Chinese
government has invested heavily on the technological
development of the state-run media and helped them expand
their reach to several foreign countries without allowing
private sector entry in the media. Media controls continue
to remain in China despite the heavy investments in media.
