Zhao Qizheng Resigns, part two

About four and a half hours after Ta Kung Pao had reported Zhao Qizheng‘s intention to resign as a member of the CCPPC’s standing committee, and the apparent deletion of similar coverage on many Chinese websites, the news was published on allfinance.cn at 18:45 (local time), and seems to remain online there.

Zhao Qizheng had been expected to leave his CCPPC posts next year, with the end of the 11th CPPCC’s term.

The apparent hiccup in China’s online media today – presumably, but not necessarily, in their interaction with the propaganda department, which would be exactly Zhao’s turf from the late 1990s until 2005 -, seems to stem from a reported intention to leave before the 11th CCPPC’s current term expires.

Both Ta Kung Pao and allfinance emphasize remarks Zhao reportedly made in his interview with a Southern Metropolis reporter, that preparing a press conference was coming with more stresses than preparing for a gaokao (university entry examination), and that as an old man, he now wanted to focus on teaching.

To me, the noteworthy thing about the news isn’t that Zhao wants to retire less than a year early, but the way the information apparently came, went, and came back online.

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Related

» Zhao Qizheng Resigns, Maybe, June 30, 2012

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Update/Related

» Three Chinese paintings, china.org.cn, July 2, 2012

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Zhao Qizheng Resigns (apparently, maybe)

Main Link: Zhao Qizheng resigns from Consultative Conference’s Standing Committee, Ta Kung Pao, June 30
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Zhao Qizheng (赵启正), member of the 10th Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, director of the CPPCCs foreign affairs committee, and director at the Peoples Univerity (aka Renmin University) School of Journalism and Communication (中国人民大学新闻学院), has reportedly handed in his resignation from his function as the CPPCC Standing Committee’s member. According to a Southern Metropolis (apparently, quoted as 南都讯 there, but should be the one also known as  南方都市报) report quoted by Hong Kong’s Ta Kung Pao, he told a reporter that “having made up his mind, he said that ‘if they don’t accept my letter of resignation, I will write another one”. [去意已决的赵启正还对记者说：“如果不批准我就再写(辞职信)。”]

Zhao reportedly told the Southern Metropolis reporter in an exclusive interview that his resignation was a necessity, given that he was over age and had to retire (自己“已经超龄，必须退休了”).

Zhao served as the CCP’s propaganda department’s director, and as the State Council’s Information Office’s director, from 1998 to 2005, writes Ta Kung Pao. Also according to Ta Kung Pao, he began his task as the Consultative Conference’s foreign commission director (or chairman), and as the CPPCC’s news spokesman, in March 2008.

Zhao was born in Beijing, in January 1940. Provincial cadres were required to retire aged 65, he reportedly pointed out in the interview with Southern Metropolis.

An entry concerning Zhao’s letter of resignation on a Southern Metropolis Daily blog has apparently been removed, and relating news stories on Sohu‘s and Tenxun‘s websites have apparently been removed, too. The latest information about Zhao on the CPPCC website was published on March 11, during the 4th plenary meeting of 5th Session of 11th CPPCC.

On June 11 June 10, on a forum organized by the Netherlands Institute for International Relations in Beijing, Zhao suggested that some countries didn’t define their China policies correctly, because of not understanding China sufficiently.

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Related

» Enhancing Zhou Enlai’s Convivial Diplomacy, Febr 20, 2012 (re 2009)

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