Cadres chastised for spreading 'political rumours'
Communist Party leaders in Guangdong have issued a new circular chastising cadres for spreading 'political rumours' and paying lip-service to party discipline and policies, a local newspaper reported.
Issued by the Guangdong Discipline and Inspection Commission, the circular said 'a minority' of cadres had deviated from the party's basic doctrines and principles to spread 'irresponsible comments', the Guangzhou Daily reported yesterday.
'There are some cadres who pay little attention to policies and instructions issued by the party central and province,' the circular said. 'They sometimes refuse to implement these policies and orders or just pay lip-service to them.
'There are others who cost the party and the state great losses ... through leaking state secrets,' it said.
'Some are interested in spreading the so-called 'gossip' or even political rumours causing bad influence and affecting [national] unity and stability.'
The circular reminded cadres they must not organise or support any discussions, rallies or public demonstrations on matters that were against the party's basic policies and principles.
Moreover, cadres were warned not to violate the party's policies on ethnic minority issues and religions, and said some of their actions had tarnished the 'image' of the party and the state.
It also asked local disciplinary bodies to 'seriously investigate' any violators.
The report did not explain what prompted the circular. It did not mention any specific events which triggered the warning.
The circular comes, however, after calls to cadres by Guangdong Party Secretary Wang Yang for 'mind emancipation' - a phrase encouraging officials to experiment with new ideas to solve challenges they faced.
Although Guangdong has led the country in economic reforms in the past three decades, it is losing its competitive edge as provinces and cities like Shanghai make the leap forward in modernisation.
A Guangzhou source said the circular was partly related to the persistent rumours in Guangdong in recent weeks of an imminent earthquake - apparently an echo of the recent earthquake in Sichuan province .
A media source however said the circular was issued because party leaders were dissatisfied by the 'aggressive style' of some of the newspapers in the province.
The source cited a recent 'mistake' by the Nanfang Daily which said that Russian President Vladimir Putin had divorced his wife secretly in February and would marry a 24-year-old gymnast in June.
