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Xi Stresses Loyalty as Chinese Communist Party Prepares for 100th Anniversary

A giant screen broadcasts live footage of Chinese President Xi during the July 1 Medal awarding ceremony for outstanding Party members at the Great Hall of the People, in Beijing, China June 29, 2021. (Reuters)
A giant screen broadcasts live footage of Chinese President Xi during the July 1 Medal awarding ceremony for outstanding Party members at the Great Hall of the People, in Beijing, China June 29, 2021. (Reuters)
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Xi Stresses Loyalty as Chinese Communist Party Prepares for 100th Anniversary

A giant screen broadcasts live footage of Chinese President Xi during the July 1 Medal awarding ceremony for outstanding Party members at the Great Hall of the People, in Beijing, China June 29, 2021. (Reuters)
A giant screen broadcasts live footage of Chinese President Xi during the July 1 Medal awarding ceremony for outstanding Party members at the Great Hall of the People, in Beijing, China June 29, 2021. (Reuters)

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday urged Chinese Communist Party members to remain loyal and continue to serve the people as he awarded a new medal of honor to 29 members as part of the ruling party's 100th anniversary celebrations this week.

The medal award ceremony took place in Beijing's Great Hall of the People with much fanfare and was broadcast live on national television, as the party prepares to mark its 100th birthday on Thursday.

The "July 1 medal", announced in 2017 and given out for the first time on Tuesday, is part of Xi's efforts to shore up the image of one of the world's most powerful political parties.

He urged all members to "firmly keep the loyalty and love for the party and the people close to one's heart, turn that into action, dedicate everything, even your precious life, to the party and the people".

Honored for "outstanding contributions" to the party, the medal recipients included soldiers, community workers and professionals in the arts and science.

The Chinese Communist Party had 91.9 million members in 2019, or 6.6% of China's population, and has ruled the country since 1949.

As part of the anniversary-week celebrations, the party also staged a gala performance on Monday night in the National Stadium, or "Bird's Nest" as it is commonly called.

Party leaders and foreign diplomats watched the extravaganza of song, dance and theater which credited the party with guiding China's rise into a great power over the past century.

Darker parts in the party's history, including a famine in the late 1950s, the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s and the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, were omitted from the show.

The show culminated with the audience singing the song "Without the Communist Party, There Would Be No New China," and five minutes of fireworks.

Many Chinese cheered the celebration by posting online well-wishes for the country and party on social media.

Some comments were less cheery.

"Only when housing price falls, can the people start to feel happiness," read one comment, which received 39 "likes".

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S. Korean Prosecutors Say Yoon Authorized ‘Shooting’ during Martial Law Bid

A TV screen shows a file image of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, being broadcast at the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP)
A TV screen shows a file image of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, being broadcast at the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP)
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S. Korean Prosecutors Say Yoon Authorized ‘Shooting’ during Martial Law Bid

A TV screen shows a file image of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, being broadcast at the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP)
A TV screen shows a file image of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, being broadcast at the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP)

South Korea's suspended president Yoon Suk Yeol authorized the military to fire their weapons if needed to enter parliament during his failed bid to impose martial law, according to a prosecutors' report seen by AFP on Saturday.

The 10-page summary from former defense minister Kim Yong-hyun's prosecution indictment report, which was provided to the media, also says Yoon vowed on December 3 to declare martial law three times if necessary.

Yoon, who was stripped of his duties by the National Assembly this month, is under investigation for his short-lived attempt to scrap civilian rule, which plunged the country into political turmoil and led to his impeachment.

Yoon's lawyer Yoon Kab-keun dismissed the prosecutors' report, telling AFP it was "a one-sided account that neither corresponds to objective circumstances nor common sense".

As lawmakers rushed to parliament on December 3 to vote down Yoon's martial law declaration, heavily armed troops stormed the building, scaling fences, smashing windows and landing by helicopter.

According to the prosecution indictment report, Yoon told the chief of the capital defense command, Lee Jin-woo, that military forces could shoot if necessary to enter the National Assembly.

"Have you still not got in? What are you doing? Break down the door and drag them out, even if it means shooting," Yoon told Lee, according to the report.

Yoon also allegedly told the head of the Defense Counterintelligence Command, General Kwak Jong-keun, to "quickly get inside" the National Assembly since the quorum for the martial law declaration to be lifted had not been met.

"So quickly get inside the National Assembly and bring out the people inside the chamber, and break down the doors with an axe if necessary and drag everyone out," the report quotes Yoon as saying at the time.

After lawmakers rushed inside parliament and voted 190-0 to nullify Yoon's declaration in the early hours of December 4, the report says Yoon told Lee, "Even if it's lifted, I can declare martial law a second or third time, so just keep going."

The report also included screenshots of senior defense officials' messages from the day of the martial law declaration.

It said there was evidence that Yoon had been discussing declaring martial law with senior military officials as early as March.

The declaration followed a budget tussle between Yoon's party and the opposition.

Days later, Yoon said in a speech that he apologized for the "anxiety and inconvenience" and promised that there would not be a second declaration of martial law.

Ex-defense minister Kim was arrested this month over his role in the failed martial law bid.

Opposition Democratic Party lawmaker Kang Sun-woo said in a statement on Saturday that "the prosecution has laid bare the undeniable ugly truth about Yoon Suk Yeol, the treasonous ringleader", adding that he must be "arrested immediately".

South Korea's Constitutional Court held its first preliminary hearing on the validity of Yoon's impeachment on Friday, with the suspended president's legal team attending.

The court will also decide the fate of Yoon's replacement, Han Duck-soo, who was impeached Friday over his refusal to complete Yoon's impeachment process and bring him to justice.