China Human Rights and Rule of Law Update - April 2006
Announcements
Hearing: Combating Human Trafficking in China
The Congressional-Executive Commission on China held a Commission hearing entitled "Combating Human Trafficking in China: Domestic and International Efforts," on March 6. Senator Chuck Hagel, Chairman of the Commission, presided. The statements of Chairman Hagel, Commission Member Senator Sam Brownback, Commission Member Deputy Secretary of Labor Steven J. Law, and the hearing witnesses are available on the CECC Web site: /events/hearings/combating-human-trafficking-in-china-domestic-and-international-efforts
Roundtable: The China-Dalai Lama Dialogue
The Congressional-Executive Commission on China held another in its series of staff-led Issues Roundtables, entitled "The China-Dalai Lama Dialogue: Prospects for Progress" on March 13. The panelists were: Tashi Wangdi, Representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to the Americas, Office of Tibet, New York; Sonam Wangdu, Chairman, United States Tibet Committee; and Tseten Wangchuk, senior broadcaster, Voice of America, Tibetan language service. Statements of the panelists are available on the CECC Web site: /events/roundtables/the-china-dalai-lama-dialogue-prospects-for-progress
Issue Paper: China's Household Registration System (Chinese and English versions)
The Congressional-Executive Commission on China has prepared a Chinese translation of its recent Issue Paper: China's Household Registration System: Sustained Reform Needed to Protect China's Rural Migrants (HTML / PDF).
Translations: Background Documents on the Suspension of "Freezing Point"
On January 24 the Propaganda Department of the Communist Party Youth League ordered the China Youth Daily's Freezing Point [bingdian] weekly to suspend publication for publishing an essay by professor Yuan Weishi criticizing how Chinese textbooks teach the history of the Qing Dynasty. It allowed the publication to resume only on the condition it replaced two senior editors and published an essay refuting Yuan's essay. The Congressional-Executive Commission on China has prepared a report on these events, as well as English translations of the following documents:
- Decision Regarding the Handling of the China Youth Daily Freezing Point Weekly Mistake in Publishing "Modernism and History Text Books", ordering the China Youth Daily suspend publication of the Freezing Point weekly.
- Joint Declaration Concerning the "Freezing Point" Incident, criticizing the suspension and signed by Zhu Houze, former head of the Central Propaganda Department; Li Rui, former secretary to Mao Zedong; Li Pu, former Deputy Director of the Xinhua News Agency; Zhang Sizhi, former Vice Chair of Beijing Lawyers Association; Hu Jiwei, former Editor-in-Chief of the People's Daily; and Zhong Peizhang, former head of the China Youth Daily group, and seven other senior government and Party figures.
- Open Letter From Freezing Point Writers to National People's Congress Standing Committee, calling the Propaganda Department's actions unconstitutional and illegal, and signed by Cui Weiping, a professor at the Beijing Film Academy; He Weifang, a law professor at Beijing University; and Qin Hui, a history professor at Qinghua University, and ten other well known scholars and writers.
- Decision Regarding Handling the Rectification and Expeditious Relaunch of the "Freezing Point" Weekly, stating the conditions under which the Party would allow the Freezing Point weekly to resume publication.
Web Site Resource and Translation: Prior Restraints on Religious Publishing in China
The Congressional-Executive Commission on China has prepared a new Web site resource: Prior Restraints on Religious Publishing in China. This page covers national publishing and printing regulations on religious materials, regulations and guidance on printing materials that touch on religious issues, and the prosecution of house church pastor Cai Zhuohua for distributing Bibles.
The Congressional-Executive Commission on China has also prepared an English translation of the Provisions Regarding the Administration of Contracts to Print Bible Texts issued by the General Administration of Press and Publication, State Council Religious Affairs Bureau, and General Administration of Customs in 1994. The Bible Printing Provisions regulate both Bible printing jobs from overseas and the printing of the domestic Chinese edition of Bible texts.