China Human Rights and Rule of Law Update - August 2005

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Chinese government signed an agreement on July 20 that will permit an ICRC regional delegation office to open in Beijing, according to the ICRC Web site and a Xinhua report.

On July 2, Xinhua reported that Chinese agencies in charge of controlling the Internet had temporarily shut down over 100,000 Web sites because their operators failed to register with the Ministry of Information Industry (MII). Xinhua stated that these Web sites would have until July 10 to register. Since the July 10 deadline passed, China's state run media has begun reporting that provincial authorities are sanctioning and permanently shutting down thousands of Web sites that have still failed to register.

Chinese security personnel in Beijing detained the executive director of a respected U.S. human rights NGO after she attended a seminar associated with the EU-China bilateral human rights dialogue, according to a number of press accounts on July 1 and 2. Sharon Hom, executive director of Human Rights in China (HRIC), said that security agents detained her for five hours in her Beijing hotel on June 21 following the conclusion of the human rights seminar.

Special Envoy Lodi Gyari described as "concrete and substantive" the fourth round of meetings between the Dalai Lama's envoys and Chinese officials in Bern, Switzerland, on June 30 and July 1, according to a statement by Gyari released by the Tibetan government-in-exile on July 7.

Chinese public security officials have detained numerous "house church" Protestants in a number of incidents over the past several weeks, according to the China Aid Association (CAA), a U.S.-based NGO that monitors the religious freedom of Chinese Protestants.

The Chinese news media have stepped up a publicity campaign that highlights government efforts to reduce the prevalence of torture and coerced confessions. In late July, the Supreme People's Procuratorate announced that it had filed criminal cases against 1,751 officials for human rights violations since July 2004, an increase of 7.7 percent over the year before.

Guangdong officials have instituted a system of electoral observers for village elections to be held in 2005, according to a Xinhua report. Although limited in scope, the introduction of the system is an effort to ensure greater electoral fairness in local village elections.

The State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television (SARFT) has "tightened its control over the cooperation between Chinese media and foreign companies" by issuing a regulation banning cooperation between local television and radio stations and foreign companies, according to state-run news media.

In response to a March 2005 call by the General Offices of the Party Central Committee and State Council to increase government transparency, the State Ethnic Affairs Commission (SEAC) recently met to discuss its own Plan for Implementing Greater Transparency in Ethnic Affairs Work.

Li Yizhong, minister in charge of the State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS), spoke about China's rising number of coal mine accidents at an industrial safety conference held in Beijing on July 15, according to an article in the People's Daily.

In early 2005, the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) launched a campaign against newspapers and periodicals published without government authorization. The campaign concluded with authorities banning 60 newspapers and magazines.

In late June and July, public security officials in Shanghai have beaten and detained several Chinese citizens who signed petitions and attempted to participate in peaceful assemblies, according to a July 19 report from Human Rights in China (HRIC). Citing unnamed sources, HRIC said that on June 24, dozens of public security officials attacked more than 30 petitioners as they prepared to depart from Shanghai for Beijing to protest the government's revised regulations on petitioning.

Several Chinese government agencies, including the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP), the State Council Information Office, and the National "Sweep Away Pornography and Strike Down Illegal Publications" (SAPSDIP) Task Force, issued a joint notice on July 19 announcing the commencement of a campaign to "investigate, prosecute, and ban" unauthorized foreign language publications, according to the People's Daily.

Provincial police, courts, and the women's federation in Henan province began a coordinated attack on domestic violence and human trafficking, according to a July 27 Jinbao Net report. The Chinese government has adopted anti-trafficking laws and regulations since 1986, but the problem continues to grow.

The State Council announced July 26 that it had referred a draft government information disclosure regulation to the relevant agency for issuance. Neither the State Council nor any other Chinese government agency has released a draft of the measure, although China's WTO transparency commitments in effect require public release of draft regulations before final promulgation.

The Foreign Correspondents Club of China (FCC) issued a circular on July 18 on behalf of the BBC describing the official obstruction and abuse of two BBC journalists and their driver by public security officers reports United Press International (UPI). The incident occurred while the BBC team was attempting to report on village protests in Hebei province.

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) released the text of the Steel Industry Development Policy on July 20. The State Council approved the policy in April 2005, but had not previously released the text. Once called the "State Planning Commission," the NDRC has issued previous industry development policies, including the 2004 Auto Industry Development Policy.

The General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) upheld the decision of Sichuan provincial government censors to confiscate hundreds of books privately published by Wang Yi, a well-known Chinese intellectual.

Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported on June 22 that officials in a Zhejiang province township had banned the sale of the May edition of Rural Youth magazine because of an article criticizing local officials.

About 70 Tibetans, many recent college graduates, protested in mid-July outside government offices in the Qinghai provincial capital of Xining, according to a July 14 report by Radio Free Asia (RFA). The Tibetans, who reside in Xunhua Salar Autonomous County in Haidong prefecture, claimed that local authorities discriminate against Tibetans in hiring to fill government jobs and favor ethnic Han and Salar applicants.

Chongqing officials have finished "cleaning up" and registering Web sites, according to a July 22 report on China Communications Web (CCW). The Chongqing project was part of a nationwide crackdown on private Web sites that the Chinese government launched earlier this year. The campaign has resulted in the closure of thousands of Web sites whose operators failed to register with the Ministry of Information and public security offices. CCW, which is registered to the People's Post and Telecom Press, reported that in Chongqing the three month process involved six steps:

Qingdao Web site operators must register with their public security office by the end of September 2005 or have their Internet access service shut down, according to a July 7 report in the Qingdao Morning News.

Jampa Phuntsog (Qiangba Puncog), the Governor of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), told reporters in Hong Kong that it is too early to consider the Dalai Lama's return to his homeland, according to a July 19 South China Morning Post (SCMP) report. Accusing the Dalai Lama of continuing to work for Tibetan independence, Phuntsog complained that the Tibetan government-in-exile "has set up a parliament," "expanded its separatist activities," and "made the Tibet problem an international issue."

Three senior Chinese officials recently acknowledged rising social unrest in China and attributed its causes to economic grievances, failures on the part of local cadres, and rising rights consciousness by Chinese citizens, according to a series of articles (1, 2, 3, subscription required) in the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

As many as 15,000 villagers besieged a pharmaceutical plant and clashed with police at Xinchang, Zhejiang province, in early July to protest environmental degradation to the local water supply caused by leakages at the plant, according to reports in the New York Times (registration required). The villagers said they took action because their efforts to negotiate with plant managers failed and government officials were unwilling to intervene.

Police clashed with ethnic Mongol villagers in late June and July in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in an unresolved land dispute that left dozens of villagers injured and tensions high. A local government official described the situation as "anarchy," according to a July 27 Reuters report. The Southern Mongolia Human Rights Information Center (SMHRIC) reports that hundreds of police used tear gas, grenades, and other explosives against villagers on July 21 and 23.

The Xinjiang provincial education department will begin offering two-year degree programs in vocational schools this year, according to the July 27 Urumqi Evening News. The courses will be taught exclusively in Mandarin Chinese, reflecting an ongoing national and provincial campaign to promote Mandarin Chinese and reduce the use of local minority languages in schools (see 1 and 2 for related articles).

Chinese officials have begun to discuss developing a national system of water rights, which will include both defined water property rights and specific allotments and quotas for water resources, according to a July 7 Xinhua report.