China Human Rights and Rule of Law Update - December 2006

 
 
 

Message From the Chairmen

UN Human Rights Day

December 10th marks UN Human Rights Day. On this day in 1948, the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, an historic document that commits all governments to respect the fundamental rights and freedoms of all individuals. China is an original party to the Universal Declaration, and the Chinese Constitution confirms that the "State respects and safeguards human rights." In late November, the Chinese government sponsored a Human Rights Exhibition in Beijing to reaffirm its commitment to protect the human rights of all Chinese citizens.

Developments over the past month, however, undermine the government's stated commitment to respect the fundamental human rights of its citizens. Authorities in Shandong prevented defense witnesses from testifying at the November retrial of legal advocate Chen Guangcheng, who remains imprisoned for speaking out against violent abuses by local officials. In the last two weeks, Beijing courts rejected the appeals of journalists Zhao Yan and Ching Cheong, who remain imprisoned for investigative journalism regarding Party leaders. During that same period, Beijing police forced the cancellation of a conference on HIV/AIDS and held the conference organizer Wan Yanhai without charge.

The Commission urges the Chinese government to respect basic human rights like freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of association. The illegal actions of authorities in Shandong and Beijing contribute to the growing sense of frustration and disenfranchisement among Chinese citizens. Such a result can only undermine China's progress. Political change is complex and imperfect, but China's leaders must take steps to build a more open and participatory society, and the United States must continue to assist in that effort.

 
 
 

Announcements

Roundtable - Regulations on Religion: Recent Developments in Legislation and Implementation

On November 20, 2006, the CECC held another in its series of staff-led Issues Roundtables, entitled China's National and Local Regulations on Religion: Recent Developments in Legislation and Implementation. The roundtable examined the interplay between the national Regulation on Religious Affairs and local regulations and discussed the practical impact of such regulations on freedom of religion in China. The panelists were: Eric R. Carlson, Attorney, Covington & Burling LLP, Washington, D.C.; Bob (Xiqiu) Fu, President, China Aid Association, Midland, Texas; and James W. Tong, Associate Professor of Comparative Politics, University of California-Los Angeles.

 
 
 

New Resources: Chinese and HTML Versions of the CECC 2006 Annual Report

The CECC has prepared a version of its 2006 Annual Report in HTML format which includes citations with Chinese titles and links to underlying sources. In addition, the CECC has prepared a Chinese language version of its 2006 Annual Report Commission Finding, Executive Summary, List of Recommendations, and Introduction. These resources are available here: /publications/annual-reports/2006-annual-report.

 
 
 

Chen Guangcheng Remains in Prison Following Flawed Retrial

The Yinan County People's Court in Linyi city, Shandong province, conducted a retrial of the Chen Guangcheng case on November 27, and on December 1 imposed the same guilty verdict and sentence that they had reached in his original trial, according to a December 1 Xinhua report (via the China Internet Information Center) and various international NGO and news media reports.

Beijing Court Rejects Zhao Yan's Appeal, Affirms Three-Year Sentence

The Beijing High People's Court (HPC) upheld the fraud conviction and three-year sentence of Zhao Yan, a Chinese researcher for the New York Times (NYT) on December 1, 2006, the NYT reported (registration required) on the same day. The NYT cited Guan Anping, one of Zhao's lawyers, as saying that the Beijing HPC upheld the lower court's judgment based only on the written materials. The NYT had reported on November 4 that the Beijing HPC had rejected Zhao's request for a hearing in his appeal. Under Article 187 of the Criminal Procedure Law, courts of second instance are not required to hold a hearing in a criminal appeal if a collegial panel makes a determination that the "facts are clear."

Beijing Court Rejects Ching Cheong's Appeal, Affirms Five-Year Sentence

The Beijing High People's Court (HPC) rejected Hong Kong journalist Ching Cheong's appeal and upheld a lower court's guilty verdict for espionage on November 24, according to a Xinhua report (via the China Daily) published the same day. The report cited a Beijing HPC judge as saying that, in affirming Ching's conviction and sentence of five years' imprisonment and one year's deprivation of political rights for passing state secrets and military intelligence to Taiwan's Foundation on International and Cross-Strait Studies, the Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court's August 31 judgment was "a correct application of the law and provided appropriate punishment."

Chinese Government Appoints Bishop without Holy See Approval

The state-controlled Catholic Patriotic Association (CPA) ordained Wang Renlei as auxiliary bishop of the Xuzhou diocese, Jiangsu province, on November 30, according to remarks by a State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA) spokesperson reported in a December 3 Xinhua article (in Chinese and English). The CPA conducted the ordination without Holy See approval, drawing criticism from the Holy See for "subverting the fundamental principles of [the Holy See's] hierarchical structure," according to a December 2 statement (in Italian) on the Vatican Web site.

Dalai Lama's Special Envoy Describes Status of Discussions With Chinese Government

Lodi Gyaltsen Gyari, the Dalai Lama's Special Envoy, described the obstacles affecting the dialogue between the Dalai Lama's representatives and Chinese officials during a November 14 address at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. Gyari's prepared statement, available on the Brookings Institution Web site, explains that his remarks were offered in part to respond to Chinese news media articles (see, e.g., Xinhua, July 28, 2006) and official briefings to foreign diplomats that, according to Gyari, "led to the circulation of speculative, uninformed, and one-sided information about some of the important issues at stake."

Government Issues New Coal Mine Provisions as Mining Fatalities Increase

China's State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS) and Ministry of Supervision jointly issued interim provisions on November 22 that aim to increase accountability for coal mine accidents. Under the new provisions, government officials and personnel in state-owned enterprises will be subject to penalties including warnings, demotions, and dismissal for violations of coal mine safety practices.

Beijing PSB Officials Hold AIDS Activist Wan Yanhai, Cancel AIDS Conference

Beijing authorities released Wan Yanhai, founder of the HIV/AIDS advocacy group the Beijing Zhiaixing Information and Counseling Center (Zhiaixing), formerly called the Aizhixing Institute of Health Education, on the morning of November 27 after having held him for three nights without charge, according to a November 27 Associated Press article (via the International Herald Tribune) and a December 1 Amnesty International public statement. According to a November 27 Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CRD) report and a November 26 Washington Post article, security officers who carried no identification but claimed to be from the Beijing Public Security Bureau came to Zhiaixing's offices on the morning of November 24 and asked to see Wan.

Nuns and Alleged Assailants Reach Out-of-Court Settlement in Xi'an Beating Case

A group of 16 registered Catholic nuns in Xi'an city, Shaanxi province, reached an out-of-court settlement in a civil case against 9 men who allegedly assaulted the nuns in November 2005 while they occupied former Church property, according to November 10, 2006, reports by AsiaNews and the Union of Catholic Asian News (UCAN, via the Indian Catholic).

Senior Official Acknowledges Role of Police Abuses in Wrongful Convictions

Wang Zhenchuan, Deputy Procurator-General of the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP), acknowledged at a November 18 seminar in Sanya city, Hainan province, that almost all wrongful convictions in China involve police abuses during the investigation stage, according to a Legal Daily report (in Chinese) on the next day. Wang called on local procuratorates to strengthen their supervision over criminal investigations, and to bring into line police who extract confessions through torture or who illegally gather evidence.

Party Uses Journalists, Artists, Academics To Promote "Harmonious Society"

The Communist Party Central Committee issued the Resolution on Major Issues Regarding the Building of a Harmonious Socialist Society (Resolution) on October 11, calling on news publications, radio, film, television, literature, the arts, and the social sciences to "insist on the correct orientation" and "sing the main theme" as part of the Party's campaign to build a "harmonious society." The phrase "sing the main theme" has been defined by one Party official as meaning to "carry forward a nationalist spirit whose core is patriotism" and "carry forward collectivist and socialist ideology and allow it to become the main stream of modern times." The Resolution, issued at the end of the Sixth Plenum of the Party's 16th Central Committee, also recommends increased control over the Internet to ensure that it is used in a "civilized" manner, saying "the Internet should be made an important battlefield for promoting a harmonious society."

ACFTU Measures Promote Migrant Benefits, Also Aim To Curb Independent Groups

Sun Chunlan, Vice Chair and First Secretary of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU), called for the national union federation to continue efforts to protect the legal rights of migrant workers at an October 15 meeting on migrant labor, according to an October 16 Legal Daily report (in Chinese). Citing the Sixth Plenum mandate to establish a socialist harmonious society, Sun told unions in the federation to focus on five facets of migrant worker protection: participating in the formulation and implementation of laws and policies to protect migrant worker rights; solving acute problems such as wage distribution, labor safety, and social security, while implementing a three-year plan to have enterprises sign contracts with migrant workers; assisting migrant workers with their work and problems in their livelihood; promoting education and training among migrant workers; and bringing more migrant worker groups into ACFTU branches.

Official Repression of House Church Members Continues in Xinjiang

Official government repression of Protestant house church members in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) continued in October and November, with three reported incidences of house church members being taken into custody, according to the China Aid Association (CAA), a U.S. NGO that monitors religious freedom in China.

Shandong Court Sentences Internet Essayist Li Jianping to Two Years' Imprisonment

The intermediate people's court in Zibo city, Shandong province, sentenced Internet essayist Li Jianping on October 25 to two years' imprisonment and two years' deprivation of political rights for "inciting subversion of state power," according to the court judgment. Such acts are crimes under Article 105, Paragraph 2 of the Criminal Law. The court found that Li had "incited subversion of state power" by posting essays on overseas Web sites that "harmed the people's democratic dictatorship and socialist system of China" and "provoked feelings of hostility and hatred" toward the Chinese government. The court judgment neither described how the essays accomplished these acts nor cited any specific passages that it considered to be harmful or provocative. An October 26 Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) report quoted Li's wife as saying he planned to appeal the verdict.

Medical Practitioners and Ministry of Health Cooperate To Regulate Organ Harvesting

About 600 Chinese surgeons joined top health officials on November 13 for a national summit to discuss regulation of human organ transplants, according to a November 16 report (subscription required) in the South China Morning Post (SCMP). All medical institutions that perform organ transplants in China sent representatives to attend the National Summit of Clinical Application and Management of Human Organ Transplantation, which took place in Guangzhou city, Guangdong province, according to a November 16 China Daily report.

Local Authorities Interfere With Rights To Vote and Stand for Election

Local authorities continue to interfere with citizens' rights to vote and stand for election in the 2006-2007 cycle of county and township local people's congress (LPC) elections. Officials have harassed and taken into custody independent candidates and their supporters who threaten Communist Party control over the process and candidates.

Rebiya Kadeer's Sons Receive Prison Sentence, Fines, for Alleged Economic Crimes

The Tianshan District People's Court in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR), imposed a prison sentence and fines on one son of exiled Uighur activist Rebiya Kadeer and levied fines on another son on November 27, according to a November 27 Xinhua report (via People's Daily) and a November 27 press release from the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP). The court sentenced Alim Abdurehim (Abdureyim) to seven years in prison and fined him 500,000 yuan (US$62,500) for evading taxes in the amount of 208,430 yuan (US$26,000).

Wenzhou City Issues New Domestic Violence Provisions

Provisions on Preventing and Stopping Domestic Violence (the provisions) took effect on November 15, 2006, in Wenzhou city, Zhejiang province, according to a November 9 Xinhua article. The provisions charge local government and social organizations with implementing specific measures to prevent domestic violence. Article 23 of the provisions mandates that public security agencies should quickly respond to domestic violence cases; Article 30 directs local civil affairs bureaus to run shelters to house victims temporarily; and Articles 28 and 29 charge judicial administration agencies and legal aid organizations with helping victims who require legal assistance but cannot afford it. Articles 35 through 37 of the provisions mandate that officials responsible for stopping domestic violence should be punished when they fail to handle the case in a timely manner. Article 26 requires medical facilities to keep adequate records that may be used as evidence in a domestic violence case, and Article 23 requires the same of public security agencies.

Officials Extend Tibetan's Sentence for Shouting Pro-Dalai Lama Slogans in Prison

The Chinese government has extended the sentence of Jigme Gyatso, a former Gaden Monastery monk who operated a restaurant in Lhasa city, capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), according to a report in the Fall 2006 issue of Dialogue, a newsletter published by The Dui Hua Foundation. The Dialogue report describes the conviction and imprisonment of Jigme Gyatso as one of several "high-profile cases of concern to the international community."

Official Information Confirms Sentence for Tibetan Nun Who Put Up Posters

The Gannan Intermediate People's Court in Gansu province sentenced Choekyi Drolma, a Buddhist nun, to three years' imprisonment in December 2005 for "inciting splittism," according to official Chinese information that has recently become available. She was among five Tibetan monks and nuns detained in 2005 in Xiahe (Sangchu), in Gannan (Kanlho) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (TAP) in Gansu.

Anhui Requires Journalists to Write "Positive" Reports for Promotion

The Anhui provincial government issued rules in October requiring journalists and editors based in Anhui, as a condition for promotion, to produce "positive" reports about the province that are carried by "major central news media." Southern Weekend, a Guangdong-based weekly run by one of China's most progressive and reform-oriented newspaper publishers, publicized the existence of the rules in an October 26 report (via Sina.com) on the barriers to advancement that the rules pose for a local Anhui journalist.

Five-Year Plan Calls for News Regulator To Maintain Status As News Provider

The 11th Five-Year Cultural Development Program issued by the State Council on September 13, 2006, states that one of the Chinese government's goals is to ensure that the Xinhua News Agency's news information products hold a "proportion of the domestic market." In addition to being China's largest news agency, Xinhua is a Chinese government bureau directly subordinate to the State Council and, pursuant to the Decision of the State Council Establishing Administration Examination and Approval Matters That Must Remain Subject to Administrative Licensing, is the regulator of foreign news agencies providing financial information in China.

Government Increases Controls Over Muslim Pilgrimages

Chinese Muslim pilgrims may now only receive hajj visas at the Saudi Embassy in Beijing and only if they are part of a Chinese government-sponsored trip, according to an announcement from the State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA) reported on October 4 in Ta Kung Pao and October 12 on the SARA Web site. The new measures were established in an agreement signed in May between the state-controlled Islamic Association of China (IAC) and the Saudi Ministry of Pilgrimage.

Beijing Drafts Mental Health Regulations in Preparation for Olympics

The Beijing Municipality Local People's Congress (LPC) on August 9 released draft regulations that would give public security officials the power to hospitalize mentally ill persons only if they pose a threat to public safety, life or property. The Draft Regulations on Mental Health also prohibit discrimination against mental health patients and their family members, and call for protections for mental health patients in the workplace.

GAPP Official Claims China's Publishing Regulations Fulfill WTO Commitments

Liu Binjie, a deputy director of the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP), told a reporter that the Chinese government has honored its World Trade Organization (WTO) commitments with respect to reforming and opening up its publishing sector, according to a September 19, 2006, article (in Chinese) posted on the State Intellectual Property Office Web site. Liu said that in compliance with its WTO obligations, the Chinese government has opened up both its retail and print production markets.

Local Officials' Dereliction of Duty Linked to Environmental Incidents

A senior State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) official said dereliction of duty by local officials in Gansu and Hunan provinces is to blame for two major environmental pollution incidents in August and September, according to a September 15 China Daily article. Pollution from factories resulted in more than 250 children being hospitalized for lead poisoning in Gansu and the shutdown of a drinking water source used by 80,000 people in Hunan, according to news reports.

NPCSC, People's Bank of China Pass New Regulations on Money Laundering

The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress enacted a new Anti-Money Laundering Law (Law) on October 31, according to a report (in Chinese) on the People's Daily Web site dated the same day. The following day, Xinhua reported (via the People's Daily) that the People's Bank of China (PBOC) would issue regulations "as soon as possible" to enforce the Law, which will become effective on January 1, 2007.