Business and Human Rights

According to a September 22 Takungpao article and an October 16 New York Times (NYT) article, Chinese lawyers in Beijing and the provinces of Hebei and Henan reported that officials have pressured them not to take cases related to milk powder tainted with the toxic chemical melamine, the widespread sale of which was revealed to the public in September 2008. The major dairy producer Sanlu has been at the center of the scandal, which has led to the deaths of at least four infants and sickened at least 53,000 children, according to the NYT article. While many lawyers have agreed to handle such cases, Chinese courts have been reluctant to accept them.

Chinese authorities seized more than 58 million illegal publications and four pirated DVD production lines during a 100-Day Anti-Piracy Campaign launched by the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Public Security, and eight other central government agencies, according to a November 27 Xinhua report (via the People's Daily Web site). According to the report, authorities investigated more than 10,000 cases of intellectual property rights (IPR) infringement and sentenced at least two individuals to life imprisonment during the campaign, which began on July 15 and concluded on October 25.

The Chinese government has increased its role in international efforts to combat corruption, and hosted the First Annual Conference and General Meeting of the International Association of Anti-Corruption Authorities (IAACA) from October 22 through October 26, 2006, according to an informational Web page posted by the Supreme People's Procuratorate. Procurator-General Jia Chunwang hosted the event and was chosen as the first chairperson of the IAACA on October 25, according to a Procuratorial Daily article (in Chinese) on the next day. The IAACA is a UN body established in April 2006 to promote implementation of the UN Convention Against Corruption (Convention) and to foster international cooperation against corruption.

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. Liu cited the following developments as evidence: