Criminal Justice

Sichuan provincial authorities have held American businessman David Ji under house arrest since October 2004. Ji is president of Apex Digital, a California electronics firm. Apex Digital’s lawyers say that Mr. Ji initially was detained without a warrant and was forced to sign a number of commercial agreements detrimental to the interests of Apex before he was granted access to his lawyer as provided by Chinese law. Police also apparently contravened the 1980 U.S.-China Consular Convention by failing to notify U.S. consular officials about Ji’s detention within the specified four days after first detention. Public security authorities reportedly are investigating charges that Ji wrote bad checks to Sichuan Changhong Electronics Co., a state owned company that is involved in a commercial dispute with Apex. Apex lawyers claim they can prove Ji is innocent of the charges, and have expressed concern that police are holding Ji hostage at Changhong’s behest for leverage in the commercial dispute.

Several human rights groups, including the Independent Chinese PEN Center, Reporters Without Borders, and the Committee to Protect Journalists, have expressed concern that Chinese public security authorities have arrested journalist Zheng Yichun. According to these groups, Zheng's family reported that public security officers initially detained him on December 3, 2004. Since December 20, police have held him in No. 1 Prison of Panjin city, Liaoning province. Authorities notified Zheng's family on December 31 that he had been arrested and charged with advocating subversion. At that time, officials warned the family not to inform the news media or human rights groups, and the family therefore did not speak about the arrest until China's state-controlled media published news accounts of the charges on February 24, 2005.

Chinese authorities have released retired PLA general and physician Dr. Jiang Yanyong from house arrest, according to Western news media and NGOs, including Reuters and the China Information Center.

Chinese authorities formally arrested Zhang Lin for inciting the subversion of state power, reports Agence France Presse (AFP). Public security authorities evidently informed Fang Caofang, Zhang's wife, about the move on March 19. As the CECC noted in its 2004 Annual Report, Chinese authorities often use vague and overbroad national security laws to silence critics of the Party and the central government.

On March 17, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued an open letter to PRC President Hu Jintao calling for the release of Zhao Yan, a Chinese employee of the New York Times who was detained in September 2004. According to the letter:

Today marks the six-month anniversary of the imprisonment of Zhao Yan, a news assistant at The New York Times who has been held incommunicado and without charge or trial since September 17, 2004. The Committee to Protect Journalists deplores Zhao's ongoing detention, which violates international law and the 2004 amendment to the Chinese Constitution safeguarding human rights.

The CECC staff previously prepared a summary of the events relating to Zhao's detention to date.

Acknowledging some limited progress in the Chinese government’s human rights performance, a senior U.S. diplomat announced March 17 that the United States would not offer a resolution criticizing China’s human rights record at the annual U.N. Commission on Human Rights meeting in Geneva. Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Michael Kozak told a House International Relations subcommittee that the Administration remains "deeply concerned about China’s poor human rights record." Kozak emphasized, however, that, as in previous years, the United States had informed the Chinese government that a U.S. decision to pursue or forego on a UNHRC resolution on China would depend on whether concrete steps had been taken to improve human rights conditions. Ambassador Kozak then listed several limited areas of progress, noting that the Chinese government:

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) reports that on March 11, a Chinese court found the journalist Shi Tao guilty of "disclosing state secrets." He is due to be sentenced on March 25. Under Chinese law Shi could be sentenced to between 10 years to life.

According to RSF, the trial was closed to the public. Also, Shi's attorney, Guo Guoting, was not able to defend Shi because Chinese authorities revoked Guo's law license on February 24. Authorities placed him under house arrest earlier this week.

Shi Tao was arrested in November 2004 as part of a government crackdown on public intellectuals.

Foreign Ministry press spokesman Liu Jianchao said March 16 that "China feels positive about the opening of a representative office of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Beijing, and feels that such an office will help promote ICRC cooperation with China and its bordering countries in the humanitarian realm." Liu noted that China and the ICRC had signed a Memorandum of Intent in May 2004, and that the government had asked the ICRC in March to renew consultations on administrative details. Liu said "China hopes to be able to consult with ICRC representatives this month and will strive for the establishment of the regional office by mid-year."