Freedom of Expression

The State Council Information Office (SCIO) reportedly issued a secret directive in late July 2009 ordering news Web sites in China to require new users wishing to post a comment to provide their real name and identity card number, according to a September 5 New York Times (NYT) report. The Commission could not locate the government directive on the Internet, but found that several news portals, including Sohu, Netease, and MSN, appeared to be complying with the directive. The NYT report said that major news portals such as "Sina, Netease, Sohu and scores of other sites" began implementing the requirement in early August, citing "top editors" at two of the news portals and a staff member at Sina. The requirement did not apply to "blog hosts, forums or government news sites like People's Daily or Xinhua" and did not appear to affect users already registered with the sites, according to NYT.

Internet Regulation Targets Online Separatism

The Suqian Intermediate People's Court in Jiangsu province on October 16, 2009, sentenced Guo Quan, formerly a university professor and a past member of one of the few state-approved "democratic" parties allowed in China, to 10 years in prison for "subversion of state power," according to a Human Rights in China (HRIC) press release of the same date. The court found that Guo used the Internet to organize an "illegal" political party called the "China New Democracy Party," recruited members for the party, published numerous "reactionary" articles online, called for a seven-day stay-at-home boycott of the government, and sought to "overthrow" the socialist system, according to the court judgment (English translation prepared by Dui Hua Foundation, Chinese).

Introduction

Feng Chongyi, a noted Chinese professor, has filed a lawsuit against a Chinese customs office located in Guangdong province near Hong Kong after officials there confiscated 11 of his books, according to an October 22, 2009, Southern Weekend (SW) article (in Chinese, English translation provided by Danwei). According to the SW article, as Feng was entering China through Guangzhou city in Guangdong on June 5, 2009, officials at the Tianhe Station Customs Office confiscated the books during an inspection. The officials claimed the books had been banned.

In a speech to mark Journalists' Day in China on November 8, 2009, top Communist Party official Li Changchun continued to emphasize the Party's dominance over the nation's news media, according to a transcript of Li's remarks published by People's Daily. Li, a member of the Party's Politburo Standing Committee, told journalists to "persist in strengthening and improving the Party's leadership over news propaganda work" and "persist in the Party's management of the media." He also said that "guiding power over news propaganda work" should remain "firmly in the hands of those devoted to the Party and the people." According to a November 8 Agence France-Presse article (via Google) on the speech, Li is fifth in the hierarchy of China's leaders and "is seen as the country's propaganda and ideology chief."

The Macau Special Administrative Region (SAR) passed a new National Security Law on February 25, 2009, as it was required to do under Chapter II, Article 23 of the Basic Law of the Macau Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China that was adopted in 1993 and went into effect in 1999. The new law includes provisions detailed below regarding treason (Article 1), secession (Article 2), subversion (Article 3), sedition (Article 4), theft of state secrets (Article 5), and acts by foreign political organizations or Macau groups that endanger state security (Articles 6 and 7).

Tan Zuoren Case

August 12 Trial, Defense Not Permitted To Call Witnesses and Present Evidence, Witness and Parents of Quake Victims Held in Custody, Reporters Barred and Harassed

The Chengdu Intermediate People's Court conducted the trial of writer and environmental activist Tan Zuoren on August 12, 2009, on the charge of inciting subversion of state power, according to an August 13 China Daily article and an August 13 Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) article. The conduct of the trial reportedly was marred by official abuses and procedural violations, including: