Freedom of Expression

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.

Local authorities have announced plans to take Shanghai lawyer and property rights advocate Zheng Enchong into temporary custody upon his scheduled release from prison, according to a June 1 Human Rights in China (HRIC) report. Zheng is serving a three-year prison sentence for "illegally providing state secrets to entities outside of China" and is due for release on June 5, 2006, according to court documents from the Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court and Shanghai High People's Court. The trial court judgment subjects Zheng to an additional punishment of deprivation of political rights for one year following his release. Under Article 54(2) of the Criminal Law, these political rights include "the rights of freedom of speech, of the press, of assembly, of association, of procession and of demonstration."

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. The court found Chen guilty of "intentional destruction of property" (a crime under Article 275 of the Criminal Law) and "gathering people to disturb traffic order" (a crime under Article 291 of the Criminal Law), and sentenced him to four years and three months in prison.

Xinhua's dual role as both a government regulator and market competitor has raised concerns regarding China's compliance with World Trade Organization (WTO) commitments and bilateral agreement obligations. When China acceded to the WTO in 2001, the Chinese government agreed in its Schedule of Specific Commitments on Services that it would allow foreign investment in the "Provision and transfer of financial information, and financial data processing and related software by suppliers of other financial services." On September 10, 2006, Xinhua issued the Measures for Administering the Release of News and Information in China by Foreign News Agencies (Measures), which prohibit foreign news agencies from distributing news and information in China without government permission, and require foreign news agencies to be licensed by Xinhua and to submit all articles to a Xinhua-approved agency for distribution.

The Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court acquitted Zhao of disclosing state secrets on August 25, but sentenced him to three years' imprisonment on an unrelated fraud charge. Sources have said the "state secret" was information that former President and Party General Secretary Jiang Zemin had offered to resign as Chairman of the Central Military Commission. His resignation was later reported in the official press.

With respect to the fraud charge, reports in China's state-run news media said that the court had provided Xinhua with a document saying that Zhao had gone to Jilin province in 2001 to investigate a story for "Baixing Xinbao," a subsidiary of the Legal Daily, a publication of the Ministry of Justice. According to Xinhua, Feng Shanchen, the story's subject, believed he had been prosecuted unjustly (the reports did not specify for what), and paid Zhao 20,000 yuan (US$2,500) to use government connections to get his punishment rescinded.

The court found that Li had written 18 essays from 2003 to May 2005 and had posted them on such foreign Web sites as Democracy Forum, ChinaEWeekly, and Epoch Times. The judgment included a list of the essays, with titles such as "'Face' for the Communist Party is Paramount," "Who Should be Thanked for Corrupt Officials," "Discussion and Judgment Regarding Hu Jintao's Current Situation," and "Suzhou's Myth of Incorruptibility is Already Shattered; How Long Can Shanghai Endure?"

Li joins a growing list of writers and journalists that Chinese authorities have arrested or sentenced in recent months for posting essays critical of the Chinese government or the Communist Party on overseas Web sites such as the ones cited in Li's case. These individuals include:

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: