Freedom of Expression

Local government officials in China have continued to target for repression citizens who attempt to defend their legally protected rights, according to a September 25 Radio Free Asia (RFA) article. RFA reports: "Rather than penning well-crafted essays on broad themes aimed at Party ideologues and the urban elite, the new breed of Chinese activist is more likely to use their pens on countless official forms and letters, culminating in complaints, lawsuits, or appeals to Party disciplinary systems." The article notes that the struggles of these rights defenders "seem inevitably to lead to beatings, detentions, and [criminal] sentences," and that the underlying problem giving rise to their grievances "is systemic, rather than ideological, and therefore isn't going away any time soon."

The Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau (PSB) continues to hold Beijing lawyer Gao Zhisheng without a formal charge, and has denied him access to a lawyer on the grounds that his case involves "state secrets," according to a September 25 Radio Free Asia (RFA) report (in Chinese). More than 10 plainclothes police officers abducted Gao on August 15 from his sister's home in Dongying city, Shandong province, where he was visiting his critically ill brother-in-law, according to an August 17 RFA report (in Chinese).

The Xinhua News Agency (Xinhua) issued on September 10 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. Xinhua is a Chinese government agency directly subordinate to the State Council. The Measures require foreign news agencies to be licensed by Xinhua and to submit all articles to a Xinhua-approved agency for distribution.

Officials demolished an unregistered Catholic church and beat several Catholics who attempted to prevent the demolition on Pingtang Island in Fujian province on September 1, according to a September 4 AsiaNews report. The AsiaNews account said that officials warned the Catholics that they would demolish another unregistered Catholic church on the same island.

In July and August, provincial officials detained house church Protestants in Anhui, Henan, Hubei, and Yunnan provinces, and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and placed a registered Protestant pastor under house arrest and evicted him from his parish in Shanxi, according to the China Aid Association (CAA), a U.S. NGO that monitors religious freedom in China.

The following is a partial translation by CECC staff of an article entitled "Five Government Agencies Formulate the 'Certain Opinions Regarding the Introduction of Foreign Investment into the Cultural Domain'," published by Xinhua on August 4, 2005.

The following is a partial translation by CECC staff of an article published on Xinhua's Web site discussing new rules restricting who may engage in journalism. A CECC report on the nature and impact of these rules is available here.

News reports shall implement a real name system when they are published by the media.

The Communist Party Central Propaganda Department, State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television, and the General Administration of Press and Publication today issued the Interim Provisions on the Administration of Those Employed as News Reporters and Editors, setting forth the aforementioned rules.

. . .

The Communist Party must remain in charge of China's news media and book publishing industries, according to an article by Long Xinmin, head the General Administration of Press and Publication, published in the April 6 edition of the People's Daily. Long wrote that, although the Chinese government must reform these industries by requiring publishers without political and public interest responsibilities to "face the market," any such reform must be predicated on the principle that, "News and publishing work is an important component of the general work of the Party and the nation, and is an important domain of the Party's propaganda and ideology battle lines." Long also wrote, "Newspaper and periodical propaganda and publications must firmly grasp the correct orientation of public opinion at all times.