Freedom of Expression
Xinhua reports that at a "summit meeting" of Internet cafe operators sponsored by China's Ministry of Culture, ministry officials stated that there are plans to amend the "Regulations on the Administration of Internet Access Service Business Establishments" following the completion of the campaign to "rectify" Internet cafes. Possible amendments include extending operating hours and allowing minors to patronize Internet cafes. Officials also stated, however, that the Chinese government intends to impose "strict control" over the number of Internet cafes, and that "in principle no new Internet cafes will be established."
Human Rights in China reports that Hu Shigen is in extremely poor health. Boxun reports that Huang Qi's health is also deteriorating.
Hu Shigen was arrested on May 27, 1992, together with other members of the “Beijing Fifteen,” a group of labor and democracy activists tried for “counterrevolutionary crimes” in the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown. Hu was a co-founder Chinese Progressive Alliance and the Chinese Freedom and Democracy Party, as well as a member of the Preparatory Committee of the Free Labor Union of China. Hu was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for “heading a counterrevoutionary group” and “spreading counterrevolutionary propaganda,” including an alleged plan to use a remote-controlled model airplane to drop leaflets on Tiananmen Square to commemorate the anniversary of the crackdown.
Xinhua reports that out of 1.8 million Internet cafes inspected between February and August of this year, Chinese authorities have shut down 1,600, and ordered 18,000 to stop operations until their problems are rectified.
The Washington Times Web site is carrying a UPI report stating that Cheng Yizhong was expelled from the Communist Party last week. Cheng, a former editor of the Southern Metropolitan Daily, a pioneering newspaper in Guangdong, was detained earlier this year along with the Southern Metropolitan Daily's former deputy editor-in-chief and Southern Group general manager Yu Huafeng and former Southern Metropolitan Daily editor Li Minying. Cheng was released after five months without having been charged. Yu Huafeng and Li Mingying are currently appealing their jail sentences.
The People's Daily reports that China's State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television has announced that it will delegate the authority to control television program production to five provincial-level offices, including Beijing and Zhejiang. Other provincial offices are apprently not affect by this announcement. According to the People's Daily, in the past every television program in China had to be approved by SARFT's headquarters in Beijing twice: once before production, and again after filming. Under the new rules, some SARFT provincial-level offices in these localities will be able to determine what can be aired themselves, and have to receive authorization from SARFT's headquarters only if the television programs in question involve foreign actors or cooperation with foreign producers.
Human Rights in China has issued a press release stating that Tibetan writer, Wei Se (also known as "Oser" and "Oezer"), has lost her job, home, and freedom of movement because Chinese officials consider her writings overly favorable to the Dalai Lama. Citing unnamed sources, HRIC said that China's United Front Work Department and the General Administration for Press and Publication determined that Wei Se’s writings contained “political errors” due to their positive references to the exiled Tibetan leader. According to HRIC, as a result of this Wei Se has lost her job, and her former work unit, the Tibetan Cultural Association, has evicted her from her home and terminated her health and retirement benefits. She has also been prohibited from applying for a passport to leave the country.
Human Rights in China Press Release
October 27, 2004
The South China Morning Post cites a Chinese scholar as saying that it was the intervention of President Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao and Guangdong party elders Ren Zhongyi and Wu Nansheng that secured Cheng Yizhong's release. The report cited unnamed sources as claiming that Yu Huafeng and Li Minying, Cheng's jailed Southern Metropolis News colleagues, are also expected to be released, but will first have to go through the legal process.
Citing Xinhua, the Ministry of Justice Web site announced that on September 22 the Chinese Communist Party enacted the "Rules on the Protection of Rights of Chinese Communist Party Members." Two of the Rules' articles explicitly forbid Party members from publicly disagreeing with the Party, or publicly expressing opinions inconsistent with Party dogma:
Hao Keyuan, Editor-in-Chief of the Yilu Evening News, one of China's largest newspapers, has written an article entitled "Twelve Major Changes in Running a Newspaper." The article outlines “new concepts” in publishing newspapers in China, and item seven on the list is "Although one must submit to controls, one must nevertheless try to achieve something meaningful." This item begins by conceding that government censorship (what the author refers to as "news administration") exists, and is a problem:
Xinhua reports that the draft Public Security Administration Punishments Law currently under consideration by China's National People's Congress contains provisions directed at Internet Cafe operators. Under the draft law, anyone caught operating an Internet Cafe without license can be subject to up to 15 days of administrative detention.