China Human Rights and Rule of Law Update - June 2005

 
 
 

Message from the Co-Chairmen on the Sixteenth Anniversary of Tiananmen

Sixteen years after the world witnessed the devastating events in and around Tiananmen Square in Beijing, we remember the courage of the students and workers who peacefully exercised their rights to freedom of expression and assembly there. And we recall that, although the Chinese leadership crushed the "Beijing Spring" demonstrations, they could not crush the ideals of those who gathered at Tiananmen. Today, we can see in every Chinese province the effects of market reforms and forward-looking economic changes, but the backward-looking political system continues to leave most Chinese people without a voice in their own political future. Popular frustration, especially with official corruption, seems to be growing.

Political change is complex and imperfect. Many have hoped that China's new leadership would recognize that the greatest challenge to continued development comes from inflexibility, secretiveness, and a lack of democratic oversight. The Congressional-Executive Commission on China retains the hope that this type of change is possible in China, but many developments over the past year have given the Commission cause for concern. The American people and the U.S. government support the efforts of many Chinese people and government officials to build a more transparent, fair, and participatory society. The Chinese people ultimately will determine in which direction China develops and how it gets there, but China's leaders must take the first steps, and the United States must continue to be ready to assist.

 
 
 

Events

Roundtable: Unofficial Religions in China: Beyond the Party's Rules

On May 23, 2005, the CECC held another in its series of staff-led Issues Roundtables, entitled Unofficial Religion in China: Beyond the Party's Rules. The roundtable highlighted the growth of religion in China and the state's efforts to control and regulate it. The panelists were: Patricia M. Thornton, Associate Professor of Political Science at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut; David Ownby, Director of the Center of East Asian Studies at the University of Montreal; and Robert P. Weller, Professor of Anthropology and Research Associate, Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs at Boston University.

 

Roundtable: Intellectual Property Protection as Economic Policy: Will China Ever Enforce Its IP Laws?

On May 16, 2005, the CECC held another in its series of staff-led Issues Roundtables, entitled Intellectual Property Protection as Economic Policy: Will China Ever Enforce Its IP Laws? The roundtable highlighted the current rate of infringement of intellectual property rights in China, the Chinese government's policies regarding intellectual property, and why these policies have so far been ineffective. The panelists were: Daniel C.K. Chow, Robert J. Nordstrom Designated Professor of Law, Ohio State University Michael E. Mortiz College of Law; Eric H. Smith, President, International Intellectual Property Alliance; and James M. Zimmerman, Partner and Chief Representative, Beijing office, Squire, Sanders and Dempsey LLP.

 
 
 

Chinese Government Cancels Conference on Constitutionalism and Democracy

Chinese government authorities abruptly cancelled a planned international academic conference on constitutionalism and democracy that was to begin on May 19, according to reports by the Associated Press and South China Morning Post.

Dalai Lama's Envoy Says Fourth Trip to China Will Be "Soon"

Lodi Gyaltsen Gyari, the Special Envoy of the Dalai Lama, told the Voice of America (VOA) in a May 4 interview that he and fellow Envoy Kelsang Gyaltsen would make their fourth trip to China "soon." In the VOA interview, Gyari said, "Everything is decided except the timing of the visit, and we are in touch with concerned Chinese leadership." He noted that the Tibet issue is "extremely complex" and would not be resolved quickly.

Supreme People's Procuratorate Promises to Focus on Eliminating Torture

Procuratorates across China will focus on addressing the problem of torture and coerced confessions this year, according to a report in the Legal Daily. The Supreme People’s Procuratorate announced the new effort during a national work conference on the supervision of criminal investigations. An SPP official reportedly declared that in the wake of the She Xianglin wrongful conviction case and reports of similar cases, the procuratorate will make eliminating the problem of torture and coerced confessions a priority. The official noted that the procuratorates would also work to address law enforcement corruption, illegal investigation and evidence collection methods, illegal bail, and other problems.

UN Committee Calls on Beijing to End Forced Labor and Allow Independent Trade Unions

The United Nations Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights recommended that the Chinese government "abolish the use of forced labor as a corrective measure" and "allow workers to form independent trade unions outside of the structure of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions," according to the China Labour Bulletin.

Ministry of Information Industry: Web Sites That Fail to Register May Be Shut Down

In early May, local authorities in Guangzhou and Shanghai announced a requirement that all non-commercial Web sites in their jurisdictions must register. Xinhua reported on May 31 that the Ministry of Information Industry has asked local communication administrations throughout China to complete registration of non-commercial Web sites by June 30. According to the May 31 article, Web sites that fail to register promptly may be closed.

Chinese Scholar: Abuse of Retrial Provisions a Leading Cause of Wrongful Convictions

Appeals courts reluctant to overturn criminal convictions often abuse a procedural provision that allows them to return cases for retrial, argues prominent Chinese criminal law scholar Chen Weidong in a Beijing News interview. He concludes that the practice leads to wrongful convictions. Chinese media have focused attention on the retrial issue in the wake of controversy over the wrongful conviction of She Xianglin (see related stories 1, 2, 3). In Mr. She’s case, an appeals court returned the case for retrial multiple times citing "unclear facts" and "insufficient evidence." It finally let the conviction stand after prosecutors declared they could not find additional evidence and the trial court changed Mr. She’s death sentence to 15 years’ imprisonment. Similar cases also have come to light in recent months (see related story here).

New Regulations May Help Mongols Increase the Use of Their Own Language

New "Regulations on the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region's Mongolian Language Work" that became effective on May 1 contain provisions to promote the use of the Mongol language. At a time when Chinese government policies limit the use of the Uighur language in neighboring Xinjiang, the new Inner Mongolia regulations set specific guidelines for increasing the use of the Mongol language in government offices, courts, schools, and in the news media. For example, Article 13 stipulates that institutes of higher education should increase recruitment of Mongol-speaking students, as well as the number of classes using Mongolian as the language of instruction. Article 12 states that economic incentives should be offered to students receiving their primary and middle school instruction in Mongolian. Article 15 provides for the creation of Mongolian language technical training classes for peasants and herders.

Railway Bridge Completed at Lhasa; Tibetan Farmers Object to Compensation Amount

Chinese authorities announced on May 13 that construction of the railroad bridge across the "Lhasa River" at Lhasa is complete, according to a Xinhua report. Tibetans know the river as the Kyichu. Many Tibetans speaking privately have expressed grave concern that the completion of the railroad could result in a transformation of the population mix.

Chinese Authorities Sentence Journalist to 10 Years in Prison

Xinhua reported that on April 30 the Changsha Intermediate People's Court sentenced Shi Tao to 10 years imprisonment and two years deprivation of political rights for disclosing "state secrets." According to Xinhua, the state secrets in question consisted of information he learned at a meeting of the editorial board of the newspaper at which he worked.

Chinese Defense Lawyer Guo Guoting Arrives in Canada

Embattled Chinese defense lawyer Guo Guoting has arrived in Canada to participate in an international research conference, according to a Boxun report. Guo, recognized for his legal representation of activists, has defended journalists, Falun Gong practitioners, and other lawyers who have run afoul of Chinese authorities.

Three Chinese Districts Experiment With New Protections for Suspects During Interrogation

Public security offices in three Chinese districts have launched a pilot project that will allow criminal suspects to request the presence of an attorney for audio and videotaping during criminal interrogations, according to an article in the Legal Daily. Scholars from the Procedural Research Center at the Chinese University of Politics and Law in Beijing, which reportedly designed the project, chose Haidian district, Beijing; Baiyin district, Gansu; and Jiaozhu city, Henan as the three pilot districts. In at least one of the districts, organizers appear to have enlisted local law firms to assist.

Communist Party and Government Officials Manipulate "Public Opinion" on the Internet

The publication Southern Weekend has reported that government agencies in several places in China have begun to employ "online commentators," apparently in an effort to manipulate public opinion on Internet forums and bulletin boards. According to a May 19 article entitled "Suqian: Practicing Guidance of Internet Public Opinion," Suqian, a city in Jiangsu province, has hired 26 "politically reliable" Communist Party propaganda officials and government spokespersons to "actively develop the guidance of public opinion at home, and work hard to establish Suqian's image abroad."

Hong Kong Appeals Court Overturns Convictions Stemming From 2002 Falun Gong Demonstration

The Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal (CFA), in a decision announced on May 5, overturned the convictions of eight Falun Gong practitioners for willful obstruction of police and assault. Hong Kong police arrested the practitioners in 2002 for obstructing a public thoroughfare in the course of a peaceful protest outside the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government. Several demonstrators resisted police efforts to arrest them for the obstruction. In 2002, a Hong Kong trial court convicted the demonstrators of obstructing a public place, willful obstruction of police, and (in the case of one demonstrator) assault. In 2003, a lower appeals court overturned the public obstruction convictions but upheld the willful obstruction and assault convictions. The CFA decision, which overturned these remaining convictions, provides a stark contrast to recent official pronouncements on the mainland regarding the legality of various demonstrations that have taken place there in recent weeks (see related stories 1, 2, 3).

New Official Restrictions on NGO Research Organizations Announced

The Beijing Bureau of Industry and Commerce (BIC) has instructed several non-governmental social science organizations that currently are registered as for-profit companies to re-register with the Ministry of Civil Affairs (MOCA), according to a report in the Asia Times. Local BIC branches have posted official notices on their Web sites confirming the cancellation of registrations for a number of research groups.

Delegation of Chinese Protestants Attends International Mission Conference

For the first time, a Chinese delegation attended a World Council of Churches Conference on World Mission and Evangelism.

Workers Daily States New Incentives Needed To Retain Local Workers in Xinjiang

More than 200,000 of Xinjiang's most well-educated citizens have moved out of the autonomous region since 1979, according to a May 1 article in the Workers Daily. Post-secondary schools outside Xinjiang admit more than 10,000 Xinjiang students each year, and fewer than half return to the autonomous region after graduation. The article says Xinjiang has 493,000 technically trained workers, just over half of whom are minorities.

Government and Communist Party Move to Increase Regulation of Reporters and Editors

In the first four months of 2005, the Chinese government has promulgated several laws to regulate news reporters and editors. While ostensibly intended to curb what the state-controlled news media portrays as rampant corruption and fraud in Chinese journalism, these new rules and regulations also dictate who may engage in journalism, what their political orientation must be, and when they must submit to Party and government censorship:

Migrants Elected to Shenzhen People's Congress, Suggests Heightened Attention to Migrant Rights

Eight Shenzhen residents who hold temporary residence permits have been elected to the municipal local people's congress (LPC), according to a May 2 Beijing News article. LPCs are legislative bodies with membership chosen through elections commonly subject to Party interference. Although LPC power is limited, the addition of migrant representatives to these bodies does represent an improvement in the field of migrant rights.

Work Safety Administration Finds Negligence and Faulty Equipment Caused Deadly Mine Disaster

A Chinese government investigation into the Sunjiawan mine disaster determined that careless maintenance and leaking gas caused the explosion, according to the Wall Street Journal. 214 miners died in the blast. The Deputy Director of the State Administration for Work Safety said that workers had failed to turn off the power during cable maintenance, in violation of safety rules. In addition, gas monitoring equipment was not working properly.

State Council Issues Updated White Paper on Intellectual Property Rights

In April, the State Council issued an updated White Paper on intellectual property (IP) protection. The document, entitled "New Progress on China's Protection of Intellectual Property" (read it in English and in Chinese) is the latest official statement on this issue and covers the period since 1995 when the last White Paper was issued.

Media Summary: Chinese Authorities Seized Over 300,000 "Illegal Political Publications" in 2004

In January 2005, Xinhua reported that government officials seized over 200,000,000 "illegal publications" in 2004, and a CECC review of official reports shows that authorities seized hundreds of thousands of these publications solely because of their political content. This censorship appears to be in addition to the General Administration of Press and Publication's banning of 170 publications with "problematic topic selections" in 2004 that the People's Daily reported in February 2005. Instead, the Chinese agency responsible for this political censorship is called the National Sweep Away Pornography and Strike Down Illegal Publications Task Force (sometimes translated as the "Office for Eliminating Pornography and Illegal Publications," or the "Office of National Anti-Piracy and Pornography Working Committee"). The Task Force is comprised of 17 Communist Party and government agencies, including the General Administration of Press and Publication and the Central Propaganda Department.

Asia News: Unregistered Catholic Priests Released in Hebei Province, but Bishop Detained

On April 28, public security bureaus in several Hebei province locations released seven unregistered Catholic priests who had been detained the previous day, reports AsiaNews. Security officers detained the priests while they were attending a religious retreat with Bishop Jia Zhiguo. Local sources said that public security officials detained the priests because the retreat was held outside their home county.

Official Says Unauthorized Publications Represent a Threat to China's Publishing Market

Illegal periodicals constitute a "threat," according to Liu Binjie, deputy director of the General Administration of Press and Publication, and "they violate rules and regulations on press and publications, they contravene national laws, and the activities they engage in are all-in-all illegal publishing activities." Liu made the remarks in an interview in which a reporter asked why the GAPP recently banned 60 newspapers and magazines.

See below to read further excerpts from the interview.

Zhejiang Province Allows Farmers Cooperatives to Register, Obtain Legal Status

Zhejiang authorities have registered China's first group of rural professional farmers cooperatives, according to a May 10 Beijing news report.

Editorial Challenging Dalian Anti-Begging Regulation Raises Broader Questions About China's Legal System

Local regulations must conform to the Constitution and national law, concludes a commentary in the Hong Kong edition of the China Daily. The commentary takes aim at a new Dalian city regulation that prohibits begging in many parts of the city, citing objections on both policy and legal grounds.

Chinese Data: Fewer Than One Percent of Witnesses Appear in Court

Fewer than one percent of Chinese witnesses who give depositions before trial subsequently appear in court to testify, according to survey data cited by the Chinese journal Democracy and Law (Issue No. 4, 2005). The article notes that the failure of witnesses to appear at trial is one of the major problems facing the legal system, and that the problem is becoming more serious. It is a particular concern in criminal trials, in which the court may have only a written deposition to review. In such situations, defendants lose the benefit of their nominal right of cross-examination (click here for a related story).

Chinese Orthodox Celebrate First Easter Service Since 1957

The Chinese community of Orthodox Christians conducted their first public Easter prayer service since 1957 in a Beijing Catholic Cathedral on May 2, report RIA Novosti and ITAR TASS. Beijing religious authorities granted permission for the prayer service (Easter matins, not the divine liturgy), which was conducted by laymen, since no Chinese Orthodox priests remain in Beijing and Chinese law forbids foreign priests from conducting religious services for Chinese citizens. The Catholic cathedral was the venue because the Chinese government has not permitted Orthodox churches in Beijing to reopen or a new church to be built.

Government-Run News Media Warn That BBS Operators Will Be Prosecuted for Illegal Content

The Southern Metropolitan Daily reports that on the eve of the May 1 International Labor Day holiday, Guangdong province's Communication Administration Office, Government News Department, and Public Security Office jointly issued a "Notice Regarding Stepping Up Strengthening of Regulation of the Dissemination of Harmful Information on the Internet."

Chinese Police Attempt to Take into Custody Son of Uighur Activist Rebiya Kadeer

Chinese authorities have begun what Human Rights Watch reports may be a politically motivated attack on the family and friends of Rebiya Kadeer, the recently released Uighur political prisoner now living in Washington, DC.

Government to Encourage Foreign Investment in Environmental Protection

Pan Yue, Deputy Director of the State Environmental Protection Administration, recently announced that the Chinese government will introduce mechanisms to attract foreign investment in environmental protection, according to a Xinhua report.

Multinationals' IP Rights Potentially Challenged by New Competition Law

The Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) official who heads the new Anti-Monopoly Investigations Office accused foreign multinational companies (MNCs) of intellectual property (IP) abuse. Shang Ming, who also directs MOFCOM’s Department of Treaty and Law, acknowledged that the National People’s Congress (NPC) has not yet enacted an anti-monopoly law. Shang accused MNCs, nonetheless, of injuring the development of China's enterprises by limiting competition in China's domestic market. No current law proscribes IP abuse.

New State-Run Federation May Limit Environmental NGO Independence

Chinese authorities have established the All China Environment Federation (ACEF), a state-run alliance of environmental NGOs, according to an April 24 Xinhua article. The ACEF's leadership is primarily current and former government officials; vice-directors include the current head of the State Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA), former directors and deputy directors of ministries such as Construction, Forestry, and Agriculture, and other officials with responsibilities touching on environmental issues.

Procuratorial Daily Commentator Argues That 100 Percent Conviction Rates Should Not Be a Measure of Law Enforcement Effectiveness

A commentator in the Procuratorial Daily criticized the notion that 100 percent criminal conviction rates demonstrate the high quality of law enforcement in China. The commentator carefully discusses recent official praise for basic level procuratorates that have 100 percent conviction rates, citing four reasons why conviction rates should not be a measure of the quality of law enforcement.