China Human Rights and Rule of Law Update - October 2006

Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) spokesman Qin Gang reiterated at a September 19 press conference the Chinese government's longstanding view that North Koreans entering China without documents "are not refugees" but "illegal migrants" who "come to China because of economic reasons," according to a transcript of his remarks (in Chinese) on the MFA Web site. The MFA's English transcript of Qin Gang's regular press conference on September 19 did not include any discussion of North Korean refugees in China.

The wrongful detentions and torture of four teenagers in 2005 in Chaohu city, Anhui province, reflect continuing criminal procedure violations and abuses by local police, as described in a September 12 Xinhua report (in Chinese) on the cases. The teenagers, who ranged in age from 16 to 18, were released in January 2006 after more than three months in police custody. According to the Xinhua account, the Anhui provincial-level Public Security Bureau (PSB) acknowledged that officials handled the teenagers' cases in error. In addition, public security officials have agreed to give each teenager 60,000 yuan (approximately US$7,600) in compensation for their wrongful detentions, pursuant to agreements signed with each individual teenager's guardians. Xinhua reports that authorities currently are investigating the three police officers who handled the cases for their suspected involvement in coercing confessions under torture.

The Chinese government will take "compulsory measures" to promote employer participation in on-the-job injury insurance for migrant workers, according to a September 9 article in the China Youth Daily (CYD). By the end of July 2006, 18.71 million migrant workers nationwide were covered by the insurance, according to the article. As of April 2006, 87 million workers overall had such insurance, according to a June 23 Legal Daily article.

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.

The Ministry of Education (MOE) announced on September 14 that students graduating from about 100 universities run by the central government and who have borrowed from the government to finance their educations may have their loan repayments waived if they agree to work in China's "western or remote areas," according to a September 15 China Daily report.

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).

Hebei provincial officials released An Shuxin, formerly the unregistered auxiliary bishop of Baoding diocese in Hebei province, on August 24 after detaining him for over 10 years, according to an August 25 report of the Cardinal Kung Foundation (CKF), a U.S. NGO that monitors religious freedom in China. Before officials released Bishop An, the government and Bishop An agreed that he would register with the government but would not be required to register with the Party-controlled Catholic Patriotic Association (CPA), according to an August 26 AsiaNews report.

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.

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 Communist Party's United Front Work Department (UFWD) established a new bureau to handle Tibetan affairs in 2005 and appointed Sithar (Sita, or Si Ta), a Tibetan, as Director, according to an article in Singtao Daily (translated in OSC 15 September 06). The Tibetan affairs portfolio moved from the Second Bureau, which handles ethnic and religious affairs, to the new Seventh Bureau. Sithar previously served as a deputy director of the Second Bureau.

Guangzhou police have accused rights defender Yang Maodong (who uses the pen name Guo Feixiong) of posing as a publisher, misappropriating the book numbers of various publications, and illegally publishing, printing, and issuing over 20,000 publications, according to a September 15 Guangzhou Daily report (in Chinese, via the Guangdong provincial government Web site). The report characterized Guo's alleged wrongdoing as "illegal operation of a business," a crime punishable under Article 225 of the Criminal Law.

Authorities in Hangzhou city, Zhejiang province, released Zhu Yufu, a China Democracy Party (CDP) leader, on September 15 after he completed a seven-year sentence for participating in pro-democracy activities, according to a September 17 Voice of America (VOA) article (in Chinese). Other sources, such as a September 14 Radio Free Asia (RFA) interview (in Chinese), report that Zhu was released on September 14, the date that his sentence expired under Article 47 of the Criminal Law. The VOA article and the RFA interview further note that Zhu was released from Zhejiang No. 6 Prison, also known as Qiaosi Prison, where he served most of his sentence. Zhu is subject to three years' deprivation of political rights after release.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) issued a circular on August 8 announcing the results of an investigation that identified "gaps and omissions" in the online reporting of disease-related deaths, calling the lapses a "grave phenomenon." Investigators surveyed 130 medical facilities at the county-level and above in 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities. They found that 20 percent of the hospitals surveyed had failed to develop an online network for the reporting of disease-related deaths. The investigation also found that hospitals that had developed online reporting failed to report deaths more than 30 percent of the time.

The Anhui Province People's Congress Standing Committee issued a decision on June 29 that amended its 1999 Anhui Province Regulation on Religious Affairs. The decision made the Anhui government the fifth provincial-level government to amend or issue a new comprehensive regulation on religious affairs since the national Regulation on Religious Affairs (RRA) entered into force in March 2005.