Amnesty International (AI) released its 2007 annual report on May 23, an assessment of human rights worldwide. Not surprisingly, the report finds China as a nation with severe violations of human rights.
But there is a difference this time. With the Olympic Games only a little more than a year away in August 2008, Chinese leaders are offering a few reforms—judicial review of death sentences and a relaxing of restrictions on foreign journalists.
But according to AI, these improvements are not all that they might seem, and are overshadowed by the expression of even more intolerance towards political and religious dissent, and the attorneys who defend the dissenters. Controls on domestic journalism and the Internet are also tightening up.
Moreover, in its latest assessment of China's progress towards making human rights improvements which were promised for hosting the 2008 Olympics, AI found that the Olympics is acting as a catalyst to extend the use of house arrests of activists and detentions without trial, at least in Beijing, thereby restricting their personal freedom, while at the same time the communist regime avoids the appearance of formally imprisoning them.
Amnesty International Rebuts the Chinese Regime
When Beijing was selected by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in July 2001, China agreed to make progress in its human rights standing. The Olympic Charter states, "...Olympism seeks to create a way of life based on the joy found in effort, the educational value of good example and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles."
In September 2006, AI expressed its disappointment in a report to Chinese authorities and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), regarding the poor progress China is making with respect to human rights. The regime ignored the detailed AI report and when asked about it at a news conference, the Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Qin Gang, accused AI of being "biased against China" and of "politicizing" the Olympic Games.
Amnesty International responded first of all that it has no political agenda and that its sole reason for existence is for the sake of human rights in China and elsewhere in the world. AI said that when Beijing was awarded the Olympics, Chinese officials themselves repeatedly linked the hosting by Beijing with human rights.
The IOC says it relies on international human rights organizations like AI to monitor and report on human rights developments, according to AI. In other words, AI has a legitimate role to play here which Chinese officials tacitly acknowledged upon being selected in 2001.
"The concerns which Amnesty International is [sic] raising in the run-up to the Olympic Games are human rights issues which have a direct link with preparations for the Olympics in Beijing or with core principles in the Olympic Charter," says an AI report (Sept. 30, 2006).
"The IOC cannot want an Olympics that is tainted with human rights abuses—whether families forcibly evicted from their homes to make way for sports arenas or growing numbers of peaceful activists held under 'house arrest' to stop them drawing attention to human rights issues," said Catherine Baker, Deputy Asia Pacific Director at AI.
The IOC has sent mixed messages as to how serious they are in enforcing an agreement that China would have to improve its human rights record to be host of the 2008 Games, according to AI. The human rights organization recognizes the considerable leverage that the IOC has on the Chinese rulers and urges the IOC to raise the human rights concerns publicly, if necessary, as the Olympics approach.
On another front, China has been criticized by the Bush administration for not doing enough to pressure the Sudanese government in accepting the UN plan to station 20,000 soldiers and police in the Darfur region to protect the population.
The Washington Post reported on May 19 that a letter was sent to the Chinese regime, signed by 108 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, which the Post summarized, "Beijing Olympics could be endangered if China did not change its policies in Sudan." China's Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said on May 18 that it was contrary to the "Olympic spirit" to link the Beijing Olympics with Chinese policy in Darfur, says the Post.
China's New Strategy on Activism
More tolerance for a few dissidents is used to mask the persecution of many others who try to report or campaign more widely on human rights violations. For example, two veteran dissidents who were active in the 1989 pro-democracy movement were allowed to travel to Hong Kong for the first time. Meanwhile, however, "many more activists face intimidation, arbitrary detention and intrusive surveillance of family members," says AI.
An example of the latter is Ye Guozhu, who is serving a 4-year prison sentence for organizing a demonstration against forced evictions in Beijing. He was reportedly beaten at the end of 2006 with electro-shock batons at Chaobai prison in Beijing.
Another example cited is defense attorney Gao Zhisheng, who is being held by police "as a prisoner in his own home." Gao has not been allowed to practice law after he published an open letter to Hu Jintao (the head of the Chinese communist regime), calling for religious freedom, the rule of law, and an end to the "barbaric" persecution of the Falun Gong. When recently held in police custody, Gao told AI that he was treated harshly, which included being handcuffed and forced to sit in an iron chair or cross-legged for extended periods, with bright lights shown upon him. He was convicted of "inciting subversion."
Death Penalty Review
One reform touted by the Chinese regime is that now the Supreme People's Court "resumed its role of approving all death sentences passed in China," which on the face of it sounds like progress. AI expressed concern, however, that the review procedure focuses on largely ensuring that the death penalty is applied in a uniform manner across provinces "rather than effectively addressing potential miscarriages of justice in individual cases."
AI said it was concerned that a limited paper review would not expose the use of torture by the police to extort confessions when the evidence relating to such abuses had not been introduced in the trial. AI used the example of Xu Shuangfu, a Protestant leader, who was executed with 11 others last November. Xu reportedly said he had been beaten with heavy chains and sticks, electric shock to the toes, fingers, and genitals and forced injection of hot pepper, gasoline and ginger into the nose to force his confession. The court and appeals courts would not allow his lawyers to introduce these allegations as evidence in his defense, says AI.
Double Standard
Despite the promise of "complete media freedom" during the Olympics, foreign reporters are finding that in practice the Chinese communist regime often doesn't live up to its word. The new regulations introduced in January 1, 2007, allow foreign journalists to conduct interviews and investigations without getting local approval. However, the "reform" does not in practice apply to places like Tibet and Xinjiang. Further, the regime is not making the change in policy permanent—it will expire this October.
Reporters without Borders reported on May 25:
"Harald Maass, China correspondent of the German daily Frankfurter Rundschau, and Tim Johnson, the China correspondent of the US newspaper chain McClatchy, were summoned separately on May 15 by Zhang Lizhong, a division director at the foreign ministry's information department, for questioning about their trip to Tibet in April."
Zhang warned Maass that his reporting from Tibet was a "mistake, according to the Reporters without Reporters' report. Zhang told Johnson that parts of his articles were "false" and "unacceptable."
Zhang also told Maass that he had the right to travel to Tibet under the new rules for the foreign press, but he still needed to obtain an authorization from the representatives of the local ministry in Lhasa, Tibet, according to Reporters without Borders.
Zhang said the new regulations do not apply to reporting from Tibet, said Reporters without Borders quoting Johnson.
"When Maass and Johnson arrived in Lhasa, they found themselves being followed and harassed by Chinese plain-clothes policemen. Tibetans they talked to were fined," says Reporters without Borders.
While the new regulations, though temporary, appear to be a step in the right direction for the foreign journalists, Chinese domestic journalism, meanwhile, has suffered some major setbacks. New domestic media controls impose more censorship by the state-run media, Xinhua.
For instance, at the beginning of the year, the Chinese Communist Party Central Propaganda Department banned news reports on 20 specific issues, including judicial corruption and campaigns to protect human rights, says AI. Another ruling subjects media to a new penalty points system, whereby they are closed down if they lose all their points for "wrongdoings."
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