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Amnesty International released a report earlier today detailing an update on the transfer of arms and ammunition to Darfur. The report named China and Russia as the major players of the Sudan arms trade worth more than $30 million from each country. Other countries with involvement of much smaller scale include Belarus, Iran, Kuwait, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Chad and Eritrea.
Aside from the arms deals, the AI report echoed the discovery by the UN Panel of Experts for the sightings of white aircraft in Sudan that could be confused with UN airplanes designated for humanitarian aid. The PDF version of the report provides photo evidence of the aircraft.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs was quick to defend itself against the AI report. Spokeswoman, Jiang Yu explained that the amount of arms exported to Africa was limited (see transcript of the Foreign Ministry press conference in Simplified / Traditional Chinese, or English). But quoting from the AI report:
Sudan imported $24 million worth of arms and ammunition from the People’s Republic of China, as well as nearly $57 million worth of parts and aircraft equipment and $2 million worth of parts of helicopters and aeroplanes from China, according to the data from Sudan for 2005, the last available trade figures.
A combined value of $80+ million is not a “limited” amount of export in arms, ammunition, equipment and parts. I doubt there are many countries that can match the ownership of such an amount of arms, let alone exporting them. Meanwhile, China tried to appear to be cooperative with the UN by agreeing to send a military engineering unit to support the African Union peacekeeping force.
Related news and links:
- Amnesty International: Arms transfers to Sudan fuel serious human rights violations
- BBC News: China, Russia deny weapons breach
- Washington Post: China, Russia Accused of Arms Violations
- China Daily: Team to join UN forces in Darfur
- Washington Post: Chinese To Deploy Soldiers To Darfur
The annual session of the National People’s Congress is going to start on next Monday March 5th. A few campaigns are sending out special messages this week to target the annual meeting. First off, Ding Zilin, leader of the Tiananmen Mothers sent an open letter to Human Rights in China calling on the NPC to allow discussion and publication of the Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989 (HRIC press release in English and Simplified Chinese with full text of the letter). And today, Amnesty International released a new report on the discrimination and abuse of migrant workers in China (report summary in Simplified Chinese). The Foreign Ministry was quick to respond that the government is working on the problems.
Internally, there is a focus on the re-education-through-labor system in which police can send those who have committed minor crimes to special RTL centers up to four years. Many activists have experienced this system including Mao Hengfeng who continuously petitioned the authorities after she was forced to have an abortion and lost her job. A discussion has been going around advocating for abolishment or a new form of the system. The timing is interesting because AI released a memorandum about RTL last May directing towards the State Council and the Legislative Committee of the NPC. May be the migrant workers will be the hot button for the NPC in 2008.
The NPC will definitely attract attention from the press inside and outside of China. A warning was sent to China’s executives of broadcast media back in January to ensure the media would not stir any commotion during the NPC meeting and later the 17th annual National Congress of the Communist Party of China (which is held every 5 years, unlike the NPC sessions that are held in March every year). But good news went to the overseas journalists who will be allowed to interview NPC deputies directly.
Related news and links:
- AI (press release): The human cost of the economic ‘miracle’ (Simplified Chinese version)
- AI (special feature): China’s growing underclass
- AIUSA: Amnesty International’s New Report Reveals the Human Cost of the China Economic “Miracle”
- The Boston Globe: Report: China’s migrants face abuse
- BBC News: China ‘facing migrant underclass’
- BBC News: ‘People with no value’
- China Daily: New law to abolish laojiao system
- BBC News: China reviews ‘re-education’ law
- Washington Post: Broadcast Media in China Put On Notice
- NPC (English site): NPC session a prelude to Olympic-driven media transparency
- People’s Daily: Overseas journalists allowed to directly interview NPC deputies, CPPCC members
Update (3-3-2007)
- China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs: transcript of Foreign Ministry Spokesman Qin Gang’s Regular Press Conference on March 1, 2007 (Simplified Chinese version)
- National Labor Committee: Reports and slideshows of factories in China
There has been quite a buzz around the group of Tibetans being shot at by Chinese border control troops on September 30, 2006 because the incident was captured on video by Romanian cameraman Sergiu Matei. The video footage was originally made public through Romanian station Pro TV but it’s no longer on its website. Many people transplanted it to YouTube.
Amnesty International posted an Urgent Action in October shortly after the incident. Additional information led to another UA released this week for those who were detained and returned back to Tibet. There is also a web action through AIUSA that provides the option of emails or print a letter to be sent to the Chinese authorities. For those who are concerned about this incident, I hope you would participate in either one of the actions.
More information has surfaced the last few months. The International Campaign for Tibet published several news articles and they will release a detailed report on the incident next Monday February 12th.
Related news and links:
- ICT: Tibetan nun shot dead; other Tibetans feared killed on way to Nepal
- BBC News: Climber’s shock at Tibet killing
- BBC News: Tibetans shot ‘in self-defence’
- China Daily: In Brief, Page 2, Date: 10/13/2006 (refer to the section titled, “Tibet – Illegal border crossing” near the bottom of the page)
- ICT: New images of aftermath of Nangpa pass shooting
- Radio Free Asia: Three Detained for Allegedly Helping Tibetans Flee
- ICT: News on children detained during Nangpa Pass shooting: earlier incident of Tibetans facing gunfire in escape attempt
- Guardian Unlimited (UK): Chinese guards tortured captured Tibetans, says teenage survivor
YouTube: Interview with Sergiu Matei broadcast on Pro TV
During a study session of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of Communist Party of China this week, Chinese President Hu Jintao expressed the need to improve “the administration of web technologies, content and network security.” Less than a week after a handful of tech companies agreed to explore the internet’s freedom of expression issue, the bottle neck is closing up again. Meanwhile, there was a hype about the rocket increase of internet users in China this past year and the prediction of overtaking the US in 2 years. But it is important to note that the 137 million people using the internet in China nowadays account for only 10.5% of the country’s population. As for the US, there are over 200 million internet users that cover over 68% of the US population. These numbers proves that the internet continues to be a privilege in developing countries and internet censorship would only create more restrictions to access of information.
Related news and links:
- Xinhua News Agency: President Hu Jintao asks officials to better cope with Internet
- CNN: China official vows to ‘purify’ Web
- The Age (Australia): China’s Hu calls for tighter Internet regulation to protect stability, culture
- China Daily: Net users to log in at world No 1
- BBC News: China net use may soon surpass US
- Internet World Stats: US Internet Usage and Broadband Usage Report
Update (1-28-2007):
- InfoWorld: China’s Net users send wrong message
- China Internet Network Information Centre (Simplified Chinese): CNNIC announced the publication of the “19th Statistical Survey Reports on the Internet Development in China” (link to the Simplified Chinese report in MS Word)
- CNNIC (English): Internet Statistics
It’s been almost a week since the Beijing Olympics new media regulations became effective on January 1st. Are there any significant changes for foreign journalists working in China? There was a mix of good and bad news in this first week. Bao Tong, the former aid of the Communist Party General Secretary Zhao Ziyang, was approved by the government on January 1st to be interviewed by Reuters. Bao was jailed following the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and he has been outspoken about the Chinese government since being kept under house arrest after he was released from prison in 1996. Refer to my earlier post for his latest essay published by Radio Free Asia.
On the other hand, human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng was released from detention since he received a three-year suspended prison sentence on December 22nd but his whereabouts is unknown. RFA interviewed his family members and friends and the speculation is that the Chinese government kicked Gao out of Beijing a few days before the New Year so he would not be accessible to foreign journalists.
Two days ago, Wang Guoqing, vice-minister of the State Council Information Office told China Daily about the need to change government officials’ attitude from “managing” to “serving the media.” He cautioned that the change in attitude might not take place immediately outside of the major cities because many officials are used to the “Regulations on the Supervision of Foreign Journalists and Resident Foreign News Organs” enforced since 1990. He encouraged government officials from the local level to interact with the media more openly, like holding press conferences.
It seems to me there is a lot of talk but not enough action. Part of the new media regulations include the freedom to interview individuals or organizations with only their prior consent which has been contradicted by the Bao Tong’s interview since it was pre-approved. Reuters also requested to interview Shanghai lawyer Zheng Enchong but the request was denied because Zheng was stripped his political rights which means he is not allowed to talk to the media. And taking Gao Zhisheng out of Beijing is the new low of press freedom.
I am anxious to see whether any foreign journalists will be allowed to check out locations of recent social unrest because that’s where the real action is from the aftermath of China’s economic boom and years of human rights neglect.
Related news and links:
- China Digital Times: Bao Tong Allowed to Talk to Foreign Press
- RFA Mandarin service news brief (Simplified Chinese) on January 1st and 2nd covering the Reuters’ interview with Bao Tong
- China Digital Times: Gao Zhisheng Whereabouts Unknown
- RFA Mandarin service (Simplified Chinese): Gao Zhisheng might get expelled out of Beijing
- Gao Zhisheng’s blog (Simplified Chinese): Hu Jia’s post – Gao Zhisheng’s whole family got escorted out of Beijing (partial translation of the post shown in Global Voices)
- RFA Mandarin service (Simplified Chinese): Gao Zhisheng removed by police one week ago, whereabouts unknown
- China Daily: ‘Serve the media, not manage them’
- China Daily: Presenting the true picture of China (2-page interview with Wang Guoqing)
- BBC News: China wrestles with new media era
In an earlier post, I wrote about the expansion of Chinese language programs in the US and around the world. It’s actually growing faster than I thought. A special project called Confucius Institute, administered by the National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (NOTCFL) has already spread to 49 countries with over 120 institutes. The exponential economic growth of China in recent years initiated huge interest in the Chinese language. While many people think learning Chinese as a bridge to career and business opportunities, some are worried about the motives behind the Confucius Institute and others branded it the export of “soft power.” The NOTCFL predicts there will be 500 Confucius Institutes by the end of 2010. Such ambition is hard to justify.
When the US finalized the approval of China’s permanent Normal Trade Relations status (also known as Most Favored Nation) in late 2001, it gave up its habit of raising concerns for China’s human rights conditions during the annual renewal of NTR status (those were key moments that kept the Chinese government on alert). Since then, many US companies entered the Chinese market and some agreed to follow certain rules that clearly violate human rights. As of now, those companies have to defend themselves in front of the American public with many lame excuses. But when the Confucius Institute successfully captures the hearts and minds of people around the world, will we take a blind eye on whatever China does to their own citizens?
Related news and links:
- Wikipedia: Confucius Institute
- China Daily, May 2006: ‘China threat’ fear countered by culture
- China Daily, July 2006: Confucius Institutes expanding worldwide
- Xinhua News Agency: Language, culture popularized worldwide with more Confucius institutes founded
- The Christian Science Monitor: Why China wants you to learn Chinese
Update (2-28-2007):
- Financial Times: The hard evidence that China’s soft power policy is working
After the recent up and down, plus the final verdict of Chen Guangcheng, another lawyer in China fell victim to the justice system. Gao Zhisheng, director of the Beijing-based Shengzhi Law Office, received a three-year suspended prison sentence yesterday for “inciting subversion.” Gao defended for several activists in China and the authorities actively threatened him before he was arrested.
The Beijing Municipal Bureau of Justice handed down a one-year suspension of the operation of his office in November 2005. A month later, a police official warned him by phone that the police was collecting information about him. They knew everything about him, his wife and children, and even the bus that took the children to school. In January 2006, he was detained after he started to film the police in response to their filming. While in detention, the police officers told him, “You know if we wanted to kill you, it would be as easy as killing an ant!” Although he was detained only for a short time, Gao almost got into a car accident a few days later when a car with covered license plate stopped suddenly in front of his vehicle. The final draw came in August 2006 when he was detained and held incommunicado at an unknown location during a visit with his sister in Shandong Province. He was formally charged for “inciting subversion” a few months later.
His case caught quite a lot of attention overseas among the media and human rights organizations. China Daily reported (taken from Xinhua News Agency) that Gao’s interviews by overseas media, such as Radio Free Asia, damaged the reputation of the Chinese government and that’s a “crime of subversion.” The prison sentence from yesterday’s verdict is suspended for five years which means Gao would not go to jail unless he is found guilty of another crime within those five years. He is also deprived of his political rights for one year.
Related news and links:
- Amnesty International: Reaction to Gao Zhisheng verdict
- Amnesty International: Background briefing on rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng
- Human Rights in China: Statement on Gao Zhisheng’s Sentence
- China Daily: Beijing lawyer found guilty of subversion
- China Daily: Chinese lawyer sentenced to three years in prison for subversion
- Washington Post: China Lawyer’s Sentence Suspended
- BBC News: Chinese lawyer ’secretly tried’
- Radio Free Asia: Top Chinese Civil Rights Lawyer Tried in Secret: Recordings
- Radio Free Asia, November 2005: Embattled Chinese Lawyer Vows To Continue Rights Work
- Radio Free Asia – Mandarin service: broadcast series of interviews with Gao Zhisheng and his colleagues (Mandarin broadcasts and Simplified Chinese transcripts)
The organ transplant discussion is heating back up again after the China Daily article popped up last week. Many more articles mushroomed from there (such as the Los Angeles Times and Associated Press). Amnesty International reported on the allegations of organ harvesting in China for years and few people were paying attention then.
Related AI reports and news:
- January 1998: Lethal Injection: The medical technology of execution (China section starts on page 13)
- September 2001: Death Penalty News
- March 2004: Executed “according to law”? – The death penalty in China (organ harvesting is in section 9)
And then two Canadians, David Matas and David Kilgour released a report about it in July 2006 but with emphasis on Falun Gong practitioners. With the enormous amount of FLG folks around the world, it quickly turned into a fire storm. Many readers, medical experts and the media thought AI confirmed the report but the truth is AI has not yet made any conclusions. And quoting directly from an Urgent Action released in August 2006 by AI, “Amnesty International is investigating these reports, but is currently unable to independently verify these allegations.“
So, instead of believing in all there is out there to read about the issue, let’s treat it as something to talk about around the water cooler, shall we? Some interesting reads include:
- San Francisco Chronicle, April 2006: Patients seeking transplants turn to China
- Yeson International Healthcare website – mentioned in the SF Chronicle article (this site looks better than the HMO in the US)
And things get even more interesting when exhibition of cadavers became the new hits at museums:
- Body Worlds: The Anatomical Exhibition of Real Human Bodies (this one even has a cameo in the new James Bond movie!)
- Bodies: The Exhibition (require Flash 7.0 or higher)
- New York Times, August 2006: China Turns Out Mummified Bodies for Displays (video)
Talk about practicing reduce, reuse and recycle, China got the best use out of dead bodies!
