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The director of the International Peace Research Institute of Oslo said imprisoned human rights activist Hu Jia may be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize this year. Other candidates on the prediction list include Vietnamese monk Thich Quang Do and Russian human rights lawyer Lidia Yusupova. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs was asked about this latest news at their regular press conference (transcript in Chinese and English) today. The spokesperson responded that the prize should be given to the right person who truly works for world peace. They hoped the officials who administer the prize would not violate its original intention and hurt the feelings of the Chinese people.
Rumor aside, something more definite on the horizon is the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought given out by the European Parliament. Hu Jia has been officially included in the short list of 3 candidates for the prize. The official announcement will come out in mid-October, shortly after the Nobel Peace Prize is announced on October 10th.
Meanwhile, life in prison is not any better for Hu Jia. Zeng Jinyan posted on Twitter today that she finally got to visit her husband. She found out he has been handcuffed and leg shackled in solitary confinement sometime in August. Four prisoners continue to monitor him daily and report to prison officials. Zeng also mentioned the prison gave the family a stern warning. The prison told the family that external influences affect Hu Jia the most. Zeng expressed she doesn’t know what to do to protect him and she is mentally and physically exhausted.
Related news and links:
- Associated Press: Nobel peace prize rebuke possible for China
- International Herald Tribune: EU draws up shortlist for human rights award
- Xinhua News Agency: Chinese FM: Nobel Peace Prize should go to the “right person”
- James Reynolds’ China: Nobel prize for dissident?
Update (9-27-2008): Yesterday, Zeng Jinyan sent a tweet with a link to her recollection of the latest visit with Hu Jia. It was not posted on her blog for a reason. Here is the unofficial translation:
Today I saw Hu Jia
Yesterday morning, a prison staff called me by phone to inform me to go to Tianjin City’s Hangu Qinghe Work Farm of Chaobai Prison to visit Hu Jia on the 24th. In light of the long distance, the family of young and old, and the rain, it was too late to prepare for traveling on the same day. I worried that by the time of our return, it would be dark and unsafe to drive, therefore, I discussed with the prison staff if it was possible to visit on the 25th and they agreed.
The state security police said on the phone that the prison and our family can communicate directly from now on about everything related to visiting Hu Jia. In the future, I only need to inform the state security about the next visit, they would no longer be the middle man of communication and would not accompany on the visits. Yesterday, we picked up Hu Jia’s mother. Today, we left home at 8:20, arrived at 10:40, then we waited for the prison to arrange the visit. We listened to the prison staff’s opinion of Hu Jia and communicated on some questions. We started our return trip at 2:20pm and we arrived home at 5pm. The round trip was a total of 338km, the highway fee cost a total of 160 yuan (the trip out cost 75 yuan and the return cost 85 yuan). We took the new highway to Tianjin and the distance was shorter than the old highway so the time it took was less, except it was very tiring for one person to drive the round trip.
The prison staff explained that the regular schedule of prisoners’ visit is between the 10th and the 23rd of each month. The prison is very busy on those days. The visits with Hu Jia are special visits. From now on, the visits will be arranged between the 23rd and the 10th of the next month. Family members will be notified in advance.
Hu Jia asked how I am doing. I said there were some improvements compared to some time ago. He suggested I invite friends to have some fun at home. I said I cannot do it nowadays. He said to say hello to friends. He mentioned something midway but the prison guard interrupted and prevented the discussion.
Based on the conversations with prison staff and Hu Jia, I found out due to Hu Jia spreading human rights discussion among the prisoners that is unfavorable to prison management, he was held in solitary confinement on August 13 for one day. He was handcuffed and leg shackled in solitary confinement for 24 hours and then he had to reflect on it for 9 days. Other prisoners are prohibited from lending newspapers and books to Hu Jia to read. Since the beginning of his imprisonment, four prisoners are in charge of his “care” 24 hours a day and report on his movements. Hu Jia said he wouldn’t “mess around” so that these four weakest of the weak would not lose 5 points every month.
The prison said prison staff would definitely not beat prisoners and they would only use restraining tools such as batons under certain conditions. The prison staff also said a certain human rights organization (I don’t remember the exact name) wrote a letter to the head of the prison and asked some questions about Hu Jia. The prison forwarded the letter to Hu Jia today and told him to reply to the letter himself. At the same time, the prison staff told me that because my letter to Hu Jia contained “unfavorable” information, they gave the letter back to me. They hope that when the family writes about social situation, the content should be more in favor of reform so Hu Jia can soon return to society and live a normal life. Hu Jia told me because his letters to the family always have content that do not comply with the requirements of letter review, he has to correct the letters following the prison requirements and copy the letters over. It takes a long time, sometimes up to 8 hours to finish a letter to the family.
The prison said they considered Hu Jia’s health conditions and they arranged for him to do the lightest work. A while ago, the work he participated in included tending to young plants and trees and mopping the workshop floor, and now it’s digging. Hu Jia said although it was very tiring, he really enjoys this kind of work. In terms of food and health, the prison said they would give Hu Jia a physical exam every six months. Hu Jia said the prison has special vegetarian meals but the eggs are cooked with green onions so he cannot eat it and he eats instant noodles in this situation (Buddhism considers green onions, ginger and garlic as meat so strict vegetarians do not eat green onions). I saw that his gums are pale and I worry he is anemic and not getting enough nutrition. I told him to request for the purchase of multivitamins to maintain basic health.
The prison staff said they were going to allow Hu Jia to hold the baby at this visit. I feel very regretful that I didn’t know about this ahead of time (I requested it at past visits but got denied), the baby is now very active, the trip was far, and I could not drive and take care of her at the same time, therefore, I didn’t bring the baby to this visit and lost the opportunity for Hu Jia to hold the baby.
The prison staff said they read my blog. They don’t want anyone to affect prison management, otherwise it would affect Hu Jia greatly.
September 25, 2008 at BOBO Freedom City
The State Department released the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices – 2006 today. Every year, AIUSA takes great anticipation to the release of the reports, such as getting the high level staff ready to respond to media questions and having volunteers to review the reports and provide comments a few hours immediately following the release. I was one of the lucky ones given the reviewing assignment. The China report (excluding Taiwan) is, as I expected, quite long, over 49,000 words altogether. I read less than a tenth of it in one hour and that’s when I decided to give up on submitting my comments to AIUSA during the day. I took a stab at it again tonight and got through about a quarter of it. I can’t imagine anyone reading the reports of all 193 countries. The media reports in turn were brief, mostly based on the overall Introduction of the reports.
Related news and links:
- US Department of State: Briefing on The State Department’s 2006 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
- AIUSA: U.S. Foreign Policy Hinders Human Rights Work Around the World
- VOA: US Report Cites Human Rights Abuses in Sudan, China, Russia, Burma, Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran
- VOA: US Promises Forthright Response to Human Rights Complaints (Real Media audio file)
- BBC News: Darfur ‘was worst abuse of 2006′
- New York Times: U.S. Issues Annual Human Rights Report
- Washington Post: State Dept. Human Rights Report Faults China’s Curbs on Internet
Update (3-7-2007): The Chinese authorities responded negatively to the report. Just like in previous years, they considered such reports or any publicly addressed criticism concerning human rights by the US government as “interfering in the internal affairs” of China.
- China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang answered a reporter’s question concerning the U.S. State Department’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices – 2006 (Simplified Chinese)
- Xinhua News Agency: China rejects U.S. criticism on human rights
- Reuters: China slams U.S. human rights report
Update (3-10-2007): Staying true to a tradition started in 1998, China issued the Human Rights Record of the United States in 2006 two days after the US State Department’s release of the annual human rights report. The Chinese authorities stated clearly the purpose of their report was a direct response to the US report. I just wish that they are as opened and honest with their own human rights issues.
- Xinhua News Agency: China issues human rights record of the United States
- Xinhua News Agency: Full Text: The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2006
- Xinhua News Agency: Facts & Figures: Human Rights Record in the United States in 2006
- China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs: transcript of Foreign Ministry Spokesman Qin Gang’s Regular Press Conference on March 8, 2007 (Simplified Chinese version)
- VOA: China Rejects US Human Rights Criticism
- Washington Post: Beijing Hits Back at U.S. for Raising Rights Concerns
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
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
At the end of this past week, there were a few news articles about China beginning to raise its influence on Sudan, particularly the situation in Darfur. The news came as a US envoy completed its visit with Beijing about the issue. Some reports suggested the US took credit for asking China to exert pressure on Sudan. Regardless of where the credit should be given, China’s influence on Africa is building up.
China held its 2nd annual China-Africa summit this past November. Many bloggers have written detailed analysis on the summit and the growing relationship between China and Africa. Check out the posts in Chippla’s Weblog, China Business Services, and the article in American.com written by Jennifer Brea of Africabeat.
After talking to some local Darfur activists about China’s activities in Sudan, I came to a conclusion that oil and other resources are the major key to the relationship. The Action Plan adopted at the summit contains many details of China’s offer of assistance to African countries in many different ways ranging from financial aid to expertise in agriculture, science, technology, education, medical care, etc, plus the specific positions agreed by both sides in regards to various UN-related issues, and a particularly short description on energy and resources which included this sentence, “China gives high priority to helping African countries turn their advantages in energy and resources into development strengths.” Meanwhile, the Declaration, also adopted at the summit calls for “reform of the United Nations” and that the African countries “adhere to the one China policy and support China’s peaceful reunification.”
There is definitely a lot to read and decipher to fully understand the motives of the Chinese government and the economic and political gains both sides will achieve from extending their cooperation. On the surface, however, other countries appear to have missed out on acquiring priority access to Africa through diplomatic relations. And China is becoming more influential in international affairs adding to its established relationship with North Korea and inching through the Middle East.
Related news:
- Xinhua News Agency: Beijing Summit adopts declaration, highlighting China-Africa strategic partnership
- Xinhua News Agency: Action plan adopted at China-Africa summit, mapping cooperation course
- BBC News: Summit shows China’s Africa clout
- BBC News: China’s ambitions in Africa
- Xinhua News Agency: China, US say negotiation is best solution to Darfur issue
- Voice of America: US Asks China to Press Sudan on Darfur Peacekeepers
- International Herald Tribune: China shifts to a more positive role in Sudan’s Darfur conflict, U.S. envoy says
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
As China steps into 2007 ahead of the US, several news articles came out this past week in reference to the new regulations for foreign journalists reporting before and during the Beijing Olympics that take into effect on January 1st. The first piece of news came and gone quietly this past Wednesday with a similar set of regulations for Taiwan journalists. Those rules do not look much different from the ones issued for foreign journalists. But the significant part of the news is that China claimed to be much more opened about having Taiwan journalists stationed in China while only three mainland news organizations are allowed to station in Taiwan since April 2005. I think this is best to be verified by journalists from both sides. Even if China allows any foreign journalists to station there, there is always the risk of getting arrested and even sentenced to prison when the authorities feel that a journalist’s research is going over the invisible boundary of “state secrets.” The case of Ching Cheong is a prime example of this problem.
Three days after issuing the new regulations for Taiwan journalists, the same happened for the folks in Hong Kong and Macao. Again, this is nothing more than substituting the appropriate nationality to bring out another set of rules. The more widely noted news is the one about the possibility of the new regulations to remain effective long after the Olympics. This was expressed as a personal opinion of publicity official Cai Wu so it is not a definite change in policy.
Even with all the journalists and human rights activists arrested and imprisoned in China this past year, I would like to keep a positive outlook for the new year as my favorite quote says:
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
Related news and links:
- Xinhua News Agency: Mainland lifts restriction on Taiwan journalists for Olympics
- Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council (a state department of China): Regulations on Reporting Activities in China by Taiwan Journalists During the Beijing Olympic Games and the Preparatory Period (full text of regulations in Simplified Chinese)
- Xinhua News Agency: Official hints foreign media new regulations may continue after 2008
- BBC News: China reporting rules ‘may stay’
- Xinhua News Agency: Mainland offers more convenience to HK, Macao journalists for Olympic reporting
It’s been reported that China has another massive increase of internet users. By mid-year of 2006, there were 123 million users and the power to the masses reached 131 million in October. These numbers brought me back to my quest for the number of people in China that cannot access the urban consumer market, let alone the internet. I explored this question recently in an earlier post about the different attitudes towards internet censorship. When I was writing that post, I couldn’t find much credible information on the break down of China’s population. I found some news story about the number of people in poverty as reported by the Xinhua News Agency but I didn’t think that was adequate.
Last night, I located the website of the National Bureau Statistics of China which publishes the China Statistical Yearbook annually. But the site loads really slow and the content of those books are not available to view online. I looked around again today and located the Population Reference Bureau based in Washington, DC. The PRB collects, analyzes and publishes population data of the world. The World Population Data Sheet is particularly handy because it summarizes data into a table formatted to print in a few pages. That data is also easy to search online if you are interested in some specific topics.
For my interest of economic power (or the lack of it), I picked out these numbers on China from the 2006 data sheet published this past August:
- Population, mid-2006: 1,311,400,000 people
- Urban Population: 37% (equivalent to 485,218,000 people)
- Population Living Below US$2 per day: 47% (equivalent to 616,358,000 people, note that living below US$1 per day is the international standard for extreme poverty)
I am no economist or statistician but I feel reasonably comfortable to say that about half of China’s 1.3 billion people do not have any economic power to purchase or access American goods and services any time soon. All in all, I hope that the business people and those who like to say China’s human rights records are not so bad for its size would stop referencing the entire population for their own conclusion about the country.
