{"id":987,"date":"2014-05-28T01:32:26","date_gmt":"2014-05-28T01:32:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/?p=987"},"modified":"2014-05-28T01:32:26","modified_gmt":"2014-05-28T01:32:26","slug":"engaging-china-on-human-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/engaging-china-on-human-rights","title":{"rendered":"Engaging China on Human Rights"},"content":{"rendered":"

China is bound to act in its national interest. Upholding human rights is one of those interests.<\/span><\/p>\n

By Julia Famularo
\nApril 22, 2014<\/p>\n

What will it take for the Chinese government to view human rights lawyers and defenders within China not as threats, but rather as well-intentioned citizens who want to help their nation? This question, posed by U.S. Congressman Robert Pittenger (R-NC), lay at the heart of a recent congressional hearing on human rights defenders in China.<\/p>\n

\"thediplomat_2014-04-22_02-38-36\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Beijing has consistently justified human rights abuses in the pursuit of \u201csocial stability,\u201d argued Dr. Sophie Richardson of Human Rights Watch. She highlighted the role of \u201ccivil society groups and advocates,\u201d who \u201ccontinue to slowly expand their work despite their precarious status,\u201d as well as the \u201cinformal but resilient network of activists,\u201d which \u201cmonitors and documents human rights cases as a loose national \u2018weiquan\u2019 (rights defense) movement. These activists endure police monitoring, detention, arrest, enforced disappearance, and torture.\u201d<\/p>\n

International observers are concerned that the regime increasingly targets dissidents\u2014particularly ethno-religious minorities\u2014by accusing them of supporting the \u201cthree evil forces\u201d of terrorism, separatism, and extremism, and then arresting them on charges of endangering state security. In a country that lacks transparency and an independent judiciary, how can we be confident that justice is actually served?<\/p>\n

One recent victim of this approach is a professor at Beijing\u2019s Minzu University. Uyghur economist Ilham Tohti is known for his moderate, pragmatic writings on various aspects of Uyghur society. He founded the website \u201cUyghurs Online\u201d in 2005, envisioning it as a platform for cultural and social exchange between the Han and Uyghur peoples. According to Ilham Tohti, we \u201cshould not fear disputes and disagreements, but rather the silence and suspicion that exist within hatred.\u201d He was formally arrested on February 20, charged with separatism, and denied access to his attorney. Tohti\u2019s daughter, Jewher Ilham, who was a witness at the hearing, described her father\u2019s \u201csole \u2018crime\u2019\u2026 [as] simply advocating human rights and equitable treatment for the Uyghur people.\u201d Yet, he has little chance in a Chinese court\u2014less than 1%, according to official figures\u2014-of proving his innocence if he is brought to trial.<\/p>\n

Equally grim are the cases of other prominent human rights defenders. Xu Zhiyong co-founded the New Citizens Movement to create partnerships between ordinary citizens and human rights defenders in the peaceful pursuit of civil and legal rights. He was sentenced to four years in prison on January 26. Liu Xia, wife of Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, faces deteriorating physical and mental health under house arrest in Beijing. Far more serious is the case of Cao Shunli: she\u2019s dead. The civil society activist pressured Beijing to engage with domestic human rights defenders during China\u2019s UN periodic human rights review process. When she attempted to fly to Geneva on October 22, authorities detained her at the airport and eventually charged her with \u201cpicking quarrels to create disturbances.\u201d Her health deteriorated dramatically during her detention. She slipped into a coma, and died shortly after her release on \u201chumanitarian\u201d grounds.<\/p>\n

As China gains political and economic clout abroad, it is less tolerant of what it perceives as profoundly unequal exchanges with established powers. At a recent talk in Washington, Dui Hua Foundation founder John Kamm noted that the Chinese government has begun to rebuff prisoner lists during bilateral human rights dialogues. It may also insist in the coming years to work fully within the United Nations framework to address human rights, rather than engage individual nations on the sidelines. Indeed, China takes advantage of \u201cflawed international institutions\u201d to deflect attention from its human rights record and thus subvert the interests of Chinese citizens, argued Dr. Teng Biao, human rights lawyer and co-founder of the New Citizens Movement.<\/p>\n

The United States and its democratic partners need to think more creatively about how to best promote and protect human rights as well as achieve the release of political prisoners. U.S. leaders must continue to speak out publicly and privately in meetings with their Chinese counterparts to make our principles and aspirations clear. However, we should also increase the number of academic exchanges and Track II dialogues to constructively engage China at all levels of society. Through measures designed to build trust, enhance transparency, and share best practices, the United States can make it clear to China that we have mutual interests in elevating human rights. For example, legal and judicial exchanges have already provided China with the resources and knowledge it needs to make positive legal reforms to its criminal code.<\/p>\n

China acts\u2014and will continue to act\u2014in its own national interests. The U.S. must convince China that a sustained focus on human rights does not constitute diplomatic containment. On the contrary, the United States welcomes a stable, peaceful China that treats its citizens, neighbors, and other nations around the globe with respect and dignity.<\/p>\n

In places like the United States, Europe, \u201cand in every corner of the world where the light of freedom shines, while the struggle for human dignity continues,\u201d asserted Dr. Teng, \u201cwe [the Chinese people] will not be forgotten.\u201d The United States must work in concert with its global partners\u2014as well as with the leadership in Beijing\u2014to raise the profile of human rights defenders under threat, so that they don\u2019t befall the same fate as Cao Shunli.<\/p>\n

From http:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2014\/04\/engaging-china-on-human-rights\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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