News about human rights violations in China continues to hit the newspaper headlines every day, even though many people are impressed by the countrys remarkable economic development.
I sometimes meet people who shrug their shoulders when human rights groups criticise Chinas human rights records. They only travel to the countrys magnificent tourist spots or business hubs, and they cant understand why human rights groups still focus on Chinas human rights problems. Perhaps they never have the chance to meet ordinary farmers or workers, not to mention the increasing number of political dissidents, writers, human rights lawyers and other activists who advocate rights for ethnic minorities, religious groups and people with various sexual orientations, as well as the abolition of the death penalty, and other basic human freedoms.
Some outsiders might say they doubt whether the grievances of these ordinary people and the claims of the activists are genuine. Their real-life experiences in China show them that it is possible to enjoy dinners in luxurious hotels and restaurants, and shop in glossy shopping malls. On top of everything else, China is such a great nation that it even hosted the Beijing Olympic Games. Everything in China seems so perfect that some Westerners consider whether they should learn from Chinas socialism with Chinese characteristics.
So,are the accusations about Chinas human rights record just myths or conspiracies created by subversive foreign elements , as the Chinese government invariably maintains when it faces any criticism? Or is Chinas most urgent human rights issue still the struggle to feed its 1.3 billion population, after which it will be able to improve in other areas, as Chinese officials often claim?
China is undoubtedly becoming a world power. It has enormous influence in the global economy. Many African and Arab countriesin particular regard it as a counterbalance to the United States dominance of the world economy. But are we reinforcing Chinas authoritarian regime and rationalising its suppression of dissidents? China often claims its understanding of human rights is different from that of the West. It accuses Western countries of interfering in Chinas internal affairs if they criticise its human rights shortcomings, such as the death penalty, harassment of human rights defenders and suppression of Tibetans and Uyghurs.
Facts speak better than rhetoric. Lets look at some of Chinas major human rights problems. Readers can then decide whether or not they really are parts of a conspiracy to demonise the Chinese government .
The death penalty: According to Amnesty International, at least 1,718 executions were carried out and 7,003 people were sentenced to death in China during 2008. These penalties were not in the result of fair trials, and the defendants did not always have proper access to lawyers. They may also have been tortured in various ways after they were detained. Although the authorities say the number of death sentences has fallen since the Supreme Peoples Court began reviewing all of them on 1 January 2007, the statistics on this subject and the number of executions carried out remain state secrets. So external observers are unable to verify the official claims.
On 29 December 2009, China executed Akmal Shaikh, a British national who was arrested for smuggling heroin, despite pleas for clemency by his family and the British government, who said he was mentally unstable. Shaikh was the first European citizen to be executed in China since 1951. One thing we can be sure of is that China is still determined to justify executions and defy any foreign criticisms of them.
Harassment of human rights defenders: Dissident writers, human rights lawyers and human rights defenders are subjected to various forms of harassment, including imprisonment, torture and roundthe-clock surveillance. The government often invokes charges of inciting subversion of state power and subverting state power to punish these dissidents.
One of the most recent examples was Liu Xiaobo, a prominent Beijing writer and honorary president of the Independent Chinese PEN Centre, who was taken away by public security officers on 8 December 2008, two days before its authors planned to publish Charter 08. This manifesto called for improvements in human rights, democracy and the rule of law in China, and it was initially signed by 303 intellectuals, including academics, writers, journalists and lawyers. Liu was formally arrested on a charge of inciting subversion of state power on 23 June 2009, after he had been under residential surveillance in a Beijing suburb for more thanseven months. Even more outrageous was the fact that China chose to sentence Liu to 11 years imprisonment on 25 December 2009, while many people in the West were celebrating Christmas. As of December 2009, more than 10,000 people in China and overseas had signed Charter 08.
Another is the case of Sichuan human rights defenders Tan Zuoran and Huang Qi. They investigated the sub-standard construction of buildings in which thousands of people died during the Sichuan Earthquake in May 2008. The two were charged with inciting subversion of state power and possessing state secrets , respectively. Huang was jailed for three years on 23 November 2009.
A third example concerns the governments treatment of human rights lawyers. About 10 of them including Jiang Tianyong, Tang Jitian, Liu Wei and Wen Haibo failed to have their legal practice licences renewed; and they have been periodically warned not to take up sensitive cases. Beijing human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng disappeared on 4 February 2009 and has not been heard of since. Shandongs blind barefoot lawyer , Chen Guangcheng, has been suffering from acute diarrhoea while he is serving a prison sentence of four years and three months. Guangdong legal activist Guo Feixiong is serving a five-year sentence, and he is not being allowed to see his family members. If lawyers have also become the targets of official harassment, how can ordinary citizens struggle for their own human rights through legal channels?
Unfortunately, US President Barack Obama did not raise any specific human rights issues or the cases of any iprisoned human rights defenders at his meetings with Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao during his first state visit to China on 15-18 November 2009. So, what can we do? If we do not want to see the human rights myths about China perpetuated, it is our duty as citizens of the world to make the Chinese government understand how it ought to treat its citizens.
Patrick Poon
Executive Committee member of AIHK
Vice-chairman of the Independent Chinese PEN Centre
Executive Secretary of the China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group
Executive Committee member of the Justice and Peace Commission of the Hong Kong Catholic Diocese (2005-2009)