"A tightening of controls on basic freedoms in China began in late 1998, escalated
throughout 1999, and has continued into the new year."
Human Rights Watch Testimony,
May 10, 2000
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Human Rights Developments in China
Bao Tong's arbitrary treatment shows just how little ‘rule of law' means in China. He's out of jail, but he's by no means free. He's threatened by officials each time he publicly questions Communist Party policy or complains about invasion of his personal freedom.
There has been a clear deterioration of human rights conditions in China. A tightening of controls on basic freedoms began in late 1998, escalated throughout 1999, and has continued into 2000. During her visit to Beijing this past March, Mary Robinson, the U.N. High Commissioner on Human Rights, publicly condemned the crackdown on free expression, freedom of religion and association.
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The range of the crackdown suggests that a nationally coordinated campaign is underway to shut down all peaceful opposition in the name of maintaining "social stability." The annual "Strike Hard" anti-crime campaign, launched just last week, will reportedly target both common criminals and suspected dissidents.
Among the elements of the crackdown are:
- an intensified attack on all organizations that the Chinese Communist Party perceives as a threat to its rule;
- a series of regulations that constrain free association, assembly and religious expression;
- the ongoing arrest of Tibet "splittists" and tightened secular control of Tibetan Buddhism;
- the stepped up pace of arrests and executions of activists in Xinjiang. Even a prominent Uighur businesswoman, Ms. Rebiya Kadeer, was detained last August and given an eight year prison sentence by the Urumqi Intermediate Court on March 10, 2000. She was convicted of "revealing state intelligence" abroad because she tried to send copies of news articles on repression in Xinjiang to her husband, who broadcasts from the U.S. on Radio Free Asia; court documents also say she had planned to give a list of political prisoners to a visiting Congressional staff delegation. Her case has been highlighted by the Congressional Human Rights Caucus and by Rep. Nethercutt and Rep. Porter in their concurrent resolution calling for her immediate release, which was adopted on May 2 in the Senate by unanimous consent;
- the purge of four leading academics from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences last month, including the dismissal of its retired vice president, Li Shenzhi, who wrote an essay critical of the Chinese Communist Party, plus two economists who have urged more rapid economic reform, and a political science professor, Liu Junning, who has called for a modern political system;
- ongoing attempts to interfere with the free flow of information at home and abroad, through new restrictions on the Internet and threats against academic research in open sources. We welcomed the release of the respected scholar, Song Yongyi, but his arbitrary arrest and detention are a clear reminder of the capriciousness of the "rule of law" in China and the dangers of conducting research into sensitive subjects.
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