Briefings - 1140. page

Xinhua published an article on December 12 to state that the Chinese Communist Party is trying hard to resist the law of the rise and fall of political power by persisting in reform and opening-up. It is observed that the article was meant as rebuttal to the Charter 08 that pushes for more freedom. As of December 14, 2008, Chinese citizens left 5,054 comments on the Xinhua article at Soho viewers bulletin. Only 227 of them, which are in support of the Xinhua article, are available for viewing. According to analysts, the remaining 95% comments have been “harmonized” by China’s Internet authorities because the comments did not follow the Party line.

Source: Chinascope original
Participation (Canyu), December 13, 2008
http://www.canyu.org/n4529c6.aspx
Xinhua, December 12, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2008-12/12/content_10495824_1.htm

Lawyer Li Heping argued in court that practicing Falun Gong is lawful under Chinese law and that the persecution of Falun Gong is the result of the abuse of power, Falun Gong’s Minghui website reported. In an interview with Minghui, Li stated that Falun Gong is a belief system and is allowed by the Chinese law. “China’s Constitution allows freedom of religion and belief. That means that activities related to religion and belief such as spreading the beliefs and engaging in other beliefs-related activities are lawful.” Li, a business lawyer, has been active in rights movement in China in recent years.

Source: Minghui.org, December 11, 2008
http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2008/12/11/191419.html

Over 530 papers written by Falun Gong practitioners in Mainland China were published during an Internet experience sharing conference held from November 1 through December 8 2008, Falun Gong Minghui website reported. The published papers were selected out of tens of thousands submissions. Minghui said that this is largest experience sharing conference of Mainland China Falun Gong practitioners since the persecution started in 1999.

Source: Minghui.org, December 8, 2008
http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2008/12/8/191310.html

A group of 303 Chinese citizens signed ‘Charter 08’, a declaration to mark the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, reported Epoch Times. The Charter calls on the Chinese regime to abolish the totalitarianism, and respect human rights and religious freedom. The signatories are from academia, business world and rural communities. Since the publication of Charter 08, the authorities have taken into custody and interrogated several signatories.

Source: Epoch Times, December 9 and 10, 2008
http://epochtimes.com/gb/8/12/9/n2356980.htm
http://epochtimes.com/gb/8/12/10/n2357682.htm