Social Stability - 176. page

According to an article in the July issue of the Hong Kong based Trend Magazine, before the May 12 earthquake, Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leaders received serious warnings from seismology experts. During a vote on whether to inform the people, eight members of the Standing Committee of the CCP’s Polibureau voted no. Premier Wen Jiabao was the only dissenting voice.

The CCP’s decision was made to insure the success of the Olympic Torch Relay. The source said on April 26 and 27, 2008, scientists in the Natural Disaster Prediction Committee under the China Geophysics Institute reached an agreement on the following warning: “From May 2008 to April 2009, there is a possibility of Magnitude 6 – 7 earthquake in Sichuan, Gansu and Qinghai bordering areas.” Chinese seismologist Geng Qingguo was more specific, he predicted that a Magnitude 7 or stronger earthquake may happen around May 8, plus or minus 10 days at Sichuan Province’s Aba Region.

On April 30, 2008, a document containing the predictions was secretly sent to the China Earthquake Administration. But it failed to convince China’s top leaders to take action.

Source: Boxun.com, July 3, 2008
http://news.boxun.com/news/gb/china/2008/07/200807030438.shtml

China News posted an article from the Guangming Daily reporting that tens of thousands of residents went to appeal in the rain when the Guangzhou municipal government held a city-wide public “Petition Day” on June 26, 2008. It was reported that such a large public reception of petitioning residents has never occurred in the whole country before. The problems with regards to which residents appealed were mostly related to housing, social security, and environmental protection. The article commented that the public reception is nevertheless more of a show (by the local government leaders) rather than a practical avenue for solving residents’problems.

Source: China News Agency, June 28, 2008
http://www.chinanews.com.cn/gn/news/2008/06-28/1295767.shtml

Over 10,000 people gathered in front of the local police station and government buildings in Weng’an County in southwest Guizhou province Saturday, June 28, to vent anger towards the local government’s cover up of an alleged rape and murder of a female student. Angry crowd torched the police station, county government building, and Civil Affairs Bureau building. 1500 anti-riot police arrived on Sunday morning and used tear gas and high voltage baton at the scene. It was reported that at least three people died, 200 people arrested including 30 middle school students, and 150 injured.

The victim, Li Shufen, was a student from Weng’an County No. 3 High School. She was found dead in a river around midnight on June 21. After the reports from the medical examiner concluding the death as “suicide,” Li’s uncle went to the county party committee to appeal but was beaten to death. Three suspects were said to be connected to the local government authority and were released within 8 hours.

Source: The Epoch Times, June 30, 2008
http://news.epochtimes.com/gb/8/6/30/n2173202.htm

120,000 residents in Qingchuan County, Sichuan, have lost means of livelihood during the May 12 earthquake, said Qingchuan County official. At the press conference of the Sichuan government, Li Haozheng, Communist Party Secretary for Qingchuan said only 5% of the buildings might be used after reinforcement and 140,000 mu of farmland were destroyed. Victims have no land to farm or foundation to re-build houses or roads to travel, as Li put it. 

Source: Xinhua, June 25, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2008-06/25/content_8438575.htm

Citizen Supervising Political Affairs Society Of China published a news release stating that they have collected signatures on a petition from 11,259 citizens in China. The petition was to question Chinese regime’s responsibilities in handling the earth quake warnings and the safety of the building structures. It calls for protection of citizen’s rights in supervising the government, investigate and take legal actions against those who shall be held responsible.

Source: Gong Ming Jian Zhen (Citizen Supervising Political Affairs Society Of China), June 16, 2008
http://www.gmjz.org/X-Space/html/69/t-3969.html

China’s distinguished writer Yu Qiuyu wrote an article titled “advice to the students’ parents with tears,” asking the parents who lost their children in the earthquake to quit petitioning so as not to be used by overseas anti-China forces. Following the earthquake, lots of attention have been focused on demanding an investigation of the substandard construction of schools. Yu says in his article that the students’ parents are very emotional. Therefore, those media that could not find anti-China excuses started once again anti-China propaganda. The article caused an up-roar among the Internet users who felt it inappropriate. However, China’s Information Office of the State Council required major websites to post the article, while deleting related discussion massages.

Source: BBC, June 8, 2008; Boxun, June 7, 2008 http://news.bbc.co.uk/chinese/simp/hi/newsid_7440000/newsid_7443100/7443157.stm http://news.boxun.com/news/gb/china/2008/06/200806072039.shtml

Two lawyers in China were denied the renewal of their licenses during the 2008 annual registration.  Local lawyers who passed the annual registration described the reasons behind the mandatary annual registration.  "The government is afraid of lawyers.  It is a very unique feature that in China, the authorities must have a mechanism to counter the role that lawyers play. … The more one complies with the law, speaks the truth and upholds justice, the less likely you will have your license renewed."

Source: Epoch Times, June 1, 2008
http://news.epochtimes.com/gb/8/6/1/n2138386.htm

BBC quotes Human Rights Watch’s report that the Chinese authorities refused to renew the licenses for two Chinese prominent human rights lawyers, Teng Biao and Jiang Tianyong. The reason is that they offered help for the Tibetans arrested during the 3.14 Event. Teng Biao was the lawyer for Shandong human rights activist Chen Guangcheng. Jiang Tianyong was involved in famous rights activist Hu Jia’s case. Early in April, the Ministry of Justice already threatened that those who expressed to help to Tibetans would be diciplined and have their licenses withheld.

Source: BBC, May 30, 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/chinese/simp/hi/newsid_7420000/newsid_7427900/7427943.stm