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A Great Performance Born in a Great Era

[Editor’s Note: Wang Yifeng, a correspondent with Secret China, interviewed Dr. Tang Boqiao, Chairman of the China Peace and Democracy League after he watched the Divine Performing Arts Chinese New Year Spectacular performance at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on February 9, 2008 . The following article reports on that interview.]
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Xinhua: U.S. Intensively Monitors China’s Space Development from China’s Neighboring Countries

The U.S. espionage priority has been the four Chinese space R&D bases of Jiuquan, Xichang, Taiyuan and Hainan, according to a September 24 Xinhua article. 6 of the 12 U.S. espionage satellites are on Asia, particularly China. “Actions” in Jiuquan are clearly under their watch. The electronic survailance bases that the U.S. has established around China serve as the ear on China’s space development. Current there are over a dozen U.S. monitoring stations in Japan and Korea. The U.S. also maintains radar stations and electronic monitoring sites in Central Asia for this purpose. The U.S. National Reconnaissance Office conducts systematic monitoring activities. Located in Pentagon, it has an annual budget of between $250 to 350 million. It has digital imaging spy satellites such as Navy satellites KH-8 and KH-9, and CIA’s KH-11.

Source: Xinhua, September 24, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/mil/2008-09/24/content_10102121.htm

Over Twelve Thousand Infants Hospitalized Due to Contaminated Powder Milk

The Ministry of Health estimated that as of September 21, a total of 12,892 infants were hospitalized. 104 of them are in serious condition. Another 39,965 visited clinics. Of all infants receiving treatment, 81.87% are 2 years old or younger%. 17.33% are those between 2 and 3 years old. Those above 3 account for 0.8%. As of September 15, 2008, about 10,000 infants who had been fed contaminated Sanlu powdered milk were examined. 1,253 have been diagnosed with kidney illness. 2 of them have died. 913 were treated as outpatients. 340 remained in the hospital. As the number of victims sharply increases, sources in Hong Kong media indicated that they received instructions from Communist Party Propaganda Department not to report on the incident.

Source:
Xinhua, September 21, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2008-09/21/content_10088082.htm http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2008-09/15/content_10010189.htm
Apple Daily, September 24, 2008 http://www1.appledaily.atnext.com/template/apple/art_main.cfm?iss_id=20080924&sec_id=15335&subsec_id=15336&art_id=11638976

China’s Rebuttal to US 2008 Annual Report on International Religious Freedom

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said that China was strongly disappointed and was against the “2008 Annual Report on International Religious Freedom” published by US State Department on Friday September 19.  She said the report gave groundless criticism to China’s policy on religion and ethnic groups, which is against basic guidelines in handling international relationships. It has also interfered in China’s domestic affairs. “We strongly ask the US to correct its actions of criticizing religious affairs in other countries at its own will and stop publishing the report. "

Source: Xinhua, September 23, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2008-09/23/content_10098514.htm

Vice Premier’s Political Guidance to China’s Internet Society

In his greeting letter to the annual conference of Internet Society of China, Zhang Dejiang, the Vice-premier, gave party’s political guidance to the members of the Internet Society. He hope that the internet industry shall “hold high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics; Strengthening the ideological and moral construction under the guidance of theories by Den Xiaoping and the ‘three representatives’”.

Source: Xinhua, September 23, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/internet/2008-09/23/content_10096848.htm

Residential Home Purchases in Big Cities Will Hit New Low

The survey taken by the Bank of China suggested that only 13.3 percent of the residents living in the big cities intend to purchase residential homes in the next three months, the lowest since 1999.  The number is down 1.8 points from last quarter and 2.8 points from the year before. The survey also showed that deposit in a bank savings account has become the top selection for surveyed residents in terms of the financial investment in light of the recent stock market crash. The survey indicates 42.8 percent predict that the consumer price will continue to increase.

Source: Xinhua, September 23
http://news.xinhuanet.com/local//2008-09/23/content_10095134.htm

The Current Situation of Human Rights in China

In June 2008, the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders published its 2007 World Human Rights Report. A collaborative project between the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights (IFHR) and the Geneva-based World Organization Against Torture, the Report is one of the most important human rights reports in the world. The 2007 report enumerated how the Chinese government further repressed dissidents and arrested protesters before the Olympics. Mr. Wei Jingsheng wrote the preface for the China section of the 2007 International Human Rights Report. [1] The following is the translation of the preface.

The Current Situation of Human Rights in China

The Power of Death Penalty Review Taken Back by the Supreme Court

In the most recent two to three years, China’s human rights made a great leap backward with minor improvements in certain aspects. The minor improvements manifested in the return of the authority to review the death penalty to the Supreme Court. Starting from Deng Xiaoping’s era, the authority to approve the death penalty, as stipulated in Criminal Law, was given to the provincial level, and even the local level. As a result, there was a plethora of executions. A great number of local officials applied the death penalty to a wide range of criminals, for political motives or personal vengeance; moreover, they even created false or unjust charges to achieve private goals. The executions in China have therefore constituted more than three fourths of those for the entire world.

Under international and domestic pressure, and especially harsh criticism from human rights organizations in other countries, the Chinese government was forced to do something on this issue. From last year, the authority to review the death penalty was finally returned to the Supreme Court, in accordance with the Criminal Law. Judicial organizations privately estimated that the number of death penalties will drop dramatically over the next several years. It will be much more difficult for local officials to unjustly frame people or create false cases. This is a great achievement of international human rights effort.

However, other than that, China’s human rights situation took a great leap backward. The two major regressions lie in two aspects.

Freedom of Speech Regressed Dramatically

The Chinese Communist authorities impose censorship and punishment on all media. They force media professionals to edit the news according to the requirements of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Freedom of the press has dropped to the lowest level in the whole world. Opinion articles have greatly decreased; those left from censorship have had to closely follow the party line. Especially for electronic (Internet) media, in addition to imposing self-censorship on these online media, the authorities have applied the most powerful Internet censorship and blockage in the world. All statements not in accordance with the CCP’s propaganda requirements cannot even reach Internet users in China.
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Those who have attempted to break through the censorship, including journalists, editors and freelance writers, have often encountered ruthless repression: their jobs taken away, they themselves personally assaulted by the mafia, or sent to prison. It is especially noteworthy that when the CCP’s special agents search for those dissident media professionals and impose Internet censorship, some western enterprises have given them a helping hand, causing many innocent people jailed.

Human Rights Defendants Are Brutally Persecuted

The Chinese people’s movement to defend their basic rights has been growing rapidly. During this period, the number and scale of such movements has multiplied every year, producing many human rights lawyers and group leaders. With their leadership and advice, the human rights defending movements have become more effective. It is a unique phenomenon in today’s China: the government does not take responsibility to protect its people, and more and more officials have become accomplices of the evil force. The Chinese people are forced to become organized, defend their rights, and come up with their own leaders.

To repress the human rights defending movement, the CCP went from its traditional, random suppression, to well-planned, systematic suppression with a clear agenda. On the one hand, additional 200,000 troops of People’s Armed Police are equipped with the most modern weapons, collaborating with local military police force to construct a powerful state machinery to suppress people’s rights movement. On the other hand, the regime tried to exterminate all group leaders and human rights defenders. The human rights defendants were routinely physically tortured and mentally devastated; many political prisoners lost the ability to take care of their own daily lives.

Especially in the past year, in order to make sure all voices suppressed during the Olympics, the government escalated its persecution, and expanded its target to include western athletes, media and tourists. In a handful of western countries, western politicians even collaborated with such suppression. For example, Belgium, Great Britain and New Zealand attempted to stop their athletes from voicing their political views during the Olympic Games.

We have sound reason to believe that the victims of this suppression are not just the Chinese people; the suppression has extended to every corner around the globe.

Endnote:
[1] Beijing Spring, September 2008
http://beijingspring.com/bj2/2008/140/200882831658.htm
Beijing Spring is a Chinese-language monthly magazine dedicated to the promotion of human rights, democracy and social justice in China. Founded in June 1993, it is published in New York and distributed throughout the world.

Top Aviation Exec: Remember the National Humiliation, Develop Domestic Big Airplane

Xinhua posted a news article published by the China Youth Daily on September 22 about China’s ambition to develop big airplanes. The article quoted China Aviation Industry Corporation (CAIC) General Manager Zuo Fengmin’s words as motivation: “When the United States bombed our embassy in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, the victims’ bodies were transported back home by a big airplane made in the U.S. It was a huge humiliation for our country’s aviation industry.” The article concluded that if China is to realize industrial advancement and high national stature, improving the aviation industry is a task that must be accomplished; and 2008 is a pivotal year for China’s home-made big airplane to be ready to take off.

Source: Xinhua, September 22, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/mil/2008-09/22/content_10090910.htm