October 28, 2003

By ELSA WENZEL/Associated Press Writer/AP

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP)–Amnesty International urged the European Union on Tuesday to rethink its China policy ahead of a high-level visit to Beijing, saying the Asian country’s economic success overshadows a justice system plagued with human rights abuses.

Amnesty released a report detailing alleged human rights violations, including the frequent use of the death penalty, forced labor camps, arbitrary detention and torture of AIDS patients and an ongoing crackdown on the Falun Gong spiritual movement.

The report was published as Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi- leading a delegation of senior EU officials- headed for Beijing for talks Thursday with Chinese leaders. Italy currently holds the rotating EU presidency.

China executes some 15,000 prisoners a year, Amnesty said, though the government’s own annual official tally barely exceeds 1,000.

“Official reports in China … hailing the introduction of ‘mobile execution chambers’ for their ‘cost-effectiveness and efficiency’ should send alarm bells ringing in the corridors of the EU,” said Dick Oosting, head of the human rights group’s EU office.

The Amnesty report dwells at length on the fate of AIDS patients as the object of abuse. AIDS reporting in the official Chinese media tends to highlight intravenous drug use and unprotected sex.

“A less well-publicized factor has been the operation of blood-collecting stations in many parts of China during the late 1980s and 1990s (set up to meet) a highly profitable global demand for blood plasma,” said the Amnesty report.

The centers, however, allegedly ignore safety checks, causing HIV infections to soar.

The Amnesty report also scolds China for labor camps that “re-educate” more than 300,000 people, including Falun Gong practitioners, journalists, AIDS activists and “cyber-dissidents” who post “subversive” messages on Internet chat rooms.