October 12, 2005

By AFP

There has been “no improvement” in human rights in China over the past year as the government tightened controls on religion, speech, media and assembly, a US commission said in a report.

Although the Chinese government pursued certain judicial and criminal justice reforms, “these positive steps” were clouded by new detentions and state policies designed to protect President Hu Jintao’s Communist Party of China and assert more control over society, the high-level panel said.

“These detentions and policies violated not only China’s constitution and laws, but also internationally recognized human rights standards,” said the 20-member Executive Commission on China, mandated by Congress to monitor human rights in the country.

The commission found “no improvement overall in human rights conditions in China over the past year, and increased government restrictions on Chinese citizens who worship in state-controlled venues or write for state-controlled publications.”

The panel is made up of nine US senators and a similar number of legislators from the House of Representatives as well five senior administration officials appointed by President George W. Bush.

“This is an honest report that takes a comprehensive look at human rights and rule of law in China,” said Senator Chuck Hagel, the chairman of the commission set up by Congress in 2000 to monitor human rights and development of the rule of law in the world’s most populous nation.

Hagel said China’s leaders would not achieve their long-term goal of social stability and continued economic development “without building a future that includes human rights for all Chinese citizens.

“China’s development will impact all of Asia, and the world. Respect for human rights must be part of that future,” said the Republican Senator from Nebraska.

Among other recommendations, the report called on President Bush and Congress to prod Beijing to hold direct dialogue with Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and not to use the “global war on terror” as a pretext to suppress the rights of minority groups.

The report reviewed developments in China the past year and described areas in which “more remains to be done to give the Chinese people the rights that the Chinese Constitution and laws guarantee to them,” said James Leach, the commission’s co-chairman and Republican Representative from Iowa.

China’s human rights record had been widely criticized by international rights groups.

The authorities have struggled in recent months to contain large-scale protests and riots among Chinese citizens frustrated by widespread corruption and illegal land requisitions.

The Congress panel’s report Tuesday coincided with the Bush administration’s expression of concern over last weekend’s violence at a southern China village marked by the beating of a pro-democracy activist and efforts to intimidate foreign journalists.

The US embassy in Beijing had asked the foreign ministry to investigate the incident in Taishi village in the southern province of Guangdong, Deputy State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said.

“There was violence in the town of Taishi in Guangdong that we view with concern. And we’ve expressed this concern to the Chinese government,” Ereli told reporters at the daily State Department briefing.

Chinese legislator Lu Banglie was beaten Saturday when he accompanied a journalist from a British newspaper to Taishi to talk with villagers embroiled in a legal battle to remove a village chief accused of corruption.

Some reporters have also been roughed up while visiting the village in recent weeks.

“A free press and an active civil society are things that we value and want to see respected, and neither civil society nor journalists should be beaten or harassed,” Ereli said. “We’ve made that point to the authorities in China.

“Our embassy has been in contact with the associates of Mr. Lu. We will continue to follow this case closely,” Ereli said.

“And we have urged China to investigate the case thoroughly and hold those responsible for this gentleman’s beating accountable.”

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