Week of February 16, 2001The U.S. and China This Week
DOMESTIC: Amnesty International: Torture Increasing in ChinaChinese Foreign Minister Zhu Bangzao blasted Amnesty
International, claiming that it “often made irresponsible remarks concerning
China according to rumors and hearsay.?He referred to the fact that China
ratified a United Nations convention against torture in 1998, and maintained
that “those who torture will be punished in accordance with law.?According
to Zhu, “The allegation that China has systematic and large-scale torture
is totally groundless.?#060;/font>
But Curt Goering, Amnesty’s senior deputy executive
director in the United States, said that torture “is no doubt a daily occurrence
in China. ?It’s an attempt to destroy and control ?and intimidate and
punish.?Goering said the United States should push for a resolution condemning
Chinese human rights abuses at next month’s annual gathering of the U.N.
Commission on Human Rights in Geneva.
Amnesty reported use of “widespread and systemic?torture against political dissidents, Tibetan nuns, migrant workers, criminal
defendants and their lawyers, individuals accused of tax evasion and people
accused of violating China’s one-child policy. The group said it was concerned
at the “inadequate, contradictory response of the authorities to mounting
credible evidence?of abuses against Falun Gong followers.
INTERNATIONAL: China Calls for Global Effort Against Falun Gong, Other `Cults?#060;/h2>cults, and said those governments should not adhere to double standards in their response to China’s crackdown on Falun Gong. “China is willing to form a joint battlefront to wage a global struggle against cults,?Xinhua’s report said, quoting Wang Yusheng, secretary general of the China Anti-Cult Association. Duan Qiming, an official with the state administration of religious affairs, said other governments should help China deal with Falun Gong and also prevent the group from causing “tragedies?in their own territories. The Xinhua story referred to the Branch Dravidians
in the United States and Aum Supreme Truth in Japan seemingly in order
to compare China’s response
INTERNATIONAL: Scholar: China Wants Better U.S.-North Korean RelationsNorth Korea and is alarmed at what it views as U.S. unwillingness to engage that North Korea. Zhao Huji said a visit by Bill Clinton to North Korea would have worked towards lessening tensions on the Korean Peninsula. Now, he said, President George W. Bush’s plans to pursue a National Missile Defense (NMD) system may impede North Korea’s opening up to the world. “It is not unlikely that China and Russia could end up using North Korea as a kind of card to play in joint efforts to get Washington to back down from NMD,?Zhao said. Zhao maintained that North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il is interested in
peace and economic development, not confrontation. He said Kim has made
For economic reforms to be successful, Zhao said, North Korea needs
better ties to the United States. Zhao said a normalization of relations
with the
DOMESTIC: Website Creator Tried For Subversion
No outside observers were allowed at the trial in the Chengdu Intermediate
People’s Court in western China, as the Chinese government said state secrets
China’s National People’s Congress passed a law in December making subversion
over the Internet a crime. New York-based Human Rights Watch
INTERNATIONAL: Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Blasts Human Rights Censure EffortFebruary 15 said the proper way to resolve conflict over human rights is through “dialogue and exchange on the basis of equality and mutual respect.?He said “it is no use to engage in confrontation.?Attempts to censure China for human rights violations at previous meetings of the UNHRC “seriously poisoned the atmosphere,?he said, and naturally failed. On February 14, a bipartisan group of 11 U.S. Senators called on President
Bush to sponsor a resolution at the upcoming UNHRC meeting in March
Last updated: 22 February 2001 |
