Week of January 26, 2001The U.S. and China This Week
DOMESTIC: China’s High Court Authorizes Executions For Leaking State SecretsThe court declared that judges may order executions for leaking secrets and intelligence that “gravely harms the country or people, or has particularly odious circumstances,?according to reports. For individuals convicted of giving out top-secret information, more than three items of classified information, or material causing “extremely grave harm to national security interests,?the court directed sentences of at least 10 years in prison and confiscation of property, reports said. Lesser sentences were assigned for distributing less sensitive materials. The court said cases involving the Internet as the means of leaking state secrets will be judged according to how badly such information harms the nation. The court did not make clear the definitions of state secrets and intelligence. Certain information disseminated to the public in other countries is classified in China.
INTERNATIONAL: China Will Ratify Rights Covenant, Annan Toldhalf months, Chinese leaders told visiting U.N. chief Kofi Annan, according to Annan’s spokeswoman Marie Okabe. China signed the document in 1997. Okabe said Annan made less progress on the issue of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which China signed in 1998, but Chinese officials told Annan that work continues on that document, Annan’s three-day visit, his fourth visit to China since becoming UN secretary-general, included a meeting January 22 with Chinese President Jiang Zemin. According to the official Xinhua News Agency, Jiang said China “is satisfied?with Annan’s performance as UN head. Annan the previous day met with Foreign Minister Tang and Jiaxuan Vice Premier Qian Qichen, according to state media. Annan told reporters when he arrived in Beijing January 20 that he would raise human rights concerns made by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson during two visits to China last year. Annan’s visit came as China is hoping to win sponsorship of the 2008 Olympics. International Olympic Committee inspectors will visit Beijing next month, and will choose the host city in July. Human rights concerns influenced the 1993 decision not to hold the 2000 Olympics in China. Annan’s visit also occurred two months before the annual meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva, which opens March 19. Annan said he asked China to increase its role in international peacekeeping. “I think they have the capacity to do more and we will encourage them to do that,?he said.
INTERNATIONAL: EU Addresses Human Rights in Chinalisted other areas in which it wants to see progress. The 15-member body called for China to respect the “fundamental rights?of political dissidents and religious groups, including Falun Gong. Meeting in Brussels, the EU’s Council of Ministers said there has been
“initial progress?in China toward implementing
DOMESTIC: Five Protesters Set Themselves On Fire In Tiananmen Squarein Tiananmen Square, protesting the Chinese government’s crackdown on Falun Gong. A CNN camera crew saw the incident, in which the protesters assumed a “classic Falun Gong meditation pose.?The incident occurred right before China’s biggest holiday, Spring Festival, or Chinese New Year. Falun Gong spokespeople in New York and Hong Kong said they were skeptical that the individuals who set themselves on fire were really Falun Gong members because the writings of Li Hongzhi, the group’s founder, forbid killing anyone, including oneself. Gail Rachlin, a New York-based Falun Gong spokeswoman, said committing suicide is “totally against what we believe.?There are more than 10,000 Falun Gong members in Chinese labor camps and an unknown number in psychiatric hospitals, according to human rights groups. The Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy claims 600 Falun Gong followers are in jail, while 104 have died in police custody. Last week several Chinese newspapers ran articles about Falun Gong members
who had been released from labor camps
Meanwhile, on January 24 two Falun Gong members slipped through massive
security at Tiananmen Square, stood on
Last updated: 12 January 2001 |
