Week of August 24, 2001The U.S. and China This Week
DOMESTIC: 45 Falun Gong Members Jailed; Adherent Sentenced to DeathThe official New China News Agency quoted senior judge Gao Jinghong as indicating that Falun Gong members who turn on their comrades would receive lenient treatment, but “organizers, plotters, helpers and instigators?would receive harsh punishment. Meanwhile, the Liuzhou District Intermediate People’s Court in the southwestern region of Guangxi sentenced Lan Yunchang of Rongan county to death for murder, the official Xinhua news agency reported. Lan was convicted of using an axe to kill fellow villager Wei Shaoming because Wei would not give him arsenic so he could commit suicide. The murder occurred April 16, and Lan turned himself in the following day. Lan was given a two-year reprieve; such death sentences often are commuted to life in prison if the convict behaves well in prison. Xinhua referred to Lan as a “diehard? Falun Gong adherent. On August 17, eight Falun Gong members initiated a hunger strike outside the Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C. in solidarity with 130 comrades who went on hunger strike three weeks ago in the northeastern Chinese province of Liaoning. Also on August 17, four people accused of organizing
the January 23 self-immolations in Tiananmen Square were convicted of murder.
A woman and her 12-year-old daughter died in that incident. One defendant
was sentenced to life in prison, while the others got sentences of up to
15 years.
U.S.-CHINA RELATIONS: China Permits Carrier Group to Stop in Hong KongThe U.S.S. Constellation, a frigate, two destroyers, a nuclear submarine and another ship stopped northwest of Hong Kong island for a six-day visit. The carrier group and another carrier group led by the U.S.S. Vinson held military exercises in the South China Sea August 17. While some defense analysts drew significance from the fact that the exercises were held at the same time as Chinese military exercises in the Taiwan Strait, Rear Admiral Terrance Etnyre said it was simply a good time to hold exercises because the carrier groups were in the same area. The Constellation was returning from Singapore, while the Vinson was going to the Middle East. According to the U.S. consulate in Hong Kong, the Chinese denied a visit
to a P-3C Orion plane, similar to the EP-3E spy plane that collided with
a Chinese fighter jet April 1. China denied entry to a U.S. minesweeper
in May but subsequently allowed two other minesweepers to stop in China
in late July.
DOMESTIC: Monk Reportedly Taken From Buddhist CenterTIN reported new witnesses as claiming that as many as half the 3,000 nuns at the academy have been forced to vacate it, some of them after being required to denounce the Dalai Lama. Some monks and nuns have said they will commit suicide before leaving the academy, according to TIN. The United Front Work Department, a Communist
Party organization, is overseeing the crackdown on Serthar, according to
various sources. Between 6,000 and 7,000 monks and nuns reside at Serthar.
The goal of the UFWD is reportedly to lessen the number to 1,000 monks
and 400 nuns by October. An official with the Sichuan Religious Affairs
Bureau said in June that the campaign to lessen the numbers of monks and
nuns at the academy was undertaken “because of concerns about social stability
and at the order of central authorities.?#060;/font>
U.S.-CHINA RELATIONS: U.S., China Hold One-Day Talk On Missile ControlThis month the Washington Times quoted intelligence individuals as saying that a Chinese state enterprise recently shipped 12 bunches of missile components to Pakistan. China called the report “baseless.?China’s foreign ministry did not mention technology exports in its statement about the negotiations with the U.S., apparently indicating the matter should not block greater cooperation between the U.S. and China. China urged a swift return to launching U.S. satellites from China. The U.S. side in the talks featured Assistant Secretary of State Vann Van Diepen. The talks were arranged by Secretary of State Colin Powell in his recent visit to China. China temporarily postponed the negotiations after the April 1 plane collision between the American intelligence plane and the Chinese fighter jet over the South China Sea. The August 23 meeting was also supposed to deal with the issue of Chinese companies shipping fiber optic materials to Iraq, which appear to have broken U.N. Security Council resolutions.
DOMESTIC: China Admits Serious AIDS Problem
According to health ministry experts, China could have more than 600,000 people who are HIV positive. The official cumulative number of HIV infected individuals that China reports is 26,058. The U.N. says China will have 10 million or more HIV positive individuals by 2010 if it does not take firm action. Of China’s reported total, 69.8% are from intravenous drug use, 6.9% are from heterosexual contact, and 21% are from unknown causes, according to the Xinhua news agency. China is going to examine whether mobile blood banks like the kind that infected villagers in Henan infected people in other areas. A particularly dangerous practice of extracting plasma and then returning mixed blood to donors in order to prevent anemia is said to have ended around 1996. But 996 HIV infections are said to have been caused by blood plasma donations between 1998 and June 2001. This month, China announced 100 million yuan ($12
million) would go to combat the spread of AIDS; many think this is too
small. Vice Minister of Health Yin said, “The leaders and the general public
there do not fully realize the hidden dangers of a large scale epidemic
of HIV/AIDS as well as the harm it may bring about to the local social
development and general public in those places.?#060;/font>
Cheng Feng, project manager of China-U.K. HIV/AIDS
Prevention and Care Project, said while the Beijing government has a good
AIDS policy, some local governments “have a very low commitment,?and some
are even trying to hide their AIDS problem.
Top of Page
Last updated: 16 July 2001 |
