U.S. sees improved rights in China

[J-10]

U.S. sees improved rights in China
From CNN State Department Producer Elise Labott
Thursday, March 17, 2005 Posted: 2345 GMT (0745 HKT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) - -- Citing "important and significant steps" by China to improve its human rights record, the State Department said Thursday it will not introduce a resolution condemning Beijing this year at the U.N. Human Rights Commission.

Deputy department spokesman Adam Ereli said that while "persistent systemic problems" remain, the Chinese government has taken action to increase religious freedoms and allow more leniency for political prisoners.

Those steps include allowing political prisoners the same rights to sentence reductions and parole as other prisoners, Ereli said.

He also pointed to Beijing's agreement to visits by the U.N. Special *******eurs on Torture and Religious Intolerance and the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. The Chinese government has also agreed to host the U.S. Committee on Religious Freedom.

China has also begun to allow family churches to operate in their homes without registering with the government, Ereli said.

"Taken together, these are important steps that get at some of the structural issues concerning human rights in China as well as noteworthy steps in the reduction of the number of prisoners," he said.

He cited the release of Rebiya Kadeer, an Uighur businesswoman who was detained in August 1999 and sentenced to eight years in prison on espionage charges when she sent newspaper clips to her husband in the United States. The State Department has been pushing China for Kadder's release. She was released Thursday on medical parole.

A senior State Department official added that out of 58 high-profile cases of political prisoners that the United States was following, 20 have been released early, 33 have received reduced sentences and five are being considered for early release or reduced sentences this year.

The announcement comes days before the visit of Secretary of State Condeleezza Rice to China, although Ereli said the two events are unrelated.

The annual State Department Report on Human Rights, released two weeks ago, called China's human rights record "disappointing" and criticized Beijing for continuing to arrest activists, deny religious freedom and abuse prisoners.

U.S. criticism of China's human rights record has been a major thorn in Sino-American relations, although most previous U.S. attempts to censure Beijing before the U.N. commission have failed to secure the votes needed to pass a resolution.

If Beijing does not continue to improve its human rights record, Ereli said, the United States could debate a resolution censuring China next year.

He said the United States would probably propose a resolution condemning the human rights situation in Cuba at the six-week session of the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Commission, which began Monday.

In addition, a State Department official told CNN the United States is expected to sponsor resolutions critical of human rights in Sudan, Zimbabwe, North Korea and Belarus.
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/03/17/china.humanrights/index.html

[ElHombre]

looks like somebody in the white house realized where all the money we are going to borrow is going to come from. p-)

[Top Gun]

i was just going to say that probably figures since china is bankrolling america's massive debt.

[Bluezoo]

U.S. sees improved rights in China
From CNN State Department Producer Elise Labott
Thursday, March 17, 2005 Posted: 2345 GMT (0745 HKT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) - -- Citing "important and significant steps" by China to improve its human rights record, the State Department said Thursday it will not introduce a resolution condemning Beijing this year at the U.N. Human Rights Commission.

Deputy department spokesman Adam Ereli said that while "persistent systemic problems" remain , the Chinese government has taken action to increase religious freedoms and allow more leniency for political prisoners.

Those steps include allowing political prisoners the same rights to sentence reductions and parole as other prisoners, Ereli said.

He also pointed to Beijing's agreement to visits by the U.N. Special *******eurs on Torture and Religious Intolerance and the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. The Chinese government has also agreed to host the U.S. Committee on Religious Freedom.

China has also begun to allow family churches to operate in their homes without registering with the government, Ereli said.

"Taken together, these are important steps that get at some of the structural issues concerning human rights in China as well as noteworthy steps in the reduction of the number of prisoners," he said.

He cited the release of Rebiya Kadeer, an Uighur businesswoman who was detained in August 1999 and sentenced to eight years in prison on espionage charges when she sent newspaper clips to her husband in the United States. The State Department has been pushing China for Kadder's release. She was released Thursday on medical parole.

A senior State Department official added that out of 58 high-profile cases of political prisoners that the United States was following, 20 have been released early, 33 have received reduced sentences and five are being considered for early release or reduced sentences this year.

The announcement comes days before the visit of Secretary of State Condeleezza Rice to China, although Ereli said the two events are unrelated.

The annual State Department Report on Human Rights, released two weeks ago, called China's human rights record "disappointing" and criticized Beijing for continuing to arrest activists, deny religious freedom and abuse prisoners.

U.S. criticism of China's human rights record has been a major thorn in Sino-American relations, although most previous U.S. attempts to censure Beijing before the U.N. commission have failed to secure the votes needed to pass a resolution.

If Beijing does not continue to improve its human rights record, Ereli said, the United States could debate a resolution censuring China next year.

He said the United States would probably propose a resolution condemning the human rights situation in Cuba at the six-week session of the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Commission, which began Monday.

In addition, a State Department official told CNN the United States is expected to sponsor resolutions critical of human rights in Sudan, Zimbabwe, North Korea and Belarus.
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/03/17/china.humanrights/index.html

Translation: Its the same banana no matter how you cut it. The kind words are just for the show. rofl

[ridenrain]

Ask the 200 Chinese coal miners that died last month.

[Jin]

Ask the 200 Chinese coal miners that died last month.

What does that have to do with this topic?

[achilles]

Ask the 200 Chinese coal miners that died last month.

In other news, the weather here has been fantastic during the last couple of days

[ridenrain]

Ask the 200 Chinese coal miners that died last month.

What does that have to do with this topic?

"Last year more than 6,000 miners died in fires, floods and explosions in China's coal mines. That's a staggering average of 16 deaths per day.
...We believe the conditions many Chinese coal miners are forced to work under today may be worse than the conditions American coal miners endured from the late 1800s to the early-to-mid-1900s. That is an outrage, and it must be immediately rectified. Another way China should address the problem is to allow its workers to belong to legitimate, free trade unions."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38567-2005Mar15.html

"WASHINGTON—Thousands of prisoners in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan are forced to work prolonged shifts in a coalmine for no pay, rarely emerging to see daylight, according to two former inmates.

“What was it like for us in that prison? ...We were really not treated like people. There is no word in Chinese to describe what it was like, the things I saw there,” a former inmate of the Chuannan prison-mine told RFA’s Mandarin service."

“It was really too inhumane. When I tell people about what I went through in there, the suffering, they don’t believe me,” Chen Jinglin told RFA’s Mandarin service.

http://origin.rfaweb.org/english/news/social/2004/10/07/china_inmates/

This report is crap and attempts to push human rights violations on the back burner so more US companies can make more money.

[Jin]

Ask the 200 Chinese coal miners that died last month.

What does that have to do with this topic?

"Last year more than 6,000 miners died in fires, floods and explosions in China's coal mines. That's a staggering average of 16 deaths per day.
...We believe the conditions many Chinese coal miners are forced to work under today may be worse than the conditions American coal miners endured from the late 1800s to the early-to-mid-1900s. That is an outrage, and it must be immediately rectified. Another way China should address the problem is to allow its workers to belong to legitimate, free trade unions."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38567-2005Mar15.html

"WASHINGTON—Thousands of prisoners in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan are forced to work prolonged shifts in a coalmine for no pay, rarely emerging to see daylight, according to two former inmates.

“What was it like for us in that prison? ...We were really not treated like people. There is no word in Chinese to describe what it was like, the things I saw there,” a former inmate of the Chuannan prison-mine told RFA’s Mandarin service."

“It was really too inhumane. When I tell people about what I went through in there, the suffering, they don’t believe me,” Chen Jinglin told RFA’s Mandarin service.

http://origin.rfaweb.org/english/news/social/2004/10/07/china_inmates/

Yes I agreee that the mines are dangerious and safety standards should be increased. But the miners are never forced into working the mines. They are never treated as slaves. They choose to work there because of the money. They can always quit their jobs and walk away. Its their choice to work in the mines or not. The problem is with the management of the mines, which are often times corrupted. They put profit over safety. But they never force anyone to work. There will always be ppl who will take the risk because they need the money. Just like back in the 1800s, there were thousands of Chinese volunteers setting up dangerous explosives when they were building the railways in the united states.

[ridenrain]

I would say that "former inmate of the Chuannan prison-mine" would have another viewpoint, but we'll agree to disagree on this.
Corruption is a huge issue and what does it matter to the man in the mine or factory if the policy is from the top or from his boss. To him, it's the same thing and he's just as powerless to fix it. The best solution would be for the miners to unionize but that wouldn't last.

[Durandal]

looks like somebody in the white house realized where all the money we are going to borrow is going to come from. p-)

Yep.

This is such propagandized bull****...it makes me sick.

[Durandal]

The problem is with the management of the mines, which are often times corrupted. They put profit over safety. But they never force anyone to work.

A VERY poor argument.

People get desperate, other people take advantage of it.

Sounds like China needs some Labor Unions big time.

Wouldn't that be ironic.

[Jin]

Maybe you should try looking at the positive parts of the article instead of desperately searching for negative points to put China down. Its obvious your pretty anti Chinese. No matter what I say won't make you change the way you look at China.

The article is about improved human rights. Its still not perfect like the US obviously.

[ridenrain]

I don't like the Chinese government.
I worry that the knife edge they have to walk to keep the country together, the artificial controlled economy stable, the corruption in check, and the wants and needs of the common man, will breed more and more brutal reactions that may upset this delicate balance. The Chinese government has huge forces pulling on it and I fear that their possible collapse will harm many people inside and outside it's borders.

I also have no trust in the press releases of closed society. There is too much money and power at stake on both sides so it's hard to see through the spin on either side. It's also hard to accept the honesty of a report on one hand when you're postponing the UN Human rights inspector on the other hand.
http://embassy-denmark.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/65918.html

A couple of other things are the $164 Billion trade deficit China has with the US. I can't call that fair dealing when you sell $164 Billion more than you buy.
For some freakish reason, the government of Canada gives China approximately $54 Million to help the Chinese rural poor.
The Chinese industry makes big business of duplicating products and ignoring copyright, patents, UL/CSA approvals etc.

I've tried to keep this as factual as possible because I don't want this to degrade into a racist attack.
One of the best things that the Chinese government has done is approving Canada as a tourist destination. I can't talk to the Chinese government but I can talk to the common Chinese visitor when we're sharing a table at a Starbucks in Vancouver, and I will welcome him (but her is better) as a friend.

[Durandal]

Maybe you should try looking at the positive parts of the article instead of desperately searching for negative points to put China down. Its obvious your pretty anti Chinese. No matter what I say won't make you change the way you look at China.

The article is about improved human rights. Its still not perfect like the US obviously.

Actually, I am NOT anti-Chinese. I am anti-PRC...

I am quite PRO-Chinese.

Big difference and I REALLY hope you can get that through your head. You defend the actions of a corrupt government over and over again.

Please stop.

[Clarsachier]

Jin, IMO that's probably why so many posts emphasize criticism of the
the 'communist government' - Chinese culture is very popular around the world. The PRC government isn't.

If it's any consolation, this is what we Americans are hearing all the time
when we go overseas - "we love American culture but we don't like your government." p-)

[Jin]

Maybe you should try looking at the positive parts of the article instead of desperately searching for negative points to put China down. Its obvious your pretty anti Chinese. No matter what I say won't make you change the way you look at China.

The article is about improved human rights. Its still not perfect like the US obviously.

Actually, I am NOT anti-Chinese. I am anti-PRC...

I am quite PRO-Chinese.

Big difference and I REALLY hope you can get that through your head. You defend the actions of a corrupt government over and over again.

Please stop.

haha, How am I defending the gov? I stated many times that I AGREE that the corrupt gov needs to go. If you just read my postings carefully. I even HIGHLIGHTED it on many occasions.

All I'm stating are facts. The workers do have the rights to walk away. Thats a fact. And I do admit that the gov needs to do more for safety. You always make it sound like the PRC gov is like the EVIL Empire from star wars or something. They also do good for the ppl! I hope you know that.

[Jin]

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