China has detained dozens of people, some of whom have been severely beaten, for trying to mark the death of former leader Zhao Ziyang (
The allegations came as the government intensified security to prevent mourners attending tomorrow's funeral in Beijing for Zhao, the former Communist Party secretary-general purged for opposing the 1989 military crackdown on the Tiananmen democracy movement.
PHOTO: AFP
At least three people, including a woman in her 70s, were punched and manhandled by police officers outside the government offices which receive complaints in the Chinese capital, witnesses said.
They were among some 60 people who pinned white paper flowers to their clothes -- a traditional Chinese symbol of mourning -- said a bystander, who took pictures of the beatings and posted them on overseas Web sites.
"A man from Henan Province was beaten badly. His left eyeball looked like it was beaten out of its socket and he had a one inch cut to his right eye," said the man who requested anonymity.
"An elderly woman from Shandong Province was beaten to a point where she couldn't move and a man from Hunan Province was also beaten," he said.
Police shouted at the petitioners that Zhao, who spent nearly 16 years under house arrest until his death last week, was a "political criminal," the witness said.
"They said: `Why are you commemorating him? You're clearly opposing the government.' But the petitioners said `We think differently. We think he's a good person,'" the witness said.
Also last week, an estimated 80 to 90 petitioners were rounded up near Zhao's traditional courtyard home in Beijing for trying to get inside to pay respects and express condolences to his family, petitioners said.
"In our petitioners' hostel, all 10 people who went were detained and held from from 9am to 11pm," said Bai Shuhua, one of the 10.
"In the police station they said, `You don't seek leaders who are alive, but insist on seeking dead leaders. How can the dead help you?'" Bai said.
One of the petitioners, Liu Hongbo, was punched twice as he yelled "Zhao didn't do anything wrong," Bai said.
Zhao, premier and head of the Communist Party for much of the 1980s, died on Jan. 17 at the age of 85.
The authorities fear his death and funeral tomorrow will be a rallying point for dissidents, petitioners and people dissatisfied with the government.
Sources said invitations have been issued for the ceremony, following days of wrangling between party officials and relatives over the content of a eulogy to Zhao.
The government confirmed earlier that it would allow a "body farewell ceremony" for Zhao. It was not immediately clear how this would differ from a funeral.
But a government statement departed from the usual Chinese phrase for a funeral, apparently to reflect the lower status it accords to the event compared with the larger scale funerals normally arranged for former Communist Party leaders.
BUILDUP: US General Dan Caine said Chinese military maneuvers are not routine exercises, but instead are ‘rehearsals for a forced unification’ with Taiwan China poses an increasingly aggressive threat to the US and deterring Beijing is the Pentagon’s top regional priority amid its rapid military buildup and invasion drills near Taiwan, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday. “Our pacing threat is communist China,” Hegseth told the US House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense during an oversight hearing with US General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Beijing is preparing for war in the Indo-Pacific as part of its broader strategy to dominate that region and then the world,” Hegseth said, adding that if it succeeds, it could derail
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
CROSS-STRAIT: The MAC said it barred the Chinese officials from attending an event, because they failed to provide guarantees that Taiwan would be treated with respect The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday night defended its decision to bar Chinese officials and tourism representatives from attending a tourism event in Taipei next month, citing the unsafe conditions for Taiwanese in China. The Taipei International Summer Travel Expo, organized by the Taiwan Tourism Exchange Association, is to run from July 18 to 21. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) on Friday said that representatives from China’s travel industry were excluded from the expo. The Democratic Progressive Party government is obstructing cross-strait tourism exchange in a vain attempt to ignore the mainstream support for peaceful development
RSS