The human rights situation in China has deteriorated in the past year as Beijing clamped down on free expression and used force to suppress social unrest, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday.
The US-based group also condemned China for using its growing economic clout around the world to protect abusive governments in Myanmar, North Korea, Sudan, Uzbekistan and Zimbabwe.
"There has been a significant backsliding on human rights and we are seeing that principally in terms of increasing restrictions on what it's possible to say in the press -- certainly what it's possible to say on the Internet," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch.
The reversal over the past two years corresponded with the ascent in 2003 of Chinese President Hu Jintao (
Roth did not elaborate on the role of Hu in human rights problems, which he said took place amid major social unrest and with a weak legal system unable to address rampant disputes.
The report said China's leaders "have responded to the increasing social mobilization with a multifaceted crackdown on demonstrators and their allies and with repression of means for disseminating information and organizing protests, particularly the Internet."
China has jailed some 60 people for peaceful expression of opinion on the Internet and imposes sophisticated Internet controls known as the "Great Firewall of China," it said.
Roth said many of the abuses served to fuel the unrest Beijing leaders were trying to prevent. The annual report cited a Chinese government tally of 74,000 protests involving 3.5 million people in 2004.
"Rather than recognizing that rule of law and greater freedom of the press and association as being antidotes to this unrest, they are shutting things down," he said.
The report said China's "quest for natural resources combined with its stated policy of `noninterference in domestic affairs' led to its bolstering of corrupt and repressive regimes in Africa, Latin America and Asia, to the disadvantage of the people of these regions."
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
BACK TO WORK? Prosecutors said they are considering filing an appeal, while the Hsinchu City Government said it has applied for Ann Kao’s reinstatement as mayor The High Court yesterday found suspended Hsinchu mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) not guilty of embezzling assistant fees, reducing her sentence to six months in prison commutable to a fine from seven years and four months. The verdict acquitted Kao of the corruption charge, but found her guilty of causing a public official to commit document forgery. The High Prosecutors’ Office said it is reviewing the ruling and considering whether to file an appeal. The Taipei District Court in July last year sentenced Kao to seven years and four months in prison, along with a four-year deprivation of civil rights, for contravening the Anti-Corruption
NO CONFIDENCE MOTION? The premier said that being toppled by the legislature for defending the Constitution would be a democratic badge of honor for him Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday announced that the Cabinet would not countersign the amendments to the local revenue-sharing law passed by the Legislative Yuan last month. Cho said the decision not to countersign the amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) was made in accordance with the Constitution. “The decision aims to safeguard our Constitution,” he said. The Constitution stipulates the president shall, in accordance with law, promulgate laws and issue mandates with the countersignature of the head of the Executive Yuan, or with the countersignatures of both the head of the Executive Yuan and ministers or
RSS