Chinese authorities have ordered two elderly women to spend one year in a labor camp after they applied to hold a protest during the Beijing Olympics against being forced from their homes, a relative said yesterday.
The women were still at home three days after being officially notified, but were under the observation of a neighborhood watch group, said Li Xuehui, the son of one of the women.
A rights group said the threat of prison appeared to be an intimidation tactic.
Li said no cause was given for the order to imprison his 79-year-old mother, Wu Dianyuan, and her neighbor, Wang Xiuying, 77.
“Wang Xiuying is almost blind and crippled. What sort of reeducation through labor can she serve?” Li said in a telephone interview. “But they can also be taken away at any time.”
The order followed the pair’s repeated attempts to apply for permission to hold a protest at one of three areas designated by the government as available for demonstrations during the Games, which end on Sunday.
Beijing has used the existence of the protest areas as a way to defend its promise to improve human rights in China that was crucial to its bid to win the games.
Some 77 applications were lodged to hold protests, but none went ahead, and rights groups say the zones were just a way for the Chinese government to put on an appearance of complying with international standards. A handful of people who sought a permit to demonstrate were taken away by security officials, rights groups said.
“This is part of the tough tactics used to intimidate and silence protesters,” said Nicholas Bequelin of the New York-based Human Rights Watch.
“Of course it’s of concern that China will use a system that’s clearly beyond the pale in terms of international standards, in terms of arbitrary deprivation of freedoms and liberties to do that,” he said.
Li said Wu and Wang were ordered to serve a yearlong term of reeducation through labor. The family was notified on Sunday, but officials had not acted on the order by yesterday.
The reeducation system, in place since 1957, allows police to sidestep the need for a criminal trial or a formal charge and directly send people to prison for up to four years to perform penal labor.
Critics say it is misused to detain political or religious activists, and violates suspects’ rights.
The Public Security Bureau had no immediate comment.
A spokeswoman for the Beijing reeducation through labor bureau said: “We have no records of these two names in our system.”
Protests have become common in China, where simmering resentment over layoffs, corruption, land confiscation and other issues explode into sometimes violent action.
The communist leadership remains wary about large demonstrations, fearing they could snowball into anti-government movements.
The sensitivity is more marked during the Olympics, which is meant to showcase China to the world.
CHAOS: Iranians took to the streets playing celebratory music after reports of Khamenei’s death on Saturday, while mourners also gathered in Tehran yesterday Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack on Iran launched by Israel and the US, throwing the future of the Islamic republic into doubt and raising the risk of regional instability. Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency announced the 86-year-old’s death early yesterday. US President Donald Trump said it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country. The announcements came after a joint US and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites. Trump said the “heavy and pinpoint bombing” would continue through the week or as long
TRUST: The KMT said it respected the US’ timing and considerations, and hoped it would continue to honor its commitments to helping Taiwan bolster its defenses and deterrence US President Donald Trump is delaying a multibillion-dollar arms sale to Taiwan to ensure his visit to Beijing is successful, a New York Times report said. The weapons sales package has stalled in the US Department of State, the report said, citing US officials it did not identify. The White House has told agencies not to push forward ahead of Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), it said. The two last month held a phone call to discuss trade and geopolitical flashpoints ahead of the summit. Xi raised the Taiwan issue and urged the US to handle arms sales to
BIG SPENDERS: Foreign investors bought the most Taiwan equities since 2005, signaling confidence that an AI boom would continue to benefit chipmakers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) market capitalization swelled to US$2 trillion for the first time following a 4.25 percent rally in its American depositary receipts (ADR) overnight, putting the world’s biggest contract chipmaker sixth on the list of the world’s biggest companies by market capitalization, just behind Amazon.com Inc. The site CompaniesMarketcap.com ranked TSMC ahead of Saudi Aramco and Meta Platforms Inc. The Taiwanese company’s ADRs on Tuesday surged to US$385.75 on the New York Stock Exchange, as strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications led to chip supply constraints and boost revenue growth to record-breaking levels. Each TSMC ADR represents
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said that it had confirmed on Saturday night with its liquefied natural gas (LNG) and crude oil suppliers that shipments are proceeding as scheduled and that domestic supplies remain unaffected. The CPC yesterday announced the gasoline and diesel prices will rise by NT$0.2 and NT$0.4 per liter, respectively, starting Monday, citing Middle East tensions and blizzards in the eastern United States. CPC also iterated it has been reducing the proportion of crude oil imports from the Middle East and diversifying its supply sources in the past few years in response to geopolitical risks, expanding
RSS