A Chinese labor activist who followed the teachings of revolutionary leader Mao Zedong (毛澤東) has been sentenced to three years in prison, his lawyer said yesterday.
A court in northern Shaanxi Province found Zhao Dongmin (趙東民) guilty of disrupting public order by trying to set up a corruption watchdog group to monitor state-owned enterprises, attorney Li Jinsong (李勁松) said.
Zhao’s background is not that of the typical activist. A Chinese Communist Party member who got his degree from a party college, he helped found a “Mao Zedong Study Group.”
His case has been closely followed by leftist groups and academics, who supported his advocacy on behalf of workers.
“Zhao told me he fully supports the Chinese Communist Party and what he has been doing is to represent and protect the interest of ordinary workers,” Li said.
“He told me that if he’s sentenced, it would only prove that those who framed him and charged him are guilty,” he added.
Calling Zhao “a tough man,” Li said his client intends to appeal the sentence, which was issued last Sunday by the Xincheng district court.
Zhao had been involved in helping nearly 400 Chinese workers from Xi’an organize a workers’ rights group that would monitor the restructuring of state-owned enterprises. The workers had tried to petition for legal status from the local government and trade union.
Court documents from the case posted online accused Zhao of organizing hundreds of workers to rally at the trade union’s offices, “severely disrupting their work for seven hours.” It said the workers were “making noises, shouting slogans, and humiliating staff.” Zhao was detained by police in August last year and has been kept completely out of sight. His wife, who died this past August, was never allowed to meet him, Li said.
“They didn’t even allow him to see his wife one last time,” Li said.
China outlaws unauthorized labor organizing, limiting such activities to the government-affiliated All China Federation of Trade Unions and to company branches of the ruling Chinese Communist Party.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese