China Aid Association Aug 6, 2013
The annual Human Rights Dialogue between China and the United States on July 30-31, 2013, has ended in Kunming, China. As recently as last year, the international community and human rights organizations had questioned past China-U.S. human rights talks that had borne no fruit. During the Obama administration, this dialogue has become completely ineffective, despite the hopes of many. Since the Democratic Party took power in 2008, human rights talks between China and the United States have been conducted in total secrecy. The content of these secret talks is unknown to the outside world. Therefore, is there any reason these talks should continue?
In truth, the human rights situation in China continues to worsen; here are examples: A winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, reformer Liu Xiaobo, is still serving his sentence in prison, and his wife, Liu Xia, has been under house arrest for no known reason. House churches and other believers experience more and more serious persecution. Internet censorship has become stricter, and the opportunity for freedom of speech has been under constantly increasing repression. The policy of forced family planning is carried out more secretly, with countless, unimaginable horrors inflicted by “family planning authorities;” families with children exceeding the one-child quota and the children themselves do not get just treatment. To extinguish the voice of the people and “to build a more peace civil society,” authorities crack down severely on those who call for political reform. One example of this heavy-handedness was the arrest of Dr. Xu Zhiyong and netizens who asked officials simply to publish the values of their properties.
Governments at various levels treat with extra-legal means those petitioners and citizens who defend their rights in accordance with Chinese law; the policy against the Tibetans, Uyghurs, and other ethnic minorities are even more brutal. What the Chinese Communist government is doing deviates progressively further from the norm of universal human rights. Chinese society is filled with tyranny. On one side, China experiences economic growth, but socially it is a human rights disaster. This outcome is directly related to China’s “human rights appeasement” policy toward western democratic societies, headed by the United States. When dealing with the Chinese totalitarian government, the West appears to have lost its will to exercise the basic principles and traditions of respect for freedom and human rights.
The neglect of human rights in the Obama administration’s China policy has been fiercely criticized by many U.S. Congressmen. A senior U.S. Congressman, Frank Wolf, said that, according to the reports by human rights watch institutions, any dialogues between China and the United States “have been largely a rhetorical shell, lacking in accountability, transparency, and clear benchmarks for progress.” Wolf also questioned: This week in Kunming, have the names of specific individuals who have suffered human rights abuses been mentioned in the closed-door meetings, even in a whisper? As an outcome of human rights talks, has the real life of a Chinese citizen been improved?
Congressman Chris Smith, who has long been an advocate for human rights in China, also wrote a letter to Secretary of State Kerry on July 29, the day preceding the human rights talks in Kunming. He strongly recommended that the Secretary of State meet with or contact Chen Guangcheng to hear for himself the human rights situation in China. Congressman Smith has once again asked Secretary of State Kerry to add the names of the 44 Chinese Communist party officials who seriously violated Chen’s rights and the rights of his family (submitted by Mr. Chen at a recent congressional hearing) to the State Department’s list for careful interview should they apply for a visa to enter the United States in the future. Congressman Smith firmly urges Secretary of State Kerry to take a stand in which the United States and China put human rights as a “preferential issue” between the nations, for the purpose of improving human rights in China.
Letter to John Kerry as follows:
Name List of the 44 Persecutors of Mr. Chen Guangcheng and his family since 2005
1, Mr Zhou Yongkang
Former senior leader in the Communist Party of China (CPC) who served on the 17th Politburo Standing Committee (PSC), and the Secretary of the Central Political and Legislative Committee between 2007 and 2012. In that position Zhou oversaw China’s security forces and law enforcement institutions;
2, Mr Zhang Gaoli
current First-ranked Vice Premier of the People’s Republic of China and a member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China. He was previously CPC Tianjin Committee Secretary until November 2012 and was the Party Secretary of Shandong province until March 2007;
3, Mr Li Jianguo
Current Vice-Chairman of Standing Committee of NPC and former Party Secretary of Shandong province 2007-2008;
4, Mr Jiang Yikang
the current secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Shandong committee;
5, Mr Jiang Daming
the current governor of Shandong province;
6, Mr Wu Pengfei
Former Public Security Minister of Shandong province;
7, Mr Li Qun
Current Party Secretary of Qingdao City and Former Party Secretary of Linyi city, Shandong province;
8, Mr Liu Jie
Former Deputy Mayor and Director of Public Security Bureau of Linyi city, Shandong;
9, Mr Lian Chengmin
Former Party Secretary and Mayor of Linyi city;
10, Mr Zhang Shaojun
Current Party Secretary of Linyi city;
11, Mr Yang Rongsan
Former Party Secretary of Yinan county, Linyi city;
12, Mr Xu Feng
Former County Administrator of Yinan city, Linyi;
13, Mr Zhou Shaohua
former deputy Party Secretary of Yinan county who was responsible for legal and political affairs
14, Mr Zhu Maochen
former Director of Public Security Bureau if Yinan county, Linyi;
15, Ms Liu Shuxiu
Party Secretary of Yinan county;
16, Mr Liu Changjie
former Deputy Director of Public Security Bureau of Yinan county, Linyi;
17, Mr Yin Chuandong
Senior officer and former director of Criminal Police Division of Public Security Bureau of Yinan county of Linyi;
18, Mr Ma Kun
Current deputy Mayor of Linyi city and former Party Secretary of Yinan county;
19, Mr Yang Xigang
Director of Domestic Security Protection Squad of the Public Security Bureau of Linyi city;
20, Mr Xue Yunbo
former Deputy Director of Public Security Bureau of Yinan county and Director of “610 Office,” Linyi;
21, Mr Du Jiliang
former Deputy Director of Public Security Bureau of Yinan county, Linyi;
22, Mr Xue Kewei
former Director of “110 Divison “(in charge of emergency cases) of the Public Security Bureau of Yinan county, Linyi;
23, Mr Ma Chenglong
Former Director of Domestic Security Protection Squad of the Public Security Bureau of Yinan county;
24, Mr He Yong
Deputy Director of Criminal Police Division of the Public Security Bureau of Yinan city
25, Mr Hu Xiaofeng
Officer of The Office for Legal Affairs of Yinan county;
26, Mr Xie Liwei
Officer of The Office for Legal Affairs of Yinan county;
27, Mr Zhang Shengdong
Former Deputy Director of Criminal Police Division of the Public Security Bureau of Yinan city;
28, Mr Ma Chenglian
Current Party Secretary of Political and Legislative Affairs Committee and Director of Public Security Bureau of Yinan County;
29, Mr He Zuohai
Former Party Secretary of Shuanghou town, Yinan county;
30, Mr Zhang Jian
Deputy Party Secretary of Shuanghou town, Yinan county;
31, Mr Zhang Changguo
Former Division director of the Shuanghou Town Branch of the Public Security Bureau of Yinan county;
32, Mr Yu Mingjiang
Former Deputy Party Secretary of Shuanghou town, Yinan county
33, Mr Li Xianqiang
Deputy Bureau Director of the Office for Legal Affairs (the leader of “Monitoring Chen Guangcheng Group”) of Shuanghou town, Yinan county;
34, Mr Li Xianli
Officer of Shuanghou Town, Yinan county. One of the key leaders of “Monitoring Chen Guangcheng Group”;
35, Mr Xue Kewei
Secretary of the Office of Shuanghou Town, Yinan county. One of the key leaders of “Monitoring Chen Guangcheng Group”;
36, Mr Zhang Shenghe
Officer of Shuanghou Town, Yinan county;
37, Mr Zhao Wei
Officer of Shuanghou Town, Yinan county.
38, Mr Xu Congshan
Former Party Secretary of Shuanghou town, Yinan county;
39, Mr Zhang Jingbai
Current Party Secretary of Shuanghou town, Yinan county;
40, Mr Li Xiangan
Officer of Economic Management Station of Shuanghou Town, Yinan county;
41, Mr Zhao Feng
Former Deputy Administrator of Shuanghou Town, Yinan county;
42, Mr Xia Fatian
Former Deputy Party Secretary of Shuanghou Town, Yinan county;
43, Mr Liu Guien
Officer of Shuanghou Town, Yinan county;
44, Mr Liu Cunli
Officer of Shuanghou Town, Yinan county;
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