Underestimating Bad Faith: Quiet Diplomacy and its Limits- The EU’s and China

– Author(s):  Sophie Richardson, Published in: Human Rights in China

It’s been a quarter of a century since the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre in China, one of the events that spurred governments around the world into putting human rights on their foreign policy agendas. And since that time, diplomats, activists, scholars, and others have debated the best ways to support respect for human rights in China, especially in light of the government’s extraordinary intransigence on this issue, now reinforced by the country’s growing international influence and economic might. In the 1990s, the standard diplomatic tools included linking trade with human rights progress, pressuring Beijing to release individuals from jail and sometimes into exile, adopting resolutions criticizing China’s record at United Nations fora, and trying to engage Chinese officials in more systematic discussions about human rights.

Will Gao Zhisheng be truly free after serving his sentence in prison?

By Zhang Min, program host of “Journey of the Soul” on July 12, 2014), Radio Free Asia,
Translated by China Aid

Gao Zhisheng is going to finish serving his 8-year sentence, including three years in prison and five years’ probation. His family asked to pick him up from prison, but was told that the prison would need to communicate with Beijing first.

Human Rights Lawyer Abducted and Beaten in Beijing Before China National Day

By DAVID BARBOZA, New York Times, October 3, 2007-

SHANGHAI, Oct. 2 — A prominent human rights lawyer in Beijing says he was abducted, beaten and threatened last weekend by a gang of men who demanded that he and his family leave the city.

The lawyer, Li Heping, has gained renown here for his defense of environmental activists, imprisoned lawyers and church leaders, and has also considered representing a member of Falun Gong, the banned religious sect.

Human rights groups say Chinese lawyers, activists and dissidents are often subjected to harassment, beatings or threats of long jail terms for pressing claims that seem to challenge the government and the nation’s legal system.

In a telephone interview today, Mr. Li said his abductors did not say why they were beating him.

“I don’t know why they did it,” Mr. Li said. “They just told me to leave Beijing. They didn’t tell me why they did it.”

The abduction of Mr. Li, a 37-year-old lawyer, was first reported by Radio Free Asia, a nonprofit group in Washington that broadcasts news to Asian countries in local languages, and that often reports on human rights cases and minority causes in China.

Mr. Li’s ordeal began on Sept. 29, on the eve of a national holiday week marking the 58th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China and as Shanghai was preparing to play host to the 2007 Special Olympics, the first time the event has taken place in China.

The opening ceremonies, which were held tonight, were attended by President Hu Jintao.

Radio Free Asia officials say they received a tip about the kidnapping on Sunday and then reached Mr. Li, who described his ordeal.

In the telephone interview tonight, Mr. Li said he was followed after leaving his office late Saturday by a group of men who eventually grabbed him, put a bag over his head and drove him to a location where they beat him in a basement, sometimes tormenting him with a high-powered electric rod.

Later, he said, the abductors drove him to another location in the suburbs of Beijing, where they left him and told him that he and his family ought to sell their home and immediately leave Beijing.

Mr. Li, who has a degree from Renmin University of China Law School in Beijing, said he later visited a hospital because he was suffering from hearing loss and swelling in his face.

Doctors told him he may have suffered serious head injuries, he said. Mr. Li also said he reported the incident to the Beijing police, who promised to investigate the matter.

After being released by his abductors, Mr. Li said he returned home to discover that some of his personal belongings were missing, including legal files and his license to practice law.

In a statement released to a human rights group, Mr. Li said: “As a lawyer, I had the chance to experience electric punishment and torture. I was rolling on the ground and they continued laughing and beating me. This torture lasted about four or five hours.”

Human Rights in China, a New York based organization, issued a statement by its executive director, Sharon Hom, saying: “As the international community increases its scrutiny of China in the lead-up to the Olympics, it is appalling that this kind of attack on lawyers continue.”

The statement went on: “These attacks raise serious concerns about the will and ability of the Chinese government to protect lawyers’ personal safety and right to practice law, which are essential elements of a system of rule of law.”

– Original report from New York Times: Chinese Lawyer Recounts Abduction

Torch for China Human Rights Reaches the Heart of the EU

Epoch Times Belgium Staff, Oct 01, 2007-

BRUSSELS, Belgium— After a morning of pouring rain, the skies cleared for the welcoming ceremony for the Human Rights Torch relay at Schumann Place in Brussels, Belgium. Members of almost all the parties in Belgium’s Parliament supported the event.

The Human Rights Torch, which started its five-continent trek in Athens, Greece on August 9, arrived in Brussels, the administrative capital of the EU, on September 28. Brussels is the Torch’s twelfth stop. The torch brings with it the message that human rights violations cannot continue in China if the Chinese regime will be allowed to host the Olympic Games.

The Torch Relay was initiated by the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (CIPFG.) Many think the persecution of Falun Gong, affecting one hundred million practitioners, and involving torture, murder, and organ theft, is the worst human rights violation happening in China. CIPFG started the Torch Relay to tell the world about the persecution of Falun Gong, Christianity, Islam, democracy and freedom of belief, assembly and expression by the Chinese Communist Party.

Mr. Petitjean, local CIPFG representative, said in the opening speech: “The 2008 Olympics are less then 12 months away while according to reports from Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other NGO’s, the Chinese communist regime has stepped up measures to further silence anyone suffering repression under their rule.”

He added “The torch relay is aimed at urging the international community to boycott the Olympic games in Beijing as we believe hosting the Olympics in Beijing would be a travesty of the Olympic spirit and a direct violation of the Olympic Charter”.

One of the Belgian Torch Relay ambassadors, Senator Vankrunkelsven, who carried out his own investigation into illegal organ transplanting in China in 2006, stressed in his speech the ongoing human rights violations in China. “The Chinese regime will use the Olympics for their image, while we should not cease to use this opportunity to expose the real situation in China,” Vankrunkelsven stated.

The ongoing persecution in China was sadly illustrated by this week’s arrest of renowned human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng in China, because of his open letter to the U.S. congress. Therefore the participants of the Torch Relay in Belgium wore yellow ribbons to show their support for lawyer Gao. “We have great appreciation and admiration for Gao’s determination and courage in issuing this open letter at a time when he was placed under extensive surveillance and subject to severe coercion from the Chinese regime”, as one of the speeches mentioned.

The list of support statements from political and cultural personalities presented at the ceremony was extensive. “I hereby announce that I will support CIPFG’s Global Human Rights Torch Relay. We will join all those who stand up for justice, and together we will light the torch and let the brightness of justice illuminate all corners of our world,” one of the Belgian mayors wrote.

– Original report from the Epochtimes : Human Rights Torch Reaches the Heart of the European Union