2008 Olympics: Chance for China to Reform on Human Rights?Evan Moore
(CNSNews.com) - With one year to go until the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing, China has a "golden opportunity" to implement serious, systematic reforms to improve its human rights policies, Amnesty International said.
At a National Press Club conference on Tuesday, Amnesty International's advocacy director for the Asia/Pacific region, T. Kumar, called on the Communist Chinese government to adhere to its 2001 promise to improve its treatment of dissidents.
Kumar noted that the year remaining before the start of the Olympics was more than enough time to address four principle concerns: (1) use of the death penalty; (2) re-education labor camps; (3) oppression of media; and (4) abuse of human rights defenders.
Though a broad cross-section of dissident groups are oppressed by the Chinese government -- including Christians, Falun Gong practitioners, Internet activists, journalists, and political dissidents -- Amnesty International said it has decided not to focus on the plight of any particular group in its efforts to highlight repressive actions by the regime.
Rather, Kumar noted, Amnesty International's strategy is to focus on the authoritarian government, which represses all dissidents.
Harry Wu, a Chinese human rights advocate and founder of the Laogai Research Foundation, explained the depth of Chinese state control in an interview with Cybercast News Service.
"The Communist regime is still there," he said. "And the Communist regime is still using laogai [the Chinese gulag] to quiet the people, and is using executions to scare the people, and harvest their organs for organ transplants. And, today, the Chinese are not allowed to organize a union, and there's no religious freedom. Even Roman Catholics are illegal inside China.... The police are everywhere. The secret police, the open police, whatever. They just put [resistance] down. Beijing is entirely controlled by the security [forces]."
The National Catholic Reporter has stated that there are more than 10,000 daily conversions to Christianity in China, and that the total number of Christians there numbers somewhere between 40 million and 111 million. It is difficult to get a more accurate estimate because many Chinese Christians practice their faith in secret.
Kumar noted that China has taken some steps to improve its human rights record. In particular, the Communist government has promised to give foreign journalists freedom to report from the country during the course of the games.
However, the press freedom will extend only through the Olympics, and -- as Amnesty International was quick to note -- the freedom does not extend to Chinese journalists, who are still expected to be subject to intimidation and censorship, and maybe imprisonment and torture.
In 2001, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) selected China to host the 2008 games because it had the best capacity to handle the logistical demands-- and because of its promise to improve its human rights record.
"Respect your word," Kumar told Beijing, "or no one will believe you in the future."
He also noted that the IOC has the greatest power to pressure the Communist regime and force change. However, Kumar also is urging corporate sponsors of the games to "be responsible" in how they support the games, noting that their funds could be used to abet the state's repression of its own citizenry.
Furthermore, Kumar said the international media should not send just sports writers to cover the games, but investigators as well -- to use the government's grant of freedom of the press to highlight stories that might otherwise be nearly impossible to cover.
Wu explained to Cybercast News Service that "Beijing today is thinking about money" -- to pay for construction of the Olympic venues, to play the games, and to host the visitors. "It seems the Chinese really have the money for the Olympics to show that they are in good shape."
Wu noted that while the Communist Party may control mainland China, their ideology no longer holds sway. "The Communists are in power but, ideologically, there's no communism. Even the party members don't believe in communism.... But, so far, into today, the Communists still control the military, control the media, control the government, control the economy, control the whole country."
Yet they have given a semi-reprieve to the people, said Wu. "If you stop criticizing the government, if you stop criticizing the military, whatever, you can travel freely," he said. "If you say anything, you go to jail."
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