Mar 10, 2008

China: The Weaknesses of a Superpower


The detention of Hu Jia shows China’s fear, not of hard power, but the unmasking of its domestic policy failures and inner paranoia.

The detention of Hu Jia shows China’s fear, not of hard power, but the unmasking of its domestic policy failures and inner paranoia.

Below is an appeal released by Human Rights Without Frontiers:

On the 27 of December 2007 Chinese authorities arrested Hu Jia, a prominent citizen of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] involved in the Chinese environmentalist movement, democracy movement and HIV/AIDS advocacy movement. 

Mr. Hu Jia is the executive director of the Beijing Aizhixing Institute of Health Education and one of the founders of the NGO Loving Source that helps people suffering from HIV/AIDS. He has been detained several times by state police, usually on unspecified charges and under vague provisions of Chinese law. Following his latest arrest in December [2007] the European Parliament passed a resolution on 17 January 2008 calling on Chinese authorities to release him and to respect human rights during the run up to the Olympic games.

Mr. Dirk Sterckx, an ALDE [Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe] MEP from Belgium, wrote a letter to Mr. Chengyuan Guan, the Ambassador and Head of Mission of the PRC to the European Communities.  This letter followed a meeting of the Parliamentary Delegation for Relations with China in which grave concern was voiced regarding the imprisonment of Mr. Hu Jia.

Mr. Sterckx requested that the Ambassador reply to the following questions: “With what offences has Mr. Hu been charged? When will he be brought to trial?  Have his wife and lawyers been informed about his whereabouts and are they able to visit him?  Is Mr Hu receiving the medication that he needs for the liver disease from which he suffers?”

He also stressed that China should “abide by the commitments that it has made to promote human rights and the rule of law”.

The reply of Mr. Chengyuan Guan, in an official letter sent to Mr. Sterckx on 10 February [2008], explains that Mr. Hu Jia was arrested for violating the Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China by attempting to “overthrow state power and the current system of China by colluding with overseas agencies, organizations and individuals by means of rumor-mongering and mud-slinging”.  He is also accused of trying to disrupt the successful holding of the Olympic Games by creating troubles at the games with unidentified overseas persons that he would have smuggled into China.

Mr. Chengyuan Guan explains that the case is currently under trial and that during the first trial Mr. Hu Jia confessed to the charges and asked for lenient treatment. He also notes that even though he was arrested in December 2007, the warrant for his arrest was only approved in January 2008.

As Mr. Hu Jia is suspected of illegal possession of state secrets, the letter states that he does cannot have access to his lawyer, who will receive the decision by post.

The letter concludes by stating that Mr. Hu is Jia in good condition.

The letter does not answer the questions by Mr. Sterckx regarding the wife and lawyer of Mr. Hu Jia receiving information on his whereabouts nor does it state whether he is being given the medication needed for his liver disease.

This official letter is a clear example of the dialectics used by China to crush dissenting voices and to silence them.  While China tries to convince the international community that it abides and respects the international human rights obligations it has agreed on, this case is evidence of the contrary.  Not only are the accusations of mud-slinging and rumor-mongering absurd and pose no threat to national security, the justification for the governments’ denial of legal representation is a violation of international norms.

Human Rights Without Frontiers calls upon the international community to ask the Chinese government for the release of Mr. Hu Jia and also expresses its concerns for the violations of human rights occurring within China as a result of the country being awarded the 2008 Olympic Games.