Amnesty: China "Tarnishing" Olympics

Government Crackdowns Against Activists Break Promise Of Summer Games, Group Says

(CBS/AP)  China has failed to improve its human rights record in the run-up to next month's Olympics, with the government intensifying its crackdown on activists in recent years, Amnesty International charged in a report released Tuesday.

The report entitled "The Olympics Countdown - Broken Promises," which accuses Chinese authorities of "tarnishing the legacy of the Games," came as the International Olympic Committee clarified that many Web sites will be blocked under controls applied by the communist government.

The clarification followed months of promises to journalists that China would allow unfettered access to the Internet during the Olympics, which begin Aug. 8.

Amnesty said that the Games, touted by Chinese and Olympic officials alike as a way to help expand freedoms in the authoritarian country, have instead led the government to muzzle critics in hopes of presenting an image of harmony and stability to the outside world.

"By continuing to persecute and punish those who speak out for human rights, the Chinese authorities have lost sight of the promises they made when they were granted the Games seven years ago," said Roseann Rife, a deputy director in Asia for the London-based group. "The Chinese authorities are tarnishing the legacy of the Games."

Amnesty said that in the last year alone, thousands of petitioners, reformists and others were arrested as part of a government campaign to "clean up" Beijing before the Games. It said many of those arrested have been sentenced to manual labor without trial.

Amnesty also accused the International Olympic Committee of showing a "reluctance" to pressure China publicly on its human rights record.

Messages left with IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies asking for comment on the Amnesty report were not immediately returned.

Hein Verbruggen, the head of the IOC panel coordinating the Beijing Games, said last month that despite outside criticism of China's record on human rights and other policies, the Olympics will be a "force for good."

"I am absolutely convinced that bringing the Games to China is way better than not taking the Games to China," he said.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao rejected Tuesday's report, saying that people "who know China will not agree with this report."

"We hope Amnesty can take off the tinted glasses it has worn for many years and see China in an objective way," he said during a regularly scheduled news conference.

In one recent shift, the government announced it was setting up special protest zones during the Games.

The designated protest areas will be in parts of three public parks, none of them closer than several miles from the main Olympic stadium. Human rights campaigners have assailed the protest zones as cosmetic, with one likening them to a "fishbowl" - sealed off from society at large.

While protests have become common throughout China - from workers upset about factory layoffs to farmers angry about land confiscation - the communist leadership remains wary about large demonstrations, fearing they could snowball into widespread anti-government movements.

After foreign groups critical of China's human rights, media controls and foreign policies in places like Sudan's Darfur area began targeting the Olympics a year ago, Beijing ramped up an intelligence-collection effort to identify critics to keep them out. The melee of protests that greeted Beijing's international torch relay in April brought a redoubling of efforts.

Excerpts From The Report:

On Capital Punishment:

"Chinese courts continue to sentence to death and execute thousands of individuals every year. Those facing capital charges do not receive fair trials in line with international human rights standards. … Several incidents of miscarriages of justice, in some cases leading to the execution of the innocent, have been published in the Chinese press and have generated disquiet among the public at large. While stressing that the time is not yet ripe for abolition, the Chinese authorities have repeatedly declared, especially in international forums, that their eventual goal is to end the death penalty.

"In violating the right to life and the prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, the death penalty fundamentally undermines the 'preservation of human dignity' which lies at the heart of the Olympic Charter."

On Detention Without Trial:

"The Chinese authorities continue to rely on abusive systems of punitive administrative detention against a variety of “offenders” including, in many cases, peaceful petitioners and human rights activists. The police enjoy unchecked authority to impose such punishments without charge, trial or judicial review. … Far from acting as a catalyst for reform, the authorities have used Beijing’s hosting of the Olympics as a pretext for extending the use of punitive administrative detention, notably ”Re-education through Labour” (RTL) and “Enforced Drug Rehabilitation” (EDR). The police have specifically targeted petitioners and rights activists in their efforts to 'clean up' Beijing ahead of the Games."

On Media And Internet Freedom:

"In view of current patterns of media censorship and control in China, concerns remain that the authorities may seek to block broadcasting of anything deemed sensitive or inappropriate during the Olympic Games. Despite the introduction of new media regulations increasing the freedom of foreign reporters to cover news stories in China, overseas journalists continue to report being obstructed or hampered from conducting interviews. The Foreign Correspondents Club of China (FCCC) documented approximately 180 incidents in 2007. By July 2008, this had increased to 230, including over 40 cases after the unrest in Tibet in March and more than 12 after the Sichuan earthquake in May. …

"Chinese journalists continue to operate in a climate of official censorship and control, with many still languishing in jail for reporting on issues deemed politically sensitive. Internet controls have been increasingly tightened as the Olympics approach with control, regulation and censorship extending to various categories of internet users, including Internet Service Providers, bloggers and website owners. Numerous websites have been closed down for providing information deemed sensitive by the authorities. Internet users who post such information risk detention, prosecution and imprisonment."

For more information visit the Amnesty International Web site.

[wang_gang]

Occasionally visit this website for a chinese.
But I am really astonished and feel awfully for most of comments.Ignorance and prejudice are full of them.
Actually,this country''s propagand is same to chinese.
The different is that we chinese never trust one side,
but most of your people immerse and beleve in it.Ridiculous!

[yamuttya]

What do you expect from China?

Posted by lazareth at 12:39 PM : Jul 29, 2008

That says it all.

[alphaa10-2009]

creeper00 said, "China abuses its citizens. So what''''s new? ... Here in the good ole US of A we just eavesdrop on ours. Oh, there''s the random governor thrown in jail for opposing the president. Of course, if you''re a citizen of another country you can expect from us about the same treatment the Chinese mete out.
But otherwise we''''re nice guys.
---

Enjoyed your comments, Mr Creeper00, but careful around those sharp edges.

I wonder when Gov. Siegelman will be allowed to complete his role in the Karl Rove-inspired opera, "Mein Kampf against Liberal Infidels".

[creeper00]

China abuses its citizens. So what''s new?

Here in the good ole US of A we just eavesdrop on ours. Oh, there''s the random governor thrown in jail for opposing the president. Of course, if you''re a citizen of another country you can expect from us about the same treatment the Chinese mete out.

But otherwise we''re nice guys.

[venkata4--2008]

"We knew all of this would take place BEFORE China was chosen as an Olympic site. Why are we surprised?
Don''''t watch the Olympics and quit buying things "Made in China".

Posted by Policrypt at 04:12 PM : Jul 29, 2008"

I agree with you. I will be trying not to buy Chinese. And I would not be surprised if China wins 100 gold medals for the first time in Olympics history.

[alphaa10-2009]

SusanHhelit protests, "China has real problems. Exaggerating them to seem hopeless won''t help us to help them change."
---
Where is the exaggeration? Your argument that half a loaf is better than none is a blatant substitution of material wealth for political freedom.

And while thhe distribution of wealth in China is entirely questionable (especially the provinces), the freedom simply isn''t happening.

Your confusion of material prosperity with political liberalization is familiar. It has been the official line of the alleged US Department of State for decades. It is also a reigning myth in corporate America (freedom fighters in business suits, through the revolving door at State, please).

You would have been right at home during the Hitler pre-war era. He made the trains run on time, and Germans were schmiling again. It wasn''t perfect, but a far cry from the depression, right?

None counsels hopelessness, but realism. And ending clearly unproductive policies that foster more dictatorship and imperialism.

Yes, we always should light candles of hope, Susan. But not proceed to sit on them.

[alphaa10-2009]

mbcsmith said, ..."Their parent company GE, run by LIBS, is still doing business with Iran."
---

Concerned about doing business with rogue regimes?

Where was your voice when the *** Cheney, our president-for-vice, was CEO of Halliburton and doing business in Iraq with Saddam in the 1990''s?

Cheney and his Halliburton partners made it possible to Saddam to set up a clandestine oil economy to circumvent the UN oil-for-food program, and skim oil profits.

With Cheney''s help, Saddam boosted oil exports from 1997 to 2000 from $4 billion to $18 billion.

Cheney circumvented the UN oil-for-food program at every opportunity to help make oil profits. This is the genesis of Cheney''s lust for Iraqi oil assets.

[yongamerica]

Exaggerating them to seem hopeless won''''t help us to help them change. - SusanHelit

This article is more playing down the Communist Chinese human rights violations, and in no is there any exaggeration in this article.

One thing mentioned in this article:
Selling prisoners organs, China has one of the world largest human organ markets using well documented hidden operation rooms to extract organs and often leaving the prisoner to die on the table afterward.

[susanhelit]

Western technology has given the government new controls to control what the citizens hear - in the Internet they would have zero access to without that western technology. The citizens have more communication, more contact with the outside world, and more information than before. Yes, with China trying to control it - but they cannot, and citizens get to hear a lot they would not have heard without Yahoo, Microsoft, and Google - less than everything, more than nothing. It''s a step forward.

Oh - and they didn''t change the policy for the quake victims. That was the policy all along - if you lose a child, you may have another without paying the fine, or if you already had another, you will no longer be fined for that child.

China has real problems. Exaggerating them to seem hopeless won''t help us to help them change.

[alphaa10-2009]

papabc said, "Better yet, Lets put blame on Nixon also.
---

You are on to something here, Bubba. The PRC became the wealthiest communist dictatorship in the world by the efforts of Nixon and his eager corporate patrons in a long chain ending with Bush.

Nixon did not go to China to make them democratic or even to crack a window for democracy.

Nixon went to Beijing because the USSR and PRC had just clashed at the Amur River, and Kissinger-- ever the opportunist-- saw a means to wedge the two communist monoliths apart.

Nixon''s was a business trip. Metternich, not our Bill of Rights, was the roadmap.

[alphaa10-2009]

SusanHelit said, "China will just stay exactly the same if they are just isolated..."
---

Certainly, the PRC will stay exactly the same if it is not isolated. Tibet is exhibit A-- with the acceleration of inmigration of Han Chinese to replace Tibetans in their own country.

Official press mythology covers the entire process, East and West. Clinton and the GOP regimes since Nixon are heavily invested (and not only figuratively) in the deceptive and unproductive notion of "constructive engagement", aka business-as-usual.

For politically agnostic corporate patrons of Clinton and Bush, Sr. and Jr., the PRC is simply another profit center. (And please disregard occasional blood in the streets and nasty rumors about the regime, if you don''t mind. They are omitted in the corporate report.)

While baby steps sometimes make a difference, there is no evidence of a progression in the PRC toward something better than the dictatorship it is, now. As Amnesty International points out, the PRC has become harsher to dissenters in recent years.

(see "Baby Steps?--2)

[alphaa10-2009]

BABY STEPS ?-- 2

Western support helps create a more effective, efficient Chinese dicatorship. The American firms of Cisco, Yahoo, Microsoft and Google, for example, have not brought freedom and windows of access, but portholes that are heavily shuttered by Cisco electronic controls over what the Chinese people are able to see and hear.

Big Brother is alive and well in the PRC, and the Ministry of Truth hums with activity. Thanks to Cisco, the dictatorship is state-of-the-art, but still a dictatorship.

Is this the "darkness before the dawn"? Look at the evidence. Western investment and technology transfer have made the PRC better armed and policed, better able to frustrate the very processes of liberalization and democratization some insist must occur with constructive engagement.

The streets are washed and cordoned, the internet channels and streets and airways heavily policed, and the PRC wants the world to confuse its apparent order with peace and justice. If anyone besides Bush and the GOP believes in the power of illusion, it is the Communist Party of the People''s Republic of China. The corrupt pursuit of power at the core of each is all too apparent.

[Syndicate]

I think over all the Olympics will help bring more freedom to China. But before the Chinese can have total freedom they will have to grow a set and demand it from their Government. Governments like to think of their citizens as children in need of their protection. Something we Americans can look forward to if Obama is elected. The Chinese government thinks it is doing the best job possible to take care of its citizens and no one is allowed to question them.

China has a kidnapping problem and the parents of the kidnapped children are not allowed to bring attention to the problem and the central government does not care. I think this will be the governments undoing. You can''t control people who lose a child. This is why the one child policy has been generously modified for the earth quake victims.

[mbcsmith]

Posted by harp1963 at 02:29 PM : Jul 29, 2008

Talk to your LIB buddies over at NBC who paid billions to the yellow horde to televise the games. Their parent company GE, run by LIBS, is still doing business with Iran.

BOYCOTT NBC AND GE!

[ajmarine111]

Posted by dmw1167 at 03:01 PM : Jul 29, 2008



The IOC thought that by turning over the rock, China, and letting the light of day on the creatures that live in the dark underneath it would help bring them into the light and make them more part of the World Community.

[susanhelit]

"You knew what I was when you picked me up.", said the snake.

China is China. They do seem to have made some changes for the Olympics - but they''re still China - a totaliarian government focused on keeping control. To look at if the Olympics is helping or hurting the goal of giving Chinese citizens more rights, you don''t compare China to America, you compare it to itself before the Olympics.

I think exposure to the outside world is always a good thing - always. Chinese citizens see other ways people live, China sees that more freedom works, etc. It''s baby steps, but isolation doesn''t work - China will just stay exactly the same if they are just isolated.

[harp1963]

The funny thing about the pious righteous "lovers of money and power" Greedapublicans is that when it comes to making lots more money, giving free trade to the country with the worst human rights abuses (China-given by George Bush) in the world, all the Bible stuff goes right out the window.

Well, maybe will just overlook the force abortion thing if a woman get pregnant a second time, well maybe we''ll overlook the slave labor issue as long as we can use it too, well maybe we would really like to imprision labor leaders too, well maybe pouring radioactive waste into the air would be o.k. if it wasn''t for those liberal tree huggers, well maybe Americans'' would complain less if the state police burst into their home and made a few relatives disappear. Way to destroy America George.


Be dumb and keep voting Greedapublican America.

[papabc]

Is all the UN and GW Bush fault.

Esp Bush... He did nothing wrong here but then again lets blame him anyway.

Better yet, Lets put blame on Nixon also.

[jaylark2]

You mean the commercials so tightly integrated with the games that you can''t tell where one stops and the other begins didn''t tarnish the image of the olympics enough?

Its all about money. And who better to host it than the up-and-coming king of the money.

[msay3]

I''m sure the makers of Lysol are exstatic about the games being held in Beijing....