China Alarmed By Dissent
Chinese President Jiang Zemin has raised the alarm over rising social instability as more than 200 dissidents begin a relay-style hunger strike to protest against the jailing of three pro-democracy activists.
Addressing a national conference of police and judicial officials, Jiang warned that dwindling rural incomes, growing unemployment and rising crime threaten to destablize the nation, state media reported.
He urged the police and judiciary to adopt a "hard-handed" attitude toward criminals and show no mercy in stamping out threats to the nation.
"Any destabilising factor which crops up should be resolutely nipped in the bud," Jiang said at the close of the three-day conference.
"This policy has been proven by our past experience and is very important and effective."
Jiang also warned the public against "infiltration by domestic and foreign hostile forces," and called for a program of political and ideological education to "enhance awareness."
China has launched a nationwide crackdown on dissent and subversion, which has targeted activists, publications and the entertainment industry.
As Jiang's orders reverberated through the nominally independent judiciary, a group of Chinese dissidents began a hunger strike to protest against the jailing of three outspoken reform voices.
Veteran activist Xu Wenli was sentenced to 13 years in prison and Wang Youcai to 11 years on Monday for trying to set up the opposition Chinese Democratic Party to challenge the ruling Communist Party. Qin Yongmin was jailed for 12 years on Tuesday in the same case.
The Hong Kong-based Information Center of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China said two fellow dissidents staged a 24-hour hunger strike at their homes in northeastern Liaoning province on Thursday to protest the sentences.
More than 200 others in 16 provinces would join the relay-style fast, with two picking up as an earlier two ended each day, the centre said.
The campaign would be suspended on New Year and during the five-day Chinese Lunar New Year holidays in mid-February, and was due to end on April 10, the center said.
China again defended the sentences saying they were in line with international covenants on political and civil rights.
"The trial of Xu Wenli by the judicial departments does not contradict our policy of protecting human rights," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao.
He also trumpeted the need for social and political stability in the sprawling nation of 1.2 billion.
"China's experience over the past 20 years of reform and opening has indicated that stability is the basis for development," Zhu said.
After sentencing the dissidents, China set its sights on the publishing and entertainment industries, issuing new rules which mandate harsh punishments for those found guilty of "inciting to subvert stte power."
The new rules cover writing, music, movies, television, video recordings and computer software.
They also outlaw material that "endangers social order" -- the catch-all phrase for words or deeds that challenge the Communist Party's five-decade monopoly on power.
"1999 will be an important year in the history of our party and national development," Jiang said in his speech, citing the 50th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1 and the handover of Macau to Chinese rule next December.
"The significance of continuing our work to maintain social order cannot be underestimated."
Written by Christiaan Virant
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