2015-09-24
Activists stepped up calls for Chinese President Xi Jinping to end an ongoing crackdown on rights activists back home as he defended his government’s tight controls on the Internet on Thursday.
Xi, who traveled from Washington state to Washington, D.C. on Thursday ahead of talks with Obama and a state dinner at the White House on Friday, has been greeted by protesters at every stop of his state visit to the United States this week.
Activists have hit out at the continued detention of prisoners of conscience, an ongoing crackdown on human rights lawyers, mistreatment of Tibetans and Uyghurs and continued harassment of non-governmental and civic organizations.
According to U.S.-based veteran dissident Yang Jianli, a raft of new laws aimed at bolstering “national security” is putting increasing pressure on activists and non-government groups.
“They will probably run into a lot of trouble when trying to carry out their work,” Yang told RFA. “They could even be styled as carrying out overseas sabotage operations or even espionage under national security laws and regulations.”
“This is going to put a huge obstacle in the way of social progress and civil society in China.”
Jailed for ‘rumor mongering’
Many activists and lawyers currently in detention or under police surveillance in China have been detained under laws governing national security or online “rumor-mongering.”
But in an apparent reference to criticism of the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s tight censorship of what the country’s 668 million netizens can see or write online, Xi told a meeting with top U.S. tech leaders including Apple’s Tim Cook and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, that Internet policy should be “aligned with national realities.”
The U.S. has repeatedly hit out at China’s censorship of news and social media sites, as well the government’s demands that its Internet service providers hand over huge swathes of data on their users.
But Xi said Beijing’s focus is on online security instead.
“A secure, stable and prosperous cyberspace is of great significance to the world,” the Seattle Times quoted him as saying.
As Xi headed to the U.S. capital, lawyers for five feminist activists detained for planning an anti-sexual harassment campaign ahead of Internet Women’s Day this year have penned an open letter to the United Nations about Beijing’s ongoing persecution of the women.
Li Tingting, Wu Rongrong, Wei Tingting, Wang Man, and Zheng Churan were released “on bail” in April after being detained on suspicion of “picking quarrels and stirring up trouble” on March 6, two days ahead of International Women’s Day.
The five women, whose detention prompted an international outcry, are still officially regarded as criminal suspects, and are now calling for all charges against them to be dropped unconditionally.
“Under current laws, the actions of these five feminists did not in any way constitute a crime,” Wei’s lawyer Ge Wenxiu told RFA on Thursday. “We have complained many times to the relevant departments, including the Beijing municipal prosecutor, asking them to oversee the case and to correct the situation.”
“But they have ignored us from start to finish.”
Wei cited concerns over the impact of the ordeal on Li Tingting in particular, who is a frequent target of police harassment.
“We are all very angry about this, so we are writing a letter to U.N. Women ahead of the summit on gender equality and women’s empowerment [at U.N. headquarters on Sept. 27],” he said.
“We want international women’s groups to add their voices to the calls for justice.”
Wu’s lawyer Liu Shuqing said the women have done nothing but work for gender equality.
“This case should be totally dropped,” Liu said. “This isn’t against the law in any country. It’s not even a sensitive topic.”
