2008 Annual Report
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CONGRESSIONAL-EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON CHINA ANNUAL REPORT 2008 ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION OCTOBER 31, 2008 Printed for the use of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.cecc.gov ★ VerDate Aug 31 2005 01:12 Nov 07, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6011 Sfmt 5011 C:\DOCS\MIKE.TXT MIKE mmaher on PROD1PC70 with $$_JOB 2008 ANNUAL REPORT VerDate Aug 31 2005 23:54 Nov 06, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6019 Sfmt 6019 U:\DOCS\45233.TXT DEIDRE CONGRESSIONAL-EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON CHINA ANNUAL REPORT 2008 ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION OCTOBER 31, 2008 Printed for the use of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.cecc.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE ★ 44–748 PDF WASHINGTON : 2008 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate Aug 31 2005 23:54 Nov 06, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 U:\DOCS\45233.TXT DEIDRE CONGRESSIONAL-EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON CHINA LEGISLATIVE BRANCH COMMISSIONERS House Senate SANDER LEVIN, Michigan, Chairman BYRON DORGAN, North Dakota, Co-Chairman MARCY KAPTUR, Ohio MAX BAUCUS, Montana TOM UDALL, New Mexico CARL LEVIN, Michigan MICHAEL M. HONDA, California DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California TIMOTHY J. WALZ, Minnesota SHERROD BROWN, Ohio CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey CHUCK HAGEL, Nebraska EDWARD R. ROYCE, California SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas DONALD A. MANZULLO, Illinois GORDON H. SMITH, Oregon JOSEPH R. PITTS, Pennsylvania MEL MARTINEZ, Florida EXECUTIVE BRANCH COMMISSIONERS PAULA DOBRIANSKY, Department of State CHRISTOPHER R. HILL, Department of State HOWARD M. RADZELY, Department of Labor CHRISTOPHER PADILLA, Department of Commerce DAVID KRAMER, Department of State DOUGLAS GROB, Staff Director CHARLOTTE OLDHAM-MOORE, Deputy Staff Director (II) VerDate Aug 31 2005 23:54 Nov 06, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 0486 Sfmt 0486 U:\DOCS\45233.TXT DEIDRE CO N T E N T S Page Preface ...................................................................................................................... 1 General Overview .................................................................................................... 3 I. Executive Summary and Recommendations ...................................................... 8 Findings and Recommendations by Substantive Area .................................. 8 Political Prisoner Database ............................................................................. 27 II. Human Rights ..................................................................................................... 32 Rights of Criminal Suspects and Defendants ................................................ 32 Worker Rights ................................................................................................... 41 Freedom of Expression ..................................................................................... 57 Freedom of Religion .......................................................................................... 73 Ethnic Minority Rights .................................................................................... 94 Population Planning ......................................................................................... 96 Freedom of Residence ....................................................................................... 103 Liberty of Movement ........................................................................................ 113 Status of Women .............................................................................................. 115 Human Trafficking ........................................................................................... 118 North Korean Refugees in China .................................................................... 124 Public Health .................................................................................................... 128 Environment ..................................................................................................... 133 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games ........................................................... 139 III. Development of the Rule of Law ...................................................................... 144 Civil Society ...................................................................................................... 144 Institutions of Democratic Governance .......................................................... 147 Commercial Rule of Law .................................................................................. 153 Access to Justice ............................................................................................... 163 IV. Xinjiang .............................................................................................................. 168 V. Tibet ..................................................................................................................... 182 VI. Developments in Hong Kong ............................................................................ 205 VII. Endnotes ........................................................................................................... 212 (III) VerDate Aug 31 2005 23:54 Nov 06, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 U:\DOCS\45233.TXT DEIDRE VerDate Aug 31 2005 23:54 Nov 06, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 U:\DOCS\45233.TXT DEIDRE CONGRESSIONAL-EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON CHINA 2008 ANNUAL REPORT Preface The findings of the Commission’s 2008 Annual Report prompt us to consider not simply what the Chinese government and Com- munist Party may do in the months and years ahead, but what we must do differently in view of developments in China over the last year. We understand that China today is significantly changed from the China of several decades ago, and that the challenges fac- ing its people and leaders are complex. As the United States en- gages China, it is also vital that our nation pursue the issues that are the charge of this Commission: individual human rights, in- cluding worker rights, and the safeguards of the rule of law. As China plays an increasingly significant role in the international community, this report describes how China repeatedly has failed to abide by its commitments to internationally recognized stand- ards. Therefore it is vital that there be continuing assessment of China’s commitments. This is not a matter of one country meddling in the affairs of another. Other nations, including ours, have both the responsibility and a legitimate interest in ensuring compliance with international commitments. It is in this context, as Chairman and Co-Chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, that we submit the Commission’s 2008 Annual Report. This year the international community watched with dismay as Chinese authorities responded with overwhelming force to a wave of public protests that spread across Tibetan areas of China. Amidst the astonishment with which people around the world more recently witnessed the spectacular opening ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games and China’s effective management of the Games, Chinese authorities failed to fulfill several Olympics- related commitments—including commitments to press freedom, media access, the free flow of information, and freedom of assem- bly. The Chinese government’s and Communist Party’s continuing crackdown on China’s ethnic minority citizens, ongoing manipula- tion of the media, and heightened repression of rights defenders re- veal a level of state control over society that is incompatible with the development of the rule of law. The cases of well over a thou- sand of the political and religious prisoners languishing in jails and prisons in China today are documented by the Commission’s pub- licly accessible Political Prisoner Database. During the past 12 months, the Chinese government and Com- munist Party have outlined legislative and regulatory develop- ments in areas such as anti-monopoly, open government information, collective contracting, employment promotion, regulation of the legal profession, and intellectual property, among others. Based on China’s record of past enforcement, these new measures will re- (1) VerDate Aug 31 2005 23:54 Nov 06, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 U:\DOCS\45233.TXT DEIDRE 2 quire consistent and transparent implementation if they are to ful- fill the government’s stated objectives. China’s record on human rights and the development of the rule of law over the last year continued to reflect the following troubling trends: (1) heightened intolerance of citizen activism and suppression of information on matters of public concern; (2) ongoing instrumental use of law for political purposes; (3) stepped up efforts to insulate the central leadership from the backlash of national policy failures; and (4) heightened reliance on emergency measures as instruments of so- cial control. The Chinese government and Communist Party con- tinue to equate citizen activism and public protest with ‘‘social instability’’ and ‘‘social unrest.’’ China’s increasingly active and en- gaged citizenry is one of China’s most important resources for ad- dressing the myriad public policy problems the Chinese people face, including food safety, forced