CONGRESSIONAL-EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON CHINA ANNUAL REPORT 2007 ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION OCTOBER 10, 2007 Printed for the use of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.cecc.gov VerDate 11-MAY-2000 01:22 Oct 11, 2007 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6011 Sfmt 5011 38026.TXT CHINA1 PsN: CHINA1 2007 ANNUAL REPORT VerDate 11-MAY-2000 01:22 Oct 11, 2007 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6019 Sfmt 6019 38026.TXT CHINA1 PsN: CHINA1 CONGRESSIONAL-EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON CHINA ANNUAL REPORT 2007 ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION OCTOBER 10, 2007 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 38–026 PDF WASHINGTON : 2007 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 11-MAY-2000 01:22 Oct 11, 2007 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 38026.TXT CHINA1 PsN: CHINA1 VerDate 11-MAY-2000 01:22 Oct 11, 2007 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 38026.TXT CHINA1 PsN: CHINA1 CONGRESSIONAL-EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON CHINA LEGISLATIVE BRANCH COMMISSIONERS House Senate SANDER M. 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 TIM 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 DOUGLAS GROB, Staff Director MURRAY SCOT TANNER, Deputy Staff Director (II) VerDate 11-MAY-2000 01:22 Oct 11, 2007 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 0486 Sfmt 0486 38026.TXT CHINA1 PsN: CHINA1 VerDate 11-MAY-2000 01:22 Oct 11, 2007 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 0486 Sfmt 0486 38026.TXT CHINA1 PsN: CHINA1 C O N T E N T S Page Preface ...................................................................................................................... 1 General Overview .................................................................................................... 2 I. Executive Summary and Recommendations ...................................................... 5 Findings and Recommendations by Substantive Area .................................. 5 Political Prisoner Database ............................................................................. 31 II. Human Rights ..................................................................................................... 33 Rights of Criminal Suspects and Defendants ................................................ 33 Worker Rights ................................................................................................... 56 Freedom of Expression ..................................................................................... 73 Freedom of Religion .......................................................................................... 90 Ethnic Minority Rights .................................................................................... 105 Population Planning ......................................................................................... 108 Freedom of Residence and Travel ................................................................... 111 Status of Women .............................................................................................. 115 Human Trafficking ........................................................................................... 120 North Korean Refugees in China .................................................................... 124 Health ................................................................................................................ 126 Environment ..................................................................................................... 134 III. Development of the Rule of Law ...................................................................... 141 Civil Society ...................................................................................................... 141 Institutions of Democratic Governance .......................................................... 143 Access to Justice ............................................................................................... 148 Commercial Rule of Law .................................................................................. 153 Impact of Emergencies: Food Safety, Product Quality, and Climate Change ........................................................................................................... 168 IV. Tibet: Special Focus for 2007 ............................................................................ 182 V. Developments in Hong Kong .............................................................................. 212 VI. Endnotes ............................................................................................................. 215 (III) VerDate 11-MAY-2000 01:22 Oct 11, 2007 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 38026.TXT CHINA1 PsN: CHINA1 VerDate 11-MAY-2000 01:22 Oct 11, 2007 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 38026.TXT CHINA1 PsN: CHINA1 CONGRESSIONAL-EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON CHINA 2007 ANNUAL REPORT Preface As this report goes to press, Beijing is putting the finishing touches on preparations for the opening of the Chinese Communist Party’s 17th Party Congress on October 15, 2007. The event will mark the completion of Hu Jintao’s first five-year term as Party General Secretary. China in the last year also passed another im- portant marker—the fifth year in the implementation of its World Trade Organization (WTO) commitments. The Commission passed a marker of its own, having issued five previous Annual Reports on human rights and the development of the rule of law in China. This confluence of five-year markers provides a useful oppor- tunity to understand the course of human rights and the rule of law in China. Hu Jintao ascended to the Party’s top leadership post five years ago advocating greater government transparency, respect for law, protection of the environment, and a more creative re- sponse to rising citizen activism. Over the last five years, however, a different reality has unfolded. China’s human rights practices in the last year reflected Chinese leaders’ intolerance of citizen activ- ism; suppression of information on urgent matters of public concern (including food safety, public health, and environmental emer- gencies); the instrumental use of law for political purposes; and the localization of dispute resolution as a method of insulating the cen- tral government and Party from the backlash of national policy failures. Whether or not the Chinese Communist Party’s 17th Party Congress ultimately will be associated with change instead of continuity on these issues remains to be seen. The commitments that China made five years ago when entering the WTO were not only important to its commercial development in the international marketplace, but to the development of the rule of law at home. These commitments require that China ensure nondiscrimination in the administration of trade-related measures and prompt publication of all laws, regulations, judicial decisions, and administrative rulings relating to trade. The required improve- ments to China’s domestic rule of law should have assisted Chinese citizens in a wide range of areas from property rights, environ- mental protection, government transparency, and access to justice. Unfortunately, China has not lived up to its international commit- ments, and the unfair manner in which it competes in the global marketplace is causing alarm in the United States and around the world. Its instrumental use of legal reform for political purposes threatens its domestic rule of law. This report summarizes, with the detailed findings of each sec- tion, previous Commission recommendations in order to provide readers a sense of the challenges that remain in leveraging im- (1) VerDate 11-MAY-2000 01:22 Oct 11, 2007 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 38026.TXT CHINA1 PsN: CHINA1 2 provements in China’s human rights and rule of law practices. In addition, this report demonstrates the importance of the Commis- sion’s Political Prisoner Database, a unique and powerful resource on which the Commission relies for its advocacy and research work, including the preparation of this Annual Report. The next year will be an important one for China, as the 2008 Summer Olympic Games place Beijing front and center on the world stage. Foreign correspondents and international organiza- tions are already concerned that China has not lived up to its promises in important areas of human rights. The Commission will focus attention on these issues in the coming year, both before and after the Olympics. GENERAL OVERVIEW The Commission observed ongoing human rights abuses and stalled development of the rule of law in China during 2006-2007. The Commission also observed increased repression in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) and Tibetan autonomous areas of China, stepped-up