COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT CHINA 1 JUNE 2008 UK Border Agency COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION SERVICE CHINA 1 JUNE 2008 Contents Preface Latest News EVENTS IN CHINA FROM 2 MAY TO 1 JUNE 2008 REPORTS ON CHINA PUBLISHED OR ACCESSED BETWEEN 2 MAY AND 1 JUNE 2008 Paragraphs Background Information 1. GEOGRAPHY ......................................................................................... 1.01 Map ................................................................................................ 1.04 Languages ................................................................................... 1.05 Population..................................................................................... 1.06 Naming conventions .................................................................. 1.07 Tibetan names ........................................................................... 1.08 2. ECONOMY ............................................................................................. 2.01 Poverty .......................................................................................... 2.03 Currency........................................................................................ 2.05 3. HISTORY ............................................................................................... 3.01 1949-1976: The Mao Zedong era ................................................. 3.01 1978-1989: China under Deng Xiaoping..................................... 3.03 1990-2000: Post-Tiananmen Square........................................... 3.04 2000 onwards: A new generation of leaders.............................. 3.05 4. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS ....................................................................... 4.01 5. CONSTITUTION ...................................................................................... 5.01 6. POLITICAL SYSTEM ................................................................................ 6.01 The leadership (fourth generation)............................................. 6.03 Chinese Communist Party (CCP)................................................ 6.04 Human Rights 7. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................... 7.01 8. SECURITY FORCES................................................................................. 8.01 Police............................................................................................. 8.02 Private security firms ................................................................. 8.05 Torture ....................................................................................... 8.06 Extra-judicial killings .................................................................. 8.13 Protection of witnesses / organised crime ................................. 8.14 Avenues of complaint .................................................................. 8.16 9. MILITARY SERVICE................................................................................. 9.01 Postponement and exemption .................................................... 9.04 Desertion....................................................................................... 9.06 10. JUDICIARY........................................................................................... 10.01 Organisation ................................................................................. 10.01 Independence ............................................................................... 10.02 Fair trial ......................................................................................... 10.05 Restrictions on lawyers ............................................................... 10.08 Criminal Procedure Law (1997)................................................... 10.11 ii This Country of Origin Information Report contains the most up-to-date publicly available information as at 1 June 2008. Older source material has been included where it contains relevant information not available in more recent documents. 1 JUNE 2008 CHINA State Security Law (1993) ............................................................ 10.12 Double jeopardy ........................................................................... 10.14 11. ARREST AND DETENTION – LEGAL RIGHTS............................................ 11.01 Arrest warrants............................................................................. 11.08 Wanted posters ............................................................................ 11.10 Resisting arrest/hitting an official............................................... 11.13 Punishment of minor offences.................................................... 11.15 12. PRISON CONDITIONS............................................................................ 12.01 Psychiatric custody (Ankang system)........................................ 12.06 Xiamen prison (Fujian Province)................................................. 12.10 Drapchi prison (Tibet) .................................................................. 12.11 Qushui prison (Tibet) ................................................................... 12.13 Other known detention facilities in Tibet ................................... 12.14 Administrative detention/labour camps..................................... 12.15 Re-education Through Labour (RTL)......................................... 12.15 Other forms of administrative detention..................................... 12.20 13. DEATH PENALTY.................................................................................. 13.01 Suspended death sentences....................................................... 13.07 Number of executions.................................................................. 13.08 Judicial oversight......................................................................... 13.10 People exempted from the death penalty .................................. 13.14 14. POLITICAL AFFILIATION........................................................................ 14.01 Freedom of political expression ................................................. 14.01 Freedom of association and assembly ...................................... 14.04 Civil disturbances....................................................................... 14.08 Opposition groups and political activists.................................. 14.14 China Democracy Party (CDP).................................................. 14.16 UK Branch of the China Democracy Party ................................ 14.21 Tiananmen Square activists ...................................................... 14.22 Responses to the ‘Nine Commentaries’ .................................... 14.26 15. FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND MEDIA ........................................................ 15.01 Journalists .................................................................................... 15.09 16. HUMAN RIGHTS INSTITUTIONS, ORGANISATIONS AND ACTIVISTS............ 16.01 17. CORRUPTION....................................................................................... 17.01 Breaches of Party discipline ....................................................... 17.04 Guanxi (social connections) ....................................................... 17.06 18. FREEDOM OF RELIGION........................................................................ 18.01 Registration .................................................................................. 18.06 Buddhists...................................................................................... 18.14 Taoists........................................................................................... 18.16 Folk religions ................................................................................ 18.18 19. CHRISTIANS ........................................................................................ 19.01 Availability of Bibles .................................................................... 19.03 Proselytising................................................................................. 19.05 Catholics ....................................................................................... 19.07 Relations with the Vatican ......................................................... 19.14 Protestants (including ‘house churches’).................................. 19.17 Russian Orthodox Church........................................................... 19.22 20. MUSLIMS............................................................................................. 20.01 Uighurs (Uygur, Uyghur).............................................................. 20.03 Human rights in Xinjiang (East Turkestan) ................................ 20.06 Religious freedom in Xinjiang (East Turkestan)......................... 20.09 Uighur terrorist groups ............................................................... 20.13 Other Uighur opposition groups................................................. 20.15 This Country of Origin Information Report contains the most up-to-date publicly available information as at 1 June 2008. iii Older source material has been included where it contains relevant information not available in more recent documents. CHINA 1 JUNE 2008 Hui (Huihui) ................................................................................... 20.17 21. BANNED SPIRITUAL GROUPS ................................................................ 21.01 The Shouters (Huhan Pai) or Local Church..............................