China Cracks Down on TwentySomethings

[DaShi]

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/29/in...9CND-BEIJ.html

4 Men Jailed in China Accused of 'Subverting State Power'
By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL


BEIJING, May 29 — Four young friends who met on university campuses to discuss their progressive politics and posted occasional essays on the Internet were sentenced here to long prison terms on Wednesday, accused of "subverting state power."

The Beijing Intermediate People's Court sentenced Xu Wei, 28, and Jin Haike, 26, to 10 years. Yang Zilin, 32, and Zhang Honghai, 29, received sentences of 8 years, according to human rights groups and relatives of the men.

The case has long enraged human rights advocates, in part because the group's activities were so innocuous and in part because the four men have been imprisoned for over two years without a verdict in their trial.

Calling the verdict "sickening," Mr. Yang's wife, Lu Kun, said in a telephone interview: "The all said they were innocent. They said that everything they said and wrote was within the limits of what is permitted by the Constitution."

The four were first detained on March 13, 2001, just months after they had formed the "New Youth Study Group," a small coterie of like-minded friends who met occasionally outdoors at Beijing University to discuss political change in China, according to friends. The meetings involved well under a dozen people.

While group members generally agreed that China needed a multiparty democracy, press freedom and free elections, their discussions and their Internet essays were about political theory. The group had no plans to actively foment change.

Still, in China, such groups are supposed to be registered with the state.

The verdicts amply illustrate that in this one-party Communist dictatorship, publicly raising the notion of alternative political systems still carries unpredictable risks.

But many rights advocates and China scholars considered the harsh sentences curious, given that many of the liberal ideas expressed by the men in the "New Youth Study Group" are regularly published in academic journals here and are the fodder of discussions in university classrooms.

"It is ridiculous that the Chinese government considers the peaceful expression of one's views a subversive act," Ann Cooper, the executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said in a statement. "These four young writers have already wasted more than two years of their lives detained in legal limbo."

Before their detentions Xu Wei was a reporter for The Consumer Daily, Jin Haike was a geologist, Yang Zili was a computer entrepreneur and Zhang Honghai was a freelance writer.

The four were detained after another member of the group informed China's State Security Bureau about their activities. It is unclear why the verdict took nearly two years to decide, since the initial hearing took place in September 2001.

While China's criminal procedure code stipulates time limits to prevent such extended detentions, these limits do not apply in cases where the police claim that breaches of state security are involved. Relatives of the men have not been able to visit them in prison, seeing them only at occasional courtroom hearings leading up to the trial, said Ms. Lu. She said the prosecutors had produced no new evidence since the initial hearing nearly two years ago.

She also added that the four seemed to be in poor physical health, having lost weight while in jail. Xu Wei, who received a 10-year sentence, became very agitated in the courtroom, claiming he had been beaten and denied his right to see a lawyer.

"He said he didn't plan to go on living and lunged at the trial stand," said Ms Lu. "About five or six police officers jumped on him and dragged him away."

Why now? Right, the Olympics. Nearly forgot.

Why so harsh?

[DinoDoc]

Wonder what UR will say about this?

[Arrian]

I'm shocked. SHOCKED, I TELL YOU!

-Arrian

[PLATO]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
Wonder what UR will say about this?

Whatever the "official" line is. Obviously he won't want to join them.

[Oerdin]

China's government has always been a bunch of tugs and they will always be a bunch of thugs.

At least they no longer execute or starve to death millions just because of their political beliefs. Great leap backwards is more like it...

[Shi Huangdi]

PRC

[rah]

"While China's criminal procedure code stipulates time limits to prevent such extended detentions, these limits do not apply in cases where the police claim that breaches of state security are involved. "

Hmmm, sounds familiar.

[Zylka]

IT HAPPENS IN THE US JUST AS OFTEN. ALL GOVERNMENTS ARE EVIL, WHY DO YOU THINK YOUR APACHE WAS SHOT DOWN BY A FARMER, HUH???

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by rah
"While China's criminal procedure code stipulates time limits to prevent such extended detentions, these limits do not apply in cases where the police claim that breaches of state security are involved. "

Hmmm, sounds familiar.

Except that when we claim that perogative here, Americans are free to protest.

Originally posted by Zylka
IT HAPPENS IN THE US JUST AS OFTEN. ALL GOVERNMENTS ARE EVIL, WHY DO YOU THINK YOUR APACHE WAS SHOT DOWN BY A FARMER, HUH???

What are you using ? No, what aren't you using ?

Calm down. And it obviously does NOT happen in the US "just as often", or even at all. We don't arrest people for political discussion.

[Zylka]

Ah, more easy prey

[Japher]

Man! What a bunch of Commies

[MichaeltheGreat]

Originally posted by Shi Huangdi
PRC

Predictably Repressive Communists?

And the foreign money continues to pour in. The PRC will pull almost whatever human rights **** it wants to pull for the simple reason that the lackey west will never stop slavering over Chinese markets and Chinese labor. That's where Mao and Lenin had it all wrong.

[Kuciwalker]

We should embargo them. Hey, maybe it didn't work in some cases, but they SURVIVE on exports.

[MichaeltheGreat]

American business interests would never let the US government do such a thing.

[Kuciwalker]

Unfortunately so. But there could be economic benefits to it. It would open up a LOT of jobs here.

[Shi Huangdi]

Originally posted by MichaeltheGreat


Predictably Repressive Communists?

That'll work.

And ya, good point about the West being unwilling to stand up to human rights violations in China. The amount of free trade with China should be tied to that country's human rights record.

[Oerdin]

But think how expensive happy meal toys would become.

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by Oerdin
But think how expensive happy meal toys would become.

Couldn't we just get the cheap useless crap from Mexico?

[Kuciwalker]

[Nubclear]

Where has UR gone?! I wanna see him defend this

[PLATO]

Originally posted by skywalker
We should embargo them. Hey, maybe it didn't work in some cases, but they SURVIVE on exports.

Let's try to work on Most Favoured Nation status first!

American business interests would never let the US government do such a thing.

Without a doubt. Billions in joint ventures would be lost instantly.

Unfortunately so. But there could be economic benefits to it. It would open up a LOT of jobs here.

On the contrary. These are below market wage jobs that would eventually land in a developing nation. The impact here would be lost distribution jobs, and lost sales and the jobs that come with them.

[The Vagabond]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
Couldn't we just get the cheap useless crap from Mexico?

No. China is less costly, and production is being moved from Mexico to China. I'm afraid MtG will someday have to move his business from Mexico to China too.

[MichaeltheGreat]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
Couldn't we just get the cheap useless crap from Mexico?

Naah, once we started paying people a dollar an hour, we were screwed out of the making cheap useless crap for gringos business.

[MichaeltheGreat]

Originally posted by The Vagabond


No. China is less costly, and production is being moved from Mexico to China. I'm afraid MtG will someday have to move his business from Mexico to China too.

I boycott work in China.

[Tingkai]

This is just crazy. Yet another example of the bureaucratic mind. If they had registered it would have been okay, but because they didn't register their group they end up spending eight (10?) years in jail. Absolutely nuts!

Having said that, this doesn't show that the PRC government are thugs. It shows bureaucratic stupidity. It shows the lack of rule of law and the lack of trained judges and lawyers. It shows a lack of common sense.

Mind you, that's no comfort to the four men who will spend eight years in jail.

[The Vagabond]

Originally posted by MichaeltheGreat
I boycott work in China.

Do you do it on principle, or perhaps simply time isn't yet ripe for you?

[Mao]

You've all heard me like a broken record "defending" the PRC, but this amuses me. A lot worse stuff is happening, don't harp too harshly on this guys...

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by skywalker
Except that when we claim that perogative here, Americans are free to protest.

Three words: Lee Wen Ho. Or what about Camp X-Ray, where *cough* unlawful combatants *cough* are detained? How long have they been there, anyway?

[The Mad Monk]

Originally posted by Tassadar5000
Where has UR gone?! I wanna see him defend this

Mao sighting +1!

UR's sitting there, desperately hoping this thread will quickly and silently slide off the front page before one of his minders sees it.

edit: erm...hi, UR!

[Ming]

Mao... was that MAO