An
electronic newsletter No: 88 In this issue: (1) THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHINA AND TIBET IS BECOMING CLOSER 27 October 1998, Zaman newspaper (2) CRITICS: BLAIR SOFT ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN CHINA. 10 October 1998, Associated Press and Reuters. (3) DISSIDENT HELD, JOURNALIST EXPELLED DURING BLAIR’S CHINA VISIT. 7 October 1998, Associated Press and Reuters. (4) CHINA: HUMAN RIGHTS AND WRONGS. 6 October 1998, by Asia Analyst, Alice Donald. (5) CURRENT NEWS. 3 October 1998, Eastern Turkistan Information Center. *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= 27 October 1998, Zaman newspaper After 40 years of separation from China, Dalai Lama, one of two leaders of Buddhism, announced about his coming meeting with Zhiang Zheming during the nearest months. A Hong Kong newspaper " South China Morning Post " has reported that the Dalay Lama's Government in exile will issue a Decision in 2 weeks. (2) CRITICS: BLAIR SOFT ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN CHINA. 10 October 1998, Associated Press and Reuters. Visit "a great success"? Local newspapers supportive Related stories and sites HONG KONG (CNN) -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair's cordial relationship with China prompted questions this week about whether Britain is compromising its stand against human rights violations in favor of economic ties. "Of course, we know this British government has adopted a so-called ethical foreign policy," Hong Kong politician and democracy advocate Martin Lee said Friday. "I'm afraid, as a result of this visit of the prime minister to China, it looks like an economic foreign policy to me. It seems to me this is a visit with trade and commerce in mind and practically nothing else."At a news conference, Blair called Lee's criticism "simply wrong" and accused him of ignoring a human rights speech he made in Beijing. Blair and wife Cherie returned to London Saturday after spending five days in China visiting Beijing, Shanghai and the former British colony of Hong Kong. It was the first trip to China by a British prime minister in seven years. Just before leaving, the Blairs toured the 64-year-old Chi Lin nunnery and watched a group of retirees practicing tai chi, a traditional Chinese exercise routine. Blair smiled and posed for photos hand-in-hand with Chinese leaders throughout the trip. But the happy faces and friendly handshakes irked some members of the Hong Kong legislature, who said Blair soft-pedaled the issue of human rights abuses in China. "The kind of message he delivered is not strong enough," said legislator Yeung Sum of the major opposition Democratic Party. Blair has described China's leadership -- specifically President Jiang Zemin and Premier Zhu Rongji -- as liberalizing reformers. During a speech in Beijing, he urged the pair to expand freedom and allow dissent. Still, Hong Kong's democracy advocates said a gentle approach on human rights in favor of economic ties sends the "wrong message." Visit "a great success"? Other Hong Kong politicians said they favor Blair's amicable relations with China. "I am happy that the visit has been such a great success, doing so much to create a relationship of friends who talk to each other, rather than of people who talk past each other, said Hong Kong Chief Executive Tun Chee-hwa, who was appointed by Beijing officials. Hong Kong officials met with Blair behind closed doors this week. Topics discussed included human rights in China and the pace of democracy in Hong Kong. After the briefing, independent legislator Margaret Lee said she had reservations about Blair's subdued approach in raising sticky issues with Chinese leaders about political dissent and human rights in favor of wider trade and investment ties with Beijing. "If going softly means resorting to euphemism and avoiding sharp issues then I'm not in favor of it," she said. Blair shrugged off such criticism. "If people want me to say that I want to wreck Britain's relations with China, well, I'm not in for that I'm afraid," he said. Local newspapers supportive. Area newspapers expressed support for Blair's diplomacy. "Britain's influence in Hong Kong has waned, but Blair's encouraging remarks are still worth listening to," said the Chinese-language Apple Daily on Saturday. The Chinese-language Oriental Daily said cooperation with the mainland was "more intelligent" than the headstrong approach taken by Hong Kong's last British governor, Chris Patten. Sino-British relations prior to Hong Kong's handover from Britain to China 15 months ago were marked by pointed exchanges between Patten and Beijing on a wide range of issues, including wider freedoms and civil liberties for the people of Hong Kong. In an editorial, The South China Morning Post said, "It was almost possible to forget the long years that Beijing and London spent locked in battles of the handover." Britain and China had announced a "comprehensive partnership" at the outset of Blair's visit to the mainland. (3) DISSIDENT HELD, JOURNALIST EXPELLED DURING BLAIR’S CHINA VISIT. 7 October 1998, Associated Press and Reuters. BEIJING (CNN) -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair turned his attention Wednesday to promoting business ties with China, but human rights issues intruded with police taking a prominent dissident from his home. The police action against Xu Wenli, who spent 12 years in prison after the 1979 Democracy Wall movement, came at an awkward moment. Blair's Labor Party government has vowed to exercise an ethical foreign policy and before leaving Britain he promised to raise human rights concerns, albeit softly. Xu was led away from his home Wednesday morning around the time Blair was presiding at the signing of contracts and plans for British business investments worth over $830 million. Reporter blamed for stolen secrets. Also Wednesday, Beijing announced a Japanese journalist would be expelled after being accused of stealing state secrets. Both China and Britain have sought to use Blair's five-day visit, the first by a British prime minister in seven years, to highlight improved ties following years of rancor over Hong Kong. On Tuesday, the two governments declared a comprehensive partnership intended to open a new chapter in relations following the smooth return of Hong Kong to China on July 1, 1997. The partnership covers everything from boosting trade to cooperation on environmental protection and increasing military-to-military contacts. In addition to sightseeing and contract signings, Blair was to cap his official schedule Wednesday by meeting Chinese President Jiang Zemin. It was unclear if Blair would address human rights concerns with Jiang. Appeal to British PM for son's release. The mother of a jailed and ailing dissident sent Blair a letter urging him to press Jiang for her son's release, the Hong Kong-based Information Center of Human Rights and Democratic Movement reported. Li Hi was arrested in 1995 and sentenced to nine years in prison in a closed trial for violating the state secrets law, apparently by compiling a list of political prisoners. China had hoped to head off criticisms of human rights abuses by signing the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, a key UN rights treaty, on Monday, the eve of Blair's arrival. Tibet trip came before arrest. Meanwhile, Yukihisa Nakatsu, 39, a Beijing-based reporter for Japan's biggest newspaper, the Yomiuri Shimbun, was ordered to leave, a Hong Kong newspaper reported. China's security apparatus decided to expel Nakatsu after he "confessed to everything," a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said. "Yukihisa Nakatsu, since 1996, stole our country's state secrets using money and other illegal methods, violating Chinese laws," the spokesman said. He did not say what the state secrets were. Hong Kong's South China Morning Post said Nakatsu was "accused of violating security laws and possessing documents containing state secrets." Security authorities informed Nakatsu on Sunday to leave China within 72 hours after he refused to reveal the source of the documents, the Post said. Nakatsu had been questioned after returning to Beijing from a trip to Tibet last month, the newspaper said. Britain spends big on China. Traveling with a group of British business leaders, the prime minister witnessed signings of four contracts to build a water treatment plant and a coal-fired power station and make pharmaceuticals and small satellites in China. With distrust over Hong Kong behind them, Britain has become China's No. 1 investor and second-largest trading partner among European Union nations. Trade for the first seven months of the year totaled $3.48 billion, an increase of more than 18 percent over the same period in 1997, according to Chinese officials. Blair will champion British business interests Thursday in Shanghai, China's financial capital, where he will tour the stock exchange, lunch with the mayor and open a factory and an insurance office. He heads to Hong Kong Friday, his first visit since attending the handover ceremonies 15 months ago. (4) CHINA: HUMAN RIGHTS AND WRONGS. 6 October 1998, by Asia Analyst, Alice Donald. China has moved on since the suppression of the Tiananmen protest. Beijing's decision to sign the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights shows how far the Chinese leadership has moved since the suppression of the Tiananmen Square democracy protests almost a decade ago. But is it really serious about improving human rights - or just its international image? Certainly the authorities have begun to loosen the shackles which once choked off all political debate. There have been important symbolic moments: President Clinton speaking live to the Chinese people on television, the unprecedented visit by UN Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson to Beijing - and now the signing of an international covenant which guarantees a wide range of political freedoms. Important step. Foreign governments attach huge importance to this long-awaited step. The promise of a signature persuaded Washington to drop its annual motion criticising China's human rights record at the UN. Conveniently, the move came just hours before the UK Prime Minister, Tony Blair, landed in Beijing, and will no doubt be lauded as evidence of tangible progress. China's critics, though, say simply signing the covenant is not enough. Even if the Chinese parliament does ratify the covenant - a process which could take years - Beijing may attach formal reservations, effectively nullifying some of its provisions, including Article 19 which guarantees freedom of expression. Food or freedom? Beijing insists that the need to provide food and political stability for its burgeoning population overrides concerns about individual liberties. Guarantees of the right to self-determination are also unlikely to be tolerated for Tibet. Tseten Samdup, London-based spokesman for the Dalai Lama, says Beijing must be held to account: "By signing the covenant I think we must welcome it, but there must consistent monitoring of the situation in Tibet so that China does not negate its obligations ... there's no point signing a covenant just for public relations." Setting the standard. Whatever Beijing's motives, the covenant will provide a set of standards by which to assess progress on human rights. Beijing's signature will also mean that it cannot dismiss all criticism as outside interference as it has routinely done in the past. But human rights advocates say the signature will be worthless if it blunts international criticism without yielding concrete results. They point out that in the weeks since Mary Robinson's visit to China, yet more dissidents have been detained or told to keep quiet. (5) CURRENT NEWS. 3 October 1998, Eastern Turkistan Information Center. 5 soldiers, who guarded an oil well in Kargaliq, Kashqar Vilayat, were killed by three unknown persons on the 25th of August. Four women, Turanisahan, Sahiphan, Meriamhan, Bahargul, were murdered during forced abortion in Seriq Boya village of Maralbeshi on the 25th of July. Chinese sergeant took away the uterus of these women and they died after six days of agony. The relatives of these women expressed their indignation to the officials on this accident. But the officials did not consider this issue, furthermore they arrested these people and set them in Maralbeshi prison. On May two Uyghur girls, 13 year old Meremnisa and 11 year old Kamernisa were raped and murdered by two Chinese Cotton Plant workers near Karakash riverside in Tuynon, Hotan Villayet. An Uyghur woman witnessed this crime and immediately informed a police office about it. The first who came to the place, where the crime had taken place, were two Uyghur militias who arrested these Chinese criminals. But soon they were released and two Uyghur militias, who had caught them, were put in jail although there was a witness who testified that those two Chinese workers had raped and killed two girls, but Chinese authorities did not take her words into consideration.
On July 150 young Uyghurs, which read Koran and wore white tubes, were put in jail without any reasons. Next day 20 young Uyghurs were arrested during their morning exercises. On May 4 people with guns burst into Neming Bank in Urumchi, stole 300 thousand dollars and ran away. On suspicion of this theft 50 people wearing white tubes were arrested. But soon two of four Chinese criminals who in fact had stolen the money were arrested. The other two criminals disappeared with all the money. Although everything became clear with this stealing Chinese authorities have not been releasing 50 young Uyghurs, whom they arrested before, for 20 days. Furthermore those young people were fined for 10 thousand yuans each. On July 7 people who studied Koran were executed for, as Chinese authorities said, attempt of flight. Here are the names of some of them: Ili Emet, 22 years old Ehetjan, 24 years old Muhamed Abdullah, 23 years old Obdulhesen Usup, 25 years old.Prepared by: Abdulrakhim Aitbayev (rakhim@lochbrandy.mines.edu) WUNN newsletter index*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= The World Uyghur Network News electronic newsletter is produced by the Eastern Turkistan Information Center (ETIC) in cooperation with the Taklamakan Uighur Human Rights Association (USA), and is devoted to the current political, cultural and economic developments in Eastern Turkistan and to the Uyghur people related issues. Eastern Turkistan (Sherqiy Turkistan in Uyghur) is a name used by the indigenous people of the region for their motherland located in what is at present the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic China. The World Uyghur Network News brings information on situation in Eastern Turkistan from the Uyghur and other sources to the attention of the international community. *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= EASTERN TURKISTAN INFORMATION CENTER |
