An electronic newsletter Produced by the Eastern Turkistan Information Center No: 91 10 December 1998 In this issue: (1) DALAI LAMA SAYS INFORMAL CHINA TALKS BROKEN DOWN.
(2) CHINA MILITARY SPEEDS HANDOVER AS DEADLINE NEARS.
(3) CHINA TO CHARGE VETERAN DISSIDENT, ARREST OTHERS.
(4) CHIRAC LUNCHES WITH DALAI LAMA DESPITE BEIJIN’S OBJECTIONS
(5) CHINA EXECUTES 15 IN XINGJIAN REGION.
(6) WARNING OVER "HUMAN INSURANCE" IN KYRGYZSTAN.
(7) CHINA CYBER DISSIDENT ON TRAIL.
(8) INJECTIONS MADE PUPILS AND PRISONERS SICK.
(9) "HUA SHIA DIGEST" NEWS.
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PARIS - The Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, said on Wednesday attempts at informal talks with Beijing about his demands for Tibetan autonomy from China had recently broken down. "For a while we held the hope of improving the situation by using non-official channels of communication," he told a public rally. "But, recently, and once again, difficulties have arisen, and these channels are no longer working." Answering a question about Sino-Tibetan relations after giving a predominantly philosophical discourse, the Dalai Lama, said the situation in Tibet had become "very serious." "It seems like there's a kind of new cultural revolution happening in Tibet at the moment," he said, alluding to the political upheaval in China in the 1960s. Earlier on Wednesday the Dalai Lama told French radio Europe 1 that he was receiving mixed signals from Beijing on his demands for Tibetan autonomy from China. He said he had established channels of communication with Beijing, one of which was "completely reliable and sound." "There are once again slightly confused and not very clear signals" from China, the Dalai Lama said. He reiterated that he was not asking for independence but for autonomy to give Tibetans authority over the running of their internal affairs, leaving China in charge of defence and foreign affairs. He said he was prepared to open talks without preconditions. Chinese President Jiang Zemin last June set two conditions for talks with the Dalai Lama: that he recognize Tibet as an inalienable part of China and Taiwan as a Chinese province. The Dalai Lama, as all other Nobel Peace Prize winners, has been invited to France for ceremonies marking the 50th anniversary of the Universal declaration of Human Rights. Beijing has voiced "serious concern and dissatisfaction" at his invitation by French President Jacques Chirac to a lunch gathering Nobel Peace Prize winners at the Elysee presidential Palace on Tuesday. Chinese troops marched into Tibet in 1950, and the Dalai Lama fled into exile in India nine years later after an abortive uprising against Communist rule. (2) CHINA MILITARY SPEEDS HANDOVER AS DEADLINE NEARS.
BEIJING - The Beijing Garrison of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) has handed over its commercial empire to the city government just weeks before a state-set deadline for the military to get out of business. The official People's Daily said on Thursday the garrison transferred 68 military and police enterprises to the city during a recent ceremony. The date of the transfer was not given. The handover of all Beijing-based army ventures came amid a nationwide rush to comply with a December 20 ban on military business issued by President Jiang Zemin in July. The directive aimed to curb rampant smuggling and corruption by the privileged groups. Hundreds of commercial enterprises owned and operated by the PLA and military police in Tianjin, Shanghai and Guangzhou have already been transferred to municipal authorities. Army ventures in Jiangxi, Gansu, Henan, Sichuan, Yunnan and other provinces have also completed the transfer procedure. The divestiture represents an abrupt about-face for the military, which only two decades ago was encouraged by senior officials to embrace China's market reforms and go into business. At the movement's peak in the early 1990s, PLA-affiliated businesses were estimated at more than 20,000, ranging from hotels to motorcycles to discotheques. This has since dropped to 15,000 enterprises providing full-time employment to about 600,000 civilians, official estimates show. The handover will affect only the PLA's commercial arm, which represents about one-third of its overall business empire. The remaining industrial and agricultural concerns will maintain their military affiliation. Despite early resistance to the program, most PLA commanders now support the divestiture, which will be met with an increase in the central military budget, western defence experts said. China has also ordered the ruling Communist Party and state bureaucracies to dump their business interests by year-end. (3) CHINA TO CHARGE VETERAN DISSIDENT, ARREST OTHERS.
BEIJING - Chinese prosecutors are preparing formal charges against veteran dissident Xu Wenli as police continue their nationwide round-up of pro-democracy activists, a Hong Kong human rights group said on Wednesday. Xu's wife, He Xintong, told the Information Center of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China that her husband's case had already been sent to prosecutors who were preparing to charge him with unspecified crimes. Xu was detained on November 30 as a "criminal suspect" after a four-hour search of his home by 20 state security agents, who also seized his personal computer, printer, fax machine and thousands of documents. When He pressed Beijing's Public Security Bureau for details of the charges against Xu, she was told to "go home and read the criminal law," the center said. Xu, 55, played a key role in trying to found the Chinese Democratic Party, which had sought to challenge the Communist Party's long monopoly on power but was not allowed to register. Xu, a veteran of the 1978-79 Democracy Wall movement, had repeatedly tested Beijing's tolerance since last year. He was released from prison in 1993 after serving 12 years, including a long time in solitary confinement, for his activities. Although police have not detailed the charges against Xu, the Hong Kong information center said he was expected to be accused of "incitement to overthrow state power." Similar charges were filed against another party organizer, Qin Yongmin, who was arrested on November 30 in Wuhan, capital of central Hubei province, the center said. The detention of Xu and Qin late last month kicked off a nationwide round-up of dissidents which also netted Tiananmen-era activist Wang Youcai. Wang, 32, would go to trial on December 17 in the eastern city of Hangzhou, his lawyers said. China's sweep against dissidents continued on Tuesday as authorities detained two pro-democracy campaigners in the southwestern province of Sichuan, the center said. The detentions of Liu Xianbin and Ouyang Yi on Tuesday brought to eight the total number of Chinese Democratic Party members in police custody. The whereabouts of Liu and Ouyang were not known. Liu was a member of a task force that called on dissidents nationwide to travel to Hangzhou for a sit in at Wang's trial. Liu, 30, a former student leader jailed for two years for his role in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests that were crushed by the army, had urged those unable to go to stage a one-day hunger strike at home. He also urged pro-democracy campaigners to write a letter to the Chinese government to protest against the dissident round-up. In Shanghai, authorities forced dissident Yao Zhenxian and his family into exile in the United States, the information center said. Yao, 40, another would-be opposition member, his wife Zhang Yueying and their daughter Yao Zhiting have U.S. visas that would allow them to settle there, the group said. Yao was sent to a labor camp in 1996 to undergo re-education for two years, while his younger brother, Yao Zhenxiang, is still serving a three-year sentence at a labour camp. (4) CHIRAC LUNCHES WITH DALAI LAMA DESPITE BEIJIN’S OBJECTIONS
PARIS -- French President Jacques Chirac ignored China's demands that he cancel his meeting with the Dalai Lama, eating lunch with the Tibetan spiritual leader Tuesday at the Elysee Palace. Despite the meeting, Chirac was criticized by a prominent Chinese dissident for being soft on human rights. France has sought to avoid friction with China in an effort to expand commercial ties. Chirac defended his hospitality to the Dalai Lama but also affirmed that Tibet should remain part of China. The exiled leader's visit to Paris, to participate in the 50th anniversary celebration of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, was "natural," the French government said. "The Dalai Lama is a respected religious figure and respected by the international community and the French people," Foreign Ministry spokesman Francois Rivasseau said. After the luncheon, the Dalai Lama insisted he wants to "promote meaningful self-rule, not independence." He said he is optimistic about the future. "China is in the process of changing," he said. Earlier Tuesday, Beijing pressed Chirac to drop his lunch plans with the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize winner, one of a group of Nobel laureates invited to meet Chirac. Leading Chinese dissident Wei Jingshen also criticized Chirac for suggesting that the human rights situation in China is improving. "It's a wrong position by France, and it's a wrong attitude you find in other European countries," he told France Info radio in Paris. The Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, has been campaigning for greater autonomy for the Himalayan region. (5) CHINA EXECUTES 15 IN XINGJIAN REGION.
BEIJING, Dec 4 - A court in China's restive northwestern Xinjiang region has ordered 15 people executed in 13 separate cases, the Legal Daily said on Friday. The executions were carried out immediately after sentence was passed on Thursday with bullets to the back of the head, in line with the usual practice in China. The Xinjiang Higher People's Court cleared the way for the executions by confirming the death sentence set earlier by the Intermediary People's Court in the regional capital of Urumchi. Of the 15 condemned convicts, one case involved a woman and her brother convicted of murder during the armed robbery of Urumqi Commercial bank in September, the newspaper said. The pair, who had killed one person and injured another, made off with 6.93 million yuan ($834,399) in a taxi after firing shots at their pursuers. The article did not give details on the other cases. In May, Xinjiang executed seven death-row convicts, including public enemy number one Bai Baoshan, for murder, robbery and drug trafficking. The region also sentenced to death three Moslems of the Uyghur ethnic minority for robbing and killing Chinese peasants, however local radio said the defendants were convicted of inciting separatist rebellion in the area. China has for several years battled a separatist movement among the Turkish-speaking Uyghurs, who make up 47 percent of Xinjiang's population of 17 million. Pro-independence groups have conducted a series of bombings and assassinations of pro-Beijing officials and Islamic clergy. ($1.0 - 8.3 yuan) (6) WARNING OVER "HUMAN INSURANCE" IN KYRGYZSTAN.
The authorities in Kyrgyzstan have warned entrepreneurs trading across the border with China to take more care after one businessman was held for ten months by Chinese traders angry over unpaid bills. He was released only after the intervention of the Kyrgyz and Chinese authorities. The BBC correspondent in the region says trade is flourishing between the two countries and growing numbers of Kyrgyz traders who fail to pay for goods are being held in China. (7) CHINA CYBER DISSIDENT ON TRAIL.
Growing Internet usage is worrying the Chinese authorities Thirty-year-old Lin Hai is thought to be the first person in China to be charged with internet subversion. He could face a sentence of life imprisonment if he is found guilty. His defense lawyer, Liu Jinping, said he hoped the trial would be conducted according to the law, but he admitted he was apprehensive about the outcome. "Speaking of the current situation, I'm not very optimistic," he said. "Because for example early this morning, I received a summons from the Anshan police, and they only released me at 1230 (local time) this morning." According to Mr. Liu, the police authorities from Shanghai and Anshan accused him of tampering with a legal document. "I think they were pressurizing me over my defense of Lin Hai, hoping that I would decide not to go to the trial." The seriousness of the charges leveled against Lin Hai are an indication of the government's mounting fears about electronic information. The last couple of years have seen an explosion of internet use in China. Over a million Chinese people are registered users, and although that is a small proportion of the Chinese population, it represents a well-educated and influential elite. Chinese dissidents at home and abroad have been quick to adopt the Internet as a means of distributing information the government would like to restrict. Officials have tried to stem the flow of subversive ideas by setting up electronic barriers which some users have nicknamed the Great Firewall of China, but many see them as fighting a losing battle. The trial of Lin Hai may be intended as a deterrent to other would-be cyber subversives, but it is unlikely to stem the inexorable opening up of China's unofficial media. (8) INJECTIONS MADE PUPILS AND PRISONERS SICK.
Doctors at Bajiahu prison in Urumchi, Xinjiang administered certain medication to more than 10 thousand political prisoners two months ago. After the injections, many inmates showed symptoms of depression and constipation . East Turskistan National Center investigated the incident and reported to international human rights organizations. Among the 2996 pupils in a primary school in Kulja, Xinjiang 367 were hospitalized after receiving vaccine injections by the local health ministry officials. The young patients suffered from nose bleeding and abdominal pain. According to the local witnesses, the Chinese authority has been using various ways to suppress the Uyghurs in the region. Administering drugs to reduce birth rate of the locals as one of such examples. Beijing Bahari Journal, August 1998, No.63 (9) "HUA SHIA DIGEST" NEWS.
Chinese Family Religion Association, a Christian organization in China, reported on December, 10 1998 that recently 140 of its members were arrested in Wugang and Nenyang cities of Henen province. The report says that the Chinese government has started yet another campaign of religious suppression and asks the international communities to press the communist regime for the immediate release of their members. 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 |