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Produced by the Eastern Turkistan Information Center No: 96 14 January 1999 In this issue: (1) BEIJING REPEATS MISSILE WARNING
(2) CHINA, U.S. CLASH OVER RIGHTS ISSUES
(3) CHINA CONDEMNS U.S. HUMAN RIGHTS CRITICISM
(4) TIBET STILL ABUSED: WATCHDOG
(5) U.S.-BASED ACTIVIST MISSING IN CHINA
(6) KAZAKH LEADER SET TO WIN CONTROVERSIAL POLL
(7) U.S. RELIGIOUS ENVOY VISITS CHINA AHEAD OF HUMAN RIGHTS TALKS
(8) TIBET MARCHERS RUSH EMBASSY IN NEW DELHI
(9) DAVID R. OSMAN DIES
(10) CHINA BLASTS INDIA FOR NOT PREVENTING TIBETAN REBEL EMBASSY RAID
*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= (1) BEIJING REPEATS MISSILE WARNING
A top Chinese diplomat has warned the US against working with Japan or Taiwan on anti-missile defence systems, suggesting Beijing might build more powerful missiles in response."This would have a negative impact on regional and global stability," said Sha Zukang, director-general of the Foreign Ministry's arms control and disarmament division.US Defence Secretary William Cohen is in Japan this week to discuss US-Japanese co-operation on research for a theatre missile defence system, a move the countries agreed to late last year following repeated North Korean testing of medium-range missiles. Mr Sha, addressing a non-proliferation conference in Washington, reiterated China's opposition to US-Japanese co-operation on any missile defence system. "Other countries will be forced to develop more advanced missiles," Mr Sha said. "This will be in nobody's interests. We wish the United States was taking a more cautious and responsible attitude." Mr Sha warned if Taiwan developed the ability to shoot down incoming missiles, it could lead to fresh trouble in the Taiwan Strait. Chinese threats to launch missiles near Taiwan in 1995 and 1996 prompted the US to send two aircraft carriers to the region to show it was ready to defend Taipei. On Monday, Taiwanese Vice-Defence Minister General Wang Wen-hsieh denied the island planned to join the US-proposed theatre missile defence programme. US National Security Adviser Sandy Berger told the conference Washington wanted to work with China and other Asian nations to dissuade North Korea from conducting more missile tests and exporting weapons. Mr Berger also said China should join the Missile Technology Control Regime, which prohibits the export of missile parts. Meanwhile, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said blanket media coverage of documents which said former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger offered Soviet secrets to China in the 1970s was an attempt to destabilise Sino-US ties. "Some people have manipulated this intentionally," a spokesman said. (2) CHINA, U.S. CLASH OVER RIGHTS ISSUES
WASHINGTON -- China and the U.S. clashed Wednesday when Beijing refused access to a Tibetan spiritual leader after Washington delivered stinging criticisms on human rights abuses. The souring of relations came at a time when the often icy Sino-U.S. relationship appeared to be thawing with this week's talks on human rights in Washington -- the first since 1995 between the two nations. A Chinese official said Beijing regretted negative comments by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on human rights abuses and pointed out that if the United States pressed for a resolution critical of China in the UN Human Rights Commission this year, it could damage bilateral relations and jeopardize further human rights dialogue. In past years, the United States has avoided seeking a resolution against China but Assistant Secretary of State Harold Koh, who led the U.S. side in the talks, warned Washington may take a new tack when the UN commission meets in Geneva in March. The dialogue will resume in Beijing late this year and Koh said he had asked to see the Tibetan boy named by the Dalai Lama as the reincarnation of the previous Panchen Lama. The boy, who disappeared with his family in 1995, is now 9 years old. Wang Guangya, the assistant foreign minister who led the Chinese side in the talks, told a news conference on Wednesday at the Chinese Embassy in Washington that the boy and his family did not want visits and that precautions were necessary for the sake of their safety. "The so-called designated Panchen Lama and his family are in good condition. Therefore, I think, at the request of the family members, they do not need to be disturbed," he said. "The events surrounding the designation are politically sensitive. The safety of the family and the young boy is of concern so we have to respect the views of the family members. Precautions are always necessary," he added. Beijing's choice for Tibetan leader widely unpopular. Chinese assistant foreign minister, Wang Guangya. The Chinese authorities have designated their own Panchen Lama but few Tibetans recognize the child as legitimate. Koh, giving his own account of two days of talks in Washington, described them as frank and candid. "We laid out a unified position on how the recent steps have imposed obstacles to our bilateral relationship," he told a briefing. "Human rights is not a marginal concern of ours in the bilateral relationship. It's central to the relationship." "We forcefully raised our concerns about the current human rights situation in China, including the recent disturbing and counterproductive ... sentencing of democracy activists for the peaceful expression of their political beliefs," he said. "I don't think that it had been made so vividly clear to them how much the different pieces of the American government, as well as public opinion here, is joined in a belief that the recent actions are wrong and ought to be reversed," he added. Asked what he told China about the Geneva meeting of the UN Human Rights Commission, Koh said: "We said we were considering a range of responses and that one of them, currently under discussion, is Geneva." The United States decided not to censure China in Geneva last year in exchange for a Chinese commitment to sign the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Dissident arrests prompt outrage. Human rights organizations and members of Congress, angry at the arrest of Chinese who tried to set up an alternative political party, are pressing the Clinton administration to take a more assertive attitude at this year's meeting. But Wang said such a resolution was bound to fall short of passing. "Anyone who wants to resume the Geneva scenario would not only damage bilateral relations but also the possibility of the continuation of the dialogue," he added. Commenting on Albright's remarks, Wang said: "It's a regrettable event." Albright made her comments spoken in her toast at a reception at the Chinese Embassy in Washington on Tuesday evening commemorating 20 years of diplomatic relations with China. Albright told her hosts that peaceful political expression was not a crime or a threat. "We are profoundly distressed by the unjustified prison sentences recently imposed upon a number of Chinese who tried to exercise that right," she added. Veteran activist Xu Wenli was sentenced to 13 years in prison on December 21 on subversion charges for trying to set up the Chinese Democratic Party. Party activist Wang Youcai received an 11-year term the same day. The next day, Qin Yongmin was jailed for 12 years for his role in forming the party. At least a dozen other party activists have been interrogated and could face arrest. "They are criminals," said Liu Xiaoming, the deputy Chinese ambassador. "They have violated the criminal code of China." Wang said the Chinese side asked the Americans about aspects of the U.S. judicial system, such as race, police violence, prison conditions and the rights of children. "No country can claim its human rights record is 100 percent perfect so all have to make efforts to improve their record," he added. Koh said the Chinese also brought up the death penalty in the United States and the racial composition of the prison population, which is disproportionately African American. (3) CHINA CONDEMNS U.S. HUMAN RIGHTS CRITICISM
BEIJING-- China Thursday hit out at "irresponsible" U.S. criticism of its human rights record, less than 24 hours after a Sino-U.S. dialogue came to a close in Washington. "We believe that some of these issues are the domestic affairs of China and we do not wish to hear irresponsible remarks from other countries," China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi told a news conference here Thursday. Sun was responding to questions about Beijing's ongoing detention of the nine-year-old Panchen Lama, the second highest religious figure in Tibet, and a list of Chinese political prisoners, handed over during the rights talks, that the United States would like to see released. "In some Western countries, including the U.S., some people have ignored the overall development of China's human rights and have been following so-called specific cases involving the toppling of the Chinese government as a so-called violation of human rights," Sun said. "These people have displayed a totally black picture of China's human rights situation and that is totally unreasonable and regretful," he added. In December, three high-profile Chinese dissidents -- Xu Wenli, Qin Yongmin and Wang Youcai -- were handed stiff sentences of 13, 12 and 11 years respectively on charges of attempting to overthrow the state. (Pictured, dissidents Qin Yongmin (left) and Xu Wenli before their arrest.) On Monday, Assistant Foreign Minister Wang Guangya and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights Harold Koh opened two days of talks on human rights that Koh described as "blunt" but productive. "We forcefully raised our concerns about the current human rights situation in China," Koh said, including a renewed crackdown that Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has called "very disturbing." Washington didn't brandish any particular threats, he said, but made clear that it could revive previous efforts to seek condemnation of China at the annual meeting in Geneva of the U.N. Human Rights Commission. The Chinese delegation was noncommittal when Koh asked to visit the Panchen Lama, now entering his fourth year of detention in secret by Chinese authorities, he said. (4) TIBET STILL ABUSED: WATCHDOG
Despite increasing international pressure, China continues to violate human rights and the fundamental freedom of the people of Tibet, a Tibetan human rights group said yesterday.In a 124-page report, the independent Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said there was an alarming trend of tighter government control over all sectors of Tibetan life that threatened the "cultural and physical survival of the Tibetan people". China has previously denied accusations that it was destroying or undermining Tibetan culture. The human rights centre said 1,083 Tibetan political prisoners were being held in Chinese jails, of whom more than 100 were minors when arrested. Most of the arrests were made for political views expressed by the detained, it said.As many as 19 prisoners died while in detention, the report said. "Every year, political prisoners are tortured and killed by the Chinese authorities and the world must help us to stop these inhuman acts," said Lobsang Nyandak, executive director of the monitoring group. US presses China on human rights crackdown. China's clampdown sparked international protest. American and Chinese officials have begun two days of talks in Washington on human rights issues. Director, Human Rights in China, Xiao Quing: This is the harshest crackdown since Tiananmen. It is the first such meeting since China broke off the dialogue in 1995 and comes amid what human rights groups are describing as a renewed crackdown on political activists in China. Several dissidents received lengthy jail sentences last month - three of them for their roles in founding the China Democracy Party. The trials sparked worldwide condemnation with the US calling the sentences deplorable. Several US congressmen called for the meeting to be postponed describing the decision to resume the talks as inappropriate and fruitless, given the current situation in China. More arrests. Crackdown said to be the worst since Tiananmen More activists have since been arrested and President Jiang Zemin has warned subversive activities will be "nipped in the bud". He has China's programme of reforms will not be allowed to challenge the political monopoly held by the Chinese Communist Party. Human rights organisations have sent a letter to the US Government urging it to suspend the human rights talks in protest at the arrests. Xiao Quing, director of Human Rights in China, said the new campaign against activists was the most serious since the violent crackdown following the pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989. 'Disturbing development' BBC Correspondent Paul Royall: The recent imprisonment of dissenters makes a mockery of this human rights dialogue. A US State Department spokesman said he hoped the meeting would provide an opportunity to discuss what he called the recent disturbing developments in the Chinese Government's treatment of the democracy movement. The State Department says it will urge Beijing to ratify the United Nations convenant on civil and political rights, which China signed last year. State Department Spokesman James Rubin: Decision does not mean we regard China's record as satisfactory A spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry said he expected an exchange of views in a frank, serious and constructive manner. Mr Xiao said the US and European governments should consider introducing a resolution at the United Nations to condemn China's recent action. Freedom of speech The crackdown comes just months after China signed the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which guarantees freedom of speech. But President Jiang has dismissed international criticism as foreign interference. Shortly after last month's controversial trials, the Chinese authorities targeted the arts and entertainment industries, mandating harsh punishments for those found guilty of "inciting to subvert state power". The new rules cover writing, music, movies, television, video recordings and computer software, outlawing material that "endangers social order". (5) U.S.-BASED ACTIVIST MISSING IN CHINA
HONG KONG -- Chinese authorities may have arrested a U.S.-based dissident who sneaked into the mainland three weeks ago, a Hong Kong-based human rights group said on Monday. Zhou Yongjun, a leader of the ill-fated 1989 pro-democracy movement, slipped into the mainland from Hong Kong on December 21 after being refused legal entry, said the Information Center of Human Rights & Democratic Movement in China. "Student leader of the 1989 pro-democracy movement in Beijing Zhou Yongjun, who sneaked into China from Hong Kong on December 21, has lost contact with his families and friends for the past three weeks," it said. "He is expected to be arrested by Chinese police." Zhou, a U.S. green card holder, had a valid travel document and an entry permit issued by the Chinese consulate in New York. But immigration officials in Shenzhen, southern China, refused Zhou entry on December 17 after questioning him for 10 hours, the center said. It said Zhou, 31, then sneaked into the mainland to sign a business contract. Zhou was jailed for two years for his role in the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations. He fled to Hong Kong after being released from jail in 1992 and went to the United States in 1993, the human rights group said. Hundreds, possibly thousands, of people were killed when the army cracked down on the pro-democracy protests, which centered on Beijing's Tiananmen Square. (6) KAZAKH LEADER SET TO WIN CONTROVERSIAL POLL
ALMATY, Kazakhstan (Reuters) -- Kazakhstan holds a presidential election on Sunday but few in the former Soviet republic have any doubt that Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has led them since Communist times, will be re-elected for another seven years with ease. The 58-year-old former steelworker faces three opponents but his biggest challenge could be fierce criticism from the West over the way the poll has been arranged. Nazarbayev is counting on Western investment to exploit untapped oil and mineral wealth in his vast Central Asian domain. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, of which Kazakhstan is a member, has said it will not recognize Sunday's results. The United States has also voiced concern. The OSCE has criticized the way the poll was brought forward by almost a year, giving Nazarbayev's opponents little time to prepare, and has also questioned the validity of a court ruling that barred his main rival from standing on a technicality. However, unrivaled access to the media, including the state television channel run by his daughter, and influence over local leaders whom he himself appoints, also make Nazarbayev the clear favorite in a country where the traditional patriarchal values of Mongol-descended Kazakh nomads remain strong. No reliable national opinion polls have been conducted. But local polls show a clear lead for Nazarbayev among the eight million voters and indicate he will get the 50 percent of votes required to avoid contesting a second, run-off round. The only man many thought capable of forcing a second round, liberal-minded former prime minister Akezhan Kazhegeldin, was barred late last year for a breach of regulations. Presidential Candidate, Kasymov RELATED VIDEO Real 28K 56K CNN's Eric Olander reports on the election in Kazakhstan Windows Media 28K 56K The U.S.-based Human Rights Watch has called the election process "grossly unfair." But support for Nazarbayev seemed widespead on Saturday in the main city, Almaty. "There is only one person to vote for," said Nikolai Alexeyevich, a pensioner selling lottery tickets. "Nazarbayev is very experienced and I just don't see any other candidacy." Active campaigning is banned on the eve of the election, but images of Nazarbayev, hugging children, talking to young people or standing in an ocean of wheat, beamed from dozens of billboards. The president has not promised easy times but his campaign has stressed the stability Kazakhstan has enjoyed under his rule compared to the ethnic and religious strife that has hit some other republics since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Only the emigration of Russian-speakers since independence has put Kazakhs back in a slim majority in a thinly populated land five times the size of France. But ethnic tensions have been limited and relations with Russia are generally good. "Life is hard now but Nazarbayev has maintained good relations with our neighbor Russia and there is peace among different ethnic groups living in the country," said Nurbol, a 25-year-old unemployed ethnic Kazakh who backed Nazarbayev. Gani Kasymov, the head of the State Customs Committee, who has resorted to stunts such as throwing a vase at an interviewer, is widely seen as the likely runner-up. Kasymov, who has not openly attacked Nazarbayev, has called for law and order in the face of rampant corruption and crime. He has tapped the disillusionment felt by many that potential mineral wealth has yet to create prosperity for the majority. Presidential Candidate, Gabbasov. Yet Kasymov's tough image repels others. "I am afraid that with Kasymov's brutal manners we would have war," said Madina, a 42-year-old housewife. "We need Nazarbayev, who personifies stability." Local Communist Party leader Serikbolsyn Abdildin, another hopeful in the election, has campaigned vocally against Nazarbayev's economic policy, but is seen to have little chance. Engels Gabbasov, a prominent ecologist and senator seeking the closure of Russian missile test sites in Kazakhstan, has not openly criticized the president and is also seen as a loser in the election. (7) U.S. RELIGIOUS ENVOY VISITS CHINA AHEAD OF HUMAN RIGHTS TALKS
BEIJING -- Ahead of a U.S.-China meeting on human rights, a U.S. religious affairs envoy said Saturday that Washington was concerned over religious repression in China, including in Tibet. Bob Seiple, a State Department representative, on Saturday wrapped up three days of meetings on religious affairs and returned to Washington for the human rights talks starting Monday. The discussions, resuming after a four-year hiatus, come amid the ruling Communist Party's broadest crackdown on dissent in at least three years. The crackdown has seen four dissidents handed jail terms of 10 years or more, sentences the United States criticized as harsh and disappointing. A poet, a writer and other dissidents also have been imprisoned, and some activists are in police custody or under house arrest. On Saturday, a Hong Kong-based rights group said Chinese police briefly detained or questioned 10 dissidents and warned them against joining a protest of the jailing of a would-be opposition group's leaders. The crackdown is expected to be an issue in the human rights talks in ashington. So too is religious freedom, the issue that brought Seiple to Beijing for discussions with Chinese officials, including a vice foreign minister. Seiple, the U.S. Secretary of State's special representative for International Religious Freedom, said he raised concerns over religious repression in Tibet and the erosion of Tibetan culture under Chinese rule. He also raised the case of a Buddhist monk reported to have died in jail after a beating and reports of arrests of Chinese Christians in raids on underground churches that reject government controls. Seiple also asked to meet with a man that a Vatican news agency said was an underground Catholic priest who was detained, forced to have sex and made to join the state-sponsored church. Seiple said Chinese officials repeated claims that the man was in fact a farmer detained for vandalism and later released. Seiple did not get to meet the man. The U.S. official said he also sought to explain to Chinese officials that a U.S. law passed last year to promote religious freedom around the world was not targeted at any specific country or faith. The act allows the U.S. president to sanction countries that violate religious freedoms, he said. Underscoring China's sensitivities to the act and criticism of its religious controls, a senior Chinese religious affairs official, Ye Xiaowen, indicated that even the threat of sanctions could hamper discussions on religion between China and the United States. (8) TIBET MARCHERS RUSH EMBASSY IN NEW DELHI
New Delhi-- About 20 Tibetan activists demanding independence from China forced their way into Beijing's embassy complex in the Indian capital yesterday. Sixty members of the Tibetan Youth Congress were involved in the protest, which followed an 11-day march across northern India to promote the cause of Tibetan independence. The demonstrators, wearing yellow headbands with the slogan "Free Tibet", drove up to the embassy in a hired bus, then rushed the main gates of the embassy compound, taking Indian security personnel by surprise. Some activists scaled the gates and ran inside the complex, shouting slogans. The remainder burned a Chinese flag, chanting "Freedom for Tibet" and "Down with China". The protesters also handed out copies of an open letter to President Jiang Zemin asking for an end to Beijing's "colonial rule" of Tibet. "When all the previous kings, dictators and emperors could not last forever and the likes of Hitler could not endure their tyranny forever, there is no way that you can endure your occupation of Tibet," the letter said. Many of the demonstrators were among 70 Tibetan Youth Congress members who arrived in New Delhi on Wednesday at the end of the 250km march. A statement issued by the march organisers had urged the United Nations to discuss the status of Tibet. They also called for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to name a special envoy to supervise a referendum in the Himalayan region. India is home to the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader, and his government-in-exile, as well as about 100,000 Tibetan exiles. (9) DAVID R. OSMAN DIES
David Rashid Osman, 78, a native of
Eastern Turkestan, former officer in the Nationalist Chinese Army and U.S. Defense
Department linguist, died Dec. 13 at Genesis ElderCare in Silver Spring. He had cancer and
suffered from several small strokes.Mr. Osman retired from the Defense Department in 1980
after more than 20 years of service, including duty in Turkey, Iran, Malaysia and
Washington. He was fluent in 13 languages or dialects and had a working knowledge of
several more.
BEIJING, New Delhi-- China criticized India on Friday for failing to stop a group of Tibetan separatists from storming the Chinese Embassy compound in New Delhi. "The Chinese side has made solemn representations to the Indian side over this matter, expressing strong dissatisfaction and indignation," a Chinese Embassy spokesman said. India's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it condemned Thursday's brief occupation of the Chinese Embassy grounds by about 20 Tibetans protesting against what they see as China's occupation of their Himalayan homeland. "We entered to give a memorandum to the president (of China), but we couldn't so we left the letter there," said Karma Yeshi, vice-president of the Tibetan Youth Congress, pointing at the gate in front of which the remains of Chinese flags smoldered. "We have done this to show our solidarity to free Tibet," he said as young men around him shouted anti-Chinese slogans. In the letter, they urged China to liberate Tibet, saying they would fight to the end for freedom. Security guards expelled the Tibetans from the compound without calling police, and the embassy did not immediately respond to the intrusion. "Such actions undermine law and order as well as the safety and security of diplomatic premises and personnel," the ministry said, adding that India fully upheld the principle of sanctity and inviolability of diplomatic premises. The protesters also burnt two Chinese flags outside the embassy, and the spokesman said that those who scaled the gate chanted anti-China slogans for a full minute. "During that period policemen stepped aside, watching," he said, adding that the police provided no reinforcements until the "splittists" had been repelled by security guards. The protesters had just completed a 250-km (150-mile) march from the northern Indian city of Chandigarh in front of New Delhi's parliament building to press the United Nations to reopen the debate on the autonomy of Tibet. They also want the United Nations to appoint a special rapporteur to look into human rights in the region and a special envoy to promote a peaceful settlement of the question of Tibet. Thousands of Tibetans and their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama (pictured), fled their homeland and took exile in India after an abortive uprising against communist rule nearly 40 years ago. The Dalai Lama now heads a government-in-exile in the northern Indian town of Dharamsala. The embassy spokesman said China had demanded that India make good on its promise not to allow Tibetans to conduct political activities against China on Indian territory and take steps to prevent a recurrence of the embassy incident. Prepared by: *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= 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 |