Survey finds global decline in press freedom; Italy cited
Thursday, April 29, 2004
ASSOCIATED PRESS in New York
Updated at 11.31am:
Freedom of the press declined substantially around the world in 2003, including a worrisome drop in Italy, according to a survey released overnight (HK time) by a pro-democracy non-profit group.
Freedom House’s survey of 193 countries found that some of the most serious setbacks occurred both in eroding and established democracies.
“Some of the most serious setbacks took place in countries where democracy is backsliding, such as in Bolivia and Russia, and in older, established democracies, most notably Italy,” the organisation said.
Titled “Freedom of the Press 2004: A Global Survey of Media Independence,” the survey found that freedom for news media had declined for a second consecutive year.
“Legal harassment, political pressure and violence by state and non-state actors against journalists combined to worsen conditions in many countries,” it found.
The organisation rated the degree of press freedom in each country and issued a category rating of free, partly free or not free.
Of the countries surveyed, 73 were rated free, 49 partly free and 71 not free.
It said the numbers showed that “the proportion of the world’s population living in countries with free media has declined five per cent over the last two years”.
The organisation found that the five worst offenders were Myanmar, Cuba, Libya, North Korea and Turkmenistan.
It said Italy had slipped from free to partly free because of the influence of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, whose media holdings include Italy’s three largest private television stations.
“[Mr] Berlusconi has been able to exert influence over the public broadcaster RAI,” said Karin Deutch Karlekar, the survey’s managing editor. “This further exacerbates an already worrisome media environment characterised by unbalanced coverage within Berlusconi’s enormous media empire.”
It said other countries that slipped in the ratings included Bolivia, Bulgaria, Cape Verde, Gabon, Guatemala, Guinea-Bissau, Moldova, Morocco and the Philippines.
Freedom House is a nonprofit organisation with offices around the world that aims to promote democratic values such as human rights, free markets and an independent media. It is partly funded by the US government and supports US involvement in global affairs.
On the Net: www.freedomhouse.org
ASSOCIATED PRESS in New York
Updated at 11.31am:
Freedom of the press declined substantially around the world in 2003, including a worrisome drop in Italy, according to a survey released overnight (HK time) by a pro-democracy non-profit group.
Freedom House’s survey of 193 countries found that some of the most serious setbacks occurred both in eroding and established democracies.
“Some of the most serious setbacks took place in countries where democracy is backsliding, such as in Bolivia and Russia, and in older, established democracies, most notably Italy,” the organisation said.
Titled “Freedom of the Press 2004: A Global Survey of Media Independence,” the survey found that freedom for news media had declined for a second consecutive year.
“Legal harassment, political pressure and violence by state and non-state actors against journalists combined to worsen conditions in many countries,” it found.
The organisation rated the degree of press freedom in each country and issued a category rating of free, partly free or not free.
Of the countries surveyed, 73 were rated free, 49 partly free and 71 not free.
It said the numbers showed that “the proportion of the world’s population living in countries with free media has declined five per cent over the last two years”.
The organisation found that the five worst offenders were Myanmar, Cuba, Libya, North Korea and Turkmenistan.
It said Italy had slipped from free to partly free because of the influence of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, whose media holdings include Italy’s three largest private television stations.
“[Mr] Berlusconi has been able to exert influence over the public broadcaster RAI,” said Karin Deutch Karlekar, the survey’s managing editor. “This further exacerbates an already worrisome media environment characterised by unbalanced coverage within Berlusconi’s enormous media empire.”
It said other countries that slipped in the ratings included Bolivia, Bulgaria, Cape Verde, Gabon, Guatemala, Guinea-Bissau, Moldova, Morocco and the Philippines.
Freedom House is a nonprofit organisation with offices around the world that aims to promote democratic values such as human rights, free markets and an independent media. It is partly funded by the US government and supports US involvement in global affairs.
On the Net: www.freedomhouse.org
Canadian PM to ignore China protests and meet Dalai Lama
SCMP - Thursday, April 22, 2004
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE in Ottawa
Updated at 12.54pm:
Paul Martin will on Friday defy China’s protests and become the first Canadian prime minister to meet Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.
Smarting from several rhetorical attacks from Beijing, Mr Martin said early on Thursday (HK time) that the meeting was a ''spiritual'' rather than a ''political'' affair.
He will complete the illusion by holding the private talks during a spiritual roundtable at the residence of Ottawa’s Roman Catholic Archbishop.
But some observers still fear Canada will face economic consequences for Mr Martin’s decision to greet the Dalai Lama, prompted by fierce pressure from Canadian members of parliament and pro-Tibet campaigners.
The mainland accuses the Dalai Lama of separatist activity, but the 1989 Nobel peace prize winner argues he simply wants greater autonomy for his homeland occupied by Beijing in 1951 and an end to human rights abuses.
Beijing has strongly warned Canada not to flirt with the Dalai Lama, and warned darkly of repercussions for Sino-Ottawa relations.
Mr Martin’s compromise solution, designed to limit political talk on Tibet’s status has satisfied neither China, nor domestic political opinion.
Beijing dismisses the idea that any meeting with the Dalai Lama can be anything but political - while domestic politicians have accused the prime minister of bowing to intimidation.
''It has been argued by some that meeting the Dalai Lama may affect our trade relations with China,'' said Senator Jim Munson, from Mr Martin’s Liberal Party.
''This is nothing short of diplomatic blackmail. There should not be a price tag on human freedom.'' If there was a propaganda war to be waged in Canada, the Dalai Lama has left China in the dust.
Beijing hardly helped its case by offending some Canadians by comparing its rule over Tibet to francophone Quebec province’s past independence campaigns.
The Dalai Lama, who was due to arrive in Ottawa late on Wednesday, has meanwhile been basking in the adoration of followers in the west coast city of Vancouver.
''I consider myself a Buddhist monk rather than political,” the Dalai Lama said.
''I have no interest in politics,'' said the man revered as a living god by believers of his brand of Tibetan Buddhism, who has nevertheless put together an impressive roll-call of meetings with political leaders, including US President George W. Bush.
When asked about his meeting with Martin, the Dalai Lama said he would bring up Tibet’s fight for greater autonomy from China’s central government.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE in Ottawa
Updated at 12.54pm:
Paul Martin will on Friday defy China’s protests and become the first Canadian prime minister to meet Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.
Smarting from several rhetorical attacks from Beijing, Mr Martin said early on Thursday (HK time) that the meeting was a ''spiritual'' rather than a ''political'' affair.
He will complete the illusion by holding the private talks during a spiritual roundtable at the residence of Ottawa’s Roman Catholic Archbishop.
But some observers still fear Canada will face economic consequences for Mr Martin’s decision to greet the Dalai Lama, prompted by fierce pressure from Canadian members of parliament and pro-Tibet campaigners.
The mainland accuses the Dalai Lama of separatist activity, but the 1989 Nobel peace prize winner argues he simply wants greater autonomy for his homeland occupied by Beijing in 1951 and an end to human rights abuses.
Beijing has strongly warned Canada not to flirt with the Dalai Lama, and warned darkly of repercussions for Sino-Ottawa relations.
Mr Martin’s compromise solution, designed to limit political talk on Tibet’s status has satisfied neither China, nor domestic political opinion.
Beijing dismisses the idea that any meeting with the Dalai Lama can be anything but political - while domestic politicians have accused the prime minister of bowing to intimidation.
''It has been argued by some that meeting the Dalai Lama may affect our trade relations with China,'' said Senator Jim Munson, from Mr Martin’s Liberal Party.
''This is nothing short of diplomatic blackmail. There should not be a price tag on human freedom.'' If there was a propaganda war to be waged in Canada, the Dalai Lama has left China in the dust.
Beijing hardly helped its case by offending some Canadians by comparing its rule over Tibet to francophone Quebec province’s past independence campaigns.
The Dalai Lama, who was due to arrive in Ottawa late on Wednesday, has meanwhile been basking in the adoration of followers in the west coast city of Vancouver.
''I consider myself a Buddhist monk rather than political,” the Dalai Lama said.
''I have no interest in politics,'' said the man revered as a living god by believers of his brand of Tibetan Buddhism, who has nevertheless put together an impressive roll-call of meetings with political leaders, including US President George W. Bush.
When asked about his meeting with Martin, the Dalai Lama said he would bring up Tibet’s fight for greater autonomy from China’s central government.
How many Earths will China devour?
SCMP - Saturday, April 17, 2004
CHU HON-KEUNG
It is not a doomsday prognosis. But, according to an environmental estimate, if the rest of the world were to copy America's consumption patterns, we would need six Earths to meet humankind's insatiable appetite.
Quite unwittingly, our consumption of raw materials, such as iron, is heading towards this scenario. One case in point is China's breakneck rate of consumption. According to last year's data, China's gross domestic product represented only 4 per cent of the world's total GDP. But the nation consumes the lion's share of the world's resources: cement (55 per cent), steel (36 per cent), coal (30 per cent), and aluminium (25 per cent).
Take iron and steel as examples. After the September 11 attacks, the US sold to China 300,000 tonnes of waste iron from the World Trade Centre ruins. The price was roughly $440 per tonne. But recently, it has been rising, with average recovery prices jumping 150 per cent to more than $1,100 per tonne.
Last year, when Friends of the Earth (HK) encouraged metal collectors to amass tin moon-cake boxes, there was only a lukewarm response because the metal was not worth much. Now, with prices on the increase, even the likes of manhole covers have been disappearing, not only from Hong Kong and Taiwan, but from Britain as well. They have been smuggled into mainland China for "recovery and recycling" purposes.
Last year, China had its first taste of an economic boom, with its GDP per capita exceeding US$1,000 for the first time. Last year alone, 2.04 million cars were sold, representing a 92.8 per cent increase over 2002. And 112 million people signed up for a mobile phone. China's high-consuming, high-polluting, low-efficiency economic growth model imposes a high price on its society and the environment. The resources that China consumes to generate every US$1 of GDP are 4.5 times those of the US, or 11.5 times those of Japan. The price to pay for this environmental degradation equals roughly 2.2 per cent of its overall GDP growth.
The waste generated from steel smelting gives a lucid illustration of this environmental cost. Six tonnes of water and 1.6 tonnes of iron ore are needed to make one tonne of steel.
In Tongshan, Hebei province, more than 300 private enterprises and nearly all its inhabitants are reaping the benefits of the steel business, yet water for drinking and irrigation is being depleted, leaving the province short by 11 billion cubic metres.
The root of the problem seems to be that a monetary value is automatically assigned to all natural resources, while little value is placed on how useful they are. In Hong Kong, the developers' determination to tear down brand-new buildings at Hunghom Peninsula is a case in point.
Real costs should reflect production costs as well as environmental costs. Before too long, China will have to deal with the problem of its diminishing natural resources.
Premier Wen Jiabao warned of the risks of overheated economic growth, and lowered the country's 2004 GDP forecast to 7 per cent. As he sees it, the economy has to grow alongside sustainable development, with the well-being of its people as the raison d'être.
China is not just the world's largest steel producer; it is also the largest importer. Its steel consumption was equal to that of the US and Japan last year. Now, it is eyeing overseas iron mines and has been in talks to acquire some from Brazil and Australia.
But we have to ask ourselves: when all the steel has been bought and used, what will be left for our future generations? After all, we only have one Earth.
Chu Hon-keung is environmental affairs manager of Friends of the Earth (HK).
CHU HON-KEUNG
It is not a doomsday prognosis. But, according to an environmental estimate, if the rest of the world were to copy America's consumption patterns, we would need six Earths to meet humankind's insatiable appetite.
Quite unwittingly, our consumption of raw materials, such as iron, is heading towards this scenario. One case in point is China's breakneck rate of consumption. According to last year's data, China's gross domestic product represented only 4 per cent of the world's total GDP. But the nation consumes the lion's share of the world's resources: cement (55 per cent), steel (36 per cent), coal (30 per cent), and aluminium (25 per cent).
Take iron and steel as examples. After the September 11 attacks, the US sold to China 300,000 tonnes of waste iron from the World Trade Centre ruins. The price was roughly $440 per tonne. But recently, it has been rising, with average recovery prices jumping 150 per cent to more than $1,100 per tonne.
Last year, when Friends of the Earth (HK) encouraged metal collectors to amass tin moon-cake boxes, there was only a lukewarm response because the metal was not worth much. Now, with prices on the increase, even the likes of manhole covers have been disappearing, not only from Hong Kong and Taiwan, but from Britain as well. They have been smuggled into mainland China for "recovery and recycling" purposes.
Last year, China had its first taste of an economic boom, with its GDP per capita exceeding US$1,000 for the first time. Last year alone, 2.04 million cars were sold, representing a 92.8 per cent increase over 2002. And 112 million people signed up for a mobile phone. China's high-consuming, high-polluting, low-efficiency economic growth model imposes a high price on its society and the environment. The resources that China consumes to generate every US$1 of GDP are 4.5 times those of the US, or 11.5 times those of Japan. The price to pay for this environmental degradation equals roughly 2.2 per cent of its overall GDP growth.
The waste generated from steel smelting gives a lucid illustration of this environmental cost. Six tonnes of water and 1.6 tonnes of iron ore are needed to make one tonne of steel.
In Tongshan, Hebei province, more than 300 private enterprises and nearly all its inhabitants are reaping the benefits of the steel business, yet water for drinking and irrigation is being depleted, leaving the province short by 11 billion cubic metres.
The root of the problem seems to be that a monetary value is automatically assigned to all natural resources, while little value is placed on how useful they are. In Hong Kong, the developers' determination to tear down brand-new buildings at Hunghom Peninsula is a case in point.
Real costs should reflect production costs as well as environmental costs. Before too long, China will have to deal with the problem of its diminishing natural resources.
Premier Wen Jiabao warned of the risks of overheated economic growth, and lowered the country's 2004 GDP forecast to 7 per cent. As he sees it, the economy has to grow alongside sustainable development, with the well-being of its people as the raison d'être.
China is not just the world's largest steel producer; it is also the largest importer. Its steel consumption was equal to that of the US and Japan last year. Now, it is eyeing overseas iron mines and has been in talks to acquire some from Brazil and Australia.
But we have to ask ourselves: when all the steel has been bought and used, what will be left for our future generations? After all, we only have one Earth.
Chu Hon-keung is environmental affairs manager of Friends of the Earth (HK).
Citizens finding it harder to find justice, despite human rights guarantee
- Thursday, April 15, 2004
ROBERT J. SAIGET of Agence France-Presse in Beijing
Wang Huanmei, 62, holds up coloor pictures of her dead son lying in a coffin dressed in a Western suit, sleeves rolled up showing long, purple bruises on both forearms, and one eye blackened.
She knows the story well. She's ben telling it since 1995 when she found out that her son Sun Jie - a college graduate - was murdered in a police station in the eastern Shandong provincial capital of Jinan.
"Sun Jie was handcuffed with his hands behind his back and hung from a tree and beaten to death on September 8, 1995 in the courtyard of Dajin police station of Jinan's Huaiyin district," Mrs Wang said.
"He was beaten to death by three people, including the police chief of the Dajin station Xu Fang."
Her problem is that after years of fruitless efforts to get Jinan and Shandong officials to investigate her son's death, she is now being threatened with arrest for bringing the case to the complaints bureau of the State Council, China's cabinet, in Beijing.
Mrs Wang is not alone.
Dozens of petitioners who gather around the Yongdingmen Train Station in southern Beijing, near the State Council's complaints bureau, are being rounded up by police, beaten and sent back to their hometowns, they said.
The police action has come since Wu Bangguo, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC), last month ordered local governments to stop petitioners coming to the capital and mandated local complaints bureaus to handle the issues locally.
The new order has left petitioners questioning the sincerity of China's new government, which was sworn in last year with a pledge to be open and honest, to give priority to the demands of the people and to rule the country by law.
It was also bad news for people like Mrs Wang, who say government protectionism and corruption at the local level - especially among the police - are the reasons why they can't get justice in the first place.
"We cannot get justice in Shandong, so we've been coming here to Beijing for several years now," said Mrs Wang's husband, Sun Shoulu, 62.
"In Jinan, they have beaten us and threatened us to stop our pandering, now we come to Beijing and they are doing the same. They call this rule by law."
Mr Sun laughed off as "a sham" and "worthless decoration" a new amendment to China's constitution that calls for the protection of human rights, passed by the NPC last month.
"After all these years coming to Beijing, they haven't replied to one of our petitions," he said.
The central government mandate has also jeopardised hundreds of years of Chinese tradition that have allowed local peasants to come to the capital to petition the Emperor's court over injustices in the hinterlands.
With a weak civil society, no democratic elections and a press that is controlled by the state, China's system of complaint departments has long been seen as one of the few official channels to openly air grievances.
"I've been threatened, beaten and jailed by the police for trying to petition," said Du Mingrong, a woman from Baishan city, northeastern Jilin province.
Ms Du originally came to Beijing to petition a refusal by Baishan police to investigate the murder of her mother, but is now complaining about a policeman beating her up at the complaints bureau of the Supreme People's Court, China's highest court, last year.
Like most other petitioners, she has reams of documents, including typed and handwritten petitions to different government organs at all levels.
"A policeman named Tian beat me with an electric baton inside the Supreme People's Court compound last year. The Yongdingmen police are now cracking down on petitioners that come to Beijing and in Baishan they threatened to throw me in an insanity asylum if I cause any more trouble," Ms Du said.
Before the March meeting of the NPC, a park-like area near the Yongdingmen train station had become known as "complaints village" for the amount of people camped out in cardboard huts or in the open air waiting to table complaints to the government.
But the area was largely "cleaned up" in March with thousands of petitioners being hauled off to a gymnasium in western Beijing where they were processed and forcefully sent back to their hometowns.
During the NPC, thousands of petitioners daily gathered in the area in front of the State Council complaint's bureau to table petitions, but this week no more than 15 people were seen milling about at any given time.
Now only a few people gather at the former "complaints village," with many of their grievances involving unsolved killings of loved ones.
"I've been sleeping on the street under an underpass because to sleep here [in the village] the police will catch you and send you back," said Qian Lili, 40, from Shandong's Zibo city.
Mrs Qian's eight-year-old son was murdered by her ex-husband's new wife in 1999, but the crime was not punished due to a plea of insanity which Mrs Qian says is bogus.
"You have to stay in Beijing to complain because there are so many ministries and departments. You can complain at the State Council, Supreme People's Court, All China's Women's Federation, National People's Congress and the Supreme People's Procuratorate," she said.
ROBERT J. SAIGET of Agence France-Presse in Beijing
Wang Huanmei, 62, holds up coloor pictures of her dead son lying in a coffin dressed in a Western suit, sleeves rolled up showing long, purple bruises on both forearms, and one eye blackened.
She knows the story well. She's ben telling it since 1995 when she found out that her son Sun Jie - a college graduate - was murdered in a police station in the eastern Shandong provincial capital of Jinan.
"Sun Jie was handcuffed with his hands behind his back and hung from a tree and beaten to death on September 8, 1995 in the courtyard of Dajin police station of Jinan's Huaiyin district," Mrs Wang said.
"He was beaten to death by three people, including the police chief of the Dajin station Xu Fang."
Her problem is that after years of fruitless efforts to get Jinan and Shandong officials to investigate her son's death, she is now being threatened with arrest for bringing the case to the complaints bureau of the State Council, China's cabinet, in Beijing.
Mrs Wang is not alone.
Dozens of petitioners who gather around the Yongdingmen Train Station in southern Beijing, near the State Council's complaints bureau, are being rounded up by police, beaten and sent back to their hometowns, they said.
The police action has come since Wu Bangguo, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC), last month ordered local governments to stop petitioners coming to the capital and mandated local complaints bureaus to handle the issues locally.
The new order has left petitioners questioning the sincerity of China's new government, which was sworn in last year with a pledge to be open and honest, to give priority to the demands of the people and to rule the country by law.
It was also bad news for people like Mrs Wang, who say government protectionism and corruption at the local level - especially among the police - are the reasons why they can't get justice in the first place.
"We cannot get justice in Shandong, so we've been coming here to Beijing for several years now," said Mrs Wang's husband, Sun Shoulu, 62.
"In Jinan, they have beaten us and threatened us to stop our pandering, now we come to Beijing and they are doing the same. They call this rule by law."
Mr Sun laughed off as "a sham" and "worthless decoration" a new amendment to China's constitution that calls for the protection of human rights, passed by the NPC last month.
"After all these years coming to Beijing, they haven't replied to one of our petitions," he said.
The central government mandate has also jeopardised hundreds of years of Chinese tradition that have allowed local peasants to come to the capital to petition the Emperor's court over injustices in the hinterlands.
With a weak civil society, no democratic elections and a press that is controlled by the state, China's system of complaint departments has long been seen as one of the few official channels to openly air grievances.
"I've been threatened, beaten and jailed by the police for trying to petition," said Du Mingrong, a woman from Baishan city, northeastern Jilin province.
Ms Du originally came to Beijing to petition a refusal by Baishan police to investigate the murder of her mother, but is now complaining about a policeman beating her up at the complaints bureau of the Supreme People's Court, China's highest court, last year.
Like most other petitioners, she has reams of documents, including typed and handwritten petitions to different government organs at all levels.
"A policeman named Tian beat me with an electric baton inside the Supreme People's Court compound last year. The Yongdingmen police are now cracking down on petitioners that come to Beijing and in Baishan they threatened to throw me in an insanity asylum if I cause any more trouble," Ms Du said.
Before the March meeting of the NPC, a park-like area near the Yongdingmen train station had become known as "complaints village" for the amount of people camped out in cardboard huts or in the open air waiting to table complaints to the government.
But the area was largely "cleaned up" in March with thousands of petitioners being hauled off to a gymnasium in western Beijing where they were processed and forcefully sent back to their hometowns.
During the NPC, thousands of petitioners daily gathered in the area in front of the State Council complaint's bureau to table petitions, but this week no more than 15 people were seen milling about at any given time.
Now only a few people gather at the former "complaints village," with many of their grievances involving unsolved killings of loved ones.
"I've been sleeping on the street under an underpass because to sleep here [in the village] the police will catch you and send you back," said Qian Lili, 40, from Shandong's Zibo city.
Mrs Qian's eight-year-old son was murdered by her ex-husband's new wife in 1999, but the crime was not punished due to a plea of insanity which Mrs Qian says is bogus.
"You have to stay in Beijing to complain because there are so many ministries and departments. You can complain at the State Council, Supreme People's Court, All China's Women's Federation, National People's Congress and the Supreme People's Procuratorate," she said.
Tiananmen activist on jail hunger strike, says rights group
SCMP - Thursday, April 15, 2004
STAFF REPORTER in Shanghai
A former student leader of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests is staging a hunger strike to dispute a seven-year jail sentence on what he calls false charges, a US human rights group said yesterday. He is also protesting against prison conditions.
A Shanghai court sentenced Zhang Ming, one of 21 student leaders of the pro-democracy movement, to seven years in jail last September for "abuse of executive benefits", regarding the management of his company.
The charge had been changed from an earlier indictment for endangering public safety, concerning an alleged plot to blow up a building, New York-based Human Rights in China said.
Zhang says he is innocent and that the charges are bogus. Legal experts said the mainland typically applied that charge to executives of private companies, and that it corresponded to a corruption charge against leaders of state firms.
The rights group claimed the case was politically motivated because of government dissatisfaction over Zhang's refusal to change his political views.
Officials were also envious of his financial success with the Shanghai-based private company, the group said.
The Shanghai Intermediate People's Court, which handed down the sentence, and prison administration officials declined to comment on the case.
The former student leader had served a three-year prison term for "counter-revolutionary incitement" for his role in the 1989 protests. He was sentenced by a Beijing court in 1990.
Human Rights in China said Zhang had lost 22kg since launching the hunger strike, and his medical condition was critical. Dissident sources said he had been subjected to physical abuse, including beatings, while in prison.
His family has called for the courts to accept an appeal for a retrial, which they said would allow the presentation of more evidence and the appearance of additional witnesses.
STAFF REPORTER in Shanghai
A former student leader of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests is staging a hunger strike to dispute a seven-year jail sentence on what he calls false charges, a US human rights group said yesterday. He is also protesting against prison conditions.
A Shanghai court sentenced Zhang Ming, one of 21 student leaders of the pro-democracy movement, to seven years in jail last September for "abuse of executive benefits", regarding the management of his company.
The charge had been changed from an earlier indictment for endangering public safety, concerning an alleged plot to blow up a building, New York-based Human Rights in China said.
Zhang says he is innocent and that the charges are bogus. Legal experts said the mainland typically applied that charge to executives of private companies, and that it corresponded to a corruption charge against leaders of state firms.
The rights group claimed the case was politically motivated because of government dissatisfaction over Zhang's refusal to change his political views.
Officials were also envious of his financial success with the Shanghai-based private company, the group said.
The Shanghai Intermediate People's Court, which handed down the sentence, and prison administration officials declined to comment on the case.
The former student leader had served a three-year prison term for "counter-revolutionary incitement" for his role in the 1989 protests. He was sentenced by a Beijing court in 1990.
Human Rights in China said Zhang had lost 22kg since launching the hunger strike, and his medical condition was critical. Dissident sources said he had been subjected to physical abuse, including beatings, while in prison.
His family has called for the courts to accept an appeal for a retrial, which they said would allow the presentation of more evidence and the appearance of additional witnesses.
Amnesty says UN dragging its feet in seeking justice for East Timor
SCMP - Wednesday, April 14, 2004
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE in Jakarta
Updated at 1.16pm:
Amnesty International has accused the United Nations of dragging its feet in bringing Indonesian officers to justice for the army-backed militia atrocities in East Timor in 1999.
The human rights group, in a joint report with East Timor non-governmental body the Judicial System Monitoring Programme (JSMP), said the UN Security Council should seriously consider setting up an international criminal tribunal.
“While the UN is dragging its heels, those responsible for grave crimes in Timor-Leste (East Timor) are free and in many cases are in active military or police service,” said the report received Wednesday in Jakarta.
“It is therefore no surprise that the patterns, if not the scale of violations witnessed in Timor-Leste have since been repeated elsewhere in Indonesia.”
The report said a human rights court set up by Indonesia to try offenders was “fundamentally flawed.” Out of 18 people brought to trial, only six were convicted and ordered jailed and they are free pending final appeals.
Amnesty and JSMP said a special crimes court in East Timor “is hampered by limited capacity, the uncertain commitment of the Timor-Leste government to the process and, crucially, Indonesia’s refusal to cooperate with it.”
The court, at the request of UN-funded prosecutors, has indicted 369 suspects but more than three-quarters are in Indonesia, which refuses to hand anyone over for trial.
Among those indicted is former armed forces commander Wiranto, a presidential hopeful in Indonesia’s July election. He denies wrongdoing.
East Timor’s President Xanana Gusmao opposes the indictments, saying his country’s priority is good relations with giant neighbour Indonesia.
Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese colony in 1975 but authorised the UN to hold an independence referendum in August 1999.
However pro-Jakarta local militias, organised and armed by Indonesian soldiers, terrorised independence supporters before and after East Timorese voted overwhelmingly to break away from Indonesia.
Up to 1,500 civilians were killed and some 70 percent of the country’s buildings were destroyed.
“In 1999 the UN and individual governments expressed horror at the violence in Timor-Leste, but four years on, interest in supporting investigations and prosecutions has waned,” the report said.
“Moreover, Indonesia appears to be under little pressure to cooperate.”
Amnesty and JSMP urged the UN Security Council to increase support for the serious crimes process in East Timor and explore “effective alternatives” to the Indonesian court.
They said the UN should immediately establish an independent committee to assess obstacles to achieving justice and make recommendations to the Security Council.
“Among the options that must now be seriously considered is the establishment of an international criminal tribunal as recommended by the UN’s own International Commission of Inquiry on East Timor in January 2000,” the report said.
It urged individual governments to be prepared to arrest and extradite to East Timor individuals who have been indicted there.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE in Jakarta
Updated at 1.16pm:
Amnesty International has accused the United Nations of dragging its feet in bringing Indonesian officers to justice for the army-backed militia atrocities in East Timor in 1999.
The human rights group, in a joint report with East Timor non-governmental body the Judicial System Monitoring Programme (JSMP), said the UN Security Council should seriously consider setting up an international criminal tribunal.
“While the UN is dragging its heels, those responsible for grave crimes in Timor-Leste (East Timor) are free and in many cases are in active military or police service,” said the report received Wednesday in Jakarta.
“It is therefore no surprise that the patterns, if not the scale of violations witnessed in Timor-Leste have since been repeated elsewhere in Indonesia.”
The report said a human rights court set up by Indonesia to try offenders was “fundamentally flawed.” Out of 18 people brought to trial, only six were convicted and ordered jailed and they are free pending final appeals.
Amnesty and JSMP said a special crimes court in East Timor “is hampered by limited capacity, the uncertain commitment of the Timor-Leste government to the process and, crucially, Indonesia’s refusal to cooperate with it.”
The court, at the request of UN-funded prosecutors, has indicted 369 suspects but more than three-quarters are in Indonesia, which refuses to hand anyone over for trial.
Among those indicted is former armed forces commander Wiranto, a presidential hopeful in Indonesia’s July election. He denies wrongdoing.
East Timor’s President Xanana Gusmao opposes the indictments, saying his country’s priority is good relations with giant neighbour Indonesia.
Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese colony in 1975 but authorised the UN to hold an independence referendum in August 1999.
However pro-Jakarta local militias, organised and armed by Indonesian soldiers, terrorised independence supporters before and after East Timorese voted overwhelmingly to break away from Indonesia.
Up to 1,500 civilians were killed and some 70 percent of the country’s buildings were destroyed.
“In 1999 the UN and individual governments expressed horror at the violence in Timor-Leste, but four years on, interest in supporting investigations and prosecutions has waned,” the report said.
“Moreover, Indonesia appears to be under little pressure to cooperate.”
Amnesty and JSMP urged the UN Security Council to increase support for the serious crimes process in East Timor and explore “effective alternatives” to the Indonesian court.
They said the UN should immediately establish an independent committee to assess obstacles to achieving justice and make recommendations to the Security Council.
“Among the options that must now be seriously considered is the establishment of an international criminal tribunal as recommended by the UN’s own International Commission of Inquiry on East Timor in January 2000,” the report said.
It urged individual governments to be prepared to arrest and extradite to East Timor individuals who have been indicted there.
Discreet homage at Hu Yaobang's tomb
SCMP - Wednesday, April 14, 2004
REUTERS in Gongqingcheng
The nation's top leaders have made discreet pilgrimages to the remote burial site of former Communist Party chief Hu Yaobang, revered by many for his bold reforms.
Not a word or photograph has been published in leading newspapers due to the sensitivity of the political upheaval triggered by Hu's death in 1989.
"Reconsideration of Tiananmen is a toxic political subject," said Andrew Nathan, a China observer at New York's Columbia University and co-editor of The Tiananmen Papers, a book chronicling the events leading up to and aftermath of the 1989 crackdown. "It touches on the careers of many people still in power or holding great influence, including Jiang [Zemin] and Hu Jintao," he said.
A visit to the Gongqingcheng cemetery in Jiangxi province is strictly by invitation only. But the sensitivity has not stopped about 300,000 people a year, mainly government or party officials and students, from paying respects.
Some make the trek drawn by the lingering popularity of Hu, once tipped as a successor to paramount leader Deng Xiaoping. Others owe their political rehabilitation or promotion to him, and others want to be on the right side of history if and when he is rehabilitated.
President Hu Jintao, who cut his teeth in the Communist Youth League founded by Hu Yaobang, went to Gongqingcheng in 1993, a year after joining the party's Politburo Standing Committee.
Mr Jiang went there in 1995. He also called on Hu's widow at her Beijing home in the spring of 1999 and agreed to her request for a quiet ceremony in Gongqingcheng to mark the 10th anniversary of his death.
Most of the nine-member Standing Committee have paid their respects to Hu over the years since his death.
Former premier Zhu Rongji paid his respects in 1991 when he was Shanghai vice-mayor, a year before he was promoted. Plainclothes and uniformed guards patrol the sprawling grounds as visitors lay baskets of flowers before a triangular granite tombstone. Seventy-three steps lead to the memorial, which weighs 73 tonnes because Hu was 73 when he died of a heart attack. It is emblazoned with the insignia of the Communist Party, the Communist Youth League and the Young Pioneers, or Chinese scouts.
The tombstone is perched on Fuhua Hill, which translated means "enrich China", overlooking Lushan Mountain and Boyang Lake - the nation's largest.
Hu's remains were cremated in Beijing and flown to Gongqingcheng for burial on December 5, 1990. That event has gone unreported in mainstream state media for more than a decade.
REUTERS in Gongqingcheng
The nation's top leaders have made discreet pilgrimages to the remote burial site of former Communist Party chief Hu Yaobang, revered by many for his bold reforms.
Not a word or photograph has been published in leading newspapers due to the sensitivity of the political upheaval triggered by Hu's death in 1989.
"Reconsideration of Tiananmen is a toxic political subject," said Andrew Nathan, a China observer at New York's Columbia University and co-editor of The Tiananmen Papers, a book chronicling the events leading up to and aftermath of the 1989 crackdown. "It touches on the careers of many people still in power or holding great influence, including Jiang [Zemin] and Hu Jintao," he said.
A visit to the Gongqingcheng cemetery in Jiangxi province is strictly by invitation only. But the sensitivity has not stopped about 300,000 people a year, mainly government or party officials and students, from paying respects.
Some make the trek drawn by the lingering popularity of Hu, once tipped as a successor to paramount leader Deng Xiaoping. Others owe their political rehabilitation or promotion to him, and others want to be on the right side of history if and when he is rehabilitated.
President Hu Jintao, who cut his teeth in the Communist Youth League founded by Hu Yaobang, went to Gongqingcheng in 1993, a year after joining the party's Politburo Standing Committee.
Mr Jiang went there in 1995. He also called on Hu's widow at her Beijing home in the spring of 1999 and agreed to her request for a quiet ceremony in Gongqingcheng to mark the 10th anniversary of his death.
Most of the nine-member Standing Committee have paid their respects to Hu over the years since his death.
Former premier Zhu Rongji paid his respects in 1991 when he was Shanghai vice-mayor, a year before he was promoted. Plainclothes and uniformed guards patrol the sprawling grounds as visitors lay baskets of flowers before a triangular granite tombstone. Seventy-three steps lead to the memorial, which weighs 73 tonnes because Hu was 73 when he died of a heart attack. It is emblazoned with the insignia of the Communist Party, the Communist Youth League and the Young Pioneers, or Chinese scouts.
The tombstone is perched on Fuhua Hill, which translated means "enrich China", overlooking Lushan Mountain and Boyang Lake - the nation's largest.
Hu's remains were cremated in Beijing and flown to Gongqingcheng for burial on December 5, 1990. That event has gone unreported in mainstream state media for more than a decade.
Report: Jailed dissident launches hunger strike
SCMP - Wednesday, April 14, 2004
ASSOCIATED PRESS in Beijing
Updated at 12.01pm:
An imprisoned former leader of the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests is in critical condition after refusing food for five months to protest his conviction on what he says are false charges, a human rights group said on Wednesday.
Zhang Ming was sentenced in September to seven years in prison on charges related to his Shanghai business, New York-based Human Rights in China said.
Zhang, 39, launched the hunger strike in November "to protest his harsh sentence on what he claims are bogus charges," the group said. It said he has lost 23 kilograms and "been reduced to a skeletal condition."
Zhang was a leader of the 1989 protests and was No. 19 on the government's "most wanted" list following the military crackdown that killed hundreds and possibly thousands of demonstrators. He was captured and sentenced to three years in prison.
The latest charges stem from Zhang's "refusal to recant his political principles or express regret for his previous actions, and the ill feeling and envy that his financial success aroused among Chinese officials," Human Rights in China said.
Zhang was arrested in September in connection with an alleged plot to blow up a building, the group said. It claimed that after authorities decided his dedication to his business made it difficult to support claims of violence, he was convicted of "abuse of executive benefits." It didn't give any details of the charge.
Chinese authorities have been accused of using false criminal charges to attack other dissidents and others critical of communist rule.
Zhang isn't known to have engaged in any recent political activity.
At his trial, Zhang's lawyers were denied access to some prosecution materials, Human Rights in China said.
He launched an earlier hunger strike to protest his lack of an open trial, Human Rights in China said. It said authorities punished him by leaving him bound to a bed for 113 hours without toilet facilities.
"The available information strongly suggests that Zhang Ming has been denied a fair trial on purely political grounds," Human Rights in China president Liu Qing said in the statement.
"It is completely unacceptable for the justice system to be used as a tool of political oppression," Liu said. "Zhang Ming should be granted a fair and open retrial, and in the meantime he should be provided with all necessary medical attention to treat his fragile physical condition."
ASSOCIATED PRESS in Beijing
Updated at 12.01pm:
An imprisoned former leader of the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests is in critical condition after refusing food for five months to protest his conviction on what he says are false charges, a human rights group said on Wednesday.
Zhang Ming was sentenced in September to seven years in prison on charges related to his Shanghai business, New York-based Human Rights in China said.
Zhang, 39, launched the hunger strike in November "to protest his harsh sentence on what he claims are bogus charges," the group said. It said he has lost 23 kilograms and "been reduced to a skeletal condition."
Zhang was a leader of the 1989 protests and was No. 19 on the government's "most wanted" list following the military crackdown that killed hundreds and possibly thousands of demonstrators. He was captured and sentenced to three years in prison.
The latest charges stem from Zhang's "refusal to recant his political principles or express regret for his previous actions, and the ill feeling and envy that his financial success aroused among Chinese officials," Human Rights in China said.
Zhang was arrested in September in connection with an alleged plot to blow up a building, the group said. It claimed that after authorities decided his dedication to his business made it difficult to support claims of violence, he was convicted of "abuse of executive benefits." It didn't give any details of the charge.
Chinese authorities have been accused of using false criminal charges to attack other dissidents and others critical of communist rule.
Zhang isn't known to have engaged in any recent political activity.
At his trial, Zhang's lawyers were denied access to some prosecution materials, Human Rights in China said.
He launched an earlier hunger strike to protest his lack of an open trial, Human Rights in China said. It said authorities punished him by leaving him bound to a bed for 113 hours without toilet facilities.
"The available information strongly suggests that Zhang Ming has been denied a fair trial on purely political grounds," Human Rights in China president Liu Qing said in the statement.
"It is completely unacceptable for the justice system to be used as a tool of political oppression," Liu said. "Zhang Ming should be granted a fair and open retrial, and in the meantime he should be provided with all necessary medical attention to treat his fragile physical condition."
15 years after Hu Yaobang's death, democracy remains distant in China
SCMP - Tuesday, April 13, 2004
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE in Beijing
Updated at 12.34pm:
Fifteen years ago on Thursday, reformist Communist Party leader Hu Yaobang died of a sudden heart attack in Beijing, sparking a spontaneous outpouring of grief that turned into six weeks of unprecedented, nationwide democracy protests.
By June 4 when the troops of the People's Liberation Army quelled the protests in a bloody massacre in the streets of Beijing, the idealistic hopes of millions of Chinese for a democratic homeland were dashed.
"Hu's time in power was the most hopeful period for China's reform, not only did he push forward economic reform, but he was also in favour of ideological tolerance and political reform," Liu Xiaobo, a Beijing-based dissident and social critic told AFP.
"With the death of Hu Yaobang, you could say that the idea of simultaneous political and economic reform in China also died."
Hu has largely been seen as responsible for dealing with the atrocities of the disastrous Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), while also establishing policies that have ushered in 25 years of robust economic growth.
He was appointed general secretary of the Communist Party in 1980, when former patriarch leader Deng Xiaoping also brought in another reformer, Zhao Ziyang as prime minister.
For most of the 1980s, Hu oversaw the rehabilitation of thousands of Chinese who had been persecuted during earlier political campaigns like the Cultural Revolution, while he and Zhao began to set the stage for robust political reforms.
But their plans began to unravel in early 1987, when Deng removed Hu as party boss due to his unwillingness to crack down on student protests in the winter of 1986-87.
Although Zhao took Hu's place as head of the ruling party, he was also removed for opposing Deng's military assault on the 1989 Tiananmen democracy protests and remains under house arrest - along with his political reform plans - to this day.
"Hu Yaobang was a Communist Party official who had a conscience," said Ding Zilin, 67, a former professor at People's University whose son was shot and killed during the 1989 crackdown.
"The last few years of his life, he pushed forward reforms that were widely opposed and he never stopped trying to address the mistakes of the Communist Party like the Cultural Revolution. For this the people remember him."
Hu's tolerance for intellectual dissent was also one of the reasons that up to one million people took to the streets on certain days during the 1989 protests, she said.
"At the time Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang instilled a lot of optimism among intellectuals and students who were interested in political reforms and basic freedoms like freedom of the press," said Liu, who was jailed after the 1989 crackdown and who continues to live under a loose house arrest in Beijing.
"Today, intellectuals and students are largely benefiting from the economic reforms and with the political climate still oppressive, they are no longer interested in political reform."
The government now relies on a police state to maintain social stability, as the political system still cannot adequately address the growing problems of unemployment, a widening wealth gap and rampant government corruption, he said.
Even a recent bout of pneumonia that left Zhao hospitalised resulted in a reported meeting of high level leaders who expressed concerns that the untimely death of the 89-year-old could lead to another spontaneous outpouring of grief.
Besides stepping up surveillance on dissidents like Liu, Ding was detained by police for nearly a week this month for her activities in leading the Tiananmen Mother's activist group that has demanded the government take responsibility for the 1989 killings.
The group of some 120 relatives of victims of the Tiananmen assault have every year called on the government to overturn the "counter-revolutionary verdict" on the protests and reassess them as a patriotic movement.
"We are not planning any activities for the 15th anniversary of Hu Yaobang, but we will remember him in our hearts," Mr Ding told AFP.
"But this in no way means that we will end our efforts to seek justice for our loved ones and demand that the government overturns the unjust verdict on the Tiananmen protests."
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE in Beijing
Updated at 12.34pm:
Fifteen years ago on Thursday, reformist Communist Party leader Hu Yaobang died of a sudden heart attack in Beijing, sparking a spontaneous outpouring of grief that turned into six weeks of unprecedented, nationwide democracy protests.
By June 4 when the troops of the People's Liberation Army quelled the protests in a bloody massacre in the streets of Beijing, the idealistic hopes of millions of Chinese for a democratic homeland were dashed.
"Hu's time in power was the most hopeful period for China's reform, not only did he push forward economic reform, but he was also in favour of ideological tolerance and political reform," Liu Xiaobo, a Beijing-based dissident and social critic told AFP.
"With the death of Hu Yaobang, you could say that the idea of simultaneous political and economic reform in China also died."
Hu has largely been seen as responsible for dealing with the atrocities of the disastrous Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), while also establishing policies that have ushered in 25 years of robust economic growth.
He was appointed general secretary of the Communist Party in 1980, when former patriarch leader Deng Xiaoping also brought in another reformer, Zhao Ziyang as prime minister.
For most of the 1980s, Hu oversaw the rehabilitation of thousands of Chinese who had been persecuted during earlier political campaigns like the Cultural Revolution, while he and Zhao began to set the stage for robust political reforms.
But their plans began to unravel in early 1987, when Deng removed Hu as party boss due to his unwillingness to crack down on student protests in the winter of 1986-87.
Although Zhao took Hu's place as head of the ruling party, he was also removed for opposing Deng's military assault on the 1989 Tiananmen democracy protests and remains under house arrest - along with his political reform plans - to this day.
"Hu Yaobang was a Communist Party official who had a conscience," said Ding Zilin, 67, a former professor at People's University whose son was shot and killed during the 1989 crackdown.
"The last few years of his life, he pushed forward reforms that were widely opposed and he never stopped trying to address the mistakes of the Communist Party like the Cultural Revolution. For this the people remember him."
Hu's tolerance for intellectual dissent was also one of the reasons that up to one million people took to the streets on certain days during the 1989 protests, she said.
"At the time Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang instilled a lot of optimism among intellectuals and students who were interested in political reforms and basic freedoms like freedom of the press," said Liu, who was jailed after the 1989 crackdown and who continues to live under a loose house arrest in Beijing.
"Today, intellectuals and students are largely benefiting from the economic reforms and with the political climate still oppressive, they are no longer interested in political reform."
The government now relies on a police state to maintain social stability, as the political system still cannot adequately address the growing problems of unemployment, a widening wealth gap and rampant government corruption, he said.
Even a recent bout of pneumonia that left Zhao hospitalised resulted in a reported meeting of high level leaders who expressed concerns that the untimely death of the 89-year-old could lead to another spontaneous outpouring of grief.
Besides stepping up surveillance on dissidents like Liu, Ding was detained by police for nearly a week this month for her activities in leading the Tiananmen Mother's activist group that has demanded the government take responsibility for the 1989 killings.
The group of some 120 relatives of victims of the Tiananmen assault have every year called on the government to overturn the "counter-revolutionary verdict" on the protests and reassess them as a patriotic movement.
"We are not planning any activities for the 15th anniversary of Hu Yaobang, but we will remember him in our hearts," Mr Ding told AFP.
"But this in no way means that we will end our efforts to seek justice for our loved ones and demand that the government overturns the unjust verdict on the Tiananmen protests."
ONCE AGAIN, EAST TIMOR IS BETRAYED
In his latest column in the New Statesman, John Pilger describes how East Timor - independent after almost a quarter of a century of genocidal attack by Indonesia, backed by the West - is being cheated of its oil by Australia.
Ten years ago, I filmed secretly in East Timor, a small country in south-east Asia whose brutal occupation was largely unknown to the outside world. The title of the film, Death of a Nation, was hardly an exaggeration. The Suharto military dictatorship in Indonesia, having invaded the Portuguese colony in 1975, caused the death of "at least" 200,000 East Timorese, according to a study by the foreign affairs committee of the Australian parliament. This represented a third of the population; proportionally, it was an act of genocide greater than the Jewish Holocaust. The governments of the United States, Britain and Australia were not only forewarned, but supported and equipped the invaders. Henry Kissinger personally gave General Suharto the go-ahead.
In East Timor, I found a landscape of graves and black crosses that spilled down valleys and crowded the eye, evidence that whole communities had been slaughtered by the Indonesian army. In a handwritten record compiled by a priest, 287 names were listed, including those of entire extended families, from the elderly to infants such as "Domingo Gomes, aged two... shot". For me, the most telling and shocking sequence in Death of a Nation had been filmed five years earlier on board an Australian air force plane. A party was in progress; champagne corks popped and there was much false laughter as two fawning men in suits toasted each other. One was Gareth Evans, then Australia's foreign minister. The other was Ali Alatas, his Indonesian equivalent and Suharto's mouthpiece. "This is an historically unique moment," waffled Evans, "that is truly, uniquely historical." Flying over the Timor Sea, they had just signed the Timor Gap Treaty, which allowed Australian and other foreign companies to exploit the seabed belonging to the land of black crosses and to their victims. The ultimate prize, as Evans put it, could be "zillions" of dollars.
From the day Suharto's paratroopers invaded, Australian governments eyed East Timor's natural wealth. Richard Woolcott, the Australian ambassador in Jakarta in 1975, who, like the British and American ambassadors, had been tipped off about the invasion, recommended that Canberra adopt "a pragmatic rather than a principled stand [which] is what national foreign policy is all about". Australia, he urged, might "more readily" negotiate a carve-up of the Timor Gap with the Indonesian dictatorship than with the captive East Timorese. With this in mind, he proposed that "we act in a way designed to minimise the public impact in Australia [of the invasion] and show private understanding to the Indonesians". There was not a word of concern for the fate of the Timorese.
The "historically unique" treaty signed by Gareth Evans with a genocidal regime was, wrote Professor Roger Clark, a world authority on international law, "the same as acquiring stuff from a thief. The fact is that [Australia and Indonesia] have neither historical, nor legal, nor moral claim to East Timor and its resources."
For more than 60 years, Australia's relations with its tiny, vulnerable neighbour have been distinguished by enduring betrayal, bullying and greed, the antithesis of the self-adulating Australian myth of "fair go". During the Second World War, more than 40,000 East Timorese were slaughtered by the Japanese for siding with and protecting Australian commandos, after the Australians suddenly withdrew. When, in the 1970s, General Suharto sought Australia's tacit approval of his long-planned invasion and annexation of Portuguese East Timor, he got it; the East Timorese were, it was argued in Canberra, too poor for a "viable" independence - forget the "zillions" of dollars in potential oil revenue.
In 1985, Australia became the first western country formally to recognise Indonesia's bloody conquest, which Evans infamously described as "irreversible". On a visit to Jakarta in February 1991 to finalise the Timor Gap Treaty, he said: "The truth of the matter is that the human rights situation [in East Timor] has, in our judgement, conspicuously improved, particularly under the present military arrangements." Nine months later, the Indonesian military killed or wounded more than 450 young mourners at the Santa Cruz cemetery in Dili, the capital. Evans described this as "an aberration, not an act of state policy". Soon after the massacre, the joint Australian-Indonesian board overseeing implementation of the treaty awarded 11 contracts to Australian oil and gas companies. Asked about the international principle of not recognising and exploiting territory taken by force, Evans said, "The world is a pretty unfair place."
Little has changed for the present Australian government of John Howard, whom George W Bush recently appointed America's "sheriff" in the South Pacific. This would have been an embarrassment to most prime ministers, but not to Howard. Indeed, Sheriff Howard and his perilously gormless deputy, Alexander Downer, the foreign minister, are on a "mission". It is to take charge of the "failed states" that make up what Washington calls an "arc of instability" in the Pacific region. Last year, Australian troops were despatched to the Solomon Islands: to "police the chaos", meaning to secure the country for Australian business. Something similar is under way in Papua New Guinea, where a regime of privatisation, deregulation and "free trade" is being directed by a team from Australia.
In Indonesia, the military has quietly regained the power it enjoyed under Suharto, and members of its bloodthirsty special forces unit, known as Kopassus, are once again being trained in Australia. These uniformed criminals (armed and equipped by Britain) are currently terrorising the people of the provinces of Aceh and West Papua, just as they tortured and murdered thousands in East Timor.
In 1999, when the East Timorese people demonstrated extraordinary bravery by voting overwhelmingly for independence in a UN plebiscite, they were betrayed once again by Australia. Both Howard and Downer had been told by Australian intelligence that the Indonesian military were planning to sabotage the vote with attacks using a murderous "militia". In Canberra, the sheriff and his deputy denied knowledge and did nothing. It was only when tens of thousands of ordinary Australians, long shamed by their country's brutal duplicity in East Timor, protested spontaneously in cities and towns across Australia, that the government agreed to lead a UN force enforcing the result of the plebiscite.
The self-congratulations for this "proud stand for peace", as Howard called it, apparently with a straight face, also served to cover his government's continuing theft of most of East Timor's seabed resources. Since 1999, Australia has received more than a billion dollars in taxes on oil extracted from a field fully situated in East Timorese territory; East Timor has received nothing from the same field.
According to international law, the sea boundary between countries close to each other is the median line, or halfway point. The Howard government rejects this, demanding that the old border, agreed illegally with Suharto, should apply. In keeping with the duties and ethics of a Bush-appointed sheriff, Howard has refused to recognise the jurisdiction of both the InternatioŮal Court of Justice and the Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. Instead, Australia today occupies the East Timorese seabed and is poised to rob the tiny nation of roughly $30bn over the next three decades. With the Australian senate's recent approval of a new treaty, Howard's and Downer's tactic is to pressure the East Timorese on the seabed issue by constantly threatening to pull out of negotiations, thus denying a stricken people money they urgently need for reconstruction. In this way, East Timor is proclaimed a "failed state" and becomes dependent on and controlled by Canberra.
Howard is doing much the same in Iraq. Of the token hangers-on who make up the Anglo-American "coalition of the willing", Spain, Honduras, Poland and the Netherlands are about to recall their troops. Only Australia remains true to the uber-sheriff in Washington. This begs the question: when will decent Australians again make their voices heard?
New Statesman - www.newstatesman.co.uk 01 April 2004
Ten years ago, I filmed secretly in East Timor, a small country in south-east Asia whose brutal occupation was largely unknown to the outside world. The title of the film, Death of a Nation, was hardly an exaggeration. The Suharto military dictatorship in Indonesia, having invaded the Portuguese colony in 1975, caused the death of "at least" 200,000 East Timorese, according to a study by the foreign affairs committee of the Australian parliament. This represented a third of the population; proportionally, it was an act of genocide greater than the Jewish Holocaust. The governments of the United States, Britain and Australia were not only forewarned, but supported and equipped the invaders. Henry Kissinger personally gave General Suharto the go-ahead.
In East Timor, I found a landscape of graves and black crosses that spilled down valleys and crowded the eye, evidence that whole communities had been slaughtered by the Indonesian army. In a handwritten record compiled by a priest, 287 names were listed, including those of entire extended families, from the elderly to infants such as "Domingo Gomes, aged two... shot". For me, the most telling and shocking sequence in Death of a Nation had been filmed five years earlier on board an Australian air force plane. A party was in progress; champagne corks popped and there was much false laughter as two fawning men in suits toasted each other. One was Gareth Evans, then Australia's foreign minister. The other was Ali Alatas, his Indonesian equivalent and Suharto's mouthpiece. "This is an historically unique moment," waffled Evans, "that is truly, uniquely historical." Flying over the Timor Sea, they had just signed the Timor Gap Treaty, which allowed Australian and other foreign companies to exploit the seabed belonging to the land of black crosses and to their victims. The ultimate prize, as Evans put it, could be "zillions" of dollars.
From the day Suharto's paratroopers invaded, Australian governments eyed East Timor's natural wealth. Richard Woolcott, the Australian ambassador in Jakarta in 1975, who, like the British and American ambassadors, had been tipped off about the invasion, recommended that Canberra adopt "a pragmatic rather than a principled stand [which] is what national foreign policy is all about". Australia, he urged, might "more readily" negotiate a carve-up of the Timor Gap with the Indonesian dictatorship than with the captive East Timorese. With this in mind, he proposed that "we act in a way designed to minimise the public impact in Australia [of the invasion] and show private understanding to the Indonesians". There was not a word of concern for the fate of the Timorese.
The "historically unique" treaty signed by Gareth Evans with a genocidal regime was, wrote Professor Roger Clark, a world authority on international law, "the same as acquiring stuff from a thief. The fact is that [Australia and Indonesia] have neither historical, nor legal, nor moral claim to East Timor and its resources."
For more than 60 years, Australia's relations with its tiny, vulnerable neighbour have been distinguished by enduring betrayal, bullying and greed, the antithesis of the self-adulating Australian myth of "fair go". During the Second World War, more than 40,000 East Timorese were slaughtered by the Japanese for siding with and protecting Australian commandos, after the Australians suddenly withdrew. When, in the 1970s, General Suharto sought Australia's tacit approval of his long-planned invasion and annexation of Portuguese East Timor, he got it; the East Timorese were, it was argued in Canberra, too poor for a "viable" independence - forget the "zillions" of dollars in potential oil revenue.
In 1985, Australia became the first western country formally to recognise Indonesia's bloody conquest, which Evans infamously described as "irreversible". On a visit to Jakarta in February 1991 to finalise the Timor Gap Treaty, he said: "The truth of the matter is that the human rights situation [in East Timor] has, in our judgement, conspicuously improved, particularly under the present military arrangements." Nine months later, the Indonesian military killed or wounded more than 450 young mourners at the Santa Cruz cemetery in Dili, the capital. Evans described this as "an aberration, not an act of state policy". Soon after the massacre, the joint Australian-Indonesian board overseeing implementation of the treaty awarded 11 contracts to Australian oil and gas companies. Asked about the international principle of not recognising and exploiting territory taken by force, Evans said, "The world is a pretty unfair place."
Little has changed for the present Australian government of John Howard, whom George W Bush recently appointed America's "sheriff" in the South Pacific. This would have been an embarrassment to most prime ministers, but not to Howard. Indeed, Sheriff Howard and his perilously gormless deputy, Alexander Downer, the foreign minister, are on a "mission". It is to take charge of the "failed states" that make up what Washington calls an "arc of instability" in the Pacific region. Last year, Australian troops were despatched to the Solomon Islands: to "police the chaos", meaning to secure the country for Australian business. Something similar is under way in Papua New Guinea, where a regime of privatisation, deregulation and "free trade" is being directed by a team from Australia.
In Indonesia, the military has quietly regained the power it enjoyed under Suharto, and members of its bloodthirsty special forces unit, known as Kopassus, are once again being trained in Australia. These uniformed criminals (armed and equipped by Britain) are currently terrorising the people of the provinces of Aceh and West Papua, just as they tortured and murdered thousands in East Timor.
In 1999, when the East Timorese people demonstrated extraordinary bravery by voting overwhelmingly for independence in a UN plebiscite, they were betrayed once again by Australia. Both Howard and Downer had been told by Australian intelligence that the Indonesian military were planning to sabotage the vote with attacks using a murderous "militia". In Canberra, the sheriff and his deputy denied knowledge and did nothing. It was only when tens of thousands of ordinary Australians, long shamed by their country's brutal duplicity in East Timor, protested spontaneously in cities and towns across Australia, that the government agreed to lead a UN force enforcing the result of the plebiscite.
The self-congratulations for this "proud stand for peace", as Howard called it, apparently with a straight face, also served to cover his government's continuing theft of most of East Timor's seabed resources. Since 1999, Australia has received more than a billion dollars in taxes on oil extracted from a field fully situated in East Timorese territory; East Timor has received nothing from the same field.
According to international law, the sea boundary between countries close to each other is the median line, or halfway point. The Howard government rejects this, demanding that the old border, agreed illegally with Suharto, should apply. In keeping with the duties and ethics of a Bush-appointed sheriff, Howard has refused to recognise the jurisdiction of both the InternatioŮal Court of Justice and the Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. Instead, Australia today occupies the East Timorese seabed and is poised to rob the tiny nation of roughly $30bn over the next three decades. With the Australian senate's recent approval of a new treaty, Howard's and Downer's tactic is to pressure the East Timorese on the seabed issue by constantly threatening to pull out of negotiations, thus denying a stricken people money they urgently need for reconstruction. In this way, East Timor is proclaimed a "failed state" and becomes dependent on and controlled by Canberra.
Howard is doing much the same in Iraq. Of the token hangers-on who make up the Anglo-American "coalition of the willing", Spain, Honduras, Poland and the Netherlands are about to recall their troops. Only Australia remains true to the uber-sheriff in Washington. This begs the question: when will decent Australians again make their voices heard?
New Statesman - www.newstatesman.co.uk 01 April 2004
Japanese court rules Koizumi war shrine visit unconstitutional
scmp - Wednesday, April 7, 2004
ASSOCIATED PRESS in Tokyo
Updated at 12.04pm:
A regional court in southern Japan ruled on Wednesday that a visit by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to a controversial war shrine violated the constitutional separation of religion and state.
The prime minister’s trips to the shrine in downtown Tokyo have long angered China, South Korea and other Asian countries because of its association with Japan’s wartime exploits. But the ruling - dealing with single visit in 2001 - was the first to find them in violation of Japan’s constitution.
The government has claimed Koizumi visited Yasukuni as a private citizen and thus didn’t infringe on the separation between religion and state. He has made four trips to the shrine since assuming office three years ago.
But Kiyonaga Kamegawa, chief justice of the Fukuoka District Court, ruled he made the visits in his official capacity as prime minister, violating the division between religion and state, according to Kyodo News. Court officials refused to confirm details of the ruling, saying only that the plaintiffs’ demand for compensation was denied.
The ruling was unprecedented, and government indicated it would appeal.
The decision is “extremely regrettable,” said Deputy-Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda.
In February, the Osaka District Court refused to rule on the constitutionality of the visit, saying the plaintiffs in a different case had not suffered emotional turmoil as claimed. Four other cases are making their way through Japanese courts.
In Wednesday’s ruling, the Fukuoka court responded to a lawsuit filed by a group of 211 activists demanding damages of 21.1 million yen (HK$163 million) arguing that Mr Koizumi’s visits to the shrine violated the constitution and caused them psychological stress.
The court rejected their claims for compensation, an official at the Fukuoka Court said, but declined to provide further details.
The court was ruling on the constitutionality of a visit made in August 2001.
Yasukuni, a Shinto shrine, honours Japan’s 2.5 million war dead including convicted criminals from World War II.
Mr Koizumi has continued to visit the shrine despite strong condemnation from China, North and South Korea and other Asian countries where memories of Japanese colonialism remain fresh.
A brand of Shinto focusing worship around the emperor as a living deity descended from the sun goddess was the state religion of Japan until this country’s defeat in 1945 ended World War II.
ASSOCIATED PRESS in Tokyo
Updated at 12.04pm:
A regional court in southern Japan ruled on Wednesday that a visit by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to a controversial war shrine violated the constitutional separation of religion and state.
The prime minister’s trips to the shrine in downtown Tokyo have long angered China, South Korea and other Asian countries because of its association with Japan’s wartime exploits. But the ruling - dealing with single visit in 2001 - was the first to find them in violation of Japan’s constitution.
The government has claimed Koizumi visited Yasukuni as a private citizen and thus didn’t infringe on the separation between religion and state. He has made four trips to the shrine since assuming office three years ago.
But Kiyonaga Kamegawa, chief justice of the Fukuoka District Court, ruled he made the visits in his official capacity as prime minister, violating the division between religion and state, according to Kyodo News. Court officials refused to confirm details of the ruling, saying only that the plaintiffs’ demand for compensation was denied.
The ruling was unprecedented, and government indicated it would appeal.
The decision is “extremely regrettable,” said Deputy-Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda.
In February, the Osaka District Court refused to rule on the constitutionality of the visit, saying the plaintiffs in a different case had not suffered emotional turmoil as claimed. Four other cases are making their way through Japanese courts.
In Wednesday’s ruling, the Fukuoka court responded to a lawsuit filed by a group of 211 activists demanding damages of 21.1 million yen (HK$163 million) arguing that Mr Koizumi’s visits to the shrine violated the constitution and caused them psychological stress.
The court rejected their claims for compensation, an official at the Fukuoka Court said, but declined to provide further details.
The court was ruling on the constitutionality of a visit made in August 2001.
Yasukuni, a Shinto shrine, honours Japan’s 2.5 million war dead including convicted criminals from World War II.
Mr Koizumi has continued to visit the shrine despite strong condemnation from China, North and South Korea and other Asian countries where memories of Japanese colonialism remain fresh.
A brand of Shinto focusing worship around the emperor as a living deity descended from the sun goddess was the state religion of Japan until this country’s defeat in 1945 ended World War II.
Two of three arrested members of 'Tiananmen Mothers' released
SCMP - Friday, April 2, 2004
CINDY SUI of Agence France-Presse in Beijing
Updated at 4.10pm:
Chinese authorities have released two of three women arrested for seeking justice for victims of the brutal 1989 crackdown on Tiananmen Square, relatives said on Friday.
Huang Jinping was released on Thursday and Zhang Xianling Friday after being detained since Sunday, two family members said.
The women are part of the "Tiananmen Mothers" activist group which for years has petitioned the government to reassess and take responsibility for sending troops to crush the 1989 pro-democracy protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, killing hundreds, perhaps as many as a thousand people.
A relative of Mrs Huang, who declined to be identified, said: "Three uniformed state security police officers brought her home Thursday afternoon."
Mrs Zhang and her family could not be reached for comment, but the husband of the third woman arrested, Ding Zilin, said Mrs Zhang's husband had informed him that the elderly woman had been released.
Authorities gave no word on when Mrs Ding, the founder and most active member of the group, would be released, her husband Jiang Peikun said.
He said she was allowed to call him on Friday to enquire about his health. Jiang recently had heart surgery.
"She could not say much. I guess the people in the detention centre wouldn't let her," Jiang said. "She asked about my health. I asked her when she would come home, but she said 'Don't ask.'"
Ding told him she was still in east China's Wuxi city, which she was visiting when she was arrested.
The release of Mrs Zhang and Mrs Huang came after the United States on Wednesday called for the "immediate release" of the three women.
A US State Department spokesman also Wednesday questioned China's claim that its human rights record was improving and attacked Beijing's refusal to reassess the crackdown on the Tiananmen Square protests.
Mrs Huang, whose husband was killed in the Tiananmen massacre, did not appear to be physically abused but seemed to be still in shock, her relative said.
"She was in a very low mood after she got home. She refused to say anything to us after she got home. She kept saying to herself 'Why?'" the relative said.
The three women were arrested after police discovered that a videotaped testimony on their efforts to seek justice would be brought before the UN Commission of Human Rights in Geneva, the New York-based group Human Rights in China had said.
The US is proposing a resolution at the UN meeting that will express concern over China's rights record.
Chinese officials and police have expressed concern over social unrest on the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen democracy protests, which began in April 1989 and culminated with the bloody crushing on June 4.
Ding and Mrs Zhang's teenage sons were shot when tanks and soldiers opened fire on unarmed protestors and bystanders.
In recent years, the Tiananmen Mothers have issued open letters to the government demanding a formal dialogue with bereaved families, the establishment of an independent inquiry into the crackdown and the publication of an official list of those killed.
Upon their arrests, police told Mrs Zhang's and Mrs Huang's families that the women were suspected of "harming state security". T-shirts posted to them from Hong Kong imprinted with the logo "Tiananmen Mothers" were also confiscated during the arrests.
"I hope they will release my wife soon now that they have released the other two women," Mrs Ding's husband Jiang said.
CINDY SUI of Agence France-Presse in Beijing
Updated at 4.10pm:
Chinese authorities have released two of three women arrested for seeking justice for victims of the brutal 1989 crackdown on Tiananmen Square, relatives said on Friday.
Huang Jinping was released on Thursday and Zhang Xianling Friday after being detained since Sunday, two family members said.
The women are part of the "Tiananmen Mothers" activist group which for years has petitioned the government to reassess and take responsibility for sending troops to crush the 1989 pro-democracy protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, killing hundreds, perhaps as many as a thousand people.
A relative of Mrs Huang, who declined to be identified, said: "Three uniformed state security police officers brought her home Thursday afternoon."
Mrs Zhang and her family could not be reached for comment, but the husband of the third woman arrested, Ding Zilin, said Mrs Zhang's husband had informed him that the elderly woman had been released.
Authorities gave no word on when Mrs Ding, the founder and most active member of the group, would be released, her husband Jiang Peikun said.
He said she was allowed to call him on Friday to enquire about his health. Jiang recently had heart surgery.
"She could not say much. I guess the people in the detention centre wouldn't let her," Jiang said. "She asked about my health. I asked her when she would come home, but she said 'Don't ask.'"
Ding told him she was still in east China's Wuxi city, which she was visiting when she was arrested.
The release of Mrs Zhang and Mrs Huang came after the United States on Wednesday called for the "immediate release" of the three women.
A US State Department spokesman also Wednesday questioned China's claim that its human rights record was improving and attacked Beijing's refusal to reassess the crackdown on the Tiananmen Square protests.
Mrs Huang, whose husband was killed in the Tiananmen massacre, did not appear to be physically abused but seemed to be still in shock, her relative said.
"She was in a very low mood after she got home. She refused to say anything to us after she got home. She kept saying to herself 'Why?'" the relative said.
The three women were arrested after police discovered that a videotaped testimony on their efforts to seek justice would be brought before the UN Commission of Human Rights in Geneva, the New York-based group Human Rights in China had said.
The US is proposing a resolution at the UN meeting that will express concern over China's rights record.
Chinese officials and police have expressed concern over social unrest on the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen democracy protests, which began in April 1989 and culminated with the bloody crushing on June 4.
Ding and Mrs Zhang's teenage sons were shot when tanks and soldiers opened fire on unarmed protestors and bystanders.
In recent years, the Tiananmen Mothers have issued open letters to the government demanding a formal dialogue with bereaved families, the establishment of an independent inquiry into the crackdown and the publication of an official list of those killed.
Upon their arrests, police told Mrs Zhang's and Mrs Huang's families that the women were suspected of "harming state security". T-shirts posted to them from Hong Kong imprinted with the logo "Tiananmen Mothers" were also confiscated during the arrests.
"I hope they will release my wife soon now that they have released the other two women," Mrs Ding's husband Jiang said.
Husband of 'Tiananmen mother' seeks legal redress
SCMP - Friday, April 2, 2004
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE and REUTERS in Beijing and Washington
The husband of Ding Zilin, leader of the Tiananmen Mothers activist group, said yesterday he was seeking legal advice as police had failed to notify him - as required by law - of the charges against his wife.
Jiang Peikun voiced concern for Ding, 67, who has suffered from heart problems after years of demanding that the government take responsibility for the 1989 crackdown on the Tiananmen Square democracy protests in which their 17-year-old son was killed.
His comments come after the US State Department urged Beijing on Wednesday to release Ding as well as Zhang Xianliang and Huang Jinping, two other members of the group, who were also detained last Sunday.
"We urge the immediate release of the three relatives of victims of the crackdown on the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests who were recently detained in Beijing," US State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said in Washington.
"The detention of the three women who are members of the Tiananmen Mothers group . . . calls into question China's claim that its human rights record is improving," he said.
Mainland police are required by law to issue detention warrants within 24 hours of an arrest.
Ding was in the eastern city of Wuxi, Zhejiang province, when she was believed to have been arrested by state security police.
Zhang and Huang were arrested by state security police in Beijing.
Their families have been told the two were detained on suspicion of "harming state security", a charge routinely used to arrest and jail people who voice dissent.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE and REUTERS in Beijing and Washington
The husband of Ding Zilin, leader of the Tiananmen Mothers activist group, said yesterday he was seeking legal advice as police had failed to notify him - as required by law - of the charges against his wife.
Jiang Peikun voiced concern for Ding, 67, who has suffered from heart problems after years of demanding that the government take responsibility for the 1989 crackdown on the Tiananmen Square democracy protests in which their 17-year-old son was killed.
His comments come after the US State Department urged Beijing on Wednesday to release Ding as well as Zhang Xianliang and Huang Jinping, two other members of the group, who were also detained last Sunday.
"We urge the immediate release of the three relatives of victims of the crackdown on the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests who were recently detained in Beijing," US State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said in Washington.
"The detention of the three women who are members of the Tiananmen Mothers group . . . calls into question China's claim that its human rights record is improving," he said.
Mainland police are required by law to issue detention warrants within 24 hours of an arrest.
Ding was in the eastern city of Wuxi, Zhejiang province, when she was believed to have been arrested by state security police.
Zhang and Huang were arrested by state security police in Beijing.
Their families have been told the two were detained on suspicion of "harming state security", a charge routinely used to arrest and jail people who voice dissent.
china.scmp.com - South China Morning Post online coverage of politics and business news in Greater China
SCMP - Thursday, April 1, 2004
Husband of jailed 'Tiananmen Mother' seeks legal redress
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Updated at 4.03pm:
The husband of Ding Zilin, leader of the "Tiananmen Mothers" activist group, said on Thursday he was seeking legal advice as police failed to notify him - as required by Chinese law - of the charges against his wife.
Jiang Peikun voiced concern for Ding, 67, who has suffered from heart problems following years of frustrating efforts demanding the government take responsibility for the brutal 1989 crackdown on the Tiananmen democracy protests in which their 17-year old son was killed.
His comments come after the US State Department urged Beijing on Wednesday to release Ding as well as Zhang Xianliang and Huang Jinping, two other members of the group, who were also detained on Sunday.
The women's videotaped testimony on their activities was placed before the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva.
"We urge the immediate release of the three relatives of victims of the crackdown on the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests who were recently detained in Beijing," US State Department spokesman Adam Ereli told reporters.
The women belong to a group of 124 people - mostly mothers - who lost loved ones in the violent suppression of unarmed pro-democracy demonstrators on June 4, 1989, after weeks of unprecedented protests centred on Beijing's Tiananmen square.
The United States is sponsoring a resolution at the UNHRC meeting seeking an expression of concern over China's rights record which Washington says has deteriorated in recent years.
Mr Jiang said lawyers told him there could be two reasons for the police not informing him of Ding's detention.
"The first is that maybe they do not know where I live and the second is that maybe they fear that by informing the relatives it will negatively influence their investigation," he said.
Chinese police are required by law to issue detention warrants within 24 hours of an arrest.
Ding was in the eastern city of Wuxi, Zhejiang province when she was believed to have been arrested by state security police, China's secret service.
Zhang and Huang were arrested by state security police in Beijing. Their families have been told the two were detained on suspicion of "harming state security," a charge routinely used to arrest and jail people who voice dissent.
Mr Jiang on Thursday thanked the United States for airing its concern over the case.
"I saw the news from the United States, and I want to thank the United States, I hope that this will have an effect," he said.
Husband of jailed 'Tiananmen Mother' seeks legal redress
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Updated at 4.03pm:
The husband of Ding Zilin, leader of the "Tiananmen Mothers" activist group, said on Thursday he was seeking legal advice as police failed to notify him - as required by Chinese law - of the charges against his wife.
Jiang Peikun voiced concern for Ding, 67, who has suffered from heart problems following years of frustrating efforts demanding the government take responsibility for the brutal 1989 crackdown on the Tiananmen democracy protests in which their 17-year old son was killed.
His comments come after the US State Department urged Beijing on Wednesday to release Ding as well as Zhang Xianliang and Huang Jinping, two other members of the group, who were also detained on Sunday.
The women's videotaped testimony on their activities was placed before the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva.
"We urge the immediate release of the three relatives of victims of the crackdown on the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests who were recently detained in Beijing," US State Department spokesman Adam Ereli told reporters.
The women belong to a group of 124 people - mostly mothers - who lost loved ones in the violent suppression of unarmed pro-democracy demonstrators on June 4, 1989, after weeks of unprecedented protests centred on Beijing's Tiananmen square.
The United States is sponsoring a resolution at the UNHRC meeting seeking an expression of concern over China's rights record which Washington says has deteriorated in recent years.
Mr Jiang said lawyers told him there could be two reasons for the police not informing him of Ding's detention.
"The first is that maybe they do not know where I live and the second is that maybe they fear that by informing the relatives it will negatively influence their investigation," he said.
Chinese police are required by law to issue detention warrants within 24 hours of an arrest.
Ding was in the eastern city of Wuxi, Zhejiang province when she was believed to have been arrested by state security police, China's secret service.
Zhang and Huang were arrested by state security police in Beijing. Their families have been told the two were detained on suspicion of "harming state security," a charge routinely used to arrest and jail people who voice dissent.
Mr Jiang on Thursday thanked the United States for airing its concern over the case.
"I saw the news from the United States, and I want to thank the United States, I hope that this will have an effect," he said.
Australia is robbing East Timor with unfair oil treaty, critics say
SCMP - Tuesday, March 30, 2004
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE in Sydney
Australia was accused yesterday of robbing East Timor of billions of dollars after parliament signed off on a controversial treaty with the impoverished nation covering oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea.
The treaty relates to development of resources in the Greater Sunrise field, valued at A$7 billion (HK$40.6 billion) by world energy giants Woodside, ConocoPhillips, Shell and Osaka Gas.
It is expected to generate revenue of A$10 billion over its three- to four-decade life and will create at least 3,000 jobs during construction.
But the Australian government has come under fire from Dili and left-wing politicians at home because the treaty gives Australia interim rights to 82 per cent of revenue until the two countries settle where their maritime boundary should fall.
Australia wants to keep the maritime border agreed with Jakarta after Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975, which would give it the lion's share of the reserves.
Dili argues that Jakarta agreed to that deal only in exchange for Australia's recognition of its illegal annexation of East Timor and the border should lie at the mid-point between the two countries, in line with international practice.
Australia has already issued exploration licences in the disputed area, a move criticised by Dili and Australian Greens Senator Bob Brown.
"We're going to rob the poorest country in Southeast Asia to line the pockets of the government and the oil companies of the richest country," Senator Brown said.
Bills mirroring the Australian legislation are expected to pass the East Timor parliament after Dili said it was committed to honouring the agreement.
But it has taken Australia to task for issuing licences in the disputed Timor Sea areas, which are the subject of talks to resume next month, and for refusing to agree on a time frame to settle the border issue.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE in Sydney
Australia was accused yesterday of robbing East Timor of billions of dollars after parliament signed off on a controversial treaty with the impoverished nation covering oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea.
The treaty relates to development of resources in the Greater Sunrise field, valued at A$7 billion (HK$40.6 billion) by world energy giants Woodside, ConocoPhillips, Shell and Osaka Gas.
It is expected to generate revenue of A$10 billion over its three- to four-decade life and will create at least 3,000 jobs during construction.
But the Australian government has come under fire from Dili and left-wing politicians at home because the treaty gives Australia interim rights to 82 per cent of revenue until the two countries settle where their maritime boundary should fall.
Australia wants to keep the maritime border agreed with Jakarta after Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975, which would give it the lion's share of the reserves.
Dili argues that Jakarta agreed to that deal only in exchange for Australia's recognition of its illegal annexation of East Timor and the border should lie at the mid-point between the two countries, in line with international practice.
Australia has already issued exploration licences in the disputed area, a move criticised by Dili and Australian Greens Senator Bob Brown.
"We're going to rob the poorest country in Southeast Asia to line the pockets of the government and the oil companies of the richest country," Senator Brown said.
Bills mirroring the Australian legislation are expected to pass the East Timor parliament after Dili said it was committed to honouring the agreement.
But it has taken Australia to task for issuing licences in the disputed Timor Sea areas, which are the subject of talks to resume next month, and for refusing to agree on a time frame to settle the border issue.
Hopes and fears at exodus of skilled Filipino workers
SCMP - Tuesday, March 30, 2004
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE in Manila
Roderic Gandado endured a three-year stint working in the Middle East as a machinist, where he recalls the hot weather was tougher than the work, before returning to the Philippines.
But after two years back in his homeland he is boarding a taxi to the airport, where he will catch a plane for a new two-year assignment to the volatile region.
"There are jobs here but they just aren't regular," he says, explaining his decision to endure more years of separation from his family to work abroad, like millions of other Filipinos.
The huge labour migration has been a source of both pride and foreign exchange, but it has also been cited as a mark of shame for the domestic economy's failure to provide enough jobs.
Advocates of overseas Filipino workers say they could be the nucleus of an emerging middle class whose voting power could potentially shake the elite-dominated political structure.
But analysts say that so far that has yet to happen.
A law allowing foreign workers to cast their ballots in overseas missions was passed last year, but only 316,000 of the more than 5 million overseas workers have registered to vote in the May 10 presidential election.
There are also growing concerns that the costs of sending so many skilled workers abroad may outweigh the benefits.
Filipinos can be found working in more than 100 countries, from care-givers in Europe, construction workers in the Middle East, domestic helpers and entertainers in East Asia and seamen in ships on all the oceans.
The number of Filipinos seeking work abroad appears to be slowing down even while their remittances are growing.
The Foreign Department reports that as of December, 5,345,700 Filipinos have been documented as working abroad, with more than a million more working illegally.
In December 2001, there were 5,449,841 documented workers abroad and at least 609,000 illegal workers.
The Labour Department reports that the number of Filipinos who left the country to work overseas fell 3 per cent from a year earlier to 865,000 last year.
But their remittances increased 4.5 per cent to US$6.9 billion.
Many economists say official remittance figures are understated and that even larger amounts are sent home through unofficial channels.
Officials say that while fewer workers are going abroad, many of them are now better-educated and placed in higher positions.
More are doctors and engineers, rather than the traditional labourers and bar girls.
But this has fanned new fears that the country is losing its best and brightest to overseas job assignments, where they can be paid 10 times more than what they can get in the Philippines.
Fernando Aldaba, economics department chairman at Ateneo de Manila University, warns that the social costs of sending the country's top prospects overseas may not be immediately felt but may be manifested in the medium to long term.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE in Manila
Roderic Gandado endured a three-year stint working in the Middle East as a machinist, where he recalls the hot weather was tougher than the work, before returning to the Philippines.
But after two years back in his homeland he is boarding a taxi to the airport, where he will catch a plane for a new two-year assignment to the volatile region.
"There are jobs here but they just aren't regular," he says, explaining his decision to endure more years of separation from his family to work abroad, like millions of other Filipinos.
The huge labour migration has been a source of both pride and foreign exchange, but it has also been cited as a mark of shame for the domestic economy's failure to provide enough jobs.
Advocates of overseas Filipino workers say they could be the nucleus of an emerging middle class whose voting power could potentially shake the elite-dominated political structure.
But analysts say that so far that has yet to happen.
A law allowing foreign workers to cast their ballots in overseas missions was passed last year, but only 316,000 of the more than 5 million overseas workers have registered to vote in the May 10 presidential election.
There are also growing concerns that the costs of sending so many skilled workers abroad may outweigh the benefits.
Filipinos can be found working in more than 100 countries, from care-givers in Europe, construction workers in the Middle East, domestic helpers and entertainers in East Asia and seamen in ships on all the oceans.
The number of Filipinos seeking work abroad appears to be slowing down even while their remittances are growing.
The Foreign Department reports that as of December, 5,345,700 Filipinos have been documented as working abroad, with more than a million more working illegally.
In December 2001, there were 5,449,841 documented workers abroad and at least 609,000 illegal workers.
The Labour Department reports that the number of Filipinos who left the country to work overseas fell 3 per cent from a year earlier to 865,000 last year.
But their remittances increased 4.5 per cent to US$6.9 billion.
Many economists say official remittance figures are understated and that even larger amounts are sent home through unofficial channels.
Officials say that while fewer workers are going abroad, many of them are now better-educated and placed in higher positions.
More are doctors and engineers, rather than the traditional labourers and bar girls.
But this has fanned new fears that the country is losing its best and brightest to overseas job assignments, where they can be paid 10 times more than what they can get in the Philippines.
Fernando Aldaba, economics department chairman at Ateneo de Manila University, warns that the social costs of sending the country's top prospects overseas may not be immediately felt but may be manifested in the medium to long term.
Two Tiananmen mothers detained
SCMP - Tuesday, March 30, 2004
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE in Beijing
Two mothers whose sons were killed in the 1989 Tiananmen massacre and a woman who lost her husband to the bloody crackdown have been detained by police, a relative said yesterday.
Plain-clothes state security officers took the women from their homes on Sunday and relatives had not heard from them since, said Jiang Peikun, the husband of Ding Zilin, whose teenage son was shot in the back on June 4, 1989.
"I can't figure out what has happened," Mr Jiang said. Ms Ding, who was visiting her ancestral home in Wuxi city, eastern China, was taken away on Sunday morning by one female and two male plain-clothes police officers believed to be from Wuxi's state security bureau, Mr Jiang said, citing what the family's Wuxi housekeeper told him.
"They invited Ding Zilin to eat and took her away," Mr Jiang said. "Up to now, she hasn't returned home and we don't have any news."
In the afternoon, another five people went to Ms Ding's Wuxi home, searched the residence and took away some possessions after asking the housekeeper to sign a piece of paper, he said.
In Beijing, police similarly escorted Zhang Xianling, whose teenage son was also killed in the massacre, away on Sunday, Mr Jiang said. Ms Zhang's husband also has not heard from her.
The two women are members of the Tiananmen Mothers group, comprising 124 people who lost relatives to the violent suppression 15 years ago.
Ms Ding founded the group, which had been demanding the government reassess and take responsibility for the brutal crackdown.
The third woman, Huang Jinping, lost her husband, Yang Yansheng - a journalist - to the massacre. She was also detained on Sunday, with no word on her whereabouts.
The detentions came days before the Ching Ming Festival, a traditional time for the Chinese to commemorate the dead.
Tiananmen Mothers in the past had used the grave-sweeping festival to highlight the killings.
Police in Wuxi and Beijing either declined knowledge of the incident or said their spokesmen were not on duty.
In recent years, the group has sent letters to the mainland's new leadership calling for justice.
It has also requested the government establish a formal dialogue with bereaved families, order an independent inquiry and publish an official list of those killed during the event.
Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of unarmed pro-democracy demonstrators were mowed down by the mainland military as they approached Tiananmen Square in Beijing on June 4, 1989, after weeks of unprecedented protests.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE in Beijing
Two mothers whose sons were killed in the 1989 Tiananmen massacre and a woman who lost her husband to the bloody crackdown have been detained by police, a relative said yesterday.
Plain-clothes state security officers took the women from their homes on Sunday and relatives had not heard from them since, said Jiang Peikun, the husband of Ding Zilin, whose teenage son was shot in the back on June 4, 1989.
"I can't figure out what has happened," Mr Jiang said. Ms Ding, who was visiting her ancestral home in Wuxi city, eastern China, was taken away on Sunday morning by one female and two male plain-clothes police officers believed to be from Wuxi's state security bureau, Mr Jiang said, citing what the family's Wuxi housekeeper told him.
"They invited Ding Zilin to eat and took her away," Mr Jiang said. "Up to now, she hasn't returned home and we don't have any news."
In the afternoon, another five people went to Ms Ding's Wuxi home, searched the residence and took away some possessions after asking the housekeeper to sign a piece of paper, he said.
In Beijing, police similarly escorted Zhang Xianling, whose teenage son was also killed in the massacre, away on Sunday, Mr Jiang said. Ms Zhang's husband also has not heard from her.
The two women are members of the Tiananmen Mothers group, comprising 124 people who lost relatives to the violent suppression 15 years ago.
Ms Ding founded the group, which had been demanding the government reassess and take responsibility for the brutal crackdown.
The third woman, Huang Jinping, lost her husband, Yang Yansheng - a journalist - to the massacre. She was also detained on Sunday, with no word on her whereabouts.
The detentions came days before the Ching Ming Festival, a traditional time for the Chinese to commemorate the dead.
Tiananmen Mothers in the past had used the grave-sweeping festival to highlight the killings.
Police in Wuxi and Beijing either declined knowledge of the incident or said their spokesmen were not on duty.
In recent years, the group has sent letters to the mainland's new leadership calling for justice.
It has also requested the government establish a formal dialogue with bereaved families, order an independent inquiry and publish an official list of those killed during the event.
Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of unarmed pro-democracy demonstrators were mowed down by the mainland military as they approached Tiananmen Square in Beijing on June 4, 1989, after weeks of unprecedented protests.
