China News

News from China with a focus on human rights and religious liberty

Wednesday, April 07, 2004

Another Arrest of an Underground Roman Catholic Bishop [CardinalKungFoundation.org]

Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.A. – Bishop JIA ZhiGuo, the underground Roman Catholic Bishop of Zheng Ding, Hebei, was arrested on April 5, 2004. A car with four government security policemen suddenly appeared at the bishop’s residence at approximately 1:30 pm local time and took him away. When asked why the bishop was taken away, the police answered that they were carrying out the order from their superior. We have no idea where he was taken and have no other details.

Bishop JIA is 69 years old and was ordained a bishop in 1980. He was previously arrested on April 20, 2002 and was previously in jail for about 20 years. He has been under strict surveillance for many years. He takes care of approximately 100 handicapped orphans in his house.

Approximately one month ago, the Chinese authority arrested Bishop WEI Jingyi, the underground Roman Catholic bishop of Qiqihar, Heilongjiang, on March 5, 2004. He was then released on March 14, 2004.

Joseph Kung, the president of the Cardinal Kung Foundation, said: “We do not understand this recent arrest of bishops in China when the Chinese government introduced the terms ‘freedom of faith’ and ‘protection of human rights’ into the country’s constitution in its recent annual meeting of Chinese parliament. These arrests clearly exemplify that the Chinese government frequently states things in theory, but does not back them up in actual practice. These arrests make the Chinese constitution a mockery.”

6:49:40 AM

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HK LAWYERS, DEMOCRATS SLAM CHINA’S GRIP ON REFORMS [RFA]
HONG KONG—Legal experts and democrats in Hong Kong are slamming a ruling by the Chinese government asserting its control over political reform in the territory, saying it undermined the “one country, two systems” policy set up when the former British colony was handed back to Beijing in 1997, RFA’s Mandarin and Cantonese services report. The Standing Committee of China’s parliament passed a review of Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law, giving Beijing full control over the territory’s political reforms, including the right to decide whether further democratization takes place at all. [more]
6:40:26 AM

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Hong Kong Reformers Protest Election Rule. The Chinese government ruled that it would determine if and when Hong Kong's people could elect their local leaders. By Joseph Kahn and Keith Bradsher. [New York Times: International]
6:38:05 AM

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China Is Paying a Price of Modernization: More Beggars. More beggars in Chinese cities are another reminder of the growing divide between rich and poor in China as it rapidly switches to a market economy. By Jim Yardley. [New York Times: International]
6:36:45 AM

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China media hails Beijing's clamp down on political reform in Hong Kong. AFP via Yahoo! Apr 7 2004 6:52AM GMT [Moreover - China news]
6:33:31 AM

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Activist for N. Koreans Indicted in China. A Japanese activist arrested in China four months ago for allegedly helping North Korean defectors has been indicted on people-trafficking charges, a member of his group said. [Los Angeles Times World News]
6:30:31 AM

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China Baffles Reforms in Hong Kong. Beijing rules that proposals must come from its handpicked leader of the territory, rather than lawmakers or the public. [Los Angeles Times World News]
6:28:07 AM

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Tiananmen: China Detains Yet another Activist.. FT.com Reuters world news: "Chinese police have detained a noted AIDS activist, Chinese and overseas sources say, apparently over his plans to commemorate democracy protesters who died in the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown." Having just released some "Tiananmen Mothers" amid world condemnation as to their detention now they go and arrest a prominent AIDS Activist who was organising a 15th [China Letter : News-Human Rights-Government-Economy-Law]
6:26:59 AM

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"One Child Policy" Coming Home to Roost. BBC NEWS "'In most of the countryside in China we have what we call one-and-a-half-child policy. That means if a young couple's first child is a male, they must stop child-bearing. If the child is a female they may have a second child,' he said. " I have carried this story before about the demographic time bomb ticking away in China. According to projections there will be 20 million excess [China Letter : News-Human Rights-Government-Economy-Law]
6:24:21 AM

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China Executed 726 People in 2003. China carried out nearly two-thirds of the world's known court-ordered executions last year, and violated its own law by killing at least one man for a crime committed at age 16, according to Amnesty International. [Associated Press headlines via GoUpstate.com]
6:21:02 AM

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Former China Leader a Source of Unease (AP). AP - Zhao Ziyang lives in a spacious Beijing villa, but it's locked from the outside — because at 84, the former Communist Party general secretary remains a political symbol that China's leadership fears it can't control. [Yahoo! News - World]
6:16:32 AM

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China's working class despises the newly rich. The "BMW Collision Affair," as Chinese call it, began with a confrontation involving a cart of chives. [China - Topix.net]
6:13:19 AM

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