Topic: Swedish Rights Worker's Detention Shows China Crackdown Extends Overseas (Read 354 times)

for question 1:  Thailand always pro Beijing

for 2nd Question:  i believe quite a lot chinese in mainland china will believe this due to long time censorship.

How is the Thailand - China relation?


Nobody in the western world will believe this. Do the Chinese even believe this?

Televised Confessions Prompt Call For EU Sanctions Against China's State Media
2016-01-21

http://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/confessions-sanctions-01212016131503.html

A Paris-based press freedom group on Thursday called on the European Union (EU) to initiate sanctions against state media controlled by the ruling Chinese Communist Party, in the wake of a string of televised "confessions" by detained rights activists and dissidents.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) wants the EU to implement sanctions against China Central Television (CCTV) and the state news agency Xinhua over a string of recent broadcasts of televised "confessions."

"RSF is appalled by the growth of this practice by China’s state media, which poses an alarming threat to freely reported news and information," the group said in a statement on Thursday.

Recent detainees paraded on CCTV in prerecorded "confession" videos include Hong Kong publisher Gui Minhai, owner of the Mighty Current imprint and Causeway Bay Books.

The publishing houses are popular with mainland Chinese tourists for their selection of political books that are banned across the internal border in mainland China.

Gui, who holds a Swedish passport, appeared on CCTV on Sunday confessing to having killed a student in a drunk-driving accident, after disappearing while he was on vacation in Thailand.

Just three days later, Swedish national and China-based human rights worker Peter Dahlin appeared on CCTV, apologizing for "hurting the feelings of the Chinese people."

Propaganda outlets

Dahlin, who founded the Chinese Urgent Action Working Group to help train rights lawyers and other activists, was accused by Xinhua of "encouraging the masses to oppose the government."

"We are outraged by the dissemination of forced ‘confessions’ that have no informational value," RSF Asia-Pacific spokesman Benjamin Ismaïl said in a statement on the group's website.

"By knowingly peddling lies and statements [that] were presumably obtained under duress, CCTV and Xinhua become mass propaganda weapons and cease de facto to be news media," Ismaïl said.

He added: "These two organizations represent a threat to freely produced news in the public interest. We call on the European Union to urgently adopt a resolution sanctioning these practices."

According to RSF, there is precedent for the EU to adopt sanctions against a media organization that uses forced confessions, because they violate the right of detainees to a fair trial.

Recent reports of the growing international reach of Chinese media organizations have sparked fears that such practices could exert a chilling effect on freedom of expression globally—especially on topics concerning China.

U.S.-based veteran rights activist Yang Jianli said the practice shows that the administration of President Xi Jinping has scant respect for due process.

"This sort of political show trial is against the law," Yang said. "He thinks that the slightest action on the part of his citizens is more of a threat to him than corruption."

"The final outcome will be an ever-widening gap between government and people, and eventually he will be public enemy No. 1," he said.

Forced confession

Veteran Chinese journalist Gao Yu, who also appeared in a "confession" on CCTV before being jailed for "leaking state secrets overseas," later said that the confession was forced from her when the Chinese threatened her son.

She was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment, which was reduced on appeal to five years, and is currently serving her jail time outside prison on medical grounds.

Other detainees have reported being offered more lenient sentences in return for "pleading guilty" and showing a "cooperative attitude."

The practice has most frequently been used against journalists in recent years.

In May 2014, independent journalist Xiang Nanfu appeared on CCTV 13 confessing to "smearing the party and government," while New Express journalist Chen Yongzhou also confessed in a video aired in November 2013.

In the same month, CCTV producer Wang Qinglei was dismissed from his post after criticizing the state broadcaster over a "confession" by "Big V" social media commentator Charles Xue.

China is ranked 176th out of 180 countries in the 2015 RSF press freedom index.

Reported by Hai Nan for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by He Ping for the Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.

He had been deported, according to the latest news from the chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs website

Swedish Rights Worker's Detention Shows China Crackdown Extends Overseas
2016-01-20

http://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/overseas-01202016115151.html


Swedish human rights activist Peter Dahlin is shown in an undated photo.
AFP


The detention and televised "confession'" of Swedish human rights worker Peter Dahlin on Chinese national television shows Beijing is increasingly willing to extend its crackdown on rights activists beyond its borders, activists said on Wednesday.

Dahlin, 35, appeared on state broadcaster CCTV, saying he had "hurt the feelings of the Chinese people," on Tuesday, sparking concerns that the ruling Chinese Communist Party is increasingly targeting foreigners in an ongoing crackdown on rights activists and lawyers.

His nongovernmental organization (NGO), the Chinese Urgent Action Working Group, had trained and supported some of the hundreds of rights lawyers who have been targeted by the government in a crackdown since last July.

Speaking on Wednesday, EU ambassador to China Hans Dietmar Schweisgut said the bloc's members are "deeply concerned" about Dahlin's detention on suspicion of "endangering state security," which came after the effective expulsion of French journalist Ursula Gauthier, who had questioned Beijing's policies in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, home to the mostly Muslim Uyghur ethnic group.

"We do hope it’s not representing the new normal yet," he told a news conference. "But we do see an extremely worrying trend, and that’s why all these cases are taken extremely seriously."

Dahlin, who is being held at an unknown location, was shown on CCTV dressed in normal clothes but looking tense and speaking in a stilted manner.

"I have violated Chinese law through my activities here ... I have hurt the feelings of the Chinese people. I apologize sincerely for this," he told the camera.

Swedish foreign ministry spokeswoman Anna Ekberg said the ministry had "no response" to make to recent Chinese media reports regarding Dahlin.




Crackdown spreads

Hong Kong activist Richard Choi, of the Alliance in Support of the Patriotic Democratic Movement in China, said the administration of President Xi Jinping now appears keen to extend its nationwide crackdown on rights activists far beyond the nation's borders.

"Now they are enforcing their so-called laws beyond their own borders, to the extent of detaining a foreigner for endangering state security," Choi said. "This is a growing trend."

"Of course, the thing that's going to alarm people is the fact that China's human rights record and legal system are far from perfect," he said.

"Now, that's affecting not just mainland China, but overseas as well, including people who aren't Chinese citizens," Choi said.

Choi said the crackdown on human rights activists and lawyers appears to be continuing and growing worse.

"Human rights activists in mainland China are entering a winter of discontent," he said. "Hong Kong is also feeling the effects, with the disappearance of the five booksellers from Causeway Bay Books."

Causeway Bay Books store manager Lee Bo, 65, was last seen at work on Dec. 30, while four of his associates, publisher Gui Minhai, general manager Lui Bo, and colleagues Cheung Jiping and Lam Wing-kei have gone missing since October.

Gui holds a Swedish passport and was apparently detained while on vacation in Thailand.




Chilling effect

Australia-based democracy activist Qin Jin said the recent detentions will likely have a chilling effect on anyone linked to human rights work in China.

"It will, of course it will," Qin told RFA. "They treat anyone who helps the Chinese people fight for their rights as if they are interfering in their internal affairs."

"This is a new definition the Chinese government has arrived at," Qin said.

He said even people working overseas will now likely take Dahlin's experience into account.

"Xi Jinping's aim is to 'kill the chickens to frighten the monkeys'," Qin said. "They are sending a warning beyond their borders, while at the same time keeping up the pressure [on activists] at home."

Hong Kong-based researcher for Amnesty International Patrick Poon said Dahlin's televised confession falls below international legal standards.

"He may be willing to sit there in front of a camera and say he did something wrong, but this has to do with the correct way to handle evidence," Poon told RFA.

"It is hard to see how they can handle his case fairly now."

Poon said the authorities have so far given no details of Dahlin's legal status.

"On what basis did they lock him up, and why aren't they making this public now?" he said. "There is no basis in any reasonable law, nor in international law, for them to do this."

"We call on the Chinese government to communicate clearly on this matter, and explain why it hasn't done so to date."

Reported by Hai Nan and Wen Yuqing for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by He Ping for the Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.