'State Security' Arrests in China Doubled in '06, Group Reports

Beijing, 11/29/07 - Washington Post (Maureen Fan) - The number of people arrested in China for "endangering state security" more than doubled last year, showing that the government is cracking down on the political crime of dissent despite pressure to improve its human rights record before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, a human rights watchdog group based in the United States said Wednesday.

National statistics released in the annual China Law Yearbook show that prosecutors approved the arrest and detention of 604 people on the state security charge in 2006, compared with 296 the year before. The numbers were the highest since 2002, according to the group, the San Francisco-based Dui Hua Foundation, which lobbies for the release of political prisoners.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/28/AR2007112802217.html

IOC official urges statement on human rights in China

Brussels, 11/26/07 - Reuters - Senior International Olympic Committee (IOC) official and European parliament member Pal Schmitt said on Monday he would urge the IOC to make a statement on human rights in China before next year's Beijing Games.

Schmitt, 65, a fencing gold medalist for Hungary at the 1968 and 1972 Games, said the IOC had taken political stances before, such as when it suspended South Africa in 1964 over its racial separation policies.

"It is time for a political statement," he said after hearing dissidents and activists speak of a worsening human rights climate in the run up to the Games.

"We can't just close our ears to what's happening. We did it for the apartheid regime, so let's do it again."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/26/AR2007112601199.html

San Francisco Shouldn't Welcome Tainted Olympic Torch

Los Angeles, 11/19/07 - Bridget Johson -- China is an egregious violator of human rights.

It seems by this point in history this should be common knowledge, and proponents of free speech, media and religion shouldn't have to keep justifying opposition to the regime by offering the examples that repeat from day to day.

China's track record is grim: Labor and re-education camps full of political prisoners. More executions than anywhere else in the world. More journalists and cyber-dissidents caught and punished by a massive crew of censorship police. China's propping up the brutal regime of Myanmar that kills democracy protesters in cold blood - and blocking U.N. Security Council action by maintaining it's just business as usual in a sovereign state.

So why in the world would a progressive city like San Francisco welcome the torch of the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics?

http://www.dailynews.com/columnists/ci_7508526

China vows tough line on protests

Beijing, 11/16/07 - Chinese police will deal harshly with social or political demonstrations at the Beijing Olympics, a top security official said Friday.

With 28,000 journalists expected to attend, the Aug. 8-24 Olympics offer a rare chance for protesters to express grievances against China's communist government on issues including religious freedom, Tibetan independence and global warming.

Liu Shaowu, deputy director of the Olympic Security Command Center, said security forces would stop any form of demonstration at or around venues. He also suggested that protests deemed threatening would be snuffed out far from Olympic sites. "As for violating China's sovereignty and encouraging separatists and terrorists, definitely we will not allow that," Liu told reporters. "We will deal with that according to Chinese law."

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/11/16/beijing.olympics.ap/index.html

China Tracks Summer Olympics Journalists

Beijing, 12/11/07 - AP (ANITA CHANG) - The Chinese government has created profiles on thousands of foreign journalists coming to report on next summer's Beijing Olympics and is gathering information on thousands more to put into a database, a top official said in comments published Monday. The profiles appeared to undermine promises made by Chinese leaders in 2001, when they were bidding for the Games, that the event would lead to greater media freedoms.

The database with information on the 28,000 foreign journalists expected for the Olympics would be a reference for interview subjects, designed to protect them from being tricked or blackmailed by "fake reporters," Liu Binjie, minister of the General Administration of Press and Publication, was quoted as saying in the state-run China Daily newspaper.

"Disguising as reporters to threaten and intimidate others to collect money is cheating and very dangerous to society," Liu told the English-language paper.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/12/AR2007111200823.html

China Issues Broad Olympic Ban

Beijing, 9/11/07 - AP (Anita Chang) — China has secretly issued an order banning those the government considers a threat from next year's Olympics — a group that includes terrorists, Falun Gong activists, some media workers and frequent traffic-law violators, an overseas monitoring association said Friday.

China's leaders view the Beijing Olympics as a way to project a positive image of the country, but the games also offer a rare opportunity for protesters to air their grievances against China's government and the ruling Communist party.

The order from the Ministry of Public Security bans those who fall into broad categories such as "antagonistic elements," "members of illegal organizations," and "non-government organizations engaging in activities that can pose a real threat to the Olympic Games," according to the China Aid Association, based in Midland, Texas.

Others include religious extremists, "media employees who can harm the Olympic Games" and "dangerous elements ... and other people who have serious grievances against the Party," said the group, which advocates for religious freedom in China.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hwdvVn9dWZM20wqCUy5hOfPL_PbwD8SQ3ONO0