China :: Exposé

Lawyer Li Jinxing was knocked down and lapsed into unconsciousness. (Photo from blog of lawyer Chen Youxi) Three defense lawyers, who were working to defend other lawyers involved in a high-profile homicide case, were subject to a violent attack in Beihai City by a mob of more than 50 unidentified men on July 18. The lawyers and their supporters say it is a clear case of intimidation, and another demonstration that Chinese lawyers are not afforded enough protections, particularly in cases that are politicized by the Communist Party. News of the attack quickly spread across Chinese blogs and websites, provoking indignation and more indictments of the countrys rule of law. The incident has its origins in a complex homicide defense case from 2009, in which four attorneys, Luo Sifang, Liang Wucheng, Yang Zhonghan, and Yang Zaixin, of Nanning City in Guangxi Province, were defense counsels for four men accused of beating to death a man named Huang Huanhai in Beihai City, Guangxi Province la...

Lawyer Li Jinxing was knocked down and lapsed into unconsciousness. (Photo from blog of lawyer Chen Youxi) Three defense lawyers, who were working to defend other lawyers involved in a high-profile homicide case, were subject to a violent attack in Beihai City by a mob of more than 50 unidentified men on July 18. The lawyers and their supporters say it is a clear case of intimidation, and another demonstration that Chinese lawyers are not afforded enough protections, particularly in cases that are politicized by the Communist Party. News of the attack quickly spread across Chinese blogs and websites, provoking indignation and more indictments of the countrys rule of law. The incident has its origins in a complex homicide defense case from 2009, in which four attorneys, Luo Sifang, Liang Wucheng, Yang Zhonghan, and Yang Zaixin, of Nanning City in Guangxi Province, were defense counsels for four men accused of beating to death a man named Huang Huanhai in Beihai City, Guangxi Province la...

The governments treatment of former National Security Agency official Thomas Drake was abusive and akin to acts of British tyranny in pre-Revolutionary War days, said Judge Richard D. Bennett at the July 15 sentencing hearing which concluded the Drake case, one of the Obama Administrations record number of anti-leak prosecutions. A transcript (pdf) of that hearing was prepared at the request of Secrecy News. Mr. Drake was originally suspected of leaking classified information to a reporter and had been charged with ten felony counts, all of which he denied. The prosecution was unable to sustain any of those charges, and the case was settled after Mr. Drake pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of exceeding authorized use of a government computer. He was sentenced (pdf) at the hearing to a year of probation and 240 hours of community service. The hearing transcript is a gripping document, with moments of high dramatic tension and unusual poignancy. Much of the tension arose from th...

Congress must take the lead in challenging the laws and practices that have allowed excessive secrecy to become the dominant feature of our national security culture, the American Civil Liberties Union urged in a new report on government secrecy. The excessive secrecy that hides how the government pursues its national security mission is undermining the core principles of democratic government and injuring our nation in ways no terrorist act ever could, wrote Mike German and Jay Stanley, the authors of the ACLU report. It is time for Congress to make the secrecy problem an issue of the highest priority, and enact a sweeping overhaul of our national security establishment to re-impose democratic controls. The report provides a fluid account of current secrecy policy, along with a critique from first principles as well as from recent experience. Highly readable and thoroughly footnoted, the 51 page report covers a spectrum of secrecy issues, from the state secrets privilege to secret ...

Protesters angry after a disabled fruit vendor was beaten to death by the police Police opened fire at civilians on Tuesday afternoon in southwestern China after thousands spontaneously gathered to protest of the killing of a disabled street vendor. Similar to the riots over the mistreatment of migrant workers in southern China last month, locals had gathered in the streets upon learning that local security forces had beaten a disabled fruit vendor to death in Anshun City, in Guizhou Province. The crowd shouted slogans accusing the government of violence. They threw rocks at shield-wielding police, and overturned government vehicles. The police answered with tear gas, high-pressure water cannons, and live fire. Mr. Hu, a witness, said police officers with helmets, shields, and batons, along with firefighters and many police cars, arrived at the scene immediately after the crowd gathered to "maintain order." VICTIMIZED: A street fruit vendor with only one leg was ...

A Guangzhou attorney who defended Falun Gong practitioners was charged with sabotaging law enforcement and sentenced to two years in prison on July 13. Zhu Yubiao is the first attorney in Guangdong Province to openly defend Falun Gong practitioners and has represented three adherents so far. The verdict against Zhu was primarily based on Falun Gong materials being found in his home, ones which were, according to the indictment, not yet distributed, including books and CD-ROMs. According to the indictment Zhu had prearranged the materials to create the conditions and prepare for committing crimes. Zhu refused to sign the legal instruments and declared he will appeal the verdict. His defense lawyer Liu Zhengqing said Zhu is innocent and the verdict is unjust. Zhus mother argued that, preparation for committing crimes means that he did not commit any crime at all; therefore the charge against him is unfounded and thats why the Procuratorate returned his case twice for lack of ...

Last month the National Security Agency announced the declassification of various historic records as evidence of its commitment to meeting the requirements of President Obamas policy on openness and transparency. Among the newly declassified records was a 200 year old publication on cryptology. ( NSA Declassifies 200 Year Old Report, Secrecy News, June 9, 2011.) NSA listed the 1809 study as a highlight of the new releases in a press statement, and the National Archives featured it in a promotional blog posting. But upon inspection, it turns out that the newly released document was already in the public domain and freely available online. Instead of providing cause for celebration or congratulation, the NSA release is a disturbing sign of futility and irrelevance in the nations declassification program. The June 8 NSA press statement hailed the disclosure of early publications on cryptography, including Cryptology: Instruction Book on the Art of Secret Writing from 1809. In fact, th...

A top leader in China's underground Protestant church movement has been sentenced to two years in what the communist regime calls "re-education through labor" as authorities continue to crack down on unapproved churches, a U.S.-based monitoring group said on Tuesday. China Aid Association said that Pastor Shi Enhao, the 55-year-old deputy chairman of the Chinese House Church Alliance had been detained in the eastern province of Jiangsu since June 21. Shi was condemned over the weekend for "illegal organizing of venues for religious meetings," forcing him to leave his wife and 86-year-old mother, who needs round-the-clock care. His labor camp sentence, like those of others, was handed out without trial on the recommendation of police and could be extended beyond the usual two-year term. Shi's sentence is the latest incident in a series of aggressive attempts by the Chinese regime to assert control over Christianity in China. Related Articles Chines...

In a step that will shape the future course of U.S. government secrecy policy, President Obama approved the appointment of John P. Fitzpatrick, a security official at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, to be the next Director of the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO), effective August 1. The ISOO Director, sometimes referred to as the classification czar, is the most senior official (other than the President himself) responsible for oversight of the national security classification system. The Director monitors agency compliance with classification policies, and leads the development of changes in those policies. In his oversight capacity, the ISOO Director is authorized and required to act on complaints and suggestions both from within the government and from members of the public. The President has also empowered the ISOO Director to require the declassification of any information he deems to be improperly classified (though this authority has never been...

Hu Miaomiao before suffering persecution. (Minghui.org) A once vibrant kindergarten teacher returned home on July 11 weak, anemic, and emaciated, released from the Chinese labor camp that had held her for over one year. Hu Miaomiao had been abducted from her home in Zhangjiako City in Hebei Province in northeastern China on June 15, 2010 and was sentenced on June 26 to one year in the Shijiazhuang Womens Forced Labor Camp for what the Chinese Communist Party calls reform through labor. Miaomiao, a tall woman who is described as having a kind and gentle manner, was 25 years old. She practiced Falun Gong and the local 610 Officea nationwide, extra-constitutional Party organ created to eradicate Falun Gongaccused her of telling other people about the benefits of the spiritual practice. During her 380 days in labor camp, the staff sought to transform Miaomiaoforce her to give up her belief in Falun Gong. Miaomiao suffered torture, including being hung by handcuffs around her wris...

A bridge collapses when an overweight truck crosses a bridge in Beijing on July 19. (Epoch Times photo archive) On July 11, two trucks fell through a bridge spanning the Yu River in Yancheng, Jiangsu. Three days later a bridge on Wuyi Mountain in Fujian collapsed, the tour bus it was carrying falling along with it, injuring 22 and killing one. Two more bridge failures came on July 15 and 17: A tractor trailer fell while on a bridge in Hangzhou, and then part of a viaduct bridge in Wuhan cracked and buckled, and was closed to traffic. The final failure was on July 19, when the White River bridge near Baoshan Temple, Beijing, gave way as an overloaded truck was on its way across. Five bridge collapses within nine days? People started to wonder. Added to that, three of the bridges were only 14 years old. In Anhui Province alone there 7,460 bridges, out of 30,883, identified as dangerous, the Provincial Highway Administration reported in August, 2009. Construction quality is obviously not...

A man escorts two children in Shanghai on July 31, 2009. China faces challenges of an aging population, declining labor force, and gender imbalance resulting from its 30-year population control policy. (AFP/Getty Images) The province of Guangdong is petitioning China's central regime to relax the one-child policy in order to counteract social problems of a rapidly aging population and gender imbalance as a result of the Chinese communist Party's 30-years of enforced population control. The proposed amendment would only allow couples to have a second child if either the husband or the wife is an only child. Guangdong is China's most populous province. Zhang Feng, director of Guangdong's population and family-planning commission, said with the average birth rate per woman in the province being low--1.7 for the past decade--the new policy would have little impact on overall population growth. Guangdong therefore hopes to become a pilot study for the new policy, Zh...

(Epoch Times) Editor's note: The Epoch Times here publishes direct translations of statements made by Chinese people in renouncing the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its subordinate organizations. Statements such as these are submitted to a website affiliate of the Chinese version of The Epoch Times, Dajiyuan. The movement to renounce, withdraw from, or quit the CCP, called tuidang in Chinese, began in late 2004, soon after The Epoch Times published the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, an editorial series that explores the nature and history of the CCP. The statements offer a rare and candid glimpse of history in the making: the Chinese people turning their backs on the Communist Party, choosing conscience over pragmatism, and peacefully ushering in a future China free of Party rule. Statement of Withdrawal from the CCP I am Qing Long from Zhengzhou City, Anhui Province. I work in a suburb of Nanjing City. I came to know about withdrawal from the CCP from a Falun Gong ...

In one of his trademark snowflake memoranda from 2005 that was made public this week, then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld stated flatly that the government secrecy system was a failure. The United States Government is incapable of keeping a secret, he wrote (pdf) on November 2, 2005. If one accepts that, and I do, that means that the U.S. Government will have to craft policies that reflect that reality. Unfortunately, he did not elaborate on this terse statement. The memorandum was not addressed to anyone in particular, and the profound questions it raises were left hanging. There was no known written response to the memo and, needless to say, there is no evidence of any subsequent shift to a post-secrecy orientation in government policy. Not to sound too cynical, said a former official who served in the Bush Administration, but I would add to Rumsfelds observation that not only is the U.S. incapable of keeping a secret but it is also incapable of fundamentally reforming the wa...

Former National Security Agency official Thomas A. Drake , who pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge of exceeding the authorized use of a government computer, will ask a federal court to sentence him to one year probation with community service at a sentencing hearing on Friday, July 15. Mr. Drake, who is understood to have been a source for several Baltimore Sun stories that revealed NSA mismanagement, was indicted in April 2010 under the Espionage Act for allegedly mishandling classified information, as well as obstruction of justice and making false statements, charges that he denied. In a breathtaking reversal last month , the prosecution abandoned all of the ten felony counts in the Drake indictment, and accepted a misdemeanor guilty plea instead. Technically, however, the court could still sentence Mr. Drake to a maximum of a year in prison, though the government is not requesting more than a year of probation. This week, Mr. Drakes attorneys filed a sentencing memorandum to bolst...

Christmas Mass in Beijing. (Liu Jin/Getty Images) Continuing the fight over to whom Chinese Catholics owe allegiance, police arrested four bishops recognized by the Vatican. They were taken away because they refuse to participate in the ordination of a priest anointed by the Chinese Communist Partys Church for the diocese of Shantou, Guangdong on July 14. The dioceses current Bishop, appointed by the Vatican, had to be secretly ordained in 2006. His bishopric is not recognized by the ruling Party and he is constantly watched by Public Security. Due to his age and infirmity from a car accident, the necessity of ordaining a new Bishop arose. An episcopal ordination without Vatican approval had taken place in Leshan, Sichuan on July 4, causing Rome to warn participants that they were exposing themselves to grave canonical sanction.The Catholic Church in Rome viewed that Bishop as unacceptable because, reported La Stampa in Italy, he fathered a child out of wedlock. The four bishops, each...

In 2005, the U.S. Army issued a new field manual on the military use of dogs, which it said were being employed in dynamic ways never before imagined. The field manual was approved for public release and marked for unlimited distribution. See FM 3-19.17, Military Working Dogs (pdf), 6 July 2005. But in May 2011, the same Army manual on military working dogs (redesignated as ATTP 3-39.34) was updated, and this time its distribution has been limited to DoD and DoD contractors only. Public access to the document is barred. At the same time, copies of the unrestricted 2005 edition have been removed from Army websites. (A copy is still available through the Federation of American Scientists web site.) The net loss of public access to information in this case illustrates a new trend that is at odds with the Obama Administrations declared policy. Although the President promised to create an unprecedented level of openness in Government, in practice new barriers to access to unclassified ...

A proposed new rule published for comment by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) last week would establish updated new procedures for the declassification of historical records containing national security information. The proposed rule tracks fairly closely with President Obamas December 2009 executive order 13526 , and thus highlights some of the limitations of that order, especially with respect to the practice of automatic declassification. In 1995, President Clinton issued executive order 12958 which stated that permanently valuable historical records that are 25 years old or older shall be automatically declassified whether or not the records have been reviewed unless they are specifically exempted. This was a dramatic break with past practice, in which declassification and disclosure without prior review were practically unthinkable. Unfortunately, that Clinton requirement was implemented imperfectly or not at all, and some of the sharper edges of automati...

Government attorneys yesterday told a federal court that most of last years grand jury proceedings in which New York Times reporter James Risen was subpoenaed to testify should remain secret in the public interest. The grand jury subpoena against Risen was ultimately quashed in a November 30, 2010 order (pdf) that was unsealed last week. In a separate court order (pdf) last week, Judge Leonie M. Brinkema had asked the government to review Mr. Risens prior motion to quash the grand jury subpoena and the government motions filed in response, and to advise whether it would agree to have all of those grand jury pleadings unsealed and released in redacted, declassified form. Doing so, she said, would help to inform the current prosecution of former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling, in which Mr. Risen has again been subpoenaed. Given the significant legal issues raised in these pleadings and their relevance to the publicly filed case against Jeffrey Sterling, the public interest in access is s...

(Epoch Times) Editor's note: The Epoch Times here publishes direct translations of statements made by Chinese people in renouncing the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its subordinate organizations. Statements such as these are submitted to a website affiliate of the Chinese version of The Epoch Times, Dajiyuan. The movement to renounce, withdraw from, or quit the CCP, called tuidang in Chinese, began in late 2004, soon after The Epoch Times published the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, an editorial series that explores the nature and history of the CCP. The statements offer a rare and candid glimpse of history in the making: the Chinese people turning their backs on the Communist Party, choosing conscience over pragmatism, and peacefully ushering in a future China free of Party rule. Im an ordinary, thirty-something Chinese. I have a normal life just like many other Chinese people. I have been educated by the Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) philosophy since my youth, an...

The full text of Anything for Power: The Real Story of Jiang Zemin is available here . Introduction If it is fate that decides a persons destiny, then it is also within the capacity of historys design to arrange for a life to have shameful origins. When Jiang Zemin attended talks with the Hubei provincial delegation during the Chinese Communist Partys meeting of the Peoples Congress on March 12, 2003, he said, "I was the director of the Wuhan Institute for Boiler Research from 1966 to 1970. That was during the Cultural Revolution the rebel faction [sic] carefully examined my personal dossier. [1] Thats fine, as it proved that I have a clean record." Perhaps Jiangs audience didnt understand what his purpose was. Why would Jiangthe General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)need to vindicate himself and his "clean record"? The reason lies in Jiangs personal history being questionable. His biological father, Jiang Shijun (also known as Jiang Guanqian), was ...