China :: Exposé

Large facilities in Jiujingzhuang, able to hold thousands of people, are used to detain petitioners. In addition, large tents are set up to "house-arrest" petitioners. July 1, 2011. (Courtesy of Ji Sizun) More than ten thousand petitioners from all over China have come to Beijing ahead of Oct. 1, Chinas Communist National Day, to seek justice at the State Bureau of Letters and Calls, mostly over illegal land expropriation and home demolition. Police have set up roadblocks to intercept the petitioners, and huge convoys of vans are ready to move them to special detention centers away from the city. According to Mr. Wen, a longtime petitioner from Changsha, Hunan Province, local authorities started arresting petitioners in the Changsha area, and he decided to adjust his plans and left for Beijing already on Sept. 15. He said there are large crowds in the area of Beijings State Bureau of Letters and Calls, and police cars and interception vans are everywhere. Wen said...

Led by the United States, arms-exporting nations are competing ever more intensely to win lucrative sales contracts in a shrinking global marketplace, according to a new report (pdf) from the Congressional Research Service. Worldwide weapons sales declined generally in 2010 in response to the constraints created by the tenuous state of the global economy, the report said. The value of all arms transfer agreements with developing nations declined from $49.8 billion in 2009 to over $30.7 billion in 2010. At the same time, however, the value of all arms deliveries to developing nations was nearly $21.9 billion, which is the highest total in these deliveries values since 2006. See Conventional Arms Transfers to Developing Nations, 2003-2010 by Richard F. Grimmett, Congressional Research Service, September 22, 2011. Yet as new arms sales have become more difficult to conclude since the global recession began, competition among sellers has become increasingly intense, the report said. A...

Blind Chinese civil rights activist Chen Guangcheng has been under tight house arrest for over a year, raising growing international concern for his and his familys safety and civil liberties. An Israeli journalist, accompanied by four Chinese civil right activists, unsuccessfully attempted to visit Chen on Sept. 21. They were intercepted and attacked by several dozen thugs. Ms. Rechal Beitarie, a reporter for the Calcalist and Israel Radio, and civil right activists Liu Shasha, Huang Bin, Huanghuang, and Wang Xuezhen went by two cars to Linyi City in Shandong Province, Chens hometown, trying to obtain news about Chen's daughter Kesi. Six-year-old Kesi was to start school this month, but according to reports, her school attendance has met with obstacles because of her family being under house arrest. But the investigative team did not reach Chens home or his daughters school, according to Ms. He Pearl Peirong, a woman from Nanjing, who has long been concerned about Chens situation,...

When the Central Intelligence Agency established a Center on Climate Change and National Security in 2009, it drew fierce opposition from congressional Republicans who disputed the need for an intelligence initiative on this topic. But now there is a different, and possibly better, reason to doubt the value of the Center: It has adopted an extreme view of classification policy which holds that everything the Center does is a national security secret. Last week, the CIA categorically denied (pdf) a request under the Freedom of Information Act for a copy of any Center studies or reports concerning the impacts of global warming. We completed a thorough search for records responsive to your request and located material that we determined is currently and properly classified and must be denied in its entirety, wrote CIAs Susan Viscuso to requester Jeffrey Richelson, an intelligence historian affiliated with the National Security Archive. With some effort, one can imagine records related...

The number of persons who held security clearances for access to classified information last year exceeded 4.2 million far more than previously estimated according to a new intelligence community report to Congress (pdf). The report, which was required by the FY2010 intelligence authorization act, provides the first precise tally of clearances held by federal employees and contractors that has ever been produced. The total figure as of last October 1 was 4,266,091 cleared persons. See Report on Security Clearance Determinations for Fiscal Year 2010, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, September 2011. In 2009, the Government Accountability Office had told Congress that about 2.4 million people held clearances excluding some of those with clearances who work in areas of national intelligence. ( More Than 2.4 Million Hold Security Clearances, Secrecy News, July 29, 2009). But even with a generous allowance for hundreds of thousands of additional intelligence personnel, t...

Fu Nan, gray-haired at the age of 28. She has been appealing her husband's unexplained disappearance from the military since 1998. (Courtesy of rightscampaign.blogspot.com) The Mid-Autumn Festival, a traditional holiday of family reunion for Chinese people, just passed. But Fu Nan, a woman with greying hair and an abyss in her heart, wasnt able to enjoy it, since she hasnt seen her husband for 14 years. Jiang Yongqiang was a captain with the First Regiment in Chinas Air Force First Division, stationed in Liaoning Province, Northeastern China. He was declared missing in 1998, but the military couldnt explain why, how, or provide any other useful information. Jiangs difficulties began after he won a design competition organized by the Central Military Commission. He held the patent rights to the architectural design for a building dedicated to the soldiers who lost their lives in the Korean War. During the proposal collection period, Jiangs superior, Tai Yang, Deputy Director of P...

Beijing human rights lawyer Jiang Tianyong. (Epoch Times) Chinese human rights attorney Jiang Tianyong, who was arrested in February as part of the Chinese Communist Partys attempt to nip a homegrown Jasmine Revolution in the bud, recently broke his silence about what went on while he was in custody. Isolation, brainwashing, sleep deprivation and torture were regular parts of those two months. He had been arrested by police in front of his family members, who simply said that he was under investigation. He was released on April 29, but not until mid-September did Jiang tell his story. The most painful part of the ordeal was the brainwashing sessions, he told Sound of Hope Radio (SOH) on Sept. 14. I was completely isolated from the outside world and had no opportunity to obtain information other than that forced on me by the police during the brainwashing sessions. In fact, I was under slow mental death. You know, in ancient China, there was a form of execution named slow slicing or li...

The White House reiterated its support for open government in a new report issued Friday afternoon. But curiously, the 33-page document on The Obama Administrations Commitment to Open Government (pdf) downplays or overlooks many of the Administrations principal achievements in reducing inappropriate secrecy. At the same time, it fails to acknowledge the major defects of the openness program to date. And so it presents a muddled picture of the state of open government, while providing a poor guide to future policy. At the Presidents direction, federal agencies have promoted greater transparency, participation, and collaboration through a number of major initiatives, the new report says. The results of those efforts are measurable, and they are substantial. Agencies have disclosed more information in response to FOIA requests; developed and begun to implement comprehensive Open Government plans; made thousands of government data sets publically available; promoted partnerships and leve...

Reporter Kiri Choy (right) sued Hong Kong Police for illegally arresting her. (Pan Zaishu/The Epoch Times) HONG KONGHong Kong-based reporter Kiri Choy has filed a lawsuit against the police for illegal detention. On Sept. 8, Kiri Choy announced at a press conference that she is suing Hong Kong Police Chief Wai Hung Andy Tsang for arresting her while she was taking an interview on July 1 and for detaining her for more than 10 hours. She was accompanied by Albert Chun-yan Ho, chairman of the Hong Kong Democratic Party. Mr. Ho stressed that this was the first lawsuit by a reporter against the police for an illegal arrest, and that the Democratic Party would fully support the lawsuit. Mr. Ho said that the fact that the Hong Kong Police had continued to detain Ms. Choy even after learning her identity as a reporter was a gross violation of the core values of Hong Kong. If we don't have freedom of press, then we've lost more than half of our basic freedom of expression. He added tha...

The National Reconnaissance Office , the agency that develops and operates U.S. intelligence satellites, is observing the 50th anniversary of its establishment in 1961 with a burst of declassification activity. Tomorrow, September 17, the newly declassified KH-9 HEXAGON satellite will go on public display for one day only in the parking lot of the Udvar-Hazy Center of the National Air and Space Museum. The KH-9 HEXAGON was a photographic reconnaissance satellite that was first launched in 1971 and ceased operation in the mid-1980s. At sixty feet long and ten feet in diameter, it is said to be the largest intelligence satellite ever launched by the U.S. The GAMBIT satellite is also to be unveiled at a Saturday evening reception . In addition, almost all of the voluminous historical intelligence imagery captured by the KH-9 is expected to be released. The National Reconnaissance Office is a hybrid organization consisting of some 3,000 personnel that is jointly staffed by members of ...

Residents of China's southern city of Nanning erupted in protest over the weekend when police ignored the case of a local rights activist being beaten. The protesters formed a road block with banners reading, "Uphold justice, punish the criminals." They said a man surnamed Zhou, who is the associate director of an activist group within an auto plant workers' residential complex, was exiting the complex on his motorcycle when he was badly beaten by suspects who left the scene right. Although his neighbors have asked the police to investigate the case and watch the footage of a video camera positioned at a gas station near the scene, the police refused to take the case. They said it was a traffic violation, and therefore is under the jurisdiction of the traffic police. The residents believe that Zhou was beaten for his involvement in protesting against forced relocation of the auto plant workers in the complex, and the police refused to investigate the cas...

The U.S. military says it is taking a more assertive stance against the proliferation or use of weapons of mass destruction. Newly updated tactical military doctrine represents a major shift from the former, passive defense nature against nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons to a broader, active, and preventive approach toward a wider range of CBRN [chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear] threats and hazards, according to a new manual (pdf) on CBRN Operations. The new posture constitutes a significant doctrinal shift from reactive to proactive military capabilities. These actions are being performed at the tactical level, perhaps, now more than ever, the unclassified manual said. See Multi-Service Doctrine for Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Operations, U.S. Army Field Manual 3-11, July 2011. The manual states that in accordance with international law, The United States will never use chemical weapons. Likewise, The United States will never use biologic...

Chinese human rights lawyers Gao Zhisheng (L) and Guo Feixiong, pictured in a restaurant in January, 2006. (The Epoch Times) Chinese human rights lawyer Guo Feixiong was released from prison on Sept. 13. Although in poor health and weakened by the ordeal of five years imprisonment, he declared himself unchanged in his core. Prior to his detention in September 2006, Guo (whose original and pen name are Yang Maodong) was active in the weiquan or rights defense movementa loose collection of lawyers and intellectuals that sought to protect the rights of ordinary Chinese through litigation. Guo defended poor peasants whose land had been stolen, Christians, Falun Gong practitioners, and others who have suffered under the Chinese regime. He was a close associate of human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, who advocated for Guos release before Gao himself was imprisoned. Gaos current whereabouts are unknown. Guos conviction in November 2007 for illegal business activity was widely regarde...

The growing use of social media such as Twitter and Facebook in responding to emergency situations is examined in a new report (pdf) from the Congressional Research Service. In the last five years social media have played an increasing role in emergencies and disasters, the report notes. Social media sites rank as the fourth most popular source to access emergency information. They have been used by individuals and communities to warn others of unsafe areas or situations, inform friends and family that someone is safe, and raise funds for disaster relief. While they have still untapped potential for improving emergency communications, social media can also be used inadvertently or maliciously to disseminate false or misleading information, the report observes. See Social Media and Disasters: Current Uses, Future Options, and Policy Considerations, September 6, 2011. With few exceptions, congressional leaders of both parties are opposed to allowing direct public access to Congress...

Banners and display boards set up by Falun Gong practitioners in a public area in Hong Kong. (Song Bilong/The Epoch Times) HONG KONGEvery day in Hong Kong busloads of tourists from mainland China visit popular tourist sites where they encounter adherents of Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa ) who have set up display boards and banners that tell about the spiritual practice and its persecution in China. If a new interpretation of a Hong Kong ordinance is allowed to stand, then such use of what are termed roadside non-commercial publicity materials will be banned, putting a crimp in the Falun Gong practitioners efforts to tell their story and limiting the rights of all Hong Kongers. According to Hong Kong Falun Gong practitioners, on Sept. 2 staff from the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) issued notices to different sites where practitioners have displays, including in front of the Liaison Office to Beijing (the Liasion Office is equivalent to Chinas Embassy in Hong K...

Chinese authorities carry sticks as they prepare to stand guard before workers demolish houses which are claimed illegal by local government in Wuhan, central China's Hubei province on May 7, 2010. Land seizures have been a problem for years in China and forced evictions have not been uncommon. (AFP/Getty Images) Wu Ruian, a grade 12 high-school student with a disabled left foot and prosthetic right leg, clambered onto his roof to defend the family home recently. He wasnt defending it from bandits, but rather government officials and their cronies. Theyd come to demolish the building so they could make a killing from selling the land. He took off his pants to show his left foot, yelling to the demolition crew: If you still have human nature, do not tear down our house. The crew ignored him. Enraged, he threw his prosthetic leg onto the street. It did little good. The incident would end with a dead official, a broken family, and a demolished house. The Wu familys ordeal is on...

Duan, a peddler, beaten for a chivalrous assist in Kunming, China. (Posted to Weibo.com) The chengguan, a type of municipal police, have claimed another victim in China. A street vendor in Kunming City in Yunnan Province was severely beaten on Sept. 3 by a group of these urban police and is listed in critical condition at a local hospital. According to a report in Yunnan Xinxibao (Yunnan Info Daily), the vendor, Mr. Duan, had attempted to come to the aid of a female vendor who was holding a baby in her arms. At about 11 p.m. the female vendor was hit by the black-garbed police, resulting in the babys nose being bruised and starting to bleed during the conflict. As Duan came forward to stop them, he ended up being attacked by 7 or 8 policemen with steel pipes and clubs. When he passed out and fell down to the ground with blood all over his face, the police hurriedly left the scene. Chengguan is short for City Urban Administrative and Law Enforcement Bureau. This police force is establis...

A draft resolution (pdf) prepared for the inter-parliamentary Council of Europe bluntly criticized the cult of secrecy in the United States and other nations and it praised the role of whistleblowers in helping to challenge the abuse of secrecy authority. In some countries, in particular the United States, the notion of state secrecy is used to shield agents of the executive from prosecution for serious criminal offences such as abduction and torture, or to stop victims from suing for compensation, the draft resolution stated. The draft, written by Dick Marty of Switzerland, was approved September 7 by the Legal Affairs Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. It is to be debated by the full Assembly next month. See Abuse of state secrecy and national security: obstacles to parliamentary and judicial scrutiny of human rights violations, provisional version, September 7. The document criticized various member nations for failing to conduct probes of detention...

Chinese human rights lawyer Chen Guangcheng with his wife and daughter outside their home in Dongshigu village on March 28, 2005. Chen spent over four years in prison for accusing family-planning officials in Shandong Province of forcing at least 7,000 wo (AFP/Getty Images) On Sept. 1, when many first-graders in China were excited about their first day of school, the six-year-old daughter of blind human rights lawyer Chen Guangcheng had to stay home because her parents are under house arrest. Rights activist Liu Shasha said in a twitter message that she and several other activists went to Dongshigu Village in Linyi of Shandong Province, Chens hometown, on Aug. 26, and found that Chen and his family are still under house arrest. Liu also said that the authorities hired some people to set up barriers around the village to prevent outsiders from entering. Liu published every move on her trip on twitter in case she got into any danger. Liu said the director of Linyi Education Bureau met wi...

Prosecutors in the case of former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling , who is suspected of leaking classified information to author and New York Times reporter James Risen, last week renewed their request (pdf) for a subpoena to compel Risen to testify at Sterlings upcoming trial. A July 29 court order, issued by Judge Leonie M. Brinkema, had sharply limited the scope of Risens testimony, essentially requiring him only to authenticate his authorship of a book containing classified information concerning Irans nuclear program, and to attest to the accuracy of its contents. Prosecutors said they need much more than that from Mr. Risen, and they filed a Motion for Reconsideration on August 24 . Then on September 2 they filed a Supplement arguing that further developments have strengthened the governments argument that it has a compelling interest in Mr. Risens eyewitness testimony because it is necessary or critical to the case, and because there are no alternative means from which the gover...

An April 3, 2011 text message on lawyer Shu Xiangxins cell phone says: You will lose your job in 15 days and experience living in fear." (Courtesy of Shu Xiangxin) Shus clients, however, were meanwhile able to successfully negotiate with Guan County officials to keep their farmland. The case has created quite a public stir in the area, and many other villagers have since gone to Shu for legal help. But the case also alarmed higher-up authorities in Shandong Province according to Shu. On June 8, officers from the Jinan Public Security Bureau took Shu away for interrogation while he was attending his nieces wedding banquet. Police also took away all the files from his office, basically shutting him down. We could no longer take on any cases, so my colleagues all quit, Shu said. However, Guan County authorities continued to seize farmland in other places. During the night of Aug. 8, the county mayor sent crews to dig up more than 300 mu (49 acres) of farmland, with crop...

Four thugs, smoking cigarettes, intrude in Shu's law firm on April 1. (Courtesy of Shu Xiangxin) A lawyer in Chinas eastern Shandong Province has become a target of retaliation by local officials after taking a case against illegal farmland expropriation. Shu Xiangxin, the head of Xuzhou Law Firm in Jinan City of Shandong Province, told Sound of Hope Radio in a recent interview how officials of a small county threatened him and his family with death and withheld his license after he rejected their bribes. Shu said he filed a lawsuit in March against the Party secretary of Guan County on behalf of two villagers of Zhangyizhuang Village in Guan County. The county government had expropriated more than 200 mu (33 acres) of village farmland without any legal procedures. The villagers refused to surrender the land only to find that their crops were dug up and destroyed by excavators. On March 27, the director of Guan County and the director of the Legislative Affairs Office vi...