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| Image: Flickr User - The White House |
By Jared Genser
The agenda is packed, but human rights issues are likely to get short shrift.
With Chinese President Xi Jinping arriving in Washington tomorrow to meet U.S. President Barack Obama, most of the news analysis has focused on the impact of China’s slowing economy, cyber espionage, trade, and flare-ups in the South China Sea. But China’s relentless disregard for the human dignity of the Chinese people must central to their discussions when Obama meets with Xi later this week.
With a domestic security budget estimated at over $130 billion, Xi and the Chinese security state obstructs Chinese citizens’ exercise of free speech, association, and religion. And it persecutes religious minorities, harasses and silences human rights defenders, and blocks the efforts of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) at every turn. But major world powers have been unwilling to confront China on these issues and to challenge Xi’s repressive actions. During Xi’s upcoming visit to Washington, Obama must speak up and speak loudly.
The recent arrest of more than 250 human rights lawyers highlights Xi’s repressive agenda. Recent reports indicate that 22 remain in custody, either in criminal detention or in unknown locations. The government’s alleged suspicions of these lawyers range from “illegally organizing paid protests” and “fabricating rumors on the internet to sway court decisions” to the more grave allegation of “inciting subversion of State power.”
The crackdown began with the detention of Wang Yu, an attorney at the Beijing-based Fengrui law firm. Wang has worked on human rights cases since 2011. She worked on the cases of the “Five Feminists” detained earlier this year, the respected Uighur academic Ilham Tohti, six underage girls sexually assaulted by their headmaster, and members of the banned spiritual group Falun Gong. Wang also represented Cao Shunli, a human rights activist who died last year while serving a sentence she received in response to her attempt to engage with the UN Human Rights Council. The government denied the imprisoned activist adequate medical attention until just days before her death.
Read the full story at The Diplomat