China Reform Monitor No. 486
February 19, 2003
American Foreign Policy Council, Washington, D.C.

U.S. diplomats, rights groups urge release of Yang Jianli

Al Santoli

For nine months following his arrest while visiting China, U.S.-based dissident Yang Jianli has been held incommunicado and his family has yet to receive formal notice of the charges against him, reports the New York Times. Yang, 39, is a Ph.D. from Harvard University and the father of two young children in Brookline, Massachusetts. He is a survivor of the Tiananmen Square massacre and has been on a Chinese government blacklist ever since. He co-founded the Foundation for China in the 21st Century, which publishes an electronic newsletter on reform in China.

Yang was arrested in Kunming in April 2002 while investigating labor issues and detained for traveling with a false passport. Although state security officials refused to provide information to Yang's family, an official response to a recent Times inquiry stated Yang is now under investigation for "other criminal activities." His wife, Christina Fu, who works at Harvard University Medical School, was refused entry at the Beijing airport. The Boston Globe reports that U.S. human rights groups and diplomats, including Secretary of State Colin Powell, have raised Yang's case with Chinese officials. Except for confirmation that Yang is jailed in Beijing, there has been no progress on gaining his release.

Hong Kong's Catholic Bishop Joseph Zen warned that repression of Catholics in mainland China is growing and could spread to Hong Kong, the Catholic World News service reports. Bishop Zen said persecution is not limited to the underground Church, but now includes the state-controlled Patriotic Catholic Association. Some Catholic seminaries on the mainland have been ordered to stop holding classes.

Bishop Zen also warned that the Catholic Church in Hong Kong risks being banned under the local government's proposed anti-subversion law, which Beijing has required the semi-autonomous region to pass. It would mandate life in prison for people found guilty of acts of treason, sedition or subversion against the Beijing government. One of the most controversial provisions in the bill would allow the government to ban any group in Hong Kong if it received funds, direction, or was under control of an outlawed group in China. "If tomorrow China says the underground Catholic Church is dangerous for state security... we will also be proscribed in Hong Kong," Bishop Zen said.

A new human rights study describes appalling working conditions for tens of thousands of toy factory workers in Guangdong, the South China Morning Post reports. Most abuses are caused by fierce competition between plants to win contracts from international brands including McDonald's, Toys 'R Us and Disney. Exploitation is usually found at factories manufacturing cheap toys or gifts as no skills are required and contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder. The report is compiled by the Hong Kong Christian Industrial Committee, which specializes in labor investigations in southern China. The report emphasizes, "in the face of strong pressure from their Western buyers for labor standard compliance, the factories usually falsify their records and ask workers to give model answers to auditors."

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Source: "American Foreign Policy Council".