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Headlines : Human RightsChina secretly executes anti-dam protester
That China executes many of its political prisoners is nothing new, but the callous nature of this execution, especially the victim’s inability to defend himself in court, speaks volumes about a country that we continue to do business with on a daily basis.
Am I actually agreeing with Stephen Harper on this one? Do Western governments have a responsibility to impose economic sanctions on China to stop its flagrant violation of even the most basic civil liberties?
[Posted By Judy]Republished from The Independent (UK)
Chinese officials have secretly executed a demonstrator who took part in a massive protest in 2004 against a hydro-electric dam in the south-western province of Sichuan, lawyers and family members said yesterday.
In a grim postscript to the summer of rural unrest that overtook China two years ago, Chen Tao was executed for “deliberately killing” a riot policeman during the demonstration, when 100,000 farmers staged a sit-in against the building of the 186-metre-high Pubugou dam on the Dadu river in Hanyuan county. The dam was set to flood thousands of people out of their homes and there were complaints that compensation was inadequate.
It was one of 74,000 “mass incidents” across the country that year – often-violent protests and riots over land-grabs, illegal pollution and official corruption. The scale of predominantly rural unrest prompted the Beijing government to introduce a number of measures aimed at reducing the wealth gap in China.
Chen was one of four men jailed after the huge demonstration. Cai Dengming, whose son was Chen’s co-defendant, told the Reuters news agency that he had been executed.
“When I went to the Ya’an jail to visit my son this week, the officer there told me that Chen Tao had been executed,...
Posted by Judy
Born and raised in Toronto, I'm now heading over to the UK to pursue an MA in Russian Politics, Security and Integration. I'm crazy about feminism, multilateralism, peacekeeping, the Toronto Maple Leafs and puppies.
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This is only one of a string of Chinese dam-related ‘mass incidents’ in recent memory. There have been many directly related to the Three Gorges Dam disaster.
The Three Gorges Probe has many details here.
“Do Western governments have a responsibility to impose economic sanctions on China to stop its flagrant violation of even the most basic civil liberties?”
Yes, we do. I find it completely repugnant that western countries are just falling over themselves to do business with China at the expense of our belief in human rights for everyone. China is so damn ass backwards on this it isn’t even funny. They should not be in the WTO (Are they now?) until they can prove they are not murdering everyone who has a differing opinion than the government. If that means sanctions than so be it. They should not be allowed to play with the so called civilized democratic nations until they start acting more cvilized themselves.
I find it completely repugnant that western countries are just falling over themselves to do business with China at the expense of our belief in human rights for everyone.
Me too. The Chinese government is fucking evil and it scares me, and their power and influence is ascendant. Why the fuck are we making them our favored trading partner, getting so far in the fucking hole that they essentially own our country through our debt, and outsourcing damn near the entire primary producer level of our economy to their factories? They’re goddamn authoritarian crypto-capitalist scumbags!
And they hate the Dalai Lama. Anybody who finds themselves opposed to somebody who can smile like that is automatically on my “shun” list.
So if everyone agrees they are evil, would you guys support military action against such evil?
“So if everyone agrees they are evil, would you guys support military action against such evil?”
I’m not a huge fan of suicide…. anyone who attacks China is going to have big problems and China has said in the past that they would use Nukes to defend their country…
So if everyone agrees they are evil, would you guys support military action against such evil?
Shit, no. But treating them like international pariahs would be appropriate. Cutting our trade with them would be appropriate. Issuing a strong denunciation whenever they pull some fascist shit like this secret execution would be great. Not being assholes ourselves would be appropriate. Not that any of that would ever happen, of course, but no, I don’t think we gotta go nuke ‘em.
Cutting our trade with them would be appropriate.
/me see’s a calamity of Home Depot’s, Wal Mart’s, auto parts outlets, department stores of every shape and size imploding like sink holes nation wide.
This is way China’s climbing to the top. They make thier own rules.