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BEIJING Skittish domestic security officials responded with a mass show of force across China on Sunday after anonymous calls for protesters to stage a Chinese Jasmine Revolution went out over social media and micro-blogging outlets.
Although there were no reports of large demonstrations, the outsize government response highlighted Beijings nervousness at a time of spreading unrest in the Middle East aimed at overthrowing authoritarian regimes.
The words jasmine revolution, borrowed from the successful Tunisian revolt, were blocked on Twitter-like blogging sites and Internet search engines while cellphone users were unable to send out text messages to multiple recipients. A heavy police presence was reported in several Chinese cities.
In recent days, more than a dozen lawyers and rights activists have been rounded up, and scores of dissidents have reportedly been placed under varying forms of house arrest. At least two lawyers are still missing, family members and human rights advocates said Sunday.
An online posting on the Internet called for demonstrations around the country Sunday, to mark what it called "Chinas Jasmine Revolution." The appeal went out to all Chinese who feel there is injustice in the country -- including parents whose children suffered from tainted milk, people who feel their homes were unjustly torn down, and people who are upset at the abuse of official privilege. The appeal urged people to go to designated locations in cities around the country, watch the developments and, if brave enough, shout out demands.
In Beijing Sunday, a few hundred people gathered quietly in front of a fast food restaurant near Tiananmen Square in the center of the city. The only real noise from the demonstration was uniformed police officers moving through the crowd to try to disperse people. Eyewitnesses say the demonstrators did not chant slogans nor display banners, and did not talk to journalists at the scene. Prior to Sundays gathering, authorities detained a number of activists, including prominent human rights lawyers.
Internet activist Tian Tian says she saw an unmarked car drive away with lawyer Xu Zhiyong early Sunday morning, when she went to the Beijing home of Teng Biao, another lawyer who also had been taken away. She says she believes the detentions have to do with Sundays demonstrations, because authorities asked activists what their plans are for Sunday and urged them not to go out.
Meanwhile, the demonstrations in China were making their mark on the Internet social network, Twitter, where a hashtag set up for that topic received one thousand messages a minute by Sunday evening. Many tweets about the Beijing demonstration agreed there were "lots of people," but that it was hard to tell who among them were actually protesters. One tweet implied that nothing happened and joked that everyone should just go home because the crowd was all made up of plain clothes police.
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Jiang Tianyong, an activist lawyer in Beijing, vanished Feb. 19, a day before the protests called for in Internet postings in the Chinese capital. Jiang has not been heard from since. The mysterious group running the website called this week for fresh protests Sunday. Jiang and two other human rights lawyers, Tang Jitian and Teng Biao, have disappeared into China's labyrinthine security system in the past two weeks, says China Human Rights Defenders, a Hong Kong-based group. More than 100 other people have had their movements restricted, and six activists face subversion charges, possibly for posting information online about the "Jasmine Rallies," according to the group.
Jiang's wife, Jin Bianling, says she has tried for years to persuade her husband to switch to a safer profession. She fears the worst. "He might be sentenced on some charge," says Jin of her 39-year-old husband. "But I am most worried they will torture him. He has high-blood pressure, but the police refuse to deliver his medicine. I worry about his personal safety."
Foreign journalists were contacted by Chinese police this week to remind them of the rules that govern journalists operating in the communist-controlled country. The disappearances began shortly after a website called the "China Jasmine Revolution" appeared on a Facebook page last month and called on Chinese to "take a stroll" in specific spots in dozens of cities in China on Sunday afternoons. The site called on people to smile as they walked. One such call asked for people to walk smiling by the KFC at Dongfanghong Square in the city of Lanzhou or at the Wangfujing shopping plaza near People's Square in Shanghai.
Organizers ridicule the communist leadership and its slogans and accuse the government of corruption, asking Chinese where the money is going from the sale and leasing of properties to foreign companies. "We only need one slogan for our Jasmine Revolution, and that is ... terminate one-party rule," one posting said, according to the South China Morning Post, a Hong Kong-based newspaper.
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Chinas state media yesterday warned citizens to ignore calls for weekend anti-government rallies in major cities, saying that similar protests across the Middle East had created chaos. The commentary in the Beijing Daily newspaper, a Communist Party mouthpiece, signaled that Chinas security crackdown would not let up. This turmoil has brought a massive calamity to the people of these countries, the Beijing Daily said in a commentary.
It is worth noting that at home and abroad some people with ulterior motives are trying to draw this chaos into China. They have used the Internet to incite illegal gatherings, it said. This was the governments most public warning yet against calls for Middle East-inspired pro-democracy protests that have spread from an overseas Chinese Web site, triggering tighter censorship, intense security in Beijing and new restrictions on foreign reporters. Citizens have been urged to gather for subtle strolling demonstrations but take no overt protest action each Sunday afternoon at designated locations in cities across China to highlight public anger with the government.
Foreign reporters have been repeatedly warned to stay away from the sites this weekend and threatened with unspecified consequences if they disobey. The anonymous campaigners behind the so-called Jasmine rallies have said their movement has support in dozens of cities, though security have turned out in force at the rally sites in Beijing and Shanghai to prevent such gatherings.
On Feb. 27, several foreign journalists were roughed up in a popular shopping area of Beijing, and police have since threatened reporters that they could lose their permission to work in China unless they follow new rules. Chinese police have threatened to revoke the visas of dozens of foreign journalists if they continue illegal reporting from sites where overseas Web sites have called for anti-government demonstrations.
More China state paper warns against rallies - Taipei Times
The former South Korean foreign minister has, through his first term as the UN chief, stressed the role of “quiet diplomacy” for some prickly cases, but the disappearance of dozens of artists, intellectuals and dissidents in China in recent weeks comes as Ban prepares to announce whether he will seek another five years. Even if there is no clear rival for the post, Ban knows that he must have the support of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council — China, France, Russia the UK and the US.
The UN leader took a tough line on Ivory Coast, where former president Laurent Gbagbo was captured on April 11, and in Libya, where he says that the UN resolution allowing military action extended the frontier of humanitarian law to help civilians, but questioned twice at briefings in recent days about Ban’s position on the arrest of artist Ai Weiwei and dozens of other opposing voices in China, deputy UN spokesman Farhan Haq said: “I’ll have to get back to you on that.”
Rights groups previously criticized Ban for failing to raise the case of jailed Nobel Peace prize laureate Liu Xiaobo when he met Chinese President Hu Jintao in November. Ban insisted that he raised the case with “other” Chinese leaders. The same rights groups say China’s fears that the popular uprisings in the Arab world could spread are behind its move to detain or put under house arrest at least 54 dissident voices. The EU and the US have expressed concern about the detention of Ai, an acclaimed artist and critic of the communist government.
More Ban slammed over silence on wave of arrests in China - Taipei Times
Renowned artist Ai Weiwei, the most high-profile target of a sweeping crackdown on activists in China, returned home late Wednesday after nearly three months in detention. Looking tired and thinner, he said the conditions of his release meant he could not talk more. The official Xinhua News Agency said Ai confessed to tax evasion, accusations his family had long denied and which activists had denounced as a false premise for detaining him. He has spoken out strongly against the ruling Communist Party, and his family and supporters say he was being punished for speaking out about the communist leadership and social problems. Ai, who had been taken away on April 3, walked through the gate of his suburban home studio shortly after 11 p.m. with his mother and wife. He said his health was fine and thanked reporters for their support outside his studio, but said he could not speak further.
"I'm sorry I can't (talk), I am on probation, please understand," Ai said, speaking in English. The conditions appeared to extend also to Ai's family, although his mother told reporters she was relieved to see him again. "I'm so happy that my son is back," Gao Ying said. The outspoken artist's detention had sparked an international outcry, with the United States and other countries saying it was a sign of China's deteriorating human rights situation. That international condemnation, along with Ai's party connections as the son of one of China's most famous modern poets, had convinced authorities to strike a deal with Ai on his release, said Jerome Cohen, a top expert on Chinese law at New York University. "As often happens with sensitive cases, it was too hot to handle and they had to find a way out," Cohen said by phone from New York City.
He said Ai was most likely released on a form of bail that restricts suspects' movements to their home city for one year. However, authorities can reopen the case at any time, meaning Ai faces the ever-present threat of being detained again on the same accusations. Despite that, Cohen said Ai's release under those terms was probably the best outcome that could be expected, given the degree to which he had angered those in power. "It's quite a step back for the regime. It demonstrates the utility of large amounts of international attention, plus international connections that had been sufficient to keep him out of jail before," he said. Ai's release might also have been a face-saving move, coming just days before Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao was due to travel to Hungary, Britain and Germany, countries where supporters of the artist have been vocal in their condemnation of his detention.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle was cautiously optimistic about Ai's release. "That would be a big relief for the artist and his family, even though the reported circumstances of his release on bail continue to appear depressing," Westerwelle said in a written statement. State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner told a news conference Wednesday the U.S. has yet to confirm the media reports of Ai's release but that Washington would welcome it. "It's always a good thing when an individual who is only in prison for exercising his internationally recognized human rights is released," Toner said.
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Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei's release from prison after almost three months in detention was met quietly by world leaders and activists who, while happy about Mr. Ai's freedom, are still alarmed by the degree to which free speech remains curtailed in China.
Three of his associates are still missing, the Guardian reported, and many other Chinese dissidents remain missing or in detention. Amnesty International reports that at least 130 dissenters have been jailed since February. Ai is apparently not totally free either – he not permitted to leave Beijing and is forbidden from speaking to the media for at least a year, per the conditions of his bail, The Wall Street Journal reported.
"It's always a good thing when an individual, as we said, who's only in prison for exercising his internationally recognized human rights is released," said US State Department Spokesman Mark Toner Wednesday at a press briefing. "But there's obviously more individuals who are being held."
Several news outlets reported that the impetus for his release may be Premier Wen Jiaboa's impending visit to Europe – several European countries as well as European Union officials criticized China for Ai's arrest. China rejected those claims, saying that Ai was imprisoned for a "common economic crime" – he was apparently charged with tax evasion – and his detention followed the process for such a crime, according to the Guardian.
According to her spokesman, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that his release is only the first step for China and that he must be cleared by the judicial system "in a transparent way," The Wall Street Journal reported. Germany is one of the countries on Mr. Wen's itinerary.
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This isn't Egypt or Tunisia. The Chinese know how to oppress better than anyone.
BEIJING Skittish domestic security officials responded with a mass show of force across China on Sunday after anonymous calls for protesters to stage a Chinese Jasmine Revolution went out over social media and micro-blogging outlets.
Although there were no reports of large demonstrations, the outsize government response highlighted Beijings nervousness at a time of spreading unrest in the Middle East aimed at overthrowing authoritarian regimes.
The words jasmine revolution, borrowed from the successful Tunisian revolt, were blocked on Twitter-like blogging sites and Internet search engines while cellphone users were unable to send out text messages to multiple recipients. A heavy police presence was reported in several Chinese cities.
In recent days, more than a dozen lawyers and rights activists have been rounded up, and scores of dissidents have reportedly been placed under varying forms of house arrest. At least two lawyers are still missing, family members and human rights advocates said Sunday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/21/world/asia/21china.html
Four associates of Chinese artist-activist Ai Weiwei detained along with him in a controversial case were freed after Ai’s release, friends of the artist said yesterday. The four included journalist Wen Tao, detained along with Ai in early April when the two were at Beijing airport heading to Hong Kong, said Liu Yanping, a volunteer worker involved in Ai’s campaigning on rights issues. “All of the people connected to the case have been released,” Liu told reporters by telephone. “That’s a big relief. But I do think Ai Weiwei studio’s work will remain suspended for now,” she said, adding that she was referring to Ai’s politically charged activism, not to his artistic work.
The detention of Ai and his associates marked the start of the contentious case which the Chinese government said was about suspected tax evasion, while Ai’s family and supporters said it was part of a political drive to silence him and other critics of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) censorship and controls. Ai’s accountant Hu Mingfen, a designer in Ai’s studio, Liu Zhenggang, and the artist’s driver, Zhang Jingsong, who all went missing in April, were also freed on Thursday or Friday, according to Liu, the volunteer, as well as Liu Xiaoyan, a lawyer close to Ai.
The 54-year-old Ai was freed on bail on Wednesday, a day before Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao left for Europe. The release of Ai and other activists has marked a stepdown of sorts by Chinese authorities, who have rarely flinched in prosecuting critics of CCP rule. However, the tax charges and release conditions that hover over Ai and his released friends are likely to ensure they stay publicly silent for now.
Other Chinese dissidents and human rights lawyers detained and then released in recent months have also said they must stay quiet in return for their release. Zhang was also released on bail, Liu Xiaoyan said, but he and Liu Yanping were unsure whether bail terms applied to the other three freed. “My understanding is that Wen Tao is not allowed to speak out about what happened,” Liu Yanping said. “I think the others will be in the same situation.”
Officials have told Ai that he cannot speak out, tweet or travel without their permission for a year, a source close to the family told reporters on Friday. China has denied that the international outcry over the detention of Ai pressured Beijing into releasing him. Analysts say Ai’s release is far from a sign of a U-turn by the Chinese Communist Party. Authorities have muzzled dissent with the secretive detentions of more than 130 lawyers and activists since February, amid fears that anti-authoritarian uprisings across the Arab world could trigger unrest.
Associates of Ai Weiwei freed - Taipei Times
The wife of Hu Jia said in a Twitter message that Hu is safe and very happy. Hu's three-and-a-half-year prison sentence was set to end Sunday. Hu was jailed in 2008, just months before the Beijing Olympic Games, after he used the Internet and interviews with reporters to highlight rights abuses in China.
Hu's release comes just days after prominent Chinese artist Ai Weiwei was allowed to return home following nearly three months in police detention. Colleagues of Ai said Saturday that four of the artist's associates were also freed from detention this past week. The terms of Ai's bail prevent him from leaving Beijing or talking to the media.
Ai's arrest was part of a wider crackdown on Chinese government critics that began in mid-February. China's official Xinhua news agency said Ai was released because he had confessed to tax evasion and promised to repay what he owes. It also said the diabetic artist was released on medical grounds.
Ai is one of China's best-known artists and an international celebrity. He has exhibited in the world's top art museums and had a hand in designing Beijing's “Bird's Nest” Olympic stadium. His detention had become an issue in many of China's diplomatic encounters with other countries. The release came ahead of a trip to Europe by Premier Wen Jiabao, and a high-level U.S.-Chinese diplomatic meeting that took place Saturday in Hawaii.
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