John Whitehead's Commentary
It's Time to Deal with China's Continuing Human Rights Abuses
In light of the fact that the United States is moving closer and closer to assuming normal relations with China, including allowing the Chinese to manufacture the controversial abortion pill (RU-486), it is time to re-consider China's continuing human rights abuses and our response to them.
For example, a report from the Associated Press indicates that Chinese authorities have renewed their efforts to deter individuals from worshipping outside the state-backed Catholic and non-denominational Protestant churches. Such a return to tactics used during a two-year campaign against non-state-sanctioned churches can only bode ill for the Chinese people. According to the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy, this new campaign has already claimed one life--that of a Chinese Protestant who was arrested while worshipping at an illegal church service in a private home, beaten, imprisoned in a central China jail and then denied medical care.
Liu Haitong was worshipping in an underground church in Henan province's Xiayi County on September 4 when police raided the home and detained him. The Hong Kong-based Center for Human Rights reported that Liu was beaten by police and left weakened by the prison's inadequate food and poor hygiene. He soon began vomiting and developed a high fever. The 19-year-old died in the county jail on October 16, after being denied medical care by his captors. Typical of the Protestant house churches that have flourished in the Henan province and as a result have been targeted for such fierce crackdowns, the underground church or house church--so called because it is often located in private homes--is part of a growing movement serviced by evangelical preachers and a smattering of foreigners.
Unfortunately, in light of decisions made recently at an annual meeting of the ruling Communist Party's elite, the situation threatens to become more explosive and the crackdowns on members of these house churches more severe. Public Security Minister Jia Chunwang has ordered Chinese police to target members of cults, separatists and "religious extremists." The latter phrase, according to the Associated Press, is code for people worshipping outside official churches.
Besides these Gestapo-type tactics, reports continue to filter out of China about its Draconian birth control measures, including forced abortions on poor women. Eyewitness reports out of East Turkistan (a region under the Chinese government's control) note that virtually every day women are brought in from the surrounding countryside for abortion surgeries--some of the women are nine months pregnant. Reportedly, many of the doctors and nurses, who are unqualified, receive bonuses from the government for the number of abortions they perform. As a result, severe and often permanent damage from abortion is becoming common among many of the local women. As an eyewitness to this tragedy reported: "All the problems that resulted from the abortions are blamed on the women for getting pregnant when they are not allowed. On top of the forced abortions, healthy babies are given lethal injections as soon as they are born."
This is merely the tip of the Chinese human rights abuses. The real issue here is how we as a people will deal with China and this horrendous problem. It doesn't mean completely withdrawing from any involvement with the Chinese. We cannot afford to totally isolate ourselves from the world community, including China. However, if the United States is going to normalize trade and conduct extensive business with the Chinese government, the human rights abuses must stop--now. This means that our leaders, led by our President and supported by our Congress, must use every leverage, including economic coercion, to force the Chinese government to stop such terrorist tactics.
There really is no reason to be timid in addressing this situation. After all, would we have conducted business as normal with Nazi Germany, knowing the human rights atrocities they were committing? If not, why do we continue to look the other way as China practices a form of brutality we would condone nowhere else?
For example, a report from the Associated Press indicates that Chinese authorities have renewed their efforts to deter individuals from worshipping outside the state-backed Catholic and non-denominational Protestant churches. Such a return to tactics used during a two-year campaign against non-state-sanctioned churches can only bode ill for the Chinese people. According to the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy, this new campaign has already claimed one life--that of a Chinese Protestant who was arrested while worshipping at an illegal church service in a private home, beaten, imprisoned in a central China jail and then denied medical care.
Liu Haitong was worshipping in an underground church in Henan province's Xiayi County on September 4 when police raided the home and detained him. The Hong Kong-based Center for Human Rights reported that Liu was beaten by police and left weakened by the prison's inadequate food and poor hygiene. He soon began vomiting and developed a high fever. The 19-year-old died in the county jail on October 16, after being denied medical care by his captors. Typical of the Protestant house churches that have flourished in the Henan province and as a result have been targeted for such fierce crackdowns, the underground church or house church--so called because it is often located in private homes--is part of a growing movement serviced by evangelical preachers and a smattering of foreigners.
Unfortunately, in light of decisions made recently at an annual meeting of the ruling Communist Party's elite, the situation threatens to become more explosive and the crackdowns on members of these house churches more severe. Public Security Minister Jia Chunwang has ordered Chinese police to target members of cults, separatists and "religious extremists." The latter phrase, according to the Associated Press, is code for people worshipping outside official churches.
Besides these Gestapo-type tactics, reports continue to filter out of China about its Draconian birth control measures, including forced abortions on poor women. Eyewitness reports out of East Turkistan (a region under the Chinese government's control) note that virtually every day women are brought in from the surrounding countryside for abortion surgeries--some of the women are nine months pregnant. Reportedly, many of the doctors and nurses, who are unqualified, receive bonuses from the government for the number of abortions they perform. As a result, severe and often permanent damage from abortion is becoming common among many of the local women. As an eyewitness to this tragedy reported: "All the problems that resulted from the abortions are blamed on the women for getting pregnant when they are not allowed. On top of the forced abortions, healthy babies are given lethal injections as soon as they are born."
This is merely the tip of the Chinese human rights abuses. The real issue here is how we as a people will deal with China and this horrendous problem. It doesn't mean completely withdrawing from any involvement with the Chinese. We cannot afford to totally isolate ourselves from the world community, including China. However, if the United States is going to normalize trade and conduct extensive business with the Chinese government, the human rights abuses must stop--now. This means that our leaders, led by our President and supported by our Congress, must use every leverage, including economic coercion, to force the Chinese government to stop such terrorist tactics.
There really is no reason to be timid in addressing this situation. After all, would we have conducted business as normal with Nazi Germany, knowing the human rights atrocities they were committing? If not, why do we continue to look the other way as China practices a form of brutality we would condone nowhere else?
ABOUT JOHN W. WHITEHEAD
Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute. His most recent books are the best-selling Battlefield America: The War on the American People, the award-winning A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State, and a debut dystopian fiction novel, The Erik Blair Diaries. Whitehead can be contacted at staff@rutherford.org. Nisha Whitehead is the Executive Director of The Rutherford Institute. Information about The Rutherford Institute is available at www.rutherford.org.
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