Wang Quanzhang: China jails leading human rights lawyer
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Wang Quanzhang, is a very prominent human rights lawyer in China, 3 years ago, on July 9, he and several other activist and lawyers were arrested during what it called the "709" crackdown. Out of all of the activists and lawyers that were jailed, Wang is the last one to stand trial.
The "709" crackdown started on July 9th, 2015, hence its name, by detaining defense lawyer Wang Yu and her family members, commencing this enormous crackdown on human rights activists and lawyers. After the start of the crackdown, about three hundred rights activists and lawyers were affected. They were all latterly all charged with the same thing "subversion of state power".
Wang recently stood trial on December 26, 2018, in Tianjin. The court in Tianjin states, "[Wang is] found guilty of subverting state power, sentenced to four years and six months in prison, and deprived of political rights for five years." His trial was done behind closed doors, with all journalist, foreign diplomats, and the whole public eye. His wife, Li Wenzu, was also unable to see her husbands trail. As she tried to enter the courthouse that was trying her husband, close to 50 officers prevented her from entering.
Reaction
I think that this is not shown to the public that much due to how the government is in China. The government in China is very restrictive as we know, seeing how China has a lot of censorship of the internet. People within a country should be able to freely speak their mind, but as we see the government in China does not like this. These people that they are restricted and arresting people who are trying to gain more freedom in their restrictive government. I believe that there should be more coverage on this topic and more widespread about how these people are being treated. These people are just trying to fight for human rights and because of their restrictive government they are being treated mistreated as they are being jailed for "going against the government". The people that are being tried are also unable to get their own lawyer and are given a government lawyer, and we all know that they still will be unable to get out of it. This implies how the system is very unfair, and no matter what you do you will still suffer.
Connection
This subject related back to the totalitarian unit, where we saw the characteristics of a totalitarian state. Many totalitarian states restrict the media within the government and try to restrict their citizens' rights. In this situation, we see that the government is trying to silence the people within to try and make it seem like their government is the greatest. As we saw with Mussolini in Italy, he would try to hide certain things that made the government or him look bad.
[other sources used: 1 Falun Gong Movement | 2 Wang's wife petition | 3 709 Crackdown | 4 update on Wang]
Questions
1. This situation has been going on since 2015, why do you think that there is not that much media coverage on this topic? How do you believe that we can try to share this with the general public?
2. Why do you believe that the Chinese government is trying to restrict these human rights activists/lawyers/etc? Do you believe that the government should be allowed to do this?
In response to the first question, the Chinese government is no stranger to covering up their misdoings. On this blog alone, we have had discussions regarding their quieting of criticism through unfair detainment and interrogation tactics (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/10/business/china-twitter-censorship-online.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fworld&action=click&contentCollection=world®ion=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=13&pgtype=sectionfront) and how they (assumedly) prevented the Muslim community from raising concern about their inhumane treatment of Uighur Muslims (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/02/opinion/uighur-muslims-china-gulag.html). They were most likely trying to prevent more outrage over their ongoing censorship and this story would likely have been used to spearhead even more criticism. The best way we can share this with the public is to do exactly that: spark more criticism and get a discussion started. Word of mouth is hailed as the best method of advertising, so the best way to inform people about this issue is to get a lot of mouths moving at the same time. In response to 2, the Chinese government is a totalitarian government attempting to retain control, and one of the methods a totalitarian government uses to retain control is to establish control over the flow of information, especially critics, as outlined by our "Rise of the Dictators" unit. Personally, I don't think the government should be allowed to do this, as it often prevents the government from being able to make advised decisions that people actually want and just enables the leaders to take advantage of their people.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, I believe that the Chinese government is trying to cover it up and that we do see it with their treatment of the Uighur people and how that subject is not within the media that much. Also Yes! I agree with your comment about how it would be best to create more criticism of the Chinese government to get more discussions about the topic more widespread. I also agree to your response about question 2, as much as we know that the government in China should not be happening. Many people in China do not know, and we see that some people are trying to get the topic known, but are instead restricted by the government.
DeleteThe Chinese government is obviously using their infamous media censorship in the "709" case. Wang Quanzhang and related human rights activists detainment has probably gone unnoticed by the general Chinese public, because of the censorship. Although unfair and a complete abuse of human rights, there most likely won't be much change from the Chinese government on this topic. According to hrw.org "A number of those caught in the “709 crackdown” were freed, but they continue to be closely monitored and isolated from friends and colleagues; some revealed that they were tortured and forced to confess while in detention. Authorities also continued to harass and intimidate the lawyers who represent the detainees, ordering them not to speak to media and disbarring several after giving them failing marks in China’s annual lawyers’ evaluation." This quote again further illustrates the Chinese government abusing their power when sentencing or "freeing" these lawyers and human rights activists. In terms of raising awareness, on Chinese abuse of human rights, I believe we should keep supporting activists, especially those in China. We should also spread awareness here in the US, as we have much more freedom.
ReplyDeleteThere are many examples of how the Chinese government has been abusing their power and restricting their citizens. Censorship of information has been very prominent to the Chinese govt., and their ability to hide their actions from Chinese citizens as well as on an International level is not going to work forever. Inevitably, information is becoming known to the public which can greatly hurt their already questionable reputation. However, this is only further tightening the control of the Chinese government. This, along with censorship of the media and punishment due to criticism on the media, and punishing the Uyghur population are just few of the examples of how restrictive the Chinese government has proved to be. And there is likeliness that there is more, hidden and censored behind their borders. This is still unknown to many, here and there, so I think sharing accurate information about human rights in China should be very important now and in the future. We can't necessarily change their government, but we can be educated.
ReplyDeleteThere is not a lot of coverage on these topics relating to the Chinese restricting rights and mistreating residents because of how China censors the internet and media. The Chinese government wants to be secluded and influence its citizens in inhumane ways that strip freedom and human rights. This post is specifically how a human rights lawyer was imprisoned, and I think him that fact further emphasizes how much the Chinese government wants to stifle human rights and form a society more uniform and with less diversity. This article closely relates to how the Chinese treated the Uighur Muslims, because placing them in camps and forcing people to adhere to a culture is inhumane and demeaning. I also believe that Xi Jinping and the government should not be allowed to do this, but I also think that the reason no large nation is large pushing back is because of the tense/fragile relations China has. No one wants to upset such a powerful nation.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2018/07/10/how-is-internet-censorship-affecting-chinese-culture/#7d66aa65fcb0
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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-43198404
I think there's not much media coverage on this subject because China is trying to keep everything as quiet and secretive as possible. China is notorious for having a media biased to what the government deams best and it's no different in this case. Defense lawyers threaten the stability of the Chinese government and society. If citizens start fighting back against China's unfair rules, they could potentially start an uprising and put the government at serious risk. If people start protesting the laws, other citizens may be inspired to take action. For these reasons, I believe China has been unjustly using censorship to make citizens unaware of the "709 case." Even having just a few articles like these starts breaking down the screen China puts up between their government and their citizens, as well as the rest of the world. If these cases continue to be publicized as much as possible, I think the general public will slowly become more aware. This all being said, it's not right for the government to be abusing their control over their citizens as much as they are. They are abusing the laws they have set in place and are treating their citizens unfairly. At this point, it's more than a matter of censorship, it's a matter of basic human rights. Wang Quanzhang, and other lawyers like him, should not be going to jail especially if they are abiding all the laws and just peacefully representing people that the Chinese government is treating unfairly.
ReplyDeleteI do not think that there is much media covering this topic because it is a small event happening in comparison to the rest of the world. Like we see on this blog site, there is plenty of news that might be more beneficial for a media site to share because it involves a bigger crowd, and has a more intriguing headline. There is also information that media sites MUST share to the public because it keeps the public informed, and in-the-know about anything they must do for the future. So, when it comes down to it, this man's trial is most likely declared insignificant by many news companies. I also think that it is not covered as much in the media because China does not want the event covered. I believe that China doesn't like that it's people are starting to gain more freedom and independence, so they arrested one of their human rights activists to stop this. Because this is unjust, they don't want their people to be reading about it, and they therefore don't have it's details published very often. I think that this can change by getting people to post about his arrest/upcoming trial on social media.
ReplyDeleteI belive the government is trying to crackdown on human rights activists because they can. Xi jin ping and the communsist party have been able to consistently eradicate dissenters and those against the communist party for years.their have been many examples of chinas cruel policy on activism such as the jailing of nobelpeace prize winner Liu Xiabou and other cruel events. Human rights acticist are a target because they insight movment agianst the state and the communist party through their actions. They reveal wrongs and corruption in the party making them dangerous to the Communist party. This is why china elminates them along with politicla activist. The government should not be allowed to do this becuase it ruins the the perception of the country and it causes anger and unhappiness in the people. The less free people feel the more likely a revolution will occur and china with all these human rights violations seems one economic colapse from a revolution. Article I used:https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2018/country-chapters/china-and-tibet.
ReplyDeleteIt truly has been four years of this issue in China and their restrictive yet harsh government. I believe that there hasn't been much media due to the simple fact that China is so oppressive, that no one dares to share their opposing beliefs. The few who do, are probably caught, and their websites taken down. China is clearly a country where the government is extremely controlling of their people. In this case, the citizens don't really even have a voice. Those who try to use their voice like Wang Quanzhang, are efficiently shut down beacuse of fear that weaknesses in China's rights will be exposed. Already, creating articles like these through popular media sites such as BBC can definitely bring awareness to this issue. Already, our class is sharing this information, so it can't be much harder to increase the amount of people who are aware. Although, in order to resolve this issue, we must take action since China can't do much against their own government.
ReplyDeleteI think there is not that much media coverage because the Chinese government does not want foreigners to know about the persecution that’s happening over there. Also, the fact that the trial is not public raises signs as it suggests that the trial does not deserve the fairness and equality it deserves. We can try to share this case more by sharing it on social media as well as media outlets that are willing to report on this. Wang Quanzhang and the lawyer's trials are not published because the government wants to shut them to not let the public know about its human rights violations. I personally do not think that governments are allowed to do this because it is just not right to restrict the rights of humans.
ReplyDeleteThere is not much media coverage because China's government is too strict and controlling which scares people to say something. If they did say something, they would probably receive a bad consequence. We can try to share this information about China restricting people's rights by informing everyone in different countries so that everyone is informed on what is going on in China. We should also keep supporting activists in China so we can do something to help how people get treated in China.
ReplyDeleteThe lack of media coverage on this topic is likely due to China's heavy censorship of content to begin with. Based on past and present heavy control of what information enters and leaves China, it would not be surprising if China attempted to withhold this information as well. Justice cannot be served if the injustice is never revealed, and this has occurred again and again with totalitarians, such as Stalin's "erasure" of victims from history.
ReplyDeleteChina has been heavily censoring many things, trying to maintain calm and control of the people, make sure there are no uprisings or people trying to change how things are run by the government. A human rights lawyer such as Wan Quanzhang being jailed angers many, and would could cause uprisings in the country. And so, to maintain this harsh control of the people, they must keep such things silent. We can spread such things with social media and news station. Making sure people know these things is key in stopping such injustice in any country and stopping people like Wan out of jail.
ReplyDeleteAs you mentioned in your summary, much of this happens behind closed doors. As we learnt in class, China has very heavy censorship. For instance, they create powerful firewalls in order to control what their citizens can see and interact with. With such power, they probably often hide such information as to not create any opposition to the Chinese government. This is the easiest way for the government to keep the citizens. In this articles' specific instance, the government is probably attempting to prevent such information from spreading to the people. If this event was made very public to the people, it is probable there would be multiple uprisings due to the injustice that is happening to the humans rights lawyers and activists. I believe that social media is very powerful and information spreads quickly on this platform. Therefore, using such platforms and implementing the use of things such as hashtags would cause this information to spread very fast.
ReplyDeleteI do not think that there is enough media coverage on the topic due to how small it is, in contrast to other current events. I believe that the the Chinese government wants to keep any problems secretive. The media must also post specific information to keep the public informed on it. I also believe there is not enough media coverage on this topic because China does not want some of the information out in the open because news can spread fast. China's people are gaining more independence, therefore, arrested one of their human right activists as a consequence. Due to China's censorship of this situation, Wang Quanzhang and other lawyers like him should not get taken away to jail for peacefully disagreeing with Chinese laws.
ReplyDeleteThe most plausible reason for the lack of coverage on this topic is most-likely because of the fact that the Chinese government keeps a lot of its information censored. The best way for people to know more about this event is for the Chinese to write articles speaking about what is going on. Now onto wether China should be able to jail human rights lawyers is a different matter. China has its own sovereignty and countries should respect that, but it is unacceptable for China to be jailing people simply because of the fact that they are doing good for the society. China is most likely jailing these lawyers and activists, because they are pointing out the flaws of the Chinese government, which China doesn't like.
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Rosella Graham: Human rights issues are among one of the most prevalent issues in China today. Between the detaining of Muslim minorities to the imprisonment of activists, China has done very little to help preserve and protect the basic human rights of the Chinese people. In regards to why there is very minimal coverage on the topic, I believe that China is hoping to shield the rest of the world from knowing all that is going on behind the scenes, as a way to maintain control and eradicate all questioning. By receiving little international attention, it is very difficult for the outsiders to be able to figure out what exactly is going on and to stop it. China may believe that limiting their citizen's rights will allow for complete control and obedience from the nation. Without any rights or freedom of speech, they will never be allowed to speak up against their harsh leaders, thus creating a society in which the government has complete power over its people.
ReplyDeleteKayla Shiao: I believe that the Chinese government is trying to limit the outside world's knowledge of their lack of human rights because it makes them appear stronger. If the world believes that all citizens in China are united and support the government and it's actions, China will seem more united. Because the human rights situations in China is not well known about, and there is less of an audience, less people are likely to help with the situation. I think it is unlikely that there will be more insider news from China unless someone is writing against their government. I believe that if people outside of China are more informed about the cases against human rights lawyers, there is a higher chance people will stand up for them, and the Chinese government will not get away with their actions
ReplyDeleteAgreeing with what Josh said, I think that there is not enough media coverage on this topic because China keeps the things that happen inside the country very secretive. China wants to attract less attention internationally and avoid criticism by doing so. I believe China restricts the rights of its people to maintain and strengthen the control the government has over its citizens. That way, it will be easier to unify the country and maintain order. However, I do not believe the government should be allowed to do this because basic human rights are violated and Chinese citizens have less freedoms. In addition, the punishments that go along with these restrictions are extremely harsh. An example is the famous Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo. Like Wang Quanzhang, Liu Xiaobo was a Chinese human rights activist. He and other activists were involved in the creation of the manifesto Charter 08, which demanded the Chinese government to be more democratic and to give its citizens more rights. For this, Liu Xiaobo was sent to prison for "inciting subversion of state power," where he developed liver cancer and died later (Nobel Prize, https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2010/xiaobo/facts/).
ReplyDeleteI believe that the Chinese government is trying to restrict these lawyers and human rights activists because they want more complete control over everything in their country. They are most likely doing this to appear as a stronger country to many others they are working with to appear like they have no opposition by the people and are all united and stronger because of it. They also may be detaining the lawyers to make sure that others do not try to go against the Chinese government and do things that the government doesn't want them to do, such as the Chinese also detaining those who are also on banned things like Facebook. They are also increasing their control by removing the people who would protect those who are in trouble with the government. For example, these lawyers who are being tried are essentially getting show trials, where they are forced to admit to doing something wrong, and those lawyers who try to come to help them are also being detained (https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-china-blog-39974953). One way I believe that coverage can increase on this issue is by other countries news companies covering it, even if the Chinese news companies can not cover it. This could increase awareness in other places who could possibly get their governments to try to get China's government to stop by possibly refusing to trade with them unless they stop, or something like that.
ReplyDeleteI don't think there's enough coverage on the media for this topic since the Chinese government uses a lot of censorship and controls it's media very heavily. Ex: There was one blog article a few weeks ago about people bypassing the Chinese firewall to access Twitter. We can share this to the general public by spreading the topic through social media and on the internet, I highly doubt people living in China will take matters into their own hands to spread this news (although there are still some people) because they fear that the Chinese government will punish them for it, but being that we do not live in China, we have the freedom to spread this information as much as we please which is why you see more of the western media covering this topic instead of the easter ones since they fear consequences from the Chinese government. I believe that the Chinese government is trying to maintain its power over its citizens because they want to maintain their current government’s strength. I don’t think it’s right for them to do this and I’m pretty sure a lot of other Chinese citizens think the same way as well.
ReplyDeleteThough the rules that China is enforcing on its citizens is rather unreasonable and unjust, I do not believe that shaving one’s head is evokes enough action for the government and other citizens to take notice. China’s government holds too much authority over their citizens, as demonstrated through previous blog posts such as the nationwide media censorship and the involuntary internment of Uighur muslims. As a society that coins itself as “communist,” China relies on their strong authority in enforcing their restrictive laws- so much so that little offenses, such as the one Wang Quanzhang committed, would get people “life in prison” for simply practicing free speech. Apparently “Wang’s sentencing was lighter than expected for a charge that carries a maximum punishment of life in prison” (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/28/wang-quanzhang-china-sentences-human-rights-lawyer-to-four-years-in-prison). I personally doubt that anyone can discontinue the government’s targeting of people that “act out” against their policies, since there has been evidence of this behavior for so long.
ReplyDeleteGrace Peni- Morally, everyone should be allowed to stand up for themselves and represent others as long as they please. To restrict people of this humanly right is inhumane. It doesn’t contribute to anything besides keeping the people ignorant of their own humanly rights. This puts the world in an uncomfortable situation, especially the U.S, hence we’re aligned with them and they provide many resources for us. Ultimately, meaning that they have leverage on us and whoever they’re aligned with, in the way that we cannot respond without great caution because it could result in tension. However, that does not exciuse the fact that these people are suffering simply fighting for their rights.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest the Chinese government has arrested theses lawyers legally. In the Republic of China the law is stated in Article 105, Paragraph 2, 1997 Criminal Code of the Republic of China: “Anyone who uses rumor, slander or other means to encourage subversion of the political power of the State or to overthrow the socialist system, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years. However, the ringleaders and anyone whose crime is monstrous shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years”. However, the Chinese government uses and unfair advantage on these lawyers and many other people with different laws. They use the words “or other means”. This leaves the law open ended therefore allowing the government to prosecute innocent people since there offense is under “other means”. Now i am not saying that the Chinese government isn't doing anything wrong. The fact that they mistreat the lawyers by only giving them a government lawyer and/or supposedly feeding them medicine is just disgusting. How is there government allowed to just do what they want and mistreat civilians like that. Their justification for doing this is that Britain does it too. Since Britain also has the “Treason Act 1351” against speech. I strongly disagree with the actions of the Chinese government i feel that they should be LEGALLY punished later on form mistreating civilians and invalid arrests.
ReplyDeleteThis makes me think about how much we as Americans take our what we consider to be basic rights for granted. Here, we get to say whatever we want and not have to fear for our or our family's lives, but the same cannot be said for the rest of the world. We live in a free country yet we complain all the time about how we need to implement socialism/communism, while people in actual socialist/communist countries such as Venezuela, North Korea and China are being oppressed. As Americans we need to acknowledge how lucky we really are and work together so that one day everyone around the world may enjoy the same rights and opportunies we have.
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