With the arrival of 4000 journalists from around the world attending this year's Olympic Games, one would have thought that reporting restrictions, and this includes Internet usage would be eased. Oh, no, in fact cyberlife in China is going to get a whole lot more controlled.
Its going to taken a more hardened grip on internet use by restricting the broadcast of videos on the web to only those run by state-sanctioned companies. I know, I hear you say, 'not more State interference!'
In the government’s latest clampdown on cyberspace, all sites that provide video programming or allow users to upload video must obtain a government permit, with the only companies permitted to apply being those that are state-owned or state-controlled. So, sunshine, you can forget about YouTube, Facebook and all the rest of these wonderful social-intercourse sites! The new rules, which - crucially - apply to video-sharing websites too, also require providers to report questionable content to the government. In other words, snoop and tell on others you see 'breaking the law!' What utter bullshit!
Executives at Chinese video-sharing sites spoke with caution but said the move not unexpected and would likely have a much greater impact on new entrants to the market, such as Google’s popular YouTube.com that has yet to formally register in China. Well, there's no way YouTube is going to ever have a life in Fascism - no way!
The new rules, which come into force on January 31, mark a fresh attempt by Beijing to curtail the Internet habits of an increasingly web-savvy population that has become accustomed to decades of state intervention. Officials have long ensured that traditional media, including television and newspapers, conform to their view of what the Chinese people should see, read and know. In other words, we will tell you what to watch, listen to and see on the Internet. Oh, and if you are caught glancing surreptitiously at a porn site - beware! You can be executed for that!!!
Already, providers vet all videos uploaded onto their sites for pornographic or politically dissenting content to avoid attracting the wrath of the censors.
The new regulations state that: “Those who provide Internet video services should insist on serving the people, serve socialism ... and abide by the moral code of socialism.”
The policy will ban providers from broadcasting video that involves national secrets, hurts the reputation of China, disrupts social stability or promotes pornography. Providers will be required to delete and report such content.
But the Chinese are only human too. Here's an interesting link to a series of sex scandals that hit the headlines in China last year:
http://www.asiansexgazette.com/asg/china/china07news06.htm
The concern of China’s censors to protect the country’s people from outside points of view was particularly evident during a five-yearly meeting of the Communist Party leadership late last year. Many sites were blocked for about two to three weeks around the time of the congress with YouTube being among the most prominent casualties.
Few analysts expected such popular Chinese video-sharing sites as tudou.com, 56.com and Yoqoo to disappear after January 31, but they also agreed that the main aim of the new rules are to censor the Internet.
On occasions though, the vetting process can fall short. Last week, television host Hu Ziwei became an overnight internet sensation after she marched on stage, grabbed her husband’s microphone as the camera was rolling, and accused him of adultery. Video of the interrupted show, being recorded for broadcast on China’s main sports channel, has become one of the most viewed items in the Chinese blogosphere.
The video clip has since been removed from such major state-linked sites as sina.com but is still a hot viewing item on smaller private video-sharing suppliers and has become the most talked about event in Chinese cyberspace this week.
Friday, January 4, 2008
China - Lethal Injection 'Capital' of the World
In the year that China is hosting the Olympic Games, the story broke today that the Committee of the Supreme People's Court is foregoing a gunshot to the head in favour of a lethal injection, as the favourable method of execution. What?
Lethal injections were legalised four years ago and the method has been used in several cities already. However, the Chinese say they will still carry out some executions by the traditional method - by gunshot to the head or heart. I mean, how barbaric is that?
According to the state news agency Xinhua, officials involved in the lethal injection trials say they are simpler, cheaper, more humane and less traumatic than gunshots. Jesus Christ, just living in China these days is traumatic!!!
Execution capital
The first execution by lethal injection took place in Kunming in 1997 following a series of experiments on animals. It is not known how many other prisoners have been executed by this method since then.
According to the human rights organisation, Amnesty International, China executed more than 1,800 people last year, more than the rest of the world put together.
Human rights groups have consistently criticised the large number of executions carried out, often following swift trials, and for non-violent crimes such as corruption and theft.
There have also been concerns expressed that execution by lethal injection might be used to aid the harvesting of transplant organs from executed prisoners, although officials deny using organs from executed criminals without their permission.
'Strike hard'
The increase in executions during anti-crime campaigns, such as the ongoing "strike hard" campaign, and before public holidays was also attacked. Amnesty recorded more than 25,500 death sentences in China from 1990 to 1998, with more than 16,760 executions, an average of at least 2,800 death sentences and 1,850 confirmed executions each year. But that's about five executions per day!
So there you have it. This is the execution capital of the world . . . a represive regime who lot's its heart many moons ago. Is it no wonder that 1000's of Chinese are lining up to try and escape what now is the most Fascist regime on the plane!
Lethal injections were legalised four years ago and the method has been used in several cities already. However, the Chinese say they will still carry out some executions by the traditional method - by gunshot to the head or heart. I mean, how barbaric is that?
According to the state news agency Xinhua, officials involved in the lethal injection trials say they are simpler, cheaper, more humane and less traumatic than gunshots. Jesus Christ, just living in China these days is traumatic!!!
Execution capital
The first execution by lethal injection took place in Kunming in 1997 following a series of experiments on animals. It is not known how many other prisoners have been executed by this method since then.
According to the human rights organisation, Amnesty International, China executed more than 1,800 people last year, more than the rest of the world put together.
Human rights groups have consistently criticised the large number of executions carried out, often following swift trials, and for non-violent crimes such as corruption and theft.
There have also been concerns expressed that execution by lethal injection might be used to aid the harvesting of transplant organs from executed prisoners, although officials deny using organs from executed criminals without their permission.
'Strike hard'
The increase in executions during anti-crime campaigns, such as the ongoing "strike hard" campaign, and before public holidays was also attacked. Amnesty recorded more than 25,500 death sentences in China from 1990 to 1998, with more than 16,760 executions, an average of at least 2,800 death sentences and 1,850 confirmed executions each year. But that's about five executions per day!
So there you have it. This is the execution capital of the world . . . a represive regime who lot's its heart many moons ago. Is it no wonder that 1000's of Chinese are lining up to try and escape what now is the most Fascist regime on the plane!
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Cyber Warfare – The USA Should Beware
Should we be worried? Yes, we ALL should be worried. The Chinese are at it again and this time they're going hi-tech.
Chinese military hackers have prepared a detailed plan to disable America’s aircraft battle carrier fleet with a devastating cyber attack, according to a Pentagon report issued last month.
The blueprint for such an assault, drawn up by two hackers working for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), is part of an aggressive push by Beijing to achieve “electronic dominance” over each of its global rivals by 2050, particularly the US, Britain, Russia and South Korea. China’s ambitions extend to crippling an enemy’s financial, military and communications capabilities early in a conflict, according to military documents and generals’ speeches that are being analysed by US intelligence officials.
Describing what is in effect a new arms race, a Pentagon assessment states that China’s military regards offensive computer operations as “critical to seize the initiative” in the first stage of a war.
The plan to cripple the US aircraft carrier battle groups was authored by two PLA air force officials, Sun Yiming and Yang Liping. It also emerged recently that the Chinese military hacked into the US Defence Secretary’s computer system in June; have regularly penetrated computers in at least 10 Whitehall departments, including military files, and infiltrated German government systems this year.
Cyber attacks by China have become so frequent and aggressive that President Bush, without referring directly to Beijing, said this week that “a lot of our systems are vulnerable to attack”. He indicated that he would raise the subject with Hu Jintao, the Chinese President, when they met in Sydney at the Apec summit. Mr Hu denied that China was responsible for the attack on Robert Gates, the US Defence Secretary.
Larry M. Wortzel, the author of the US Army War College report, said: “The thing that should give us pause is that in many Chinese military manuals they identify the US as the country they are most likely to go to war with. They are moving very rapidly to master this new form of warfare.” The two PLA hackers produced a “virtual guidebook for electronic warfare and jamming” after studying dozens of US and Nato manuals on military tactics, according to the document.
The Pentagon logged more than 79,000 attempted intrusions in 2005. About 1,300 were successful, including the penetration of computers linked to the Army’s 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions and the 4th Infantry Division. In August and September of that year Chinese hackers penetrated US State Department computers in several parts of the world. Hundreds of computers had to be replaced or taken offline for months. Chinese hackers also disrupted the US Naval War College’s network in November, forcing the college to shut down its computer systems for several weeks. The Pentagon uses more than 5 million computers on 100,000 networks in 65 countries.
Jim Melnick, a recently retired Pentagon computer network analyst, told The Times newspaper that the Chinese military holds hacking competitions to identify and recruit talented members for its cyber army. And to just rub salt into the wound . . . just think that for every cuddly toy, electronic gadget or piece of clothing you buy this Christmas with the ‘Made in China’ label, a small percentage of that money will filter down to the experts and systems of this cyber warfare campaign.
Chinese military hackers have prepared a detailed plan to disable America’s aircraft battle carrier fleet with a devastating cyber attack, according to a Pentagon report issued last month.
The blueprint for such an assault, drawn up by two hackers working for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), is part of an aggressive push by Beijing to achieve “electronic dominance” over each of its global rivals by 2050, particularly the US, Britain, Russia and South Korea. China’s ambitions extend to crippling an enemy’s financial, military and communications capabilities early in a conflict, according to military documents and generals’ speeches that are being analysed by US intelligence officials.
Describing what is in effect a new arms race, a Pentagon assessment states that China’s military regards offensive computer operations as “critical to seize the initiative” in the first stage of a war.
The plan to cripple the US aircraft carrier battle groups was authored by two PLA air force officials, Sun Yiming and Yang Liping. It also emerged recently that the Chinese military hacked into the US Defence Secretary’s computer system in June; have regularly penetrated computers in at least 10 Whitehall departments, including military files, and infiltrated German government systems this year.
Cyber attacks by China have become so frequent and aggressive that President Bush, without referring directly to Beijing, said this week that “a lot of our systems are vulnerable to attack”. He indicated that he would raise the subject with Hu Jintao, the Chinese President, when they met in Sydney at the Apec summit. Mr Hu denied that China was responsible for the attack on Robert Gates, the US Defence Secretary.
Larry M. Wortzel, the author of the US Army War College report, said: “The thing that should give us pause is that in many Chinese military manuals they identify the US as the country they are most likely to go to war with. They are moving very rapidly to master this new form of warfare.” The two PLA hackers produced a “virtual guidebook for electronic warfare and jamming” after studying dozens of US and Nato manuals on military tactics, according to the document.
The Pentagon logged more than 79,000 attempted intrusions in 2005. About 1,300 were successful, including the penetration of computers linked to the Army’s 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions and the 4th Infantry Division. In August and September of that year Chinese hackers penetrated US State Department computers in several parts of the world. Hundreds of computers had to be replaced or taken offline for months. Chinese hackers also disrupted the US Naval War College’s network in November, forcing the college to shut down its computer systems for several weeks. The Pentagon uses more than 5 million computers on 100,000 networks in 65 countries.
Jim Melnick, a recently retired Pentagon computer network analyst, told The Times newspaper that the Chinese military holds hacking competitions to identify and recruit talented members for its cyber army. And to just rub salt into the wound . . . just think that for every cuddly toy, electronic gadget or piece of clothing you buy this Christmas with the ‘Made in China’ label, a small percentage of that money will filter down to the experts and systems of this cyber warfare campaign.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
The Chinese Sell Us Formaldehyde Toxins
UK trading standards are on alert after Chinese-made clothes in New Zealand were discovered to have up to 900 times the safe level of formaldehyde in them, according to the Mail on Sunday. Clothes made in China have been found to contain high levels of a potentially dangerous chemical used to protect clothes that have to be shipped great distances against mildew. However, long-term exposure to high levels can be harmful, causing problems ranging from minor skin rashes to some types of cancer. Tests discovered formaldehyde concentrations up to 900 times above the safety limit in children's and adults' woollen and cotton clothes from China.
The latest safety alert over cheap Chinese goods was sounded in New Zealand. It has been passed on to trading standards officials in Britain. Formaldehyde resins have been used on fabrics for decades to make wrinkle-free and stain-resistant-garments. The chemical can be used, for example, to keep the crease in trousers. Bryan Lewin, chairman of the Trading Standards Institute, said: "We would expect trading standards departments here to carry out tests to establish formaldehyde levels. At the same time, there is a general-requirement on importers, manufacturers and retailers to ensure that the consumer products they are selling are safe."
The latest safety alert over cheap Chinese goods was sounded in New Zealand. It has been passed on to trading standards officials in Britain. Formaldehyde resins have been used on fabrics for decades to make wrinkle-free and stain-resistant-garments. The chemical can be used, for example, to keep the crease in trousers. Bryan Lewin, chairman of the Trading Standards Institute, said: "We would expect trading standards departments here to carry out tests to establish formaldehyde levels. At the same time, there is a general-requirement on importers, manufacturers and retailers to ensure that the consumer products they are selling are safe."
Labour Activist? They'll Knife You
The Date: November 20th , 2007.
This report I took from China Labour Watch. This report only substantiates all that I feel towards the wicked, evil regime in Beijing. It is as if this fascist regime thinks that they can get away with anything. Well, I have news for them: they can’t!
Read on . . .
It was learned that at 3.00 p.m. on the day of November 20 2007, that Huang Qingnan, director of Long'gang district's Migrant Workers' Centre (dagongzhe zhongxin) was stabbed. A reporter immediately telephoned Huang Qingnan, but the phone was answered by a friend of his who said that Huang's condition was very serious and they were rushing to save him.
Earlier in the day around 3.00 p.m. Huang Qingnan and a friend Mr. Zhu were chatting at Longhu village when a motorcycle without any license plates drove up. Two young men in their twenties got off of the motorcycle, and each on of them bearing a knife, began wildly stabbing at Huang Qingnan. Huang Qingnan immediately fell on his back and received six knife wounds of up to 15 centimetres in length on his legs and other areas of his body. His left leg was broken and bleeding: Qingnan was in trauma. After the attack the two thugs rode away on a motorcycle parked at a parking site nearby.
Mr. Zhu immediately called the police and took Huang Qingnan to the Shenzhen Long'gang Central Hospital to receive treatment. According to a doctor in the emergency room, it appeared as if he might lose the use of his left leg.
Huang Qingnan is currently the director of Shenzhen's Migrant Workers' Occupational Health and Safety Centre, which is a labour rights protection organisation registered with the department of commerce. Their primary activities are to provide migrant workers with free services such as a library, labour law education, and legal counselling. Their daily activities include holding cultural activities, labour law education and counselling, and by using various methods, seeking to improve the rights protection consciousness of migrant workers. Because the new Labour Contract Law is about to come into effect, the centre has conducted a series of outreach programs in order to disseminate information about this law. These activities may have led to opposition from some factory owners.
The thugs that attacked Huang Qingnan were really not a coincidence, as this is was not the most recent and most serious example of labour rights advocates in Shenzhen being attacked. Just one week before the incident with Huang Qingnan, on November 13th Shenzhen's Long'gang district labour rights activist Li Jinxin was kidnapped and beaten by unidentified thugs. He is still receiving treatment in the Longcheng hospital in Long'gang district.
And so it goes on, attacks by unknown thugs (probably Party officials), with no obvious recourse to the Law or any other lawful or provincial body.
Before Huang Qingnan was stabbed, his offices had been attacked on October 11th and November 14th. A short time after 3.00 p.m. on October 11th, four young ‘adolescents’ wielding metal rods pulled up to the Migrant Workers' Occupational Health and Safety Office. They walked over to the office and proceeded to smash the glass door to pieces before taking off again. A month later on November 14th, just after 3.00 p.m. a commercial truck came to the centre. A few young men jumped out of the vehicle and then continued to smash up the inside of the office before leaving. These two incidents were not construed as being so bad because no-one was injured. After these incidents, the centre’s staff reported it to the police but there have been no further investigations so far.
One only has to ask the reasons why.
This report I took from China Labour Watch. This report only substantiates all that I feel towards the wicked, evil regime in Beijing. It is as if this fascist regime thinks that they can get away with anything. Well, I have news for them: they can’t!
Read on . . .
It was learned that at 3.00 p.m. on the day of November 20 2007, that Huang Qingnan, director of Long'gang district's Migrant Workers' Centre (dagongzhe zhongxin) was stabbed. A reporter immediately telephoned Huang Qingnan, but the phone was answered by a friend of his who said that Huang's condition was very serious and they were rushing to save him.
Earlier in the day around 3.00 p.m. Huang Qingnan and a friend Mr. Zhu were chatting at Longhu village when a motorcycle without any license plates drove up. Two young men in their twenties got off of the motorcycle, and each on of them bearing a knife, began wildly stabbing at Huang Qingnan. Huang Qingnan immediately fell on his back and received six knife wounds of up to 15 centimetres in length on his legs and other areas of his body. His left leg was broken and bleeding: Qingnan was in trauma. After the attack the two thugs rode away on a motorcycle parked at a parking site nearby.
Mr. Zhu immediately called the police and took Huang Qingnan to the Shenzhen Long'gang Central Hospital to receive treatment. According to a doctor in the emergency room, it appeared as if he might lose the use of his left leg.
Huang Qingnan is currently the director of Shenzhen's Migrant Workers' Occupational Health and Safety Centre, which is a labour rights protection organisation registered with the department of commerce. Their primary activities are to provide migrant workers with free services such as a library, labour law education, and legal counselling. Their daily activities include holding cultural activities, labour law education and counselling, and by using various methods, seeking to improve the rights protection consciousness of migrant workers. Because the new Labour Contract Law is about to come into effect, the centre has conducted a series of outreach programs in order to disseminate information about this law. These activities may have led to opposition from some factory owners.
The thugs that attacked Huang Qingnan were really not a coincidence, as this is was not the most recent and most serious example of labour rights advocates in Shenzhen being attacked. Just one week before the incident with Huang Qingnan, on November 13th Shenzhen's Long'gang district labour rights activist Li Jinxin was kidnapped and beaten by unidentified thugs. He is still receiving treatment in the Longcheng hospital in Long'gang district.
And so it goes on, attacks by unknown thugs (probably Party officials), with no obvious recourse to the Law or any other lawful or provincial body.
Before Huang Qingnan was stabbed, his offices had been attacked on October 11th and November 14th. A short time after 3.00 p.m. on October 11th, four young ‘adolescents’ wielding metal rods pulled up to the Migrant Workers' Occupational Health and Safety Office. They walked over to the office and proceeded to smash the glass door to pieces before taking off again. A month later on November 14th, just after 3.00 p.m. a commercial truck came to the centre. A few young men jumped out of the vehicle and then continued to smash up the inside of the office before leaving. These two incidents were not construed as being so bad because no-one was injured. After these incidents, the centre’s staff reported it to the police but there have been no further investigations so far.
One only has to ask the reasons why.
Torture of a Buddhist Monk
In May 2004, I met the Tibetan Buddhist monk, Palden Gyatso, one of the most inspiring human beings I have ever met. My wife and I were attending a three day series of teachings given by HH the Dalia Lama in Glasgow, Scotland. I actually ‘bumped’ into Palden as we exited our taxis on that first morning. As he exited his taxi I looked at him – he looked at me – it was as if I knew this man from somewhere. He smiled and went on his way to the entrance to the exhibition centre with his aide.
Here is his story . . .
Buddhist monks are not known to carry around instruments of torture. However, the Venerable Palden Gyatso does, in a case which he carefully wraps in cloth. The 64-year-old Buddhist monk uses the electric prods and cuffs as visual displays when he describes 33 years of imprisonment and torture under the People's Republic of China government in his native Tibet. His tortures included being made to kneel in broken glass, beatings, hand and thumb cuffs that cut off circulation, electrocution and even being thrust into boiling water.
At a meeting before 200 people at the University of Washington Palden spoke about human rights abuses in Tibet under the Communist Chinese government. His talk was jointly sponsored by the Tibetan Rights Campaign, Amnesty International, Students for a Free Tibet and the Tibetan Association of Washington. His commentary was translated from Tibetan into English for the audience.
In 1949, China entered and occupied neighbouring Tibet. Ten years later, in 1959, when the Chinese government attempted to arrest the Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader, thousands of Tibetan monks, nuns and lay people demonstrated. Gyatso was one of the demonstrators who was imprisoned. China then began a crackdown on Tibet's monasteries and temples.
Gyatso and other imprisoned monks were placed ion cells without toilets or mattresses. They slept on the concrete floor and wore hand cuffs continuously, even when going to the bathroom.
In the daytime, Gyatso and other monks faced nine hours of hard labour, ploughing fields without the use of beasts of burden. The monks instead became the "cows." Two monks worked each plough. Chinese soldiers beat the monks with iron whips to motivate them to work. Gyatso recalls that many of the old monks could not stand the combinations of beatings and hard labour, so they died.
The Chinese also starved the prisoners, barely feeding them enough to survive. The prisoners survived by eating grass and even stealing food that was used to feed the pigs.
Gyatso said there was a time when China gathered up prisoners from around Tibet and sent them to China on foot. They would march in groups of 300 to 400. Since the prisoners were barely fed, approximately only 100 prisoners would survive. Gyatso said perhaps thousands of Tibetans have died this way.
Tibetan prison labour was also used to gather salt from mines in northern Tibet. Again, he said because they were barely fed, many died. "You can see so many corpses, they're buried in the valleys, covered with small stones."
In 1962, border tensions between China and India led the Chinese to "become suspicious" of their Tibetan prisoners. They were subjected to a lock-down, unable to leave their cells. Not able to gather grass for food, many died of hunger, Gyatso said. He said he even consumed pieces of his leather shoes in order to survive.
During interrogations, Gyatso said the Chinese made their prisoners kneel on broken glass and stones, with their hands tied behind their backs. All Tibetan prisoners were asked to renounce any ideas of Tibet as an independent, sovereign state and declare China as Tibet's rightful ruler. Gyatso said that when he refused, they would hand him from the ceiling. He said he still bears the scars on his hands and wrists from that time.
The Chinese even thrust his feet in boiling water, which would make the skin peel off. Gyatso said he underwent this torture "several times." He also added all other prisoners underwent the same or similar tortures.
Gyatso displayed several electric prods, which deliver a jolting electric charge when placed against a human body. Although one was made in China, he said two of the models had parts that came from Great Britain, a country with which China enjoys good trade relations. He said he saw no value for the electric prods other than to injure people.
"You cannot find a single Tibetan prisoner who has not gone through this shock (torture)" he said.
In graphic detail, Gyatso recalled the one time he was tortured so
extensively with an electric prod, he lost consciousness. When he woke up numb in his own urine and faeces, he noticed his tongue was cut in pieces and he had lost several of his teeth. Apparently, his body had undergone tremendous convulsions from the electric shock.
For the audience, he removed his dentures to show his missing teeth. These days, Gyatso wears dentures, paid for by a human rights group in Great Britain.
Gyatso noted that the Chinese have inserted electric prods into the vaginas and wombs of female Tibetan prisoners. Two Tibetan nuns who escaped to India in 1988 are unable to control their bodily functions due to this torture. They are also disabled, he said.
For Tibetan prisoners who are executed, the Chinese government forces their Tibetan families to cover all costs of the execution and burial expenses, he said. The family must even reimburse the Chinese for the cost of the bullets use to execute their member.
A variety of human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, keep tabs on the whereabouts of Tibetan prisoners. Gyatso encouraged audience members to participate in Tibetan and human rights organizations. He added that he was freed in 1992 only because of pressure from Amnesty International on the Chinese government.
Since his release, Gyatso has travelled the United States and Europe, speaking in universities about the Chinese occupation of Tibet. He said he considers it his life’s mission to speak out against the Chinese occupation of Tibet. Since 1949, the Tibetan Rights Campaign estimates the Chinese government has killed 1.2 million Tibetans.
"I am a real witness if Tibet has benefited from Chinese occupation."
Last year, he testified before a Senate subcommittee and the United Nations about human rights in Tibet. He recently completed a 45-day walk, the March for Tibet's Freedom, from Washington D.C. to New York City.
In spite of all these tortures over the years, Gyatso said, "The Tibetan prisoners never gave up. They never agreed that Tibet is part of China."
During his years in prison, Gyatso said what made him forget his own suffering was his thinking about the suffering of other prisoners. He also thought of the people in China being persecuted by their government.
Gyatso said he bears no vengeful feelings toward his tortures.
He is a true Boddhisattva!
Here is his story . . .
Buddhist monks are not known to carry around instruments of torture. However, the Venerable Palden Gyatso does, in a case which he carefully wraps in cloth. The 64-year-old Buddhist monk uses the electric prods and cuffs as visual displays when he describes 33 years of imprisonment and torture under the People's Republic of China government in his native Tibet. His tortures included being made to kneel in broken glass, beatings, hand and thumb cuffs that cut off circulation, electrocution and even being thrust into boiling water.
At a meeting before 200 people at the University of Washington Palden spoke about human rights abuses in Tibet under the Communist Chinese government. His talk was jointly sponsored by the Tibetan Rights Campaign, Amnesty International, Students for a Free Tibet and the Tibetan Association of Washington. His commentary was translated from Tibetan into English for the audience.
In 1949, China entered and occupied neighbouring Tibet. Ten years later, in 1959, when the Chinese government attempted to arrest the Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader, thousands of Tibetan monks, nuns and lay people demonstrated. Gyatso was one of the demonstrators who was imprisoned. China then began a crackdown on Tibet's monasteries and temples.
Gyatso and other imprisoned monks were placed ion cells without toilets or mattresses. They slept on the concrete floor and wore hand cuffs continuously, even when going to the bathroom.
In the daytime, Gyatso and other monks faced nine hours of hard labour, ploughing fields without the use of beasts of burden. The monks instead became the "cows." Two monks worked each plough. Chinese soldiers beat the monks with iron whips to motivate them to work. Gyatso recalls that many of the old monks could not stand the combinations of beatings and hard labour, so they died.
The Chinese also starved the prisoners, barely feeding them enough to survive. The prisoners survived by eating grass and even stealing food that was used to feed the pigs.
Gyatso said there was a time when China gathered up prisoners from around Tibet and sent them to China on foot. They would march in groups of 300 to 400. Since the prisoners were barely fed, approximately only 100 prisoners would survive. Gyatso said perhaps thousands of Tibetans have died this way.
Tibetan prison labour was also used to gather salt from mines in northern Tibet. Again, he said because they were barely fed, many died. "You can see so many corpses, they're buried in the valleys, covered with small stones."
In 1962, border tensions between China and India led the Chinese to "become suspicious" of their Tibetan prisoners. They were subjected to a lock-down, unable to leave their cells. Not able to gather grass for food, many died of hunger, Gyatso said. He said he even consumed pieces of his leather shoes in order to survive.
During interrogations, Gyatso said the Chinese made their prisoners kneel on broken glass and stones, with their hands tied behind their backs. All Tibetan prisoners were asked to renounce any ideas of Tibet as an independent, sovereign state and declare China as Tibet's rightful ruler. Gyatso said that when he refused, they would hand him from the ceiling. He said he still bears the scars on his hands and wrists from that time.
The Chinese even thrust his feet in boiling water, which would make the skin peel off. Gyatso said he underwent this torture "several times." He also added all other prisoners underwent the same or similar tortures.
Gyatso displayed several electric prods, which deliver a jolting electric charge when placed against a human body. Although one was made in China, he said two of the models had parts that came from Great Britain, a country with which China enjoys good trade relations. He said he saw no value for the electric prods other than to injure people.
"You cannot find a single Tibetan prisoner who has not gone through this shock (torture)" he said.
In graphic detail, Gyatso recalled the one time he was tortured so
extensively with an electric prod, he lost consciousness. When he woke up numb in his own urine and faeces, he noticed his tongue was cut in pieces and he had lost several of his teeth. Apparently, his body had undergone tremendous convulsions from the electric shock.
For the audience, he removed his dentures to show his missing teeth. These days, Gyatso wears dentures, paid for by a human rights group in Great Britain.
Gyatso noted that the Chinese have inserted electric prods into the vaginas and wombs of female Tibetan prisoners. Two Tibetan nuns who escaped to India in 1988 are unable to control their bodily functions due to this torture. They are also disabled, he said.
For Tibetan prisoners who are executed, the Chinese government forces their Tibetan families to cover all costs of the execution and burial expenses, he said. The family must even reimburse the Chinese for the cost of the bullets use to execute their member.
A variety of human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, keep tabs on the whereabouts of Tibetan prisoners. Gyatso encouraged audience members to participate in Tibetan and human rights organizations. He added that he was freed in 1992 only because of pressure from Amnesty International on the Chinese government.
Since his release, Gyatso has travelled the United States and Europe, speaking in universities about the Chinese occupation of Tibet. He said he considers it his life’s mission to speak out against the Chinese occupation of Tibet. Since 1949, the Tibetan Rights Campaign estimates the Chinese government has killed 1.2 million Tibetans.
"I am a real witness if Tibet has benefited from Chinese occupation."
Last year, he testified before a Senate subcommittee and the United Nations about human rights in Tibet. He recently completed a 45-day walk, the March for Tibet's Freedom, from Washington D.C. to New York City.
In spite of all these tortures over the years, Gyatso said, "The Tibetan prisoners never gave up. They never agreed that Tibet is part of China."
During his years in prison, Gyatso said what made him forget his own suffering was his thinking about the suffering of other prisoners. He also thought of the people in China being persecuted by their government.
Gyatso said he bears no vengeful feelings toward his tortures.
He is a true Boddhisattva!
Friday, December 7, 2007
Death Camps in China
Yes, you did read correctly, Death Camps in China – virtual prisons where Falun Gong practitioners are undergoing ‘live harvesting’ of their vital organs. The following is a statement by a journalist who witnessed these awful crimes against humanity. This is his story. It is depressing, distressing but very enlightening.
“ I only a common journalist, and The Epoch Times and I first reported together the facts about harvesting organs from living Falun Dafa practitioners in the Liaoning Provincial Thrombosis Hospital of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine.
I believed originally that through exposing this evil crime, it can be stopped, those who sinned in history can be punished, and the detained Falun Dafa practitioners can be released so that their lives can be saved. This is a most tragic, inhumane crime.
I am quite upset that the CCP has transferred all Falun Dafa practitioners detained in Sujiatun and destroyed the evidence. The CCP has once again deceived the international community and the media, and it has seduced the international community with economic profit, threatening all witnesses, agencies and countries that wish to expose the facts about the CCP's harvesting of organs from living Falun Gong practitioners.
Today is the day that Hu is meeting with Bush, and it is the moment when the global media and the world's people are paying attention to China. I chose to stand out on this day publicly, to condemn the CCP's crimes at Sujiatun. I have no regard for my own life or death. I want to use my life as evidence to expose the sins of the CCP in harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners.
I know the CCP will not leave me alone since I have reported this genuine situation, but I am still willing to stand out and risk my life in order to reveal these facts about the persecution. At the same time, I want to tell everyone, as I have repeatedly told you, that the crimes at Sujiatun are only the tip of the iceberg in the nation-wide persecution. Stealing and selling organs from Falun Gong practitioners and other prisoners is happening in labor camps all over the country.
My reporting the crimes at Sujiatun was in hope of providing ideas to help investigate other labor camps, and calling on witnesses like Annie, who know such information, to bravely step forward. Step forward! I invite all of you to bravely step forward and testify about the crimes of the CCP.
Before and after 2000, I selectively contacted some people in China with different careers and societal backgrounds to collect information from different angles, which helped me gain new understandings of the Chinese government's statements, actions, and current situation.
In 2003, when the SARS epidemic was widespread in China, I traveled from Hong Kong, at the south end of the country, to Heilongjiang Province, at the north end, and witnessed the corruption and dirtiness of the CCP system. I contacted many officials in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province. Their ways of deceit, greed, illegal behavior are beyond the imagination and shockingly evil. The new and old policies that the Central Government has established, the government agencies, the Court system, and the power that is bestowed by the people are all sacrificed when these officials extort people's money. When I contacted these officials, I realized for the first time that an underground camp existed at Sujiatun.
However, it is very difficult to investigate a secret location in such a big city, and to prove its existence. In the past three years, I have consumed large amounts of manpower, material supplies, and financial resources, but have finally found this facility in Sujiatun, where many Falun Dafa practitioners were detained, and their cornea, organs, and bone marrow harvested live, and then their bodies cremated. Even their hair is made into wigs, and their skin and body fat is sold. The remainder of their bodies is then cremated to destroy all evidence. Ladies and gentlemen, can you believe that such crimes are still underway in other regions in China?
I have collected information from websites of organ transplant centers in Tianjin City and Shenyang City in China. The advertising on these sites is aimed at attracting foreign patients to undergo live organ transplant operations in China, providing large quantities of organs.
On the English version of the website of the China International Transplant Network Assistance Center (CITNAC), it is posted that it only takes one week to one month to find a kidney match. Meanwhile in the United States, the waiting period is two years or longer. We all know that kidneys and other organs are very hard to keep fresh, with a window of only 24-48 hours for a kidney, and even shorter for a heart. It is clearly shown on the Tianjin City Eastern Organ Transplant Center website that transplant procedures have largely increased in frequency since 2001.
Some organ transplant experts have expressed that in order to maintain such a quick process of organ matching between patients and donors, there must be an underground channel of live organs existing in the Shenyang City region. Many doctors and nurses who answered the phones in the hospitals and transplant centers in Beijing and Shenyang Cities, admitted openly that the donors are all alive and very healthy, and they even directly admitted that they are Falun Gong practitioners. When specifically asked more questions, they would not talk on the phone, saying that it is a sensitive topic, and "Let us talk after you arrive here."
Informants Annie and Peter in Washington DC on April 20. Their speeches were their first public testimony about large-scale organ harvesting atrocities in China. (The Epoch Times)
Currently there are many flyers posted on the electricity poles about kidney or other organ transplants, and many advertisements appear on the Internet from Transplant Hospitals and Centers in China. China has become a large organ transplant country. The international community has learned that if one needs an organ transplant quickly, one needs to go to China, where such channels exist.
This crime is committed by a network of corporations and participants who steal and sell Falun Gong practitioners' organs. It involves guards in the labor camps, surgeons, nurses, the government officials of the public health system, police officials, central government officials, black market organ traders and overseas organ transplant traders. It is an enormous crime beyond our imagination.
Ms. Annie's ex-husband is a late-stage cancer patient now, and is receiving chemotherapy in a hospital in Canada. He tried to escape China, and did not want to join in the crime of harvesting Falun Gong practitioners' organs, and wanted to quit. He then was warned and threatened. His wife was stabbed deeply on the left side of her stomach when she tried to protect him. He is an orphan of a CCP hero. He confessed to his wife, burned five deep marks onto his arm, and told her all of his secrets. Annie stepped forward to help pay back her ex-husband's sins.
More than one doctor and employee involved in the Sujiatun organ transplant operations have testified that the organs are all harvested from living Falun Gong practitioners.
The CCP's persecution policy on Falun Gong practitioners is that killing is counted as nothing, and that there is no need to verify identities.
I have received many anonymous calls on my cell phone, including some from my previous colleagues and bosses, wishing that I would stop revealing what I have found, so that it could go from being a big incident to a small one, and then from a small one to nothing. I do hope my investigation is a mistake. But even if there is only a one percent possibility that it is true, we should step forward to expose it, and to stop such crimes, crimes that should not be accepted by anyone.”
“ I only a common journalist, and The Epoch Times and I first reported together the facts about harvesting organs from living Falun Dafa practitioners in the Liaoning Provincial Thrombosis Hospital of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine.
I believed originally that through exposing this evil crime, it can be stopped, those who sinned in history can be punished, and the detained Falun Dafa practitioners can be released so that their lives can be saved. This is a most tragic, inhumane crime.
I am quite upset that the CCP has transferred all Falun Dafa practitioners detained in Sujiatun and destroyed the evidence. The CCP has once again deceived the international community and the media, and it has seduced the international community with economic profit, threatening all witnesses, agencies and countries that wish to expose the facts about the CCP's harvesting of organs from living Falun Gong practitioners.
Today is the day that Hu is meeting with Bush, and it is the moment when the global media and the world's people are paying attention to China. I chose to stand out on this day publicly, to condemn the CCP's crimes at Sujiatun. I have no regard for my own life or death. I want to use my life as evidence to expose the sins of the CCP in harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners.
I know the CCP will not leave me alone since I have reported this genuine situation, but I am still willing to stand out and risk my life in order to reveal these facts about the persecution. At the same time, I want to tell everyone, as I have repeatedly told you, that the crimes at Sujiatun are only the tip of the iceberg in the nation-wide persecution. Stealing and selling organs from Falun Gong practitioners and other prisoners is happening in labor camps all over the country.
My reporting the crimes at Sujiatun was in hope of providing ideas to help investigate other labor camps, and calling on witnesses like Annie, who know such information, to bravely step forward. Step forward! I invite all of you to bravely step forward and testify about the crimes of the CCP.
Before and after 2000, I selectively contacted some people in China with different careers and societal backgrounds to collect information from different angles, which helped me gain new understandings of the Chinese government's statements, actions, and current situation.
In 2003, when the SARS epidemic was widespread in China, I traveled from Hong Kong, at the south end of the country, to Heilongjiang Province, at the north end, and witnessed the corruption and dirtiness of the CCP system. I contacted many officials in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province. Their ways of deceit, greed, illegal behavior are beyond the imagination and shockingly evil. The new and old policies that the Central Government has established, the government agencies, the Court system, and the power that is bestowed by the people are all sacrificed when these officials extort people's money. When I contacted these officials, I realized for the first time that an underground camp existed at Sujiatun.
However, it is very difficult to investigate a secret location in such a big city, and to prove its existence. In the past three years, I have consumed large amounts of manpower, material supplies, and financial resources, but have finally found this facility in Sujiatun, where many Falun Dafa practitioners were detained, and their cornea, organs, and bone marrow harvested live, and then their bodies cremated. Even their hair is made into wigs, and their skin and body fat is sold. The remainder of their bodies is then cremated to destroy all evidence. Ladies and gentlemen, can you believe that such crimes are still underway in other regions in China?
I have collected information from websites of organ transplant centers in Tianjin City and Shenyang City in China. The advertising on these sites is aimed at attracting foreign patients to undergo live organ transplant operations in China, providing large quantities of organs.
On the English version of the website of the China International Transplant Network Assistance Center (CITNAC), it is posted that it only takes one week to one month to find a kidney match. Meanwhile in the United States, the waiting period is two years or longer. We all know that kidneys and other organs are very hard to keep fresh, with a window of only 24-48 hours for a kidney, and even shorter for a heart. It is clearly shown on the Tianjin City Eastern Organ Transplant Center website that transplant procedures have largely increased in frequency since 2001.
Some organ transplant experts have expressed that in order to maintain such a quick process of organ matching between patients and donors, there must be an underground channel of live organs existing in the Shenyang City region. Many doctors and nurses who answered the phones in the hospitals and transplant centers in Beijing and Shenyang Cities, admitted openly that the donors are all alive and very healthy, and they even directly admitted that they are Falun Gong practitioners. When specifically asked more questions, they would not talk on the phone, saying that it is a sensitive topic, and "Let us talk after you arrive here."
Informants Annie and Peter in Washington DC on April 20. Their speeches were their first public testimony about large-scale organ harvesting atrocities in China. (The Epoch Times)
Currently there are many flyers posted on the electricity poles about kidney or other organ transplants, and many advertisements appear on the Internet from Transplant Hospitals and Centers in China. China has become a large organ transplant country. The international community has learned that if one needs an organ transplant quickly, one needs to go to China, where such channels exist.
This crime is committed by a network of corporations and participants who steal and sell Falun Gong practitioners' organs. It involves guards in the labor camps, surgeons, nurses, the government officials of the public health system, police officials, central government officials, black market organ traders and overseas organ transplant traders. It is an enormous crime beyond our imagination.
Ms. Annie's ex-husband is a late-stage cancer patient now, and is receiving chemotherapy in a hospital in Canada. He tried to escape China, and did not want to join in the crime of harvesting Falun Gong practitioners' organs, and wanted to quit. He then was warned and threatened. His wife was stabbed deeply on the left side of her stomach when she tried to protect him. He is an orphan of a CCP hero. He confessed to his wife, burned five deep marks onto his arm, and told her all of his secrets. Annie stepped forward to help pay back her ex-husband's sins.
More than one doctor and employee involved in the Sujiatun organ transplant operations have testified that the organs are all harvested from living Falun Gong practitioners.
The CCP's persecution policy on Falun Gong practitioners is that killing is counted as nothing, and that there is no need to verify identities.
I have received many anonymous calls on my cell phone, including some from my previous colleagues and bosses, wishing that I would stop revealing what I have found, so that it could go from being a big incident to a small one, and then from a small one to nothing. I do hope my investigation is a mistake. But even if there is only a one percent possibility that it is true, we should step forward to expose it, and to stop such crimes, crimes that should not be accepted by anyone.”
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