Human Rights in China

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Human Rights in China One of the first things that come to mind about human rights in China would most likely be the Tiananmen Square massacre, where in 1989 hundreds of student protestors lost their lives to the People's Republic of China. The bloody body of a dead student removed from the street right after the Tiananmen Square crackdown on June 4, 1989. Web page http://www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/china/china.html The name People's Republic of China seems a contradiction of its meaning. If indeed its name is the People's Republic of China than why did it massacre peaceful protestors with tanks and machine guns? But the Chinese government argues that the force was necessary for maintaining a national order (Muzhi Zhu). The People's Republic of China (PRC) is actually an authoritarian state in which the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is the main source of power. At the national and regional levels, party members hold almost all the top government, police, and military positions. The country's authority rests with members of the Politburo (China Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1999). CCP stresses that it needs to maintain stability and social order. The Government's poor human rights record in 1999 shows the extent at which the Government intensified efforts to suppress its 1.27 billion people. A crackdown against a newly formed opposition party, which began in the fall of 1998, broadened and intensified during the year. By the end of 1998, almost all of the key leaders of the China Democracy Party (CDP) were serving long prison terms or were in custody without any formal charges, and only a handful of members nationwide dared to remain active publicly (China Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1... ... middle of paper ... ...hen they are fighting for their freedom. As Czechoslovakia democrat Tomas G. Masaryk said in totalitarian Central Europe nearly 50 years: "Dictators always look good until the last minutes." Bibliography: Bibliographies Amnesty International. "China, no one is safe". Ed. Edwin J. Feulner, Jr. New York, NY. 1996. Amnesty International. "China, violations of human rights : prisoners of conscience and the death penalty in the People's Republic of China". Ed William Meyers. London, U.K 1994. China Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1999. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. February 25, 2000. U.S. Department of State. 18 March, 2000 Jingsheng Wei. "What to do About China" no date of publication or sponsor. 18 March, 2000 Muzhi Zhu. "China's Human Rights Record" 25 June, 1997. Chinese Embassy. 17 March 2000.

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