"China tightens reins on dissent," by Bill Schiller, Toronto Star

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August 8, 2009

BEIJING–Xu Zhiyong once confided to a Chinese journalist that even as a young high school student he knew exactly what he wanted to do in life. In a careful, youthful hand he'd penned it into his diary:

"Dedicate myself to public service," he wrote. "Advocate for social reform. Change the tradition of a nation. Help build an ideal society."

They were lofty, noble goals – outsized for most people, but not for Xu. He felt it was his duty – in fact his fate – to aspire to nothing less, born as he was in a place called Minquan County.

"Minquan means `civil rights,'" he often says.

Until last week, Xu Zhiyong, a highly respected 36-year-old legal scholar and rising role model for young Chinese, was busy achieving those goals: spreading knowledge about Chinese law among the common people; using Chinese law to defend the poor and the vulnerable; and earning a reputation as a selfless, tireless builder of China's nascent civil society.

Then six policemen came to his home at 5 a.m. Wednesday and led him away.

Today, Xu Zhiyong is detained somewhere in Beijing, another victim of China's ever-tightening control on lawyers, activists and non-governmental organizations, people the government views as potential threats to their absolute power.

Xu's detention surprised many, both here and abroad: he didn't criticize China's Communist Party, never spoke out against the government, and he abided by the law and played by the rules.

"With his detention, the government has now crossed a threshold in terms of its intolerance of dissent," says Nicholas Bequelin of the international rights organization Human Rights Watch. "This indicates a hardening of the government's attitude towards civil society. If Xu goes from detention to `formal arrest,' then no one is really safe."

Xu is being held without charges.

The government alleges his organization, the Open Constitution Initiative (OCI), which he helped found in 2003, failed to pay its taxes.

Supporters say the taxes were paid and that the trumped-up charges are aimed at halting overseas funding and shutting the operation down.

"Xu Zhiyong and OCI have done nothing illegal," says Teng Biao, friend of co-founder of the organization. "We have respected the law in every instance."

While some in the rights lawyers' movement take a more muscular approach to the law, often taking on the government head-on, Xu is a pragmatist, insisting on working within the system, pushing for change while taking care not to incite authorities. But he and his organization have not shirked from taking on controversial cases.

He provided legal assistance to farmers in the northeast whose land had been illegally seized by corrupt government officials for private gain.

He exposed and publicized a system of illegal "black jails" where citizens from the provinces, who'd come to Beijing to complain about corrupt provincial politicians, were routinely taken to be beaten.

More recently, he organized a class-action suit for parents whose babies had been poisoned by melamine-laced milk during last year's Sanlu milk scandal. At least 300,000 babies were poisoned, but the government says only six died.

"This is precisely the kind of organization whose work the government should value, as it helps ease grievances and minimizes unrest," says Sophie Richardson, Human Rights Watch's advocacy director. "This attack on the Open Constitution Initiative marks a new low in the Chinese government's campaign against human rights defenders."

But Xu and his organization are by no means the only ones in the government's sights.

China's most prominent human rights lawyers are also under attack. At least 53 had their licences invalidated earlier this year, 20 of whom have now been disbarred. All are known for their work on sensitive cases.

The Yirenping Centre, an organization that gives counsel and support to hepatitis B carriers, was also raided by security police last week. Police seized leaflets that advised patients of their rights, claiming the centre needed a publishing permit to distribute the leaflets.

"The purpose is to find excuses for suppressing China's NGOs," the centre's director, Lu Jun, charged.

This week, the New York-based NGO Asia Catalyst also revealed that a Chinese AIDS advocate had his passport seized by Chinese authorities and prevented from attending an international AIDS conference in Indonesia.

Police warned the advocate, who had been invited to the conference by UNAIDS, that if he spoke to the media or international organizations about the passport seizure, he would face "the same fate as Hu Jia."

Hu Jia is a well-known Chinese HIV/AIDS activist currently serving 3 1/2 years in prison.

Cumulatively, says Bequelin, the government's actions suggest that its security apparatus has been given freer rein.

The turning point, he believes, was U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's statement during her visit to China this year that human rights issues need not interfere with Sino-American relations. Says Bequelin, "We're now seeing how unwise it was for Clinton and the U.S. to have basically said, `We won't do anything on the human rights front.'"