September 6, 2000
Volume 2/ Number 17
Dear Friend and Colleague:
The deliberate drowning of a newborn infant by Chinese officials has shocked the world, yet similar atrocities are a daily occurrence in China. From the arrest and torture of religious believers, to the incarceration or execution of political dissidents, to the continued oppression of Tibetans and other minorities, China continues to have one of the worst human rights records in the world. We cannot trade with China without taking the cruel reality of its current government into consideration.
Steven W. Mosher
President
Drowning Babies in Dollars
When Chinese family planning officials came for Mrs. Liu, she was nine months pregnant with her fourth child. The abortion they attempted failed, and Mrs. Liu instead gave birth to a live baby boy. A doctor attempted to intervene, but the baby was wrenched from her arms by officials, who took him out to a nearby rice paddy where they drowned him.
The deliberate murder of a newborn infant, however shocking it may be to the West, is an everyday occurrence in China. Chinese officials, themselves under heavy pressure to enforce the one-child policy, pressure parents in turn to undergo abortions. Infanticide takes two forms, committed both by parents eager to have a son and by officials eager to meet population control targets. As I wrote in an earlier Weekly Briefing (7 June 2000), new evidence of massive female infanticide in China has been reported by researchers William Skinner and Yuan Jianhua of U.C. Davis.
But human rights abuses in China are not limited to the one-child policy. They run the gamut from the arrest and torture of religious believers, to the incarceration or execution of political dissidents, to the continued oppression of Tibetans and other minorities. China holds the dubious distinction of having one of the worst human rights records in the world.
The Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy has just reported that 130 evangelical Christians have been arrested, and their pastor sentenced to two years in prison for “leading a cult.” The oppression of the exercising grannies of the Falun Gong continues apace, with arrests now running into the tens of thousands. Many have been tortured by cattle prods and other cruel devices until they renounce their beliefs.
Some of this, at least, has been widely reported in the American press. Some has been condemned by influential figures in this country. Yet the ongoing scandal of Chinese human rights abuses seems to have had little effect on those who push for normal trade relations with that country.
What can those of us who are concerned about such abuses as the drowning of infants at birth do?
- Let your elected representatives know how you feel. Polls show that two-thirds of us believe that China should not receive permanent “normal trade relations” (PNTR) unless and until it comes to respect human rights. This majority needs to speak up.
- Boycott Chinese-made products whenever possible. Let your merchants know that you will not buy products that may be made by prisoner- or child-labor, the proceeds from which may go to finance increased Chinese military spending.
- Attend our upcoming conference on China. On November 29-30, Population Research Institute will team up with Family Research Council to host a conference on “Human Rights in China: Should it be Tied to Trade?” The conference will feature speakers on every aspect of human rights in China, and will be held at the FRC Building at 801 G Street NW, Washington, D.C. from 9:00 to 4:00. The conference registration fee of $100 includes lunch on each day.
- Support human rights in China not just because it is the right thing to do, but because it directly affects our future national security. In Hegemon: China’s Plan to Dominate Asia and the World, I explain how China’s desire to dominate Asia will bring it into direct conflict with us. Copies are available for $24.95 from PRI.
