China Comes Of Age

[ButterflyMaiden]

Tremendous post ... Im sure its appreciated ...

For further information almost everything Chinahand has mentioned is supported in this UN document and in addition it points to one or two other major problems which China has yet to resolve.

UN on China

However, we need to remember that China has an absolutely enormous population and, as far as I can tell, only Soviet Russia, during Stalin's reign, has ever made comparable economic gains in such a short time frame. (In both cases at considerable "cost "to the population)

China will, undoubetdly, continue to develop and hopefully the Communist regime will wither and die.

[Chinahand]

Adding to PK's post about the death penalty things are changing: check out

 

BBC Report on Death Penalty in China

 

This isn't so great; the supreme court used to review all death penalty cases before the late 1980s, but then stopped. Its now starting reviewing them again. Its unlikely to change much, but it will give an extra level of oversight before the poor so and so is shot in the back of the head.

[Chinahand]

Adding to what I said above about being shot in the back of the head check out

 

LA Times: Chinese Executions

 

You may need to register ... its free, they just want info for marketing!

 

Following on from what Theintelligentthug said:

 

meh. its thir country, who are we to intefere?

 

Interfere, no.

 

Show up the injustices the system produces and show ways it can be improved, yes.

 

The gist of the story is:

 

"Zhang Huanzhi, 61, hugs a small mound of dirt that holds her son's ashes. Tears and mucous stream from her face as she cries out in pain: Why us, why our boy, why such injustice? A few months ago, a state-run newspaper reported that someone else had confessed to the rape and murder for which her son had been executed. For years, few had listened as she insisted that Nie Shubin, 20, had been tortured into a false confession, then convicted after a two-hour trial. The only evidence of any note, she says, was the account of a witness who saw someone near the crime scene riding a blue bicycle. Nie owned a blue bicycle. "If his bicycle were red, or black, he'd be alive today," Zhang said"

 

The news story also says:

 

"Amnesty International found evidence of 3,400 death sentences carried out in 2004 but says the real number may be closer to 10,000 a year. This compares with 59 in the U.S. in 2004. More than 70 countries use the death penalty, but most apply it only in the case of a few extremely violent crimes. China executes people for 68 offenses, many nonviolent, including smuggling, tax evasion, corruption, "endangering national security" and separatism, which includes advocating Tibetan or Taiwanese independence."

 

On a very serious note; if you end up in a bar in Beijing and someone asks you what you think about Taiwan or Tibet, or Xinjiang BE VERY VERY circumspect in your reply, you could be deported or worse if you start spouting off!

 

It also says:

 

"Two-hour trials, followed a few months later by execution, are not unusual. Reports suggest some capital trials last less than an hour. Lu Shile, accused of murder in the northeastern city of Qingdao, was convicted late last year, had his appeal denied and was executed within 24 days, an outcome the Qingdao Evening News praised as "rapid and highly efficient." "

 

The death penalty in China is full of so many injustices it has to be reformed.

 

China cannot enter the ranks of the most developed countries in the world while it has such an arbitary, system which lacks the checks and balances required to ensure justice is done.