[They
included five Hong Kong publishers and booksellers who had distributed works
critical of China’s leadership and then went missing. One of them, Gui Minhai,
who holds Swedish citizenship, disappeared in Thailand in October; another, Lee
Bo, who has British citizenship, vanished in December. Both later reappeared on
the Chinese mainland, making recorded confessions that may have been coerced.]
By Nick Cumming-Bruce
 |
|
Placards with images of
Lee Bo, left, and his associate, Gui Minhai, outside the China
liaison office in Hong
Kong. Both vanished and later reappeared on the Chinese
mainland. Credit Philippe
Lopez/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
|
GENEVA
— The United States and 11
other countries scolded China on Thursday over its crackdown on lawyers and
human rights activists, saying that China had violated its own laws and
international commitments.
Keith M. Harper, the American ambassador to
the United Nations Human Rights Council, delivered a joint statement
criticizing the sweeping arrests of activists and lawyers who in many cases,
their families and supporters have said, did not have access to legal counsel
nor were allowed family visits in breach of China’s laws.
The statement, representing the views of the
United States, Japan, Australia, Britain and eight other European countries,
also expressed alarm at the treatment of several Hong Kong residents who
vanished and were evidently coerced into going to mainland China.
They included five Hong Kong publishers and
booksellers who had distributed works critical of China’s leadership and then
went missing. One of them, Gui Minhai, who holds Swedish citizenship,
disappeared in Thailand in October; another, Lee Bo, who has British
citizenship, vanished in December. Both later reappeared on the Chinese
mainland, making recorded confessions that may have been coerced.
“These extraterritorial actions are
unacceptable, out of step with the expectations of the international community
and a challenge to the rule based international order,” the group said, noting
that Hong Kong’s Basic Law, equivalent to a constitution, protects the autonomy
of residents of the former British colony.
Fu Cong, China’s ambassador to the Human
Rights Council, denounced the group’s findings, pointing to what he called
American hypocrisy.
The United States is “notorious” for abuses
at the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, gun violence and racism, Mr. Fu
said, urging the United States and Japan to cease meddling in China’s internal
affairs.
“The United States conducts large-scale
extraterritorial eavesdropping, uses drones to attack other countries’ innocent
civilians, and its troops on foreign soil commit rape and murder of local
people,” Mr. Fu added.
The group’s criticisms echoed concerns voiced
last month by the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Ra’ad
al-Hussein. It repeated his call for China to release lawyers and activists
detained for exercising their right to freedom of speech or for fulfilling
their professional duties.
In a phone interview, Sophie Richardson, the
China director at Human Rights Watch, praised the group’s statement for drawing
attention to “what human rights defenders across China are trying to achieve
and the utterly unacceptable price they are forced to pay for their work.”
She added: “It tells China if you continue to
behave this way you can at least expect to answer for it.”
Earlier on Thursday, Mr. al-Hussein
criticized the United States, expressing hope that the Obama administration
would finally meet its longstanding promise to close Guantánamo and “end the
shocking practice of indefinite detention without charge or trial.”
Moreover, Mr. al-Hussein said, Washington has
failed to prosecute those responsible for the torture and abuses in the years
after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Those abuses, he said, “cannot, under
international law, remain unpunished.”