China Disputes U.N. Envoy on Widespread Use of Torture
By JOSEPH KAHN - The New York Times
BEIJING, Dec. 6 - China on Tuesday contested the conclusions of a United Nations envoy and denied that torture was widespread in the country, asking the envoy to revise his views before making a final report on his two-week visit.
Manfred Nowak, the United Nations special rapporteur on torture, presented an initial summary of his investigation last week, accusing the Chinese police, prison guards and other judicial officials of relying on torture to extract confessions and eliminate "deviant behavior." He also said Chinese security forces had hampered his investigation by following him and intimidating people whom he intended to interview.
"China cannot accept the so-called conclusion that torture is widespread," the Foreign Ministry spokesman, Qin Gang, said at a news conference, adding that torture was banned in China.
"The rapporteur was only in China for two short weeks and went to three cities, after which he made the judgment that torture was widespread." Mr. Qin said. "This lacks an objective foundation and does not accord with reality."
He also denied that security forces had hindered Mr. Nowak's investigation, though several people who spoke with or sought to reach Mr. Nowak during his stay said separately in interviews that they had been harassed or physically prevented from contacting him.
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I don't really like this website.
It labels itself the truth about China, but seems to be more of a rant against the Government of China. Now I see no need to defend the Governmet of China, they can try and do that for themselves. The info is topical and interesting, but misses a great deal of the truth about China. I'd like to see some stories of hope and change for the better.
As a British Citizen I would hate the have "The Truth about Britain" reduced to a rant about Mr. Tony and his cronys.
I'd suggest renaming the site "Some of the nasty stuff the Chinese Government does"
Also there is no feedback mechanism other than comments.
For me, the only problem is they update this site so rarely.
I would agree with Adam P's comment. Although the CCP does engage in the violation of human rights as well as other nasty things, this website really gives readers a pejorative image of China.
Not to sound too much like an anarchist or a Foucault lover, but all states are oppressive in one way or another. This kind of attitude gives the constructed concept of the "Western world" an excuse to treat China as its "uncivilized" "inferior."
So what? What's the big deal about this story? Mr. UN makes broad statements w/o sufficient evidence, while being watched like a hawk. Chinese Gov't refutes statements and says "everyone is treated equally under the law".
My comment wasn't about this post, but about the site in general. There is nowhere for feedback about the site in general, so I just put it in the top posting at the time.
How about a post on the purpose of the site? To give this conversation a proper home.
Or a BB or fo.rum would be fantastic.