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By Radio FREE Asia
March 16, 2011

An open letter blames Chinese leaders for covering up blood-selling schemes.

Chinese authorities have pulled the plug on the website of an AIDS advocacy group after it published an open letter about the trade in blood plasma and its role in spreading the virus.

The website of the Beijing-based Aizhixing Research Foundation, at www.aizhi.net, had received several requests to remove the letter, written last December by a former senior official in China's health ministry.

The letter, penned by Chen Bingzhong, a former head of the China Health Education Research Institute, hits out at top officials for covering up the link between HIV transmission and blood transfusions in poverty stricken rural Henan province.

"It is not possible to visit this website," read a notice at the site's URL on Wednesday. "Apologies for the inconvenience!"

U.S.-based AIDS activist Wan Yanhai, who founded the group, said the site had been closed by the Beijing municipal news department.

"We got a letter from the Beijing news office," Wan said. "There were several asking us to remove that article, but we didn't answer them."

Wan said the group had received a call from the office informing them of the website closure on Monday.

Rights lawyer Li Xiongbin, who is in charge of domestic affairs for the group, declined to comment.

"You need to get in touch with Wan Yanhai to get the real reason for this problem," Li said. "I won't be able to give you an interview."

Cover-up alleged

Activists and doctors have long blamed China's AIDS epidemic on the practice of blood-selling in poverty-stricken rural areas.

Chen's letter called for propaganda czar Li Changchun and vice-premier Li Keqiang to face disciplinary action for covering up the extent of the blood-selling problem.

Chen, 78, who is suffering from terminal liver disease, wrote that the two Lis should be held responsible for forbidding news coverage of the problem.

They should also be brought to account for harassing and suppressing AIDS experts Gao Yaojie and Wan Yanhai when they tried to speak out about the issue, he said in the letter, which was first sent to the ruling Communist Party of China's Commission for Discipline Inspection in June.

"This whole affair began around 17 years ago, so there are lot of things which I know quite a lot about, and I have accumulated a lot of documentation," Chen said in an interview with RFA in December.

"I think that this is an extremely serious issue. If, as a senior official, you cover up the extent of an epidemic, and don't report it, then you aren't competent for high office, and you should be held accountable. I think that this is what should happen."

Chen made the letter public at considerable risk to himself, and said he fully expects retaliatory measures against him from the government.

"I don't think the authorities will like it at all," he said. "But I don't care about any of that. I am already seriously ill."

'A continuing scandal'

Official accounts of China's HIV/AIDS epidemic typically focus on sex as the fastest-growing transmission route, singling out rising rates of infection among homosexual men.

But veteran activists Gao Yaojie and Wan Yanhai--now both exiled in the United States--say that infections through tainted blood transfusions at local hospitals and clinics are a continuing scandal in poorer regions of China.

Activists say police have repeatedly warned off members of the nongovernment Aizhixing AIDS advocacy group and civil rights lawyers over planned meetings with rural AIDS petitioners, many of whom were infected through this route and are trying to win redress.

Meanwhile, China has pledged to step up screening and public education for HIV/AIDS.

Measures will include free testing for HIV/AIDS and syphilis for expectant mothers, and intervention programs targeting drug addicts and people with sexually transmitted diseases.

Officials have also said that public awareness of HIV/AIDS needs boosting, especially among middle school and college students and among employers, who still routinely discriminate against those living with HIV.

According to the health ministry, sexual transmission has now overtaken drug use as the main cause of the spread of the virus in China's southwest, where AIDS has killed up to 11,609 people in the past two decades.

Government figures show that around 740,000 people are living with HIV/AIDS in China, although the true figure may be far higher.

Reported AIDS deaths in China rose by nearly 20,000 to 68,315 at the end of October, compared with figures released in October 2009.

Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.

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By Marianne Barriaux - AFP Agence France Presse | via UNCENSORED Yahoo! News
14 July 2010

Wan Yanhai, China's top AIDS activist, said he suffered years of harassment from authorities which eventually came to a head earlier this year when he fled to the United States with his family.

He is just one of the nation's AIDS campaigners who face ongoing pressure -- a situation that is hampering China's efforts to improve HIV prevention and control, activists and experts say.

"The situation for AIDS activists is really not hopeful," said Lan Yujiao, one of the staff members of Wan's organisation Aizhixing who remains in Beijing to continue his work.

"And I don't think this situation will change any time soon," she told AFP.

China says that at least 740,000 people are living with HIV, but campaigners say the actual figure could be far higher.

The head of UNAIDS, Michel Sidibe, warned last year that 50 million people in the country were at risk of contracting the AIDS virus, mainly through unprotected sex or the sharing of needles.

Faced with this problem, the government has started talking more openly about HIV prevention and control in China, where people with AIDS still encounter huge discrimination in employment, education and healthcare.

In 2007, China allowed the first TV ad campaign promoting the use of condoms and last year, the health ministry and the United Nations launched an ad against HIV discrimination featuring basketball star Yao Ming.

This April, China announced it had lifted a longstanding ban on HIV-positive foreigners entering the country, in a move applauded by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the World Health Organisation.

But the hassling of some independent campaigners and organisations -- a theme likely to be discussed at the six-day International AIDS conference opening in Vienna on Sunday -- has nevertheless continued.

Like Wan, high-profile AIDS activist Gao Yaojie left China for the United States last year due to ongoing pressure. AIDS campaigner Hu Jia was sentenced to more than three years in prison in 2008 on subversion charges.

Wan told AFP in May that he fled China because he feared for his safety.

He said he had been under constant pressure from police, tax authorities and other government departments until his departure. In the past, he had been detained several times or placed under police surveillance for his activities.

"Look at Mrs Gao and Mr Wan... who threw themselves into AIDS prevention work very early on. They faced huge pressure -- they were monitored, harassed, and they had no alternative but to leave China," said Lan.

Following Wan's departure, Aizhixing continues to face obstacles.

According to its website, police threatened the group's temporary leader in June and told him he could be arrested at any moment if he continued his involvement in the organisation.

Last week, Aizhixing was due to screen a documentary on a student living with HIV but the show was postponed after police interviewed staff, citing a need to "maintain stability" as a reason for the questioning, Lan said.

Joe Amon, head of the health and human rights division of Human Rights Watch, says civil society groups are crucial for HIV prevention work among high-risk people such as drug users or sex workers who distrust the government.

"By preventing NGOs and activists from having a voice, the government is essentially cutting off those most at risk from information and services critical to both prevention and treatment," he said.

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By Gillian Wong - The Associated Press - via abcNEWS
May 10, 2010

China AIDS activist leaves for U.S. with family after government harassment intensified

A prominent Chinese AIDS activist has fled China for the United States with his wife and 4-year-old daughter to escape increasing government harassment of him and his organization, he said Monday.

Wan Yanhai's departure highlights the pressure that nongovernmental groups and activists face when operating in China, where the Communist Party leadership remains suspicious of independent groups or individuals as possible threats to their authority.

In March, the government decided to regulate overseas donations to aid groups for the first time, a move that has hurt the funding of organizations like Wan's Beijing-based Aizhixing Institute.

The restrictions on foreign donations and other intimidation tactics drove Wan and his family to leave China on Thursday on a flight out of Hong Kong, Wan said in a telephone interview, adding that they were now staying with a friend in Philadelphia.

"The attacks from the government had become very serious for my organization and for me personally," Wan said. "I had concerns about my personal safety and was under a lot of stress."

"When I am in China, the authorities look at me like I am a bird in a cage. They say: 'If you don't listen to me, then I will eat you'," he said. "But after I leave the country, they will see me in a new light because I am no longer in their cage."

In recent years, China's government has made huge strides in openly addressing the spread of HIV, but the communist leadership is deeply suspicious of independent activists, and Wan has one of the highest profiles among those working on AIDS in China.

Wan, a former Health Ministry official, founded the Aizhixing Institute in 1994 to raise awareness and fight discrimination. Among its most significant and politically sensitive work was the publicizing of the spread of AIDS in the 1990s among villagers in central China's Henan province, where people who sold blood were re-injected with pooled blood after buyers had removed important components.

Wan has been detained or questioned by police several times in the past dozen years for his work, and in recent months he said he has felt increasing pressure from various government departments. The pressure started piling up this year with problems arising from the tax bureau, the state administration for industry and commerce, the central propaganda department and the education bureau.

In March, the government ruled that China-based aid groups -- but not those connected with the government -- must show proof that overseas nonprofit donor groups are registered in their home countries. The groups must strictly follow detailed agreements with foreign donors and not use the money in other ways.

"Funding became a major problem for us after that," Wan said.

Later that month, he was invited to speak at the Southern China Science and Industry University on sexual orientation and mental health, but the event was interrupted by police from Guangzhou, he said. He later heard that a notice had been sent to universities nationwide to prevent them from inviting him to speak.

Wan said the final straw came when he was even getting harassed by the municipal fire department, which visited his office in Beijing on April 20 for a safety inspection and then sent a team from the local fire station the next day.

"To be honest, I was becoming very worried. I felt like if we had acted slower, it would not have been good," he said, adding that he and his wife used a trip to Hong Kong for business to make the decision to leave.

"Before we left, we didn't tell a lot of people," he said. "We waited until Thursday evening after we got to Hong Kong, bought the flight tickets and passed through the security checks at the airport before we called a few friends."

Aizhixing Institute, meanwhile, will continue operating despite his absence from China, Wan said. In the coming days, he hopes to meet with international organizations to discuss ways to cooperate on projects and for funding.

Wan's move was met with support by Chinese activists, many of whom posted messages on Twitter, although some also expressed regret at his departure and worries about the future of his organization.

After hearing the news, human rights activist Zeng Jingyan wrote on her Twitter: "Shocked. Immediately, I tried to call him and his wife, but the call did not go through. I was crying, the tears covering my face. On the one hand, I wish him and his family peace and freedom. On the other hand, I feel unbearable."

When contacted via Skype, Zeng would only say "I empathize with Wan's feelings. Although I feel a little regret toward his decision. Still, I fully understand and wish them a happy life."

Zeng is married to the activist Hu Jia, who has championed AIDS victims in the past and is serving a 3 1/2-year jail term for sedition that is set to end in June 2011.

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By REUTERS | via (UNCENSORED) Yahoo! News
November 27, 2009

People in China living with HIV and AIDS face widespread discrimination and stigma, with even medical workers sometimes refusing to touch them, according to a U.N. survey released on Friday.

China's Health Ministry and UNAIDS estimate that the country has between 97,000 and 112,000 people infected with AIDS.

But more than 40 percent of people surveyed in a new UNAIDS report said they had been discriminated against because of their HIV status. More than one-tenth said they had been refused medical care at least once.

Chinese AIDS activist Yu Xuan, talking at a news conference to unveil the report, recounted the story of a friend who was refused an urgent operation because of her HIV status, and who ended up dying as a result.

"I don't want people to have the kind of experiences I have had," said Yu, who also has AIDS.

China has long faced a problem in tackling a disease which officials once refused to acknowledge, and where for many people taboos surrounding sex remain strong, limiting public or even private discussion.

Deputy Chinese Health Minister Huang Jeifu said the government would work harder to address issues related to AIDS stigma and ignorance, but admitted it would be difficult.

"The biggest obstacle is that there is not enough education or publicity about AIDS. Society does not know enough about the disease, and people think you can get it just from touch, talking, shaking hands or eating together," Huang said. "This is a huge problem."

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By Andrew Jacobs | The New York Times
31 July 2009

In the realm of potential threats to China's stability, an organization that advocates on behalf of people infected with hepatitis B would seem to be low risk.

But on Wednesday, the group's director, Lu Jun, found himself squaring off against four security officials who were trying to cart away stacks of literature they claimed had been printed without official permission.

In the end, Mr. Lu scored a partial victory. After eight hours looking through drawers and photographing volunteers, the inspectors walked off with 90 pamphlets, but Mr. Lu prevented them from delving into the group's computer files. "I fear this is not the end of it," he said Thursday.

The raid on Mr. Lu's organization, the Yi Ren Ping Center, comes at a precarious time for China's nongovernmental organizations, many of which operate in a kind of legal gray zone. Two weeks ago, officials used a bureaucratic infraction as the reason to shut down the country's pre-eminent legal rights center, Gongmeng, or Open Constitution Initiative. The closing followed a separate disbarment of 53 lawyers known for taking on civil rights and corruption cases. Just before dawn on Wednesday, the founder of Gongmeng, Xu Zhiyong, was taken into police custody, and he has not been heard from since.

"The permissible space in which civil society groups can operate was already small, but right now that circle is getting smaller and smaller," said Sharon Hom, the executive director of Human Rights in China, which is based in New York. "If an organization is creating an independent voice, putting together a newsletter or organizing people in any way, it's going to feel the full brunt of the authorities."

Although it is unclear exactly why the government is tightening its grip on such organizations, legal experts and rights activists generally agree that it may be related to the celebrations, three months from now, of the 60th anniversary of China's Communist revolution. A similar clampdown took place in the months before the 2008 Summer Olympics, when security officials in Beijing stepped up the harassment of dissidents and encouraged thousands of migrant workers to return to the countryside.

"It's basically a foolish attempt to make the year as peaceful and uneventful as possible," said Jiang Tianyong, a lawyer who was among those blocked from renewing their licenses.

Another explanation, Mr. Jiang and others say, is that some powerful segments of China's leadership feel threatened by the rise of independent entities working to advance causes like labor rights or clean water, or in the case of the Yi Ren Ping Center, protection for people with hepatitis B.

There is widespread trepidation over hepatitis B in China, a fear that has been intensified by an explosion in advertising for medical testing services and sham cures. Even though it is preventable with a vaccine -- and most of those infected will not become ill -- state-owned companies, medical schools and food-processing plants have come to believe that it is sensible policy to bar the infected.

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