Freedom House, 15 February 2012

Freedom House today calls on President Barack Obama to press Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping to improve human rights conditions in China. Vice President Xi, who is expected to become China’s president in 2013, will be visiting Washington D. C. tomorrow.

“Vice President Xi’s meetings are likely to set the tone for U.S.-China relations for years to come,” said David J. Kramer, president of Freedom House. “Xi needs to hear a clear message of U.S. concern about human rights conditions in China and to know that human rights will be an integral part of the bilateral agenda. It isn’t enough for Vice President Joe Biden to raise human rights concerns with his Chinese counterpart. President Obama needs to raise these concerns with Vice President Xi, both privately and publicly.”

Over the past year, Chinese authorities have carried out a campaign of repression by censoring public discussion of pro-democracy movements in the Arab World, prosecuting or arbitrarily detaining scores of human rights lawyers and social media commentators, and strengthening the online censorship of domestic social networking services. This follows on several years of stalled rule of law reforms and intensified repression of religious and ethnic minorities.

China’s ruling regime is among the world’s most repressive. China is ranked Not Free in Freedom in the World 2011, Freedom House’s survey of political rights and civil liberties, and Not Free in Freedom of the Press 2011 and Freedom on the Net 2011.

For more information about China, visit:

Freedom in the World 2011: China
Freedom of the Press 2011: China
Freedom on the Net 2011: China
China Media Bulletin
Freedom at Issue Blog

Freedom House is an independent watchdog organization that supports democratic change, monitors the status of freedom around the world, and advocates for democracy and human rights.
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Issues:
Civil Society, Human Rights, U.S. Foreign Policy
Countries:
China
Regions:
Asia-Pacific

http://freedomhouse.org/article/obama-should-press-chinese-vice-president-human-rights