Nation’s economic clout grows in the face of its 1-child policy and persistent religious persecution. by JOAN FRAWLEY DESMOND 10/14/2011
Catholics pray at the Cross Hill at Paowo Village in 2007 in Meixian County of Shaanxi Province, China. Cross Hill is a holy place first built by missionary Liu Jialu as a simulation of Calvary.
– China Photos/Getty Images
WASHINGTON — Religious persecution and forced abortions persist in China, even as the nation exerts increasingly global influence.
Experts predicted that China’s rapid economic expansion and integration into global financial markets would soon foster improvements in human rights. But the 2011 “Congressional-Executive Annual Report on Human Rights in China,” released this week, signaled that the nation’s rapid economic growth has not been matched by equally dramatic improvements in the Communist Party’s approach to civil rights.
“Tragically, in the years since [Congress granted] permanent normal trade relations, China has continued to abuse the fundamental human rights of its citizens while failing to establish a fair and transparent legal system,” asserted Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, a bipartisan body established to address human-rights concerns raised during the debate fueled by the initial legislation.
“[A]s we meet here today, a Nobel Laureate, Liu Xiaobo, languishes in a Chinese prison for promoting peaceful democratic reforms, but he is just one of 1.3 billion Chinese who live under the Chinese state’s repression,” said Smith at a Oct. 12 press conference announcing the key findings of the annual report.
Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/chinas-population-control-continues/#ixzz1anSxtdPW
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