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China Cracks Down On Grieving Relatives and Activists Threats To Sue The Government Over Coronavirus Deaths In Wuhan
Hotair ^
| 05/04/2020
| John Sexton
Posted on 05/04/2020 6:15:26 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Earlier I wrote about the Chinese governments concern over the rise of anti-Chinese sentiment building around the world because of the coronavirus pandemic. A recent think tank report said the backlash could be the worst China has faced since Tiananmen Square in 1989. But its not just the external backlash that has China worried. The government is also trying to crack down on internal dissent from people who are understandably angry that their relatives died in the outbreak. Some had even tried to organize lawsuits but the police were quick to shut down those efforts.
The Chinese authorities are clamping down as grieving relatives, along with activists, press the ruling Communist Party for an accounting of what went wrong in Wuhan, the city where the coronavirus killed thousands before spreading to the rest of China and the world.
Lawyers have been warned not to file suit against the government. The police have interrogated bereaved family members who connected with others like them online. Volunteers who tried to thwart the states censorship apparatus by preserving reports about the outbreak have disappeared.
They are worried that if people defend their rights, the international community will know what the real situation is like in Wuhan and the true experiences of the families there, said Mr. Yang, who is living in New York, where he fled after he was briefly detained for his work in China.
The crackdown underscores the partys fear that any attempt to dwell on what happened in Wuhan, or to hold officials responsible, will undermine the states narrative that only Chinas authoritarian system saved the country from a devastating health crisis.
One man whose father died of the virus in February spoke to news outlets about his fathers death and his feelings that local officials should be held responsible, but the stories were all killed before publication. Now the government wants to send minders to his fathers funeral:
Mr. Zhang said several Chinese reporters who had interviewed him about his demands later told him that their editors had pulled the articles before publication. He posted calls online to set up a monument in honor of the victims of the epidemic in Wuhan, but censors quickly scrubbed the messages. Officials have pressed him to bury his fathers ashes, but he has so far refused; he says they have insisted on assigning him minders, who he believes would be there to ensure that he caused no trouble.
They spend so much time trying to control us, Mr. Zhang said. Why cant they use this energy to address our concerns instead?
As I wrote last week, the government has cracked down on a group of people who attempted to avoid Chinese internet censorship of documents related to the outbreak. The group had created an illicit archive on Github but last week three of them were arrested. Thats on top of the thousands of people police have threatened, fined and jailed for spreading rumors and causing panic.
This kind of crackdown after a disaster is par for the course in China. The NY Times mentions in passing a train crash that took place in 2011. The crash killed 40 people and injured nearly 200 others. The response by the government was to bury the wreckage at the site and warn the media not to cover the story except to highlight the positive response of rescue workers. Specifically, reporters were told not to look into the cause of the accident.
Leaked propaganda directives ordered journalists not to investigate the causes and footage emerged of bulldozers shovelling dirt over carriages.
Wang, the railways spokesman, said no one could or would bury the story. He said a colleague told him the wreckage was needed to fill in a muddy ditch to make rescue efforts easier.
But Hong Kong Universitys China Media Project said propaganda authorities have ordered media not to send reporters to the scene, not to report too frequently and not to link the story to high-speed rail development. There must be no seeking after the causes [of the accident], rather, statements from authoritative departments must be followed, said one directive. Another ordered: No calling into doubt, no development [of further issues], no speculation, and no dissemination [of such things] on personal microblogs!
That reaction to a crisis sure does sound familiar. As I wrote earlier, China has pushed back hard on suggestions from the U.S. and Australia that there should be some sort of international investigation into the origin of the coronavirus. They are doing all they can to keep the exact origin and timeline from being pinned down. And theres no reason to think this approach will end. Even two years after the 2011 train crash, China was still sending minders out on the anniversary of the crash to prevent relatives from visiting the site where their loved-ones died.
Security was tightened around the accident site yesterday to discourage survivors and the families of the dead from making some kind of public display to mark the anniversary, according to residents.
A police officer, in his uniform, stopped me and my friend and told us that we had better not approach the bridge, said resident Terry Xie, who saw both uniformed and plain-clothes police officers at the site.
I said we were not doing anything illegal. He said he was just following the order of keeping people away from the bridge today and he hoped we can understand his job.
China insists victims of CCP failure move on without placing any blame on the government, just as it insist the rest of the world do the same thing.
TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: asia; china; coronavirus; crackdown; lawsuit; wuhan
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To: SeekAndFind
Regarding bereaved family members planning to sue the Chinese Government, WHAT EXACTLY DO THEY EXPECT?
Can they get justice in a CCP court?
It is an exercise in futility IMHO.
2
posted on
05/04/2020 6:17:16 PM PDT
by
SeekAndFind
(look at Michigan, it will)
To: SeekAndFind
Nothing will happen here in the US. Our media and opposition party are all “Orange Man Bad” all of the time. They blame Trump for the Wuhan Flu.
In a sane world, the majority of humanity would be very angry at the CCP.
3
posted on
05/04/2020 6:18:06 PM PDT
by
volunbeer
(Find the truth and accept it - anything else is delusional)
To: SeekAndFind
Edit to add — Heck, Michael Flynn can’t even get justice in the USA (at least not as of this writing ), and the real criminals like Peter Strozk and Lisa Page go scot-free. What more in China?
4
posted on
05/04/2020 6:19:03 PM PDT
by
SeekAndFind
(look at Michigan, it will)
To: volunbeer
Heck, Michael Flynn cant even get justice in the USA (at least not as of this writing ), and the real criminals like Peter Strozk and Lisa Page go scot-free. What more in China?
5
posted on
05/04/2020 6:19:27 PM PDT
by
SeekAndFind
(look at Michigan, it will)
To: SeekAndFind
move on without placing any blame on the government, just as it insist the rest of the world do the same thing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If we had a Bush or a Clinton for President, that’s exactly what we would be doing.
6
posted on
05/04/2020 6:21:56 PM PDT
by
Lurkinanloomin
(Natural Born Citizens Are Born Here of Citizen Parents_Know Islam, No Peace-No Islam, Know Peace)
To: SeekAndFind
They spend so much time trying to control us, Mr. Zhang said. Why cant they use this energy to address our concerns instead?
Because they don't care about your individual concerns, Mr. Zhang. You're just a brick in the wall. All they care about is the ideology which affords them power and privilege. It's always been this way with communists, no matter where they've manifested.
7
posted on
05/04/2020 6:25:37 PM PDT
by
Jamestown1630
("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
To: SeekAndFind
Chinese citizens can sue the Butchers of Beijing?
Who knew?
8
posted on
05/04/2020 6:28:47 PM PDT
by
E. Pluribus Unum
(Who could have guessed the Communist Revolution would arrive disguised as the common cold?)
To: SeekAndFind
Just maybe the families can get Justice.
Hopefully the CCP is removed from power by the Chinese people, that would be the best for the world. CCP might loose power as China’s economy falls.
9
posted on
05/04/2020 6:31:49 PM PDT
by
DEPcom
To: DEPcom
As the Chinese Economy fails, the totalitarian dictatorship will step up even more brutality against the attempts at free speech. Rebellion crushed. International pressure from Trump supporters might bring about minor reforms. Lets hope for international pressure. And of course a utopia of freedom in China would be nice as well.
10
posted on
05/04/2020 6:44:55 PM PDT
by
Trumpet 1
(US Constitution is my guide.)
To: Trumpet 1
Freedom is never any kind of ‘utopia’.
11
posted on
05/04/2020 6:47:59 PM PDT
by
Jamestown1630
("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
To: SeekAndFind
Know what China reminds me of with all of their tap dancing to avoid responsibility for what they’ve done? Reminds me of Russia after they shot down KAL flight 007. They kept throwing BS against the wall but none of it stuck. Difference between then and now is now the Chicoms have the media totally in the tank for them.
To: Jamestown1630
Well to be fair you just described a large number of our congressmen and women.
13
posted on
05/04/2020 6:52:44 PM PDT
by
dp0622
(Radicals, racists dloont point fingers at me I'm a small town white boy Just tryin to make ends meet)
To: dp0622
14
posted on
05/04/2020 6:53:45 PM PDT
by
Jamestown1630
("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
To: SeekAndFind
Stupid history. China faced virtually no backlash from the Tiananmen Square massacre. The Western security and defense establishments sat and watched. They sought no sanctions against the murderers of Peking. They did figure out, however, what they no longer recall:
That the PLA is the armed wing of the Party, exists to serve the Party, and is perfectly willing to see uncounted numbers of Chinese people die to protect the Party and the Communist regime.
Anyone who thinks the CCP is playing around with this germ-warfare disaster is fooling himself. They will try the foreign press PR route; They will try to salvage their recent economic offensive; but they will sacrifice anyone and anything to see that the Party survives in power. That does not necessarily mean XI will survive; but the Party will go on.
15
posted on
05/04/2020 6:55:49 PM PDT
by
hinckley buzzard
(Power is more often surrendered than seized)
To: Jamestown1630
But you did describe their terrible dogma and it is opposite of the one we are supposed to subscribe to as written in the constitution.
We have over 500 kings and queens.
We weren’t supposed to.
Go back to part time jobs and per diem pay for congress folks. Like way back
16
posted on
05/04/2020 7:12:04 PM PDT
by
dp0622
(Radicals, racists dloont point fingers at me I'm a small town white boy Just tryin to make ends meet)
To: dp0622
'Go back to part time jobs and per diem pay for congress folks. Like way back.'
Well, somewhat a good idea, in my personal opinion. But how would that work out, given the cost of living in DC, here in modern times? You'd sort of be limiting national office to people who were rich enough to make it a short-term 'hobby'.
These weren't intended to be permanent, lifetime jobs/livelihoods. I'd prefer to see them come, do their stint with reasonable salaries; and then go back to their homes and real careers. (Serving in this way should be an honor, not a system to manipulate in order to become rich.)
I'm kind of in favor of term-limits; but ultimately, you get into the sticky position of telling individual citizens that they can't vote for the person they individually choose as the best for the job. I haven't decided how I feel about that.
17
posted on
05/04/2020 7:28:40 PM PDT
by
Jamestown1630
("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
To: SeekAndFind
>>Can they get justice in a CCP court?<<
A bullet in the back of the head.
18
posted on
05/04/2020 7:31:16 PM PDT
by
353FMG
To: SeekAndFind
Now the government wants to send minders to his fathers funeral.
Excellent. When they show up kill them.
L
19
posted on
05/04/2020 7:34:39 PM PDT
by
Lurker
(Peaceful coexistence with the Left is not possible. Stop pretending that it is.)
To: Hillarys Gate Cult
“They kept throwing BS against the wall but none of it stuck.”
It stuck with the people who wanted to believe it, and there were more than a few in the West.
Something about flight 007 coordinating with the space shuttle, as I recall.
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