8/01/2008

killed 50 000 dogs in china...

Chinese officials killed 50,000 dogs the other day. Just walked along the streets and lured them out of their homes and bushes and doghouses using whistles and firecrackers and then clubbed them to death with giant sticks, right there in the residential streets, tossed the bodies into big dump trucks and drove on.

It was a particularly horrific scene, seemingly unimaginable in our "enlightened" age, a fully sanctioned slaughter ordered up by the local Chinese government in response to the recent deaths of three local people felled by rabies. Without some sort of action, more people could die, the government deduced. Solution: Kill all the dogs. Problem solved, right? Well, not quite.

Now another Shanghai prefecture has ordered the slaughter of all its dogs, too, in response to the rabies-related deaths of 16 people in the past eight months. This particular region has an estimated 500,000 dogs. No word yet on how it plans to kill them all, but the strolling-and-clubbing thing might be the only way, given how even Chinese citizens tend to be slightly uncooperative when it comes to giving up their pets for random government massacre in front of their very eyes.

Chinese authorities fear a rabies epidemic. Already in China, upward of 2,000 people die per year from rabies (only 3 percent of China's dogs are vaccinated). It's a worsening problem. It is not, by most estimates, as potentially lethal as the bird flu epidemic, but it's still highly dangerous. Given how they say it's far too late (and far too expensive) to vaccinate all the dogs, the clearest way to stop the epidemic is, well, to kill all the dogs. Isn't it?

There is nowhere to look for the right answer. How do you process this? How can you file such an unspeakably brutal and seemingly heartless approach? Maybe you are shaking your head in disbelief. Maybe you can't process it at all, but you must admit, it brings a up number of powerful -- and deeply revealing -- notions of just who we think we are.

Start with the birds. Recent bird flu outbreaks prompted the slaughter of chickens all over Asia. In 1997, Hong Kong slaughtered 1.2 million chickens to try and stop the first big outbreak, but it was only the tip of the bloody iceberg. Asia (and to a lesser degree, Africa and India) have since slit the throats of hundreds of millions of birds to stop what some scientists see as the most deadly potential epidemic of this age.

So, the obvious question: Was the poultry slaughter any less horrible than what's now happening to the dogs? More justifiable due to the potential for human loss? Maybe so. Or maybe it's simply because we love fuzzy cute dogs more than ugly dumb chickens.

It is difficult to parse. Obviously, dogs are much less valued in China as pets, as creatures with soul, than they are in the United States. It is an ugly cultural divide we cannot easily traverse.

By most estimates, China has a decidedly ruthless perspective on the animal kingdom. For one thing, a billion people with an enormous underclass of poverty translates into perhaps one of the most truly bizarre and massive food marketplaces in the world, one that would certainly make most Americans quite sick. Or instantly vegetarian.

As my knowledgeable travel friends tell me (and many food shows and travel documentaries obviously prove), there is nothing on this planet quite like a Chinese "wet market" for experiencing the full, glistening, slimy array of the animal kingdom, all manner of parts and organs and skins and droppings and other ghastly unmentionables -- not to mention insects and sea creatures and freakishly colored squishy things few people seem to be able to clearly identify -- that can be eaten by humans.

They eat everything. No animal is off limits, no body part impossible to skewer or steam or peel or eat raw while still warm from the body. And there are plenty of tales of what constitutes a food delicacy in China that may seem terribly weird or cruel to us. But overall, you can also argue that it's a very efficient and thorough system. Nothing is wasted.

But wait. Is America really that much more evolved? Do we not kill millions of ill-bred, hormone-injected, mistreated animals every single day in giant industrial slaughterhouses to feed our gluttonous and largely toxic fast-food cravings? You bet we do.

As for dogs, well, we love them to death: Our nation's overrun animal shelters kill an estimated 3 to 4 million dogs and cats per year due to overbreeding and puppy mills and ignorance of spaying and neutering. They're not even rabid. They are no threat whatsoever.

You have to ask: Are we much better at our treatment of animals simply because we've learned to hide it better? Because most of us will never come anywhere near one of those gruesome industrial feedlots in, say, rural Kansas or Oklahoma, where they cram tens of thousands of cattle into concrete-enclosed pens and the air is so thick with fetid gasses and feces and smokestack spewings you can smell the stench 100 miles away?

But hey, at least we don't club our dogs in the streets in broad daylight. We're not, you know, monsters.

To be fair, many in China were outraged by the initial dog slaughter. The brutality, the primitive approach is simply unspeakable, even for a country known for its dispassionate look at the animal world. Then again, many said the mass slaughter was entirely appropriate. After all, 2,000 people died in one year. Of course, 2,000 also die every single day from government-sanctioned smoking addictions. But, you know, oh well.

The wise ones say you can measure the wisdom and spiritual consciousness of a culture by how it treats its animals. But it's a strange maxim. It is a guideline that is nearly impossible to properly navigate in the modern world, no matter what the culture, simply because there are so many gross contradictions, from respectful and tender to absolutely ruthless and abusive.

And it's not just China. And it's not merely animals. It is nothing new, this mass-slaughter idea, emerging from somewhere deep within our darkest and most mindless souls: Got a bad case of something? Problem with some sort of unwanted infestation? Mad cows? Killer bees? Dogs? Chickens? Gays? Jews? Kurds? Tibetans? Rwandans? Sudanese? Pagans? Witches? Communists? Native Americans? Serbs? Palestinians? Terrorists? That's easy: Kill 'em all.

The method is, apparently, in our blood. We do it all the time.

We know this much: There appears to be a line somewhere. We all seem to sense it, though no one can quite put a finger on it. We know this line speaks to us as a supposedly enlightened species, as the creatures with the most advanced brains and (presumably) most nimble and sophisticated souls.

But if we're honest, it makes us all a little uneasy, a little uncomfortable as the line often seems to demarcate not how enlightened we are but how far we truly seem to be from any sort of true evolution or advancement of spirit. Because so far, the best we as a species seem to have come up with is this: Do not kill innocent things in broad daylight with large sticks.

The rest is, to say the least, still more than a little murky.

fuck china

We see no difference between pig eating and dog eating. The degree of objection lies in the methods of rearing, transport and slaughter rather than in the choice of species.
The popularity of dog eating is currently increasing at a huge rate - it is evolving rapidly from its traditions as a cottage industry. Now it is no longer a case of a few peasant farmers breeding a bitch once a year and taking the grown puppies to the market for a little extra pocket money. Huge dog farms are being set up using modern scientific factory farming methods.

So what can we do to stop this?
We do NOT approve of calls for boycotts - they are not only ineffective but they actually cause resentment and ill will amongst people who have the potential to be on our side of the argument. Animals Asia Foundation has been concerned with this issue for a long time - their strategy so far has been to raise respect for dogs by promoting Dr Dog and Detective Dog programmes in Hong Kong, Mainland China, Taiwan and Korea. They have also carried out investigations on dog slaughter in China, Korea and Vietnam. But they feel as we do that more must be done.
It is difficult to know what the best route forward is but coordination of everyone's efforts is certainly important - anyone with any ideas, information, or wishing to help, please write to AAPN.

There are currently strong campaigns proceeding against the use of St Bernard dogs for food and against dog eating in Korea where the methods of killing are egregious. These campaigns are a good way to start to tackle the more general problem of dog eating. [And dog eating is a good way to start to tackle the more general problem of the eating of non-human animals].
Unfortunately, much of the anti-dog meat campaigning is tainted by racism - as, indeed, is the resistance to the anti-dog meat campaigning.

Please feel free to copy and use any of the material on this site - but please let us know: info@aapn.org

Friends or Food?

Please follow these links for general information on dog eating and the St Bernards problem in particular:
St Bernards - the ideal food dog
SOS St Bernards Dogs
Dog meat business
Dogs for Food Campaign
Hungarian St Bernard site
Animal People News - a search of their site for "dog eating" produces many interesting articles.

Sirius Global Animal Organisation (Sirius GAO), campaigning to end the export of domestic dogs to China for torture and slaughter for their meat and fur.

CHINA
Hitherto, dog production for eating has in China been a cottage industry. Peasants would raise a few dogs and take them to the market when they were grown. But now entrepreneurs are applying factory farming principles to the process. Faster growing and more docile breeds are being introduced (eg St Bernards) and the whole business is being scaled up with modern distribution and marketing techniques.
In Yibin, Sichuan Province in November 2001 we visited a dog meat restaurant which had 2 dogs in a cage waiting to be killed and eaten. In another cage were three puppies. The restaurant owner informed us that there are 5 dog meat restaurants in Yibin supplied by two farms about 20Km outside Yibin. We asked to visit these but were repeatedly told that the roads were too dangerous. He said they used about 20 - 30 dogs each month. Dog meat is very expensive compared with pork which is as cheap as ordinary vegetables. Dog eating is not popular in this area amongst the older generation - dogs were traditionally kept as guards and pets but not food. However the younger generation is coming under the influence of other provinces - Guangdong, Hubei, Liaoning, Heilongjiang, Jilin) - and dog eating is now considered to be fashionable as a special occasion feast. It seems that dog eating gets less popular as you move North in this region. Xichang to the South of Yibin has a much more flourishing dog meat industry. Further North in Zigong we visited one of only two restaurants in the city that sell dog meat. They buy a dog from the market about once a week, kill it themselves and put it in their freezer. About 10 dogs a week are eaten in Zigong. The meat of watch dogs is not considered good. Meat dogs sell for Y100 to 250. (US$1 is approximately Y8).
Click here for Photos of Food Dogs in Yibin
Photos of Food and other Dogs in Zigong
Photos of Food Dogs in Xichang
Photos of Food Dogs in Guilin
Photos and Text re Food Dogs in Peixian
Sichuan November 2001
直视,交易生命的现场 - 五花八门 - 新浪BLOG

One Voice Report 2008
One Voice Video 2008

Click on the thumbnails to enlarge!
Pressed Dog 2 Pressed Dog 1

http://www.chelonia.org/Articles/China/asianmarketintropage.htm


KOREA
Kyongdong Market, Seoul

The photographs were taken on 3rd January 1998. This market is one of many such in Seoul, the capital South Korea. It is near the Chongnyangni subway station and covers about 230,000 square metres. It is reputed to supply about 70% of the herbal medicine industry in Korea. The first thing that struck me was the abundance and variety of the vegetables and fruit that were for sale - and this in mid-winter. Surely man could be content with this profligacy of nature without having to abuse sentient beings for either nourishment or pleasure! Unfortunately, a few steps into the market and I came across the first of many stalls with the dreaded 7H - the Korean character for dog.

For scale and variety of animal fare, this market hardly compares with the notorious Qingping market in Guangzhou (China). But nevertheless there is plenty to choose from - cat soup, four seasons dog stew, rabbit, goat and all kinds of poultry. I did not witness any active cruelty being inflicted on the animals but I could see their terror and cringing when a human went near. The stall holders had obviously had bad experiences with foreigners and it was made clear to me that I was not welcome - especially with my camera. It would therefore be impossible for me to take pictures of the slaughter methods - the story is that the dogs are hanged from the bars of their cages and when nearly dead are taken down to have their fur blowtorched off. I did observe poultry being blowtorched.

There seems to be some difference of opinion on the current legality of dog eating in Korea. It was banned at the time of the Seoul Olympics in 1988. The Government seems to be moving towards making a distinction between "food dogs" and "pet dogs". Whatever the legal position, the industry is obviously thriving without any serious attempt at control. Personally I see no logic in banning dog eating and not pig eating. The need is for enforceable legislation to cover holding and slaughter methods for all animals. And for the encouragement of vegetarianism. This will be an uphill battle in Korea - my hosts had read about vegetarians but had never met one before!

It was pointed out to me that the association of a prostitution area with the dog meat area is usual throughout the country. Apparently men congregate and drink snake soup and alcohol and eat dog to increase their stamina and then choose a woman from the goldfish-bowl shops. Adjacent to the Kyongdong market lies the "588" (oh-pal-pal) brothel district. When the pimps saw me walking between the rows of plate glass shop fronts with scantily clad girls tapping on the glass, they shouted at me to leave the area. One of the girls then called to the pimps and I presume told them that I had been taking photographs and they came shouting after me. As I had no desire to lose either my camera or my life, I ran to the end of the road and round the corner into the main street where I was fortunate to find a taxi discharging some new punters - I hopped in and made my escape!

Some people have advocated legalising dog eating so that the farming and slaughtering could be regulated. A little thought shows this to be a very wrong idea.
Jill Robinson of Animals Asia Foundation wrote:
" If approval was given to farm these dogs "humanely" the cruelty would simply
go underground - and would create a precedent for accepting dog consumption
in countries across Asia - including those where no anti-cruelty legislation
exists. Unlike other domestic animals raised for food, dogs are carnivores.
In intensive rearing situations they fight - sometimes to the death - over
water, food or even the right to lie down in cramped conditions. Dr. Les
Sims of the Hong Kong Government Agriculture Fisheries and Conservation
Department states that no country in the world has developed a humane way of
raising and slaughtering dogs and that, in their opinion, it cannot be done.
More and more people in Asia believe that dogs have earned their place in
society as companions and helpers - they want consumption of this species to
end. Hong Kong, the Philippines, and Taiwan have banned the practice - that
is the precedent to follow.

What you can do:
Support the Korean Animal Protection Society
(KAPS) - it has an international arm, International Aid for Korean Animals (IAKA).
So please contact Ms Kyenan Ku
m:

P.O Box 20600
Oakland, CA
94620-0600
USA
Tel: + 1 510 271 6795
Fax: + 1 510 451 0643

e-mail: kaps@koreananimals.org
website: KOREA ANIMAL PROTECTION SOCIETY

For the full picture read these sites on the Korean problem:

(but please be careful not to get sucked into the racism that is on some of them!)
Dog meat is not traditional Korean food
ACRES - Animal Concerns Research & Education Society
Friends of dogs: the rights of dogs
Anti Dogmeat Movement Headquarters
It's Their Destiny
Korean Animal Protection Law
Save the Dog
Korean Alliance to Prevent Cruelty of Animals
Animal People News
Dog Aid Australia

Korean Dogs e-mail List - anyone seriously interested in this subject should join this list and read their archives - a wealth of information.
http://www.seoulsearching.com/DogMeat.html

Abusers' Paradise - take your pick of the flesh on offer:

Hooker3.jpg (47006 bytes)


Pigs2.jpg (49782 bytes)

Dogcorp7.jpg (242023 bytes)

Catrab.jpg (17667 bytes)


THE MILLIONTH EXECUTION
Gentle spirit, let me lay
cheek on furry breast
And let my tear wet tender paw
before your skin they wrest
Let me heal your suffering
the moment that you go
to be hung, to be scourged
South Korean song of woe.
Gentle spirit, rock with me
through our silent night
let us sneak together off
to escape the bully's bite
Your pain is mine, I lay my cheek
upon your battered breast
bone of dog, whisk' of cat
in you I've passed Love's test.
7/98 By DM (tapster@mindspring.com)
Dedicated to all dogs and cats in Asian countries who are being brutally tortured and killed by the millions for human consumption. Their cries have reached us.

PHILIPPINES

PAL Network for Animals
http://compassionatetraveler.org/




THAILAND
End of fasting puts man's best friend back on menu
by JAMES EAST in Bangkok for South China Morning Post
Tuesday, November 16, 1999

Every dog has its day, and in Thailand it no doubt occurs during the Buddhist Lent. But the climax to the auspicious 90-day retreat period for the kingdom's monks is the beginning of the northeast's canine killing season. For three months the dog slaughterhouses bow to religious sensibilities and refrain from killing. But now Lent is over there has been a surge in demand for dog dinners. Hundreds of animals are being sold in northern markets to those meat-eaters desperate to taste sour and spicy dog-bone soup or peppery dog meat salad. Dog-catchers in pick-up trucks have been touring northern cities - and as far south as Bangkok to scour the capital's streets for strays - in a bid to satisfy demand. The pursuers of "man's best friend" have even been handing villagers new plastic buckets in exchange for mangy strays that loiter near food vendors and rubbish bins across Thailand. At one northern market the meat is selling for about HK$12 a kilogram and bones for $9. Taiwanese and Chinese tourists are also demanding dog. Gourmets say the meat is particularly succulent and tastes like deer. They order it fried or boiled.
Many Thais say dog is the ideal winter delicacy because the meat, believed to be "hot", keeps the eater warm. But the thought of eating dog horrifies most Thais and the promotion of canine cuisine is not something the Tourism Authority of Thailand is keen to support. Dog dealers bite back, saying they are helping to solve the problem of Thailand's thousands of strays. And golfers in China might agree. Tonnes of dog pelts are annually exported to China, where their soft leather is considered the ideal material for golfing gloves.

VIETNAM
Dog Slaughter for food varies from the deliberately cruel (as in Korea - in order to enhance the taste and therapeutic qualities) to the carelessly cruel (as in most of China1 and China2) to the quick deaths as illustrated below (in Vietnam).
Click on the thumbnails for the big pictures:

pizza delivery Vietnam Vietnam Vietnam Vietnam



Vietnam Vietnam Vietnam Vietnam - boys will be boys.............
Above Vietnamese photos taken in June 1999 by Animals Asia Foundation/Chris Davies.

Is there dog eating in North America? Click here.

More photos of Kyongdong

Back to Top of Page.

Back to Food and Medicine Animals

dogs food in china

Officials club a dog to death on a street in Luoping county in Yunnan province in this April 29 photo.
AP

updated 5:59 p.m. ET Aug. 1, 2006

SHANGHAI, China - China slaughtered 50,000 dogs in a government-ordered crackdown after three people died of rabies, sparking unusually pointed criticism in state media Tuesday and an outcry from animal rights activists.

Health experts said the brutal policy pointed to deep weaknesses in the health care infrastructure in China, where only 3 percent of dogs are vaccinated against rabies and more than 2,000 people die of the disease each year.

The five-day slaughter in Mouding county in Yunnan province in southwestern China ended Sunday and spared only military guard dogs and police canine units, state media reported.

fuck china



Massive, systematic cruelty, and extremely inhumane killing methods are used, involving severe panic, trauma and needless prolonged suffering. Dogs are tied up short by a thin wire metal tight around the neck so that they can hardly move, then stabbed in the groin area, blood begins to pour. With every move, the wire cuts deeper into their throats as they struggle in terror and pain desperately trying to escape in a pool of blood.

photosHSUS/Karreman

The lucky ones bleed to death before being skinned, but often dogs are alive and fully conscious dying slow excruciating indescribable deaths. As each dog is killed other dogs can hear the screams and cries. All that matters to the killers, is that this method of slaughter causes least damage to the dogs fur - preserving its market value.

German Shepherd dogs are the most commonly killed dogs in China, as their fur resembles the fur of wild animals such as coyote or raccoon - the same courageous and noble breed that guides the blind and does search and rescue, these intelligent and loyal dogs are being bred in huge numbers in the north of China.

Cats fare no better than dogs in China, the cats are killed by being hung by the neck from a piece of rope that tightens as the cats struggle causing them to eventually suffocate. Sometimes the cats are hung from a wire while water is poured down their throats through a hose until they drown.



Long haired cats are kept as pets in China, yet ironically an estimated 500,000 short haired cats, mainly ginger or tabby coloured are raised for their pelts, estimated figures are that about a half million cats are killed each season from October to February. Cat fur is hard to distinguish from other furs once it has been dyed - President of a German company prominent in the cat fur trade.

Innocent cats, many of them stolen pets, are slowly and cruelly strangled while other cats watch, all await the same fate.

You came, you saw, and...

SPEAK OUT! TAKE ACTION!

china rights

News Asia-Pacific

Olympics 'worsening China rights'

Amnesty warned that violations may worsen after the games [GALLO/GETTY]

Human rights group Amnesty International has accused China of breaking a pledge to improve its rights record when it was picked to host the Olympic games.

The group said the government's rights record had in fact worsened, using the games as a pretext to crack down on thousands of activists as part of a campaign to "clean up" Beijing before next week's event.

Amnesty issued a report documenting China's rights violations on Monday and urged the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and political leaders to openly challenge Beijing on the matter.

IOC blamed

It blamed the IOC for failing to put more pressure on China and for "sending a message that it is acceptable for a government to host the Olympic games in an atmosphere characterised by repression and persecution".

The damning assessment comes just over a week before the Olympics kicks off on August 8, in what China hopes will be a grand showcase of its achievements.

Chinese and Olympic officials have said the Beijing games would help expand freedoms in the communist country but the government has instead used it to muzzle critics in the hope of presenting an image of a harmonious society, Amnesty said in its report.

"Unless the authorities make a swift change of direction, the legacy of the Beijing Olympics will not be positive for human rights in China," it said.

The damning report comes just over a week before the Olympics kicks off [AFP]

"In fact, the crackdown on human rights defenders, journalists and lawyers has intensified because Beijing is hosting the Olympics."

The report documents the use of a "re-education through labour" law to control various types of "offending behaviour" and arbitrary detention for "illegal activities that tarnish the city's image and affect the social order".

It said activists who linked their cause to the games were singled out for action while many others were detained, imprisoned or placed under house arrest.

China has also "increasingly tightened" internet censorship and regulation ahead of the Olympics with journalists at the media centre unable to access certain websites, it said.

"It is very disturbing that Chinese authorities have indulged in such a big crackdown on the activists," Mark Allison, a China researcher for Amnesty, said in Hong Kong.

"These are people who represent many, many more people in China."

The group warned that the pattern of serious human rights violations could "continue or intensify" after the conclusion of the games when China is no longer in the international spotlight.

It urged China to release all prisoners of conscience, stop the arbitrary detention of activists and dissenters, impose a moratorium on the death penalty, allow complete media freedom and account for those killed or detained in Tibet in recent unrest there.

Source: Agencies
Feedback Number of comments : 17
Sipan
Armenia
29/07/2008



Blame Game..



why is everyone blaming China so much. It wasnt China who turned the world upside down these past 9 years. It is America that should be slapped on the wrist. China has been improving and helping many people. I was very proud of Al-Jazeera before, but now I am seeing that its news is now biased against China. Why so? I am very unimpressed. Thank you.

Tilman PorschΓΌtz
Korea (South)
29/07/2008



Facing truth is like drinking milk



News report what is going one. But, what is missing, is any kind of response. To me the olympic idea is one of the most effective cover-ups in history. A perfect event, where the leaders of this world, decide who can join their glory, do some blaming before. Because after all, olympic games are supposed to halt war for the time being, and than celebrate the achievements in the aftermath. Or rather harvest the fruits of all that propaganda effort. Olympics and World Cup are good.

onix
Netherlands
29/07/2008



aboriginals



In australia the situation worsened before olympics (?). This campaign for human and tibet rights is predictable, from the moment Peking was choosen. Unfortunately the argument is loosing credibility. Amnesty and other western organisations use a very one-sided aproach. The scale of events and deads in places like irak, the balkan, afghanistan, somalia etc. would otherways see them speak out against western repression , through militairy violence on a relevant scale. (a *lot*)

eamon
Spain
29/07/2008



The Olympics and big money



The only reason(virtually) why China has been awarded these games is MONEY. The Games mean zillions of dollars for , you name them. Examples: all the sports firms(Addidas,Nike,etc) The multinational drinks firms(Coca Cola,Pepsi Cola etc)You can add to the list. In China itself zillions have been made by the people involved with the construction of all that has anything to do with the Games. "The Games bring understanding among the different nations" Yeah!. But nothing to the man in the street!

Mike
Canada
29/07/2008



Its too bad...



Human rights violations, extreme pollution, media/press oppression, can't bring your kids to events, can't wear simular colors (ie. Team Canada stuff) and the worries of some radical group seeking attention by doing something horrible... You couldn't pay me enough to attend the beijing Olympics in China. No how, no way. Which is horrible as I'd love to see the Olympics, just wrong place, wrong time. eh.

Shar
United States
29/07/2008



Human Rights



Yes China is a major violator of basic human rights, but not unlike most Arab countries in the way they treat women or most of European countries in the way they treat immigrants. Clean your own houses, we all have our problems. I do not agree with a boycott of the games, only of the commercialism. Do not buy the products retail.

Dan
United Kingdom
30/07/2008



Olympics and freedoms



Hi Fouad, you asked "Will they ask the UK to lift the immunity of the police, social services and other oppressive branches of the government?" There is no immunity for ANYONE in the UK. If they commit an unlawful act they will be put before a court of law and the case tried before a Judge and Jury of peers. I agree that Amnesty International SHOULD make those calls though, even if only to bring the debate into the public eye.

Fouad
Netherlands
29/07/2008



Olympics



Will Amnesty International ask the UK to withdraw from Iraq and Afghanistan if they're still in those countries at the next olympics? Will Amnesty ask for the UK to prosecute Blair and Hoon for their crimes? Will they ask the UK to lift the immunity of the police, social services and other oppressive branches of the government? Will they ask the UK to accept basic human rights? I hope they do these things because the UK also needs freedom and human rights.

Lily
China
29/07/2008







I agree Sipan. Indeed, China is a country who loves peace the most in the world. The Chinese government has made great efforts for the human right and the development in economy of the world. And now, it is still doing its best to host the Beijing Olympic Games.

Tim Rennie
Canada
29/07/2008



Why would one ever defend human rights violators? Even in relative terms.



While the UK may be involved in an unpopular war,it still allows its citizens to protest without fear of violence or imprisonment.The issue is not foreign policy, but human rights.Surely a government which doesn't respect the rights of its OWN people is not worthy of hosting.Fouad(Netherlands), your analogy is false,the point is that China has hijacked the event as a means of intensifying violations.You shouldn't let your disdain for the UK's democratic government cloud your disdain for tyranny.

Tim Rennie
Canada
29/07/2008



Furthermore



I would like to add, it seems to me you have no first hand experience of life in the UK, but I can assure you social services like the NHS are far from oppressive branches of government. Can you elaborate on what you might mean? How you can say that a nation which virtually invented basic human rights (magna carta), a nation whose politcal satire (a true mark the free) is second to none, is lacking them on a par with one of the most notorious violators in modern history, escapes me entirely.

andar1000
Colombia
29/07/2008



Human Rights



Funny that you would report on the human rights reports on China that come out at the same time that the Palestinians were blasted by the same group for torture and you fail to mention anything on your website. Stop being so bieased.

Kevin
United States
29/07/2008



Boycott



What on Earth is wrong with all of you? China's silencing of dissent is in itself a terrible violation of human rights. What about their support of the regime in Khartoum? Agreed that other countries, including my own have had serious human rights abuses as well, and they are in fact condemned by Amnesty. In the end, my country (the US) ought to refuse participation in these games along with all other nations in order not to support further abuse of rights and liberties.

LN
Iran
29/07/2008



china human rights



I agree with Kevin (US). china even defends Sudan in the UN. it is ridiculous to say that china is a supporter of human rights. they are one of the biggest human rights violaters of all time, along with the US, the UK, France, Israel and all other super powers. In fact, practically every government violates human rights (like my own!), either in their own country or in others. Just because amnesty may not criticize the US in Iraq, or Israel in Palestine, it doesn't mean we should ignore china.

Rafael Peres
Brazil
29/07/2008



"China has been improving and helping many people."



Really? So please tell me why the Chinese Government is supporting the Genocide in Darfur and occupating Tibet?

johncane
Sierra Leone
29/07/2008



ridiculous



it's very riduculous for kevin in United States to call for US and other countries to boycott the games. do you know the meaning of olympics, do you konw the spirit of olympics. and do you have right to blame others when you cannot do it well yourself. and i agree with Sipan and feel disappointed with aljazeera for its bias against China.

Katerina Andreou
United States
30/07/2008



Chinas Human Rights



The world keeps appeasing China, which does not improve its human rights, but serves as an incentive for more repressive measures. The U.S. continuously grants MFN trade status, (which with our outstanding debt owned by them, we must), as they send us defective and unsafe products, pirate copyrighted materials and thumb their noses at us. THe IOCC should have known better, and put some restrictions or conditions on giving them the games. Stop coddling them!