China's Double Standard
By CHUCK HOOVER
Wall Street Journal
August 25, 2004
COMMENTARY
Since Chinese businesswoman Zhao Yan was allegedly beaten by a U.S. immigration officer while she was sightseeing near Niagara Falls on July 24, major newspapers in China have run front-page stories with headlines like "The Roughest Policeman Are American," "America's Hypocrisy In Human Rights," and "U.S. Brutality Violates Human Rights." Such headlines reveal the delight taken by the Chinese state-owned media in turning the rhetorical tables on the United States.
The People's Daily -- the Communist Party mouthpiece -- wrote, "Justice and truth must be upheld and those who trample upon law and human rights must be punished." It concluded that, "Zhao Yan's tragedy . . . tells the world that the United States has no right at all to criticize other countries."
The case of Ms. Zhao is instructive, but not in the way the People's Daily hopes. After comparing how the U.S. Government and justice system have handled the case of Ms. Zhao with how Beijing has handled the case of an American in China, it becomes clear that the United States still does have the right to criticize China about human rights and the rule of law.
In the aftermath of Ms. Zhao's alleged beating, Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxin called U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell on July 26 to urge the U.S. Government to swiftly investigate the case and punish the perpetrator. And the U.S. Government quickly responded to his request. On July 28, Mr. Li received a written letter from Mr. Powell expressing his regret and promising that the officer would be brought to justice accordingly.
The steps being taken by the U.S. Government and justice system will clearly discourage this type of abuse from happening again. The U.S. Justice Department sent a senior investigator to Buffalo, New York, and the U.S. Attorney in the western district of New York brought charges and arrested the officer in the days following the attack. The officer, who was found to have a history of using excessive force, is facing a possible 10-year sentence and a fine of $250,000.
The U.S. Attorney's office is now picking up all of Ms. Zhao's medical expenses plus providing her a weekly living allowance of $600 for 50 weeks. Finally, Ms. Zhao's New York lawyers are planning to sue the U.S. Government for $5 million dollars for her suffering.
The case of Jude Shao, an American citizen who imported American medical equipment to China, provides a sharp contrast to Ms. Zhao's experience in the United States. Six years ago Mr. Shao was given a 16-year sentence for alleged tax evasion by the Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate Court.
During Mr. Shao's detainment, trial and incarceration there have been numerous violations of Chinese law in connection with the case, including solicitations for bribes by Chinese officials, incommunicado detention, and lawyers' inability to review evidence prior to trial. Subsequent to his conviction, Mr. Shao, with the help of business records recovered in his U.S. office, was able to develop evidence to conclusively prove his innocence of the crimes for which he has been convicted.
For six years, Mr. Shao has submitted petitions to both the Shanghai High Court and the Supreme People's Court requesting that they review all evidence available and account for all the tax payments of his company, not just the ones selectively used by the prosecution, so that justice can be done in his case.
Numerous U.S. senators and representatives -- both Democrat and Republican -- have written directly to the Chinese Government asking them to review Mr. Shao's case. Staff of the U.S. Consulate in Shanghai and the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, including U.S. Ambassador Clark Randt, have repeatedly inquired about Mr. Shao's case with their counterparts in the Chinese Government. Prominent business people, some of them classmates of Mr. Shao's from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, have asked their Chinese contacts to inquire about the case.
Yet all these efforts have been in vain. Even the Chinese Supreme People's Court has violated Chinese law by not responding to a petition from Mr. Shao for over one-and-a-half years. The result is that an injustice is allowed to continue and foreigners in China learn that they can become the victim of official extortion at any time.
Since Mr. Shao's unjust imprisonment six years ago, he and his family have suffered enormously and his health has deteriorated in prison so much that that immediate medical treatment is necessary.
No one begrudges Ms. Zhao her chance at justice, but American citizens in China should receive justice as well. Before Chinese newspapers publish more indignant opinions about Ms. Zhao's case and the lack of human rights in America, they should absorb the larger lesson of the contrast between how Ms. Zhao has been treated in the U.S. compared to how Mr. Shao has been treated in China.
For justice and truth to be upheld as the People's Daily demands, China must also follow the rule of law for its citizens and foreign guests.
Mr. Hoover is an alumnus of the Stanford Graduate School of Business and one of the leaders of the Free Jude Shao Campaign.
