MCLC: Spanish judge seeks Tibetan genocide charges (1)

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: joseph alvaro <joseph.alvaro at my.cityu.edu.hk>
Subject: Spanish judge seeks Tibetan genocide charges (1)
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After the Spanish judge's request for Interpol to go after Jiang Zemin and
Li Peng, the Chinese government struck back and, as true to fashion,
threatened retaliation (usually economic) if the idea was not quashed (see
article below). This reminds me of Christopher Ford's article in New
Paradigms about how China attempts to control what the world says and
thinks about it.

(see  http://www.newparadigmsforum.com/NPFtestsite/?p=1498).

The following articles are not particularly new, but when taken together
with the Spanish incident, they tell a tale. Attempting to regulate the
ways in which China is perceived by the world involves displays of
coercive government rhetoric. Here are a few examples, as cited by Ford:

against foreign statesmen who show recognition of Chinese dissenters such
as the Dalai Lama (GEORGE W BUSH TO MEET DALAI LAMA IN PUBLIC, 29
September 2007, The Telegraph, by Richard Spencer). John Garnaut’s article
on China's ‘indignant reaction’ to a recent Australian National University
(by Geremie Barmé) publication entitled ‘Red Rising Red Eclipse’ (CHINA
SEES RED OVER UNI PAPER, 4 January 2013,
http://www.smh.com.au/national/china-sees-red-over-uni-paper-20130103-2c78j
.html); 

boycotting the screening of films that portray counter-narratives to
China's official storyline as at the 2009 Melbourne Film Festival (CHINESE
ENTRIES BOYCOTT FILM FESTIVAL, 22 July
2009,http://www.abc.net.au/news/2009-07-21/chinese-entries-boycott-film-fes
tival/1362268);

stories in western media that expose corruption in China’s elite
government circles as in David Barboza’s now infamous article on the Wen
family’s assets (BILLIONS IN HIDDEN RICHES FOR FAMILY OF CHINESE LEADER,
25 October 2012, New York Times |
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/26/business/global/family-of-wen-jiabao-hold
s-a-hidden-fortune-in-china.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0);

and an article by Bennet Hall on China demanding that a small-town wall
mural in the U.S. expressing sympathy for Tibetan and Taiwanese
independence be removed (MURAL DRAWS FIRE FROM CHINA, 8 September 2012,
http://www.gazettetimes.com/news/local/mural-draws-fire-from-china/article_
22529ace-f94a-11e1-bf2a-0019bb2963f4.html).

In each of these cases the Chinese government, through agents, ‘leaned on’
local officials in these other countries to intervene on its behalf in
suppressing these incidents and silencing those involved.

Joe Alvaro
City U 
Hong Kong

Here is the Spanish article --

http://elpais.com/elpais/2014/02/11/inenglish/1392140448_314499.htmlUNIVERS
AL JURISDICTION

China rebukes Spain for allowing international arrest warrants to prosper

High Court orders detention of former president and ex-premier in Tibetan
rights case
“We hope that the Spanish government can distinguish right from wrong,”
says spokesman
JOSE REINOSO / AGENCIES Beijing / Madrid 11 FEB 2014 - 18:41 CET2

China on Tuesday lodged a strongly worded protest with the Spanish
government over the High Court’s decision to issue international arrest
warrants for former President Jiang Zemin, ex-Premier Li Peng and three
other top Chinese officials for alleged rights abuses in Tibet.

“China is extremely dissatisfied with and resolutely opposed to the wrong
actions of the relevant Spanish [court] taken while ignoring China’s
solemn position,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying
at a daily briefing.

“Whether or not this issue can be appropriately dealt with is related to
the healthy development of ties. We hope that the Spanish government can
distinguish right from wrong.”

On Monday, High Court Judge Ismael Moreno asked Interpol to arrest Jiang,
Li and the three others for human right crimes, including alleged torture
and genocide in Tibet under their watch during the 1980s and 1990s.

The diplomatic complaint from Beijing came on the same day that heated
debates began in Congress on a proposal to limit the judiciary’s ability
to open human rights investigations in other countries based on the
universal jurisdiction doctrine. The Popular Party (PP) presented a
proposal to clip judges’ powers, which has angered rights groups,
prosecutors and the entire opposition, which has announced it would vote
against it.

Thubten Wangchen, a Spanish citizen, monk and a member of the
Tibetan-Parliament-in-Exile, filed the case, along with two Tibetan rights
groups, in the High Court in 2006 accusing the former Chinese officials of
crimes against humanity.

"The Chinese government is putting a lot of pressure on the Spanish
government to change laws, and the Spanish government is saying 'yes, yes
sir,' but the Chinese don't own the world," Thubten Wangchen told Reuters
in an interview in Spanish in Madrid.