Still forbidden and banned in China

Hepatitis B and a batch of poetry are among the topics that Chinese censors have had in their sights in recent days.

Less than 45 days to the start of the Olympics and authorities are continuing their clampdown – recently they have blocked an online health forum, closed down a news and information website, banned a poetry publication and decided that another human rights defender can't meet with his lawyer.

Here's the lowdown:

The Financial Times reports that a support group for people affected by Hepatitis B – which has about 300,000 members – has had its website and online forum blocked in China.

" … (The website) was first shut down by the government last November. On Tuesday, Mr. Lu said an official had told him at the time that the closure was due to the upcoming Olympic Games. Mr. Lu managed to reopen the Web site by moving it to an overseas server, but Beijing last month began blocking access to the Web site within China, just 10 days after government officials participated in an event for World Hepatitis Day at the Great Wall …"

Poem controversy

Meanwhile, over at Boxun they are reporting that a news and information website has again been shutdown. The site's webmaster was earlier sacked from his chief editor's post at the BaiXing Magazine, which had been reporting a number of corruption cases. The website NCPSCZK.COM is more open in its contents than most other websites in China, says Boxun.

The US-based Boxun also filed news that a publication called Poems Monthly has been banned.

It says:

" … due to a controversial poem and commentary on the issue dated February 2008, with the title Project 571 which reminded readers of Lin Biao, recognized as a traitor in Mao's age …"

State secrets

Banning of a different kind comes with the refusal to let detained human rights defender Huang Qi – who published news about parents who lost children in the Sichuan earthquake – from seeing his lawyer. Huang Qi’s wife, Zeng Li, was also banned from seeing him.

From Human Rights in China:

" … On June 23, Huang Qi's lawyer Ding Xikui filed an application with the Chengdu public security authorities requesting permission to meet with his client. On June 24, when Huang's wife Zeng Li and lawyer Ding went to the Chengdu public security authorities to follow up on the application, they were handed a decision dated June 23, which stated: "because this case involves state secrets and Huang Qi illegally holding state secrets … the application … is denied." …"

Words and deeds

Back in 2001, when China was awarded the Olympics, officials promised that the move would improve human rights within the country.

Vice-president of the Beijing Olympic Bid Committee, Liu Jingmin, said "by allowing Beijing to host the Games you will help in the development of human rights".

Five years later, in 2006, another official reaffirmed those words: he said "China will live up to its words and will turn its words into deeds ... The government will honor the promises and commitments made during our bid to host the Games."

But so far actions don't equal words.

Is closing down a forum for people who live with Hepatitis B helping to improve human rights? What about banning a batch of poems? Or stopping a rights defender from seeing his wife and lawyer? I hardly think so.