ELECTIONS ACTIVIST YAO LIFA COMPLAINS OF INCREASED

C O N F I D E N T I A L BEIJING 017493

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/22/2031
TAGS: PGOV PHUM CH
SUBJECT: ELECTIONS ACTIVIST YAO LIFA COMPLAINS OF INCREASED
GOVERNMENT HARASSMENT

REF: A. BEIJING 15796

B. BEIJING 17245

CLASSIFIED BY: POLITICAL INTERNAL UNIT CHIEF SUSAN THORNTON.
REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D).

SUMMARY
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1. (C) GRASS-ROOTS ELECTIONS ACTIVIST YAO LIFA (PROTECT)
DESCRIBED TO POLOFF ON AUGUST 21 THE INCREASED HARASSMENT
THAT ELECTION AND OTHER ACTIVISTS ARE FACING ACROSS CHINA.
THE CCP IS FEELING THREATENED, YAO CLAIMED, BY THE LINKS
ACTIVISTS IN A NUMBER OF FIELDS HAVE ESTABLISHED NATIONWIDE
VIA THE INTERNET AND OTHER MEANS AND HAS THEREFORE BEGUN
INCREASING PRESSURE BY FOLLOWING, HARASSING, AND DETAINING
THEM. THE PARTY HAS ALSO REPORTEDLY ISSUED GUIDELINES TO
RESTRICT MEDIA COVERAGE OF LOCAL ELECTIONS. YAO ENDED WITH A
DIATRIBE AGAINST THE PARTY, SAYING ALL ELECTIONS IN CHINA ARE
A "SHAM." WHILE YAO'S COMMENTS CLEARLY REFLECT HIS
FRUSTRATION WITH INCREASED OFFICIAL HARASSMENT, ANOTHER
CHINESE ELECTIONS ACTIVIST SYMPATHETIC TO YAO'S GOALS
SEPARATELY TOLD POLOFF ON AUGUST 22 THAT YAO'S TROUBLES STEM
FROM HIS OPENLY STATED INTENTION TO BRING DOWN THE PARTY.
END SUMMARY.

HARASSMENT OF ELECTION ACTIVISTS
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2. (C) HUBEI GRASS-ROOTS ELECTIONS ACTIVIST YAO LIFA
(PROTECT) MET WITH POLOFF ON AUGUST 21 TO RECOUNT THE
INCREASED HARASSMENT HE SAYS ELECTION AND OTHER ACTIVISTS ARE
FACING ACROSS CHINA. (NOTE: COUNTRY-WIDE POPULAR ELECTIONS
FOR LOCAL LEGISLATURES AT THE COUNTY LEVEL AND BELOW WILL
TAKE PLACE ON A ROLLING BASIS BETWEEN OCTOBER 2006 AND THE
END OF 2007. GUANGDONG (OCTOBER),BEIJING (NOVEMBER) AND
HUBEI (DECEMBER) ARE AMONG THE FIRST LOCALITIES TO SCHEDULE
THEIR ELECTION ROUNDS. EN NOTE.) YAO BEGAN BY DESCRIBING
HIS DETENTIO, ALONG WITH SEVERAL OTHER ELECTION ACTIVISTS,
ON JULY 26 IN HUBEI FOR HOLDING AN "ILLEGAL MEETING" (SEE REF
A). IN REALITY, HE SAID, THERE IS NO CHINESE LAW ON "ILLEGAL
MEETINGS"; HE AND LIKE-MINDED ACTIVISTS WERE MERELY HAVING
LUNCH WHEN THEY WERE DETAINED. YAO WAS RELEASED AFTER SIX
HOURS, OTHERS WERE HELD FOR AS LONG AS 24 HOURS.


3. (C) THE REASON FOR THE DETENTIONS APPEARS TO BE AN ATTEMPT
BY LOCAL OFFICIALS TO DISRUPT YAO'S PLANS FOR HOLDING A
MEETING IN WUHAN, HUBEI, ON AUGUST 27 TO DISCUSS UPCOMING
LOCAL PEOPLE'S CONGRESS ELECTIONS. SECURITY OFFICIALS
APPARENTLY LEARNED OF THE MEETING BY INTERCEPTING
PARTICIPANTS' CELL PHONE TEXT MESSAGES AND HAVE SUBSEQUENTLY
BEGUN HARASSING THEM, YAO STATED. YAO REFERRED TO THE
EXAMPLE OF PROFESSOR AI SHAOMING OF ZHONGSHAN DAXUE IN
GUANGZHOU, A PLANNED PARTICIPANT IN THE AUGUST 27 MEETING.
RECENTLY PROFESSOR AI HAS BEEN HARASSED AND WARNED BY THE
HEAD OF HER WORK UNIT NOT TO ATTEND. YAO SAID HIS EMPLOYER
(A MIDDLE SCHOOL) HAS STARTED TO INCREASE PRESSURE ON HIM AS
WELL. HE RECENTLY NOTICED SOMEONE FROM HIS SCHOOL FOLLOWING
HIM AND SPECULATED THAT HIS ACTIVITIES ARE BEING REPORTED TO
LOCAL SECURITY OFFICIALS.

PRESS RESTRICTIONS ON ELECTIONS COVERAGE
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4. (C) NEW DIRECTIVES RESTRICTING PRESS COVERAGE OF LOCAL
ELECTIONS ARE AIMED AT DISRUPTING ACTIVISTS' EFFORTS, YAO
CLAIMED. PREVIOUSLY, A NUMBER OF CHINESE NEWSPAPERS, AND
EVEN OFFICIALS FROM THE NATIONAL PEOPLE'S CONGRESS (NPC),HAD
TRAVELED TO HUBEI TO INTERVIEW YAO AND SURVEY HIS EFFORTS TO
PROMOTE COMPETITIVE PEOPLE'S CONGRESS ELECTIONS. MORE
RECENTLY, HOWEVER, YAO'S PRESS CONTACTS TOLD HIM THAT THE
PARTY PROPAGANDA DEPARTMENT HAS ISSUED GUIDANCE STATING THAT
ONLY THE OFFICIAL XINHUA NEWS AGENCY SHOULD COVER THE DETAILS
OF LOCAL ELECTIONS; OTHER PAPERS ARE MERELY TO RUN XINHUA'S
STORIES. HE SAID A "RECENT" NANFANG ZHOUMOU PIECE ON
ELECTIONS IS AN EXAMPLE. THE PIECE, ACCORDING TO YAO,
REPORTS THE RESULTS OF A GENERAL SURVEY OF NPC MEMBERS ON
ELECTIONS, BUT STEERS CLEAR OF TALKING TO ANY CANDIDATES OR
MENTIONING THE WORK OF THOSE PROMOTING COMPETITIVE ELECTIONS.



5. (C) ACCORDING TO YAO, THE CCP FEELS THREATENED BY THE
GROWING NUMBER OF ACTIVISTS WHO HAVE ESTABLISHED LINKS VIA
THE INTERNET AND OTHER MEANS. YAO STRESSED THAT THIS IS
TAKING PLACE NATIONWIDE AND IS NOT LIMITED TO HUBEI, NOR IS
IT LIMITED TO ELECTION ACTIVISTS. YAO SAID THAT THOSE
MEETING ON JULY 26 WERE ASSOCIATED WITH A MOVEMENT CALLED THE
"CHINA PAN-BLUE ALLIANCE" WHICH CLAIMS THE MANTLE OF THE
PRE-REVOLUTIONARY KMT PARTY AND ADVOCATES ADHERENCE TO SUN
YAT-SEN'S THREE PEOPLE'S PRINCIPLES. ANOTHER ELECTIONS
ACTIVIST, XIONG WEI, SEPARATELY STATED THAT THE PAN-BLUE



ALLIANCE CLAIMS SEVERAL THOUSAND MEMBERS. THOSE TARGETED FOR
HARASSMENT ALSO INCLUDE ADVOCATES FOR THE RIGHTS OF AIDS
PATIENTS, RURAL LABORERS, AND HOMEOWNERS WHOSE LAND HAS BEEN
CONFISCATED BY DEVELOPERS, YAO SAID. YAO POINTED TO THE
DETENTION OF XU ZHIYONG, ONE OF CHEN GUANGCHENG'S LAWYERS, AS
ONE RECENT EXAMPLE (SEE REF B).

ELECTIONS IN CHINA ARE A "SHAM"
--------------


6. (C) YAO PROVIDED POLOFF WITH COPIES OF TWO BROCHURES HE
HAS WRITTEN DESIGNED TO EDUCATE CHINESE CITIZENS ON THEIR
ELECTION RIGHTS UNDER CHINA'S CONSTITUTION AND RELEVANT LAWS.
ONE PAMPHLET IS ENTITLED, "THE ESSENTIALS OF CHINAS
GRASSROOTS PEOPLES CONGRESS ELECTIONS, 2006-2007," PREPARED
BY THE "CHINESE PEOPLES CONGRESS ELECTION STUDY GROUP,"
ISSUED IN BEIJING ON APRIL 12, 2006. THE OTHER IS CALLED,
"FIGHTING FOR YOUR RIGHTS, 2006, HUBEI." YAO SAID HE IS
DISTRIBUTING THE PAMPHLETS TO CANDIDATES, THEIR SUPPORTERS,
AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC. BOTH DOCUMENTS CLEARLY LIST HIS NAME
AND CELL PHONE NUMBER.


7. (C) AFTER EXPLAINING THE BROCHURES, YAO LAUNCHED INTO A
DIATRIBE AGAINST THE CCP, SAYING THAT ALL ELECTIONS IN CHINA
-- BOTH INSIDE AND OUTSIDE THE PARTY -- ARE A "SHAM."
CHINESE ELECTION LAWS ARE TOO BRIEF AND VAGUE, HE SAID. IN
ADDITION, THEY NEITHER CONTAIN PROVISIONS FOR PROTECTING
PEOPLE'S ELECTION RIGHTS, NOR PROVIDE RECOURSE WHEN THOSE
RIGHTS ARE VIOLATED. THE CCP CLEARLY UNDERSTANDS, YAO
DECLARED, THAT IT WOULD LOSE ANY TRULY FAIR ELECTION -- HENCE
ITS CONCERN ABOUT ACTIVISTS. YAO ALSO DISMISSED THE
POSSIBILITY OF INNER-PARTY DEMOCRACY. OUT OF 70 MILLION CCP
MEMBERS, HE CLAIMED, ONLY ABOUT ONE-TENTH ACTUALLY BENEFIT
FROM THEIR MEMBERSHIP. THEREFORE, YAO PREDICTED, A TRULY
DEMOCRATIC INNER-PARTY ELECTION WOULD ONLY THREATEN THE
CURRENT LEADERSHIP.

COMMENT
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8. (C) YAO'S DESCRIPTION OF NEW RESTRICTIONS ON ACTIVISTS
ACROSS CHINA TRACKS WITH THE WIDELY REPORTED TIGHTENING ON
NGOS, THE PRESS, AND HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS OVER THE LAST
YEAR. MANY GRASS ROOTS ACTIVISTS STEER CLEAR OF YAO,
HOWEVER, VIEWING HIM AS TOO RADICAL. FORMER LEGAL DAILY
JOURNALIST AND LEGAL ACTIVIST XIONG WEI (PROTECT) SEPARATELY
COMMENTED THAT YAO'S DIFFICULTIES, OF WHICH HE WAS WELL
AWARE, STEM AT LEAST IN PART FROM HIS PUBLICLY STATED GOAL OF
USING LEGAL MEANS TO BRING DOWN THE CHINESE COMMUNIST SYSTEM.
WHILE SYMPATHETIC TO YAO'S GOALS, XIONG SAID HE FELT YAO
NEEDLESSLY IRRITATES CCP OFFICIALS WITH HIS CONFRONTATIONAL
RHETORIC.
SEDNEY