英字新聞

The Yomiuri Shimbun
China must desist from its hardline moves to suppress human rights
中国の人権弾圧　身勝手な力の統治が目に余る

Chinese President Xi Jinping has apparently been further escalating his rule with force.
　中国の習近平国家主席が、力による統治を一段とエスカレートさせているということだろう。

The Xi administration put in force an “antiterrorism law” this month. The law makes it obligatory for Internet service providers and others to provide technical support to Chinese authorities to help decrypt information to prevent terrorist activities. The law also prohibits media from reporting terrorist activities in detail on the grounds that it might inspire copycat attacks.
　習政権が今月、「反テロ法」を施行した。インターネットサービス企業などを対象に、テロ防止のため暗号解読技術を提供するよう義務づけている。模倣されかねないテロを詳細に報じることも禁じた。

Concerns are only rising in the international community that restrictions on activities of foreign companies operating in China and controls on the freedom of speech and news reporting will be tightened further in the country.
　外国企業の活動規制や言論・報道統制が強化されるとの懸念が、国際社会で高まる一方である。

The antiterrorism law defines terrorism as “propositions and actions that generate social panic by such means as violence so as to achieve their political objectives.”
　反テロ法はテロについて、「暴力などの手段で社会をパニックに陥れ、その政治目的を実現する主張と行為」と定義している。

It is problematic that there is a possibility that by merely making propositions that are not accepted by the Chinese authorities, one can be punished. The definition of terrorist activities is also vague, leaving plenty of room for discretion.
　中国当局が認めていない主張をしただけで処罰される可能性があるのは問題だ。テロ活動の規定も曖昧で、裁量の余地が大きい。

There is a serious possibility of the authorities’ using the law arbitrarily to suppress the Uighur minority group under the guise of taking measures to fight against terrorism committed by Islamist extremists.
　深刻なのは、イスラム過激派のテロ対策に名を借りて、少数民族のウイグル族の抑圧に法を恣意しい的に利用する恐れがあることだ。

Late last year, prior to the enforcement of the new law, a Beijing-based reporter for a French news magazine who wrote articles critical of China’s policy on the Uighur minority was effectively expelled from the country.
　施行前の昨年末には、ウイグル族政策を批判する記事を書いた北京駐在の仏誌記者が既に、事実上の国外退去処分となっている。

China, under the one-party rule of the Communist Party, touts “the rule of law.” But there is no judicial independence in the country. The law is a means to carry out the rule of the party thoroughly.
　共産党の一党独裁下にある中国は、「法治」を掲げながらも、「司法の独立」はない。法は党の統治を徹底するための手段だ。

Ominous disappearances

Neither can it be overlooked that the authorities, in an arbitrary crackdown, have detained a large number of lawyers and activists who were striving to defend human rights.
　人権擁護に努める弁護士や活動家らを多数拘束し、一方的に弾圧している状況も看過できまい。

Earlier this month, a Swedish man working on human rights issues in China was taken into custody. He was detained for allegedly “posing a threat to national security,” by extending support to human rights lawyers with financial aid from foreign nongovernmental organizations and other entities.
　今月も、中国の人権問題に取り組むスウェーデン人男性を拘束した。海外の民間活動団体（ＮＧＯ）などから資金援助を受けて人権派弁護士を支援し、「国家の安全を脅かした」のが理由という。

Xi has been solidifying his power base by removing his political enemies through the exposure of their corruption. Despite that, however, he may still harbor a strong sense of crisis over the possibility that public discontent, rooted in factors such as the country’s economic slowdown, may swell because such values as democracy and human rights may spread in society.
　習氏は、汚職摘発で政敵を排除し、権力基盤を固めてきた。それでも依然として、民主主義や人権などの価値観が社会に浸透し、経済の減速などで国民の不満が膨らむことに強い危機感を持っているのではないか。


Also, it cannot be tolerated that China has been bringing its high-handed methods to Hong Kong, where the “one country, two systems” applies.
　「一国二制度」が適用されている香港に、中国式の強権的手法を持ち込むことも容認できない。

In Hong Kong, five people related to a local bookstore − its shareholders, the store manager and others − reportedly disappeared. The store was selling “banned books” that are critical of China, and their publication or sale is prohibited in mainland China.
　香港では、書店の株主や店長ら関係者５人が相次いで失踪する事件が起きた。書店は、中国本土で出版や販売ができない中国に批判的な「発禁本」を扱っていた。

The Chinese authorities admitted that two of the five are indeed in mainland China, but emphasized that they went there of their own volition.
　中国側は、このうち２人が本土にいると認めたが、自らの判断で入ったなどと強調している。

The authorities are trying to fend off criticism that, with no investigative authority, they have allegedly taken people related to the case from Hong Kong to the mainland and put them into custody.
　捜査権限もないのに、中国当局が香港から関係者を連行、拘束したとの批判をかわす狙いだろう。

Should the hauling of those people before the Chinese authorities be a fact, it is a grave situation that would overturn Hong Kong’s “high degree of autonomy.” It is the responsibility of the Xi administration to give a thorough explanation of the matter not only to the residents of Hong Kong but also to the world.
連行が事実なら、「高度な自治」を覆す由々ゆゆしい事態だ。香港住民だけでなく、世界に説明を尽くすことが習政権の責任である。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Jan. 26, 2016)