Rights Abuses Escalate Throughout East Asia: HRW

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http://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/rights-01212014144934.html

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Police take away a petitioner in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, Dec. 4, 2013.

Rights Abuses Escalate Throughout East Asia: HRW
2014-01-21

Chinese President Xi Jinping's administration is harshly cracking down on dissent and has failed to uphold promises of reforms, a U.S.-based rights group said Tuesday in an annual global report which underlined a worsening human rights situation throughout the East Asian region.

In spite of cosmetic changes to its labor camp system and an easing of draconian family planning policies, the ruling Chinese Communist Party during 2013 reinforced its monopoly on power by stepping up hardline measures to crack down on critics, the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said.

The Xi administration, which officially took over power in March last year, "has responded to domestic and international pressure by announcing partial reforms on issues such as re-education through labor and the one-child policy,” HRW Asia director Brad Adams said in a statement.

"But the leadership has also embarked on a harsh crackdown on critics, while using hardline rhetoric to make clear they have no intention of liberalizing the political system," Adams said.