BEIJING — The Chinese government has failed to meet its promise to introduce greater freedoms, Amnesty International charged Monday, in the latest international criticism ahead of the 2008 Olympic Games here.
The London-based human rights organization said in its report that China had made progress reforming its death penalty system and granting greater access for foreign journalists. However, the group charged that Beijing continues to detain local activists without trial, stifles domestic journalism, and has embarked on a campaign to "clean up" the streets of Beijing of petty criminals, vagrants and drug users ahead of the Summer Games.
"What we're aiming to do is encourage China to showcase to the world that reforms have taken place, that they're a respectable, modern member of the international community," said Mark Allison, author of the report.
China's Foreign Ministry rejected the report's findings.
"The Chinese Constitution respects and secures human rights," the ministry said in a statement. "We are seriously fulfilling our commitment to the Olympics and making our preparations. The development of human rights in China cannot be slandered by a few reports from an individual organization with political prejudice."
Liu Wenzong, a director with the government-funded China Society for Human Rights Studies, also defended Beijing's record, saying foreign activists fail to recognize signs of progress.
"The present situation has been much improved compared to 20 years ago and the Cultural Revolution," Liu said. "Today, people have the right to express many personal opinions on the Internet."
China has long been criticized for the abuses cited in the Amnesty International report. But in winning the bid for the 2008 Games, Beijing promised the International Olympic Committee that China would improve its human rights record.
Petr Kutilek, executive secretary of Prague, Czech Republic-based Olympic Watch, said the IOC was complicit with Beijing by deeming it "unrealistic" to spur China to make significant changes in its human rights policies.
"The IOC has so far been pretending that it has no responsibility and trying to represent human rights as a political issue, which it isn't," Kutilek said. "We've become skeptical of the IOC acting on these issues, so we're going to the national [Olympic] committees to hopefully achieve some change."
