China is getting away with supplying WMD to rogue countries fueling wars, genocides, rapes, and pillages. The one major area of concern is the traffic of nukes and technology to Iran, North Korea and Pakistan. Wouldn’t you think that this is a severe breach of the Olympic Charter that states:
"The spirit of humanism, fraternity and respect for individuals, which inspires the Olympic ideal, requires the governments of countries that are to host the Olympic Games to undertake that their countries will scrupulously respect the Fundamental Principles of the Olympic Charter and the present Code."
Amnesty International has come up with some tough recommendations in their June 11, 2006 report. Here are the main highlights from the AI report:
AI: China: Secretive arms exports stoking conflict and repression/Excerpt
“As a major arms exporter and a permanent member of the UN Security Council, it is high time that the Chinese authorities live up to their obligations under international law. They must introduce effective laws and regulations banning all arms transfers that could be used for serious human rights violations or breaches in international humanitarian law,” said Helen Hughes
As long as China continues to allow arms supplies to the perpetrators of gross human rights violations, the international community must redouble its regulation of joint ventures involving military and dual-use technology in China and must strengthen the application of arms embargoes on China such as those imposed by the European Union and the USA.
The report’s main findings include:
- More than 200 Chinese military trucks -- normally fitted with US Cummins diesel engines -- shipped to Sudan in August 2005, despite a US arms embargo on both countries and the involvement of similar vehicles in the killing and abduction of civilians in Darfur;
- Regular Chinese military shipments to Myanmar, including the supply in August 2005 of 400 military trucks to the Burmese army despite its involvement in the torture, killing and forced eviction of hundreds of thousands of civilians;
- Chinese military exports to Nepal in 2005 and early 2006, including a deal to supply nearly 25 thousand Chinese-made rifles and 18,000 grenades to Nepalese security forces, at the time involved in the brutal repression of thousands of civilian demonstrators;
An increasingly illicit trade in Chinese-made Norinco pistols in Australia, Malaysia, Thailand and particularly South Africa, where they are commonly used for robbery, rape and other crimes.
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Amnesty International: China: Sustaining conflict and human rights abuses
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