1 of 2 | United States President Barack Obama and and President XI Jinping of China exchange toasts during a State Dinner in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC on September 25, 2015. Pool photo by Ron Sachs/UPI |
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NEW YORK, Sept. 26 (UPI) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping is preparing to address a United Nations conference on gender equality on Sunday, but he is under criticism from human rights groups for what they say is the worst crackdown on dissidents in decades.
"It is a slap on the face of women activists, who were detained to have their voices heard by the United Nations and the outside world," Frances Eve, a Hong Kong-based researcher with China Human Rights Defenders told Voice of America on Saturday.
In March, China detained five women who were protesting sexual harassment in public places. They were released in April, but have said they could still face charges. The New York Times reported the five feminists, Wei Tingting, Zheng Churan, Wu Rongrong, Li Tingting, and Wang Man, still faced "restrictions in terms of work, life, and freedom of action."
The U.N. declined petitions from U.S. officials to allow any activists to speak at the Global Leaders' Meeting on Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment, also known as Beijing+20.
In response, U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power launched a campaign, where the fate of a detained woman would be highlighted every day before the meeting. Chinese human rights lawyer Wang Yu was the first on the list, according to Power.
China has regularly brushed off international criticism of its human rights record. In March, Beijing's Foreign Ministry told organizations to "stop interfering in China's judicial sovereignty." On Friday Xi said, "We must recognize that countries have different historical processes and realities, that we need to respect people of all countries in the right to choose their own development independently," in response to Obama's expression of concern over China's crackdown on dissidents.
Xi is making an appearance at Sunday's conference to raise China's profile on the world stage, and to show it is engaged in issues like human rights and women's development, say analysts.
"Internationalizing China's NGOs can facilitate a better understanding of the laws, policies, culture, communities and religion of different countries," said Huang Haoming of state-supported China Association for NGO Cooperation.
