China Sentences Human Rights Leader to 11 Years in Jail For Drafting Pro-Democracy Paper

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has insisted that the Obama Administration will not fight with China over human rights and instead seek a “more practical” approach that emphasizes trade issues, here. Yesterday, China showed the world that it doesn’t feel any pressure to allow free speech or basic rights to its citizens. It sentenced leading human rights advocate Liu Xiaobo to 11 years in prison for calling for the rule of law and democracy in China.

Liu, 53, is a former literature professor who helped draft a manifesto last December that demanded open elections and the rule of law. He was convicted in a closed proceeding and lawyers were allowed less than 20 minutes to argue his case.

During his visit to China last month, President Obama raised Mr. Liu’s case with President Hu Jintao as have other leaders but China seems to have gone out of its way to show that it doesn’t give a fig about the views of other nations — particularly the United States which is deeply in debt to China. Indeed, the government called even raising the case a “gross interference in China’s judicial internal affairs.”

This comes on the heels of China destroying the chances for any meaningful global deal on climate change.

Trade discussions, however, continue unabated.

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