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1994-05-02
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<text>
<title>
Japan: Human Rights Watch
</title>
<article>
<hdr>
Human Rights Watch World Report 1992
Asia Watch: Japan
</hdr>
<body>
<p>Human Rights Developments
</p>
<p> Asia Watch in 1991 directed its attention in Japan to the
treatment of Chinese dissidents and the use of Japanese
economic and diplomatic leverage to promote human rights in
Asia. Our primary concern continued to be Chinese dissidents who
were in Japan at the time of the June 4, 1989 crackdown in
Beijing or who later fled to Japan. (According to Japan's
Justice Ministry, 2,844 Chinese have arrived illegally in Japan
since the Beijing massacre. Of these, 2,381 have been deported.
In addition, it is estimated that there were approximately
15,000 Chinese students studying in Japan at the time of the
massacre. Another 48,000 were in language schools--the largest
number in any country outside of China.) Although the Japanese
government promised at a 1989 summit of industrial nations in
Paris that it would offer refuge to dissidents who feared
persecution if returned to China, it has not granted political
asylum to a single Chinese dissident. Instead of offering
blanket coverage to those wishing to review their visas, the
government adopted a case-by-case approach and left it to
immigration officials to make the decisions. With one prominent
exception, the government did display more flexibility in
dealing with Chinese visa applicants whose cases became the
subject of international publicity and domestic pressure.
</p>
<p> The exception was the case of Lin Guizhen, a democracy
activist from Fujian Province who entered Japan in September
1989 and was forcibly repatriated to Shanghai on August 14,
1991. The deportation came on the last day of a high-profile
visit to Beijing by then-Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu. Lin was
sent back despite two lawsuits pending in the Japanese courts
related to her claim for refugee status. Sixty-one other Chinese
deemed to be "economic refugees" were deported simultaneously.
</p>
<p> Lin claimed that she had participated in pro-democracy
demonstrations in Fukishu city in June 1989 and then fled from
China in a boat with 230 other Chinese. Upon arrival in Japan,
she applied for political asylum. Her application was rejected
in June 1990 as was a subsequent appeal, despite her lawyers'
argument that she was in danger of persecution in China. She
was deported after the Supreme Court upheld a lower-court
decision, although further appeals were still pending. (Lin was
deported after a Supreme Court ruling on October 9, 1990
upholding a lower-court interlocutory decision rejecting her
appeal for suspension of deportation. However, at the time of
her expulsion, two lawsuits were still pending at the
district-court level, one seeking cancellation of the
deportation order and the other pressing her application for
refugee status. Her attorneys have indicated that they intend
to pursue the matter in her absence.) Lin's sudden deportation
provoked an international outcry. (For example, The New York
Times gave her deportation prominent coverage. Steven Weisman,
"Japan Deports Chinese but Others Are Hopeful," August 18,
1991.) Japanese civil liberties groups complained to the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) that Japan's
action had violated the 1951 Refugee Convention, which Japan
ratified in 1982.
</p>
<p> (Under Article 35 of the convention, Japan is obligated to
cooperate with the UNHCR. In 1987, the Executive Committee of
the UNHCR recommended that an applicant "should be permitted
to remain in the country while an appeal to a higher
administrative authority or to the courts is pending."
</p>
<p> The UNHCR's role in the case is unclear. Justice Ministry
officials say that the UNHCR interviewed Lin and found her
unqualified for refugee status. But in a Tokyo news conference
on August 20, Sadako Ogata, the UNHCR commissioner, expressed
concern about the precipitous action taken by the immigration
authorities.)
</p>
<p> Asia Watch protested the deportation and urged Japan to
monitor Lin's welfare after her return to China. Japanese
authorities have cited assurances from Chinese officials given
to their Embassy in Beijing. A letter to Asia Watch from the
Japanese Embassy in Washington stated that the Chinese
government had reported that "soon after Lin arrived in
Shanghai, she was taken by her family and she is now living
peacefully with them." The same letter also declared, "No legal
action against her has been taken by the Chinese government."
Similar statements have appeared in the Japanese press. However,
it has been impossible to verify China's assurances
independently. The Japanese government has indicated that it
intends to monitor Lin's status periodically, but there is no
indication that it has access to her.
</p>
<p> In June 1991, Japan shifted its method of dealing with a
number of cases of Chinese living in the country prior to June
1989. For the first time, a provision in the immigration law
under which a person may be granted legal residency status "by
reason of special circumstances" was applied to Chinese
dissidents. (Under the so-called "designated activities" clause
of the Immigration Control and Refugee Act of 1990, residency
status may be granted "due to special circumstances that have
developed in the country of his nationality." The grounds on
which this status is given are extremely vague. The provision
effectively allows immigration officials to grant extended
visas to certain individuals without categorizing them as
political refugees or extending blanket visas to entire
categories of people.) The visa is given for six months at a
time and is renewable; although it does not specifically permit
the person to work, those who obtain it generally have been
allowed to seek employment. The government granted this status
to Chen Shisen, a student living in Tokyo since September 1987
who feared persecution in China because of his pro-democracy
activities as a member of the Japanese branch of the Federation
for Democracy in China (FDC).
</p>
<p> On October 9, 1991, a visa was granted under the same
provision to Zhao Nan, a prominent Chinese dissident who had
been denied political asylum on March 7. Zhao asserted that he
was at risk of "brutal punishment" if returned to China against
his will, both because he was president of the FDC chapter in
Japan and because he had been politically active in China
beginning in 1978. Following the arrest of Democracy Wall
activist Wei Jingsheng in 1979, Zhao had edited Wei's
pro-democracy journal. For his peaceful political activities,
Zhao was imprisoned without trial in a Chinese labor camp from
1982 to 1984. He came to Japan in September 1988 and had his
visa renewed three times before a renewal request was denied and
immigration authorities ordered him to leave the country late
in 1990. Despite his well-founded fear of persecution, the
Justice Ministry refused to grant him political asylum on narrow
technical grounds, asserting that he had missed a filing
deadline. A lawsuit filed in June 1991 challenging the decision
is still pending.
</p>
<p> A lawyers group working on behalf of Chinese students issued
a public appeal following the decision in Chen's case, urging
the government to grant the same status to at least twenty-two
other dissidents they represented. The lawyers had lobbied the
Justice Ministry and petitioned publicly on the students'
behalf, and the government's action on Chen was viewed in part
as a response to the pressure they had generated. (The Lawyers'
Group for Protecting Human Rights of Chinese Students is headed
by Hideo Fuji, a former president of the Japan Federation of
Bar Associations.) By the end of November, fourteen people had
been given such status.
</p>
<p> It is unclear whether this special status will be extended
indefinitely and how broadly it will be applied. This
uncertainty is a product of the Japanese government's
conflicting desires to avoid both offending the Chinese
govern