Changes

The China country reports in the U.S. State Department's 2009 Human Rights Practices and International Religious Freedom Reports<ref>See [http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/eap/119037.htm U.S. State Department, ''2008 Human Rights Report: China (includes Tibet, Hong Kong, and Macau)'' Feb. 25, 2009]</ref> noted China's well-documented and continuing abuses of human rights in violation of internationally recognized norms, stemming both from the authorities' intolerance of dissent and the inadequacy of legal safeguards for basic freedoms. Reported abuses have included arbitrary and lengthy incommunicado detention, forced confessions, torture, and mistreatment of prisoners as well as severe restrictions on freedom of speech, the press, assembly, association, religion, privacy, worker rights, and coercive birth limitation. In 2006, China continued the monitoring, harassment, intimidation, and arrest of journalists, Internet writers, defense lawyers, religious activists, and political dissidents. The activities of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), especially those relating to the rule of law and expansion of judicial review, continue to be restricted.

The China country reports in the U.S. State Department's 2009 Human Rights Practices and International Religious Freedom Reports<ref>See [http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/eap/119037.htm U.S. State Department, ''2008 Human Rights Report: China (includes Tibet, Hong Kong, and Macau)'' Feb. 25, 2009]</ref> noted China's well-documented and continuing abuses of human rights in violation of internationally recognized norms, stemming both from the authorities' intolerance of dissent and the inadequacy of legal safeguards for basic freedoms. Reported abuses have included arbitrary and lengthy incommunicado detention, forced confessions, torture, and mistreatment of prisoners as well as severe restrictions on freedom of speech, the press, assembly, association, religion, privacy, worker rights, and coercive birth limitation. In 2006, China continued the monitoring, harassment, intimidation, and arrest of journalists, Internet writers, defense lawyers, religious activists, and political dissidents. The activities of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), especially those relating to the rule of law and expansion of judicial review, continue to be restricted.

Human rights failures remain a major concern. Abatement of pollution and improvements in systems to ensure food, drug, and product safety are major concerns,  especially after notorious episodes of exporting poisoned pet food, toothpaste, and infant formula.

Human rights failures remain a major concern. Abatement of pollution and improvements in systems to ensure food, drug, and product safety are major concerns,  especially after notorious episodes of exporting poisoned pet food, toothpaste, and infant formula.