China, Human Rights | featured news

Chinese authorities have released a woman sent to a labor camp for challenging the sentences handed down to the men who abducted, raped and prostituted her 11-year-old daughter. Tang Hui was ordered last week to serve 18 months in a labor camp for "disturbing social order and exerting a negative impact on society." The crusading mother's case has aroused widespread public outrage and thrown a spotlight on China's controversial reeducation through labor camps.

The United States says it has taken all the necessary steps on its side to admit Chen Guangcheng, the Chinese human rights activist who ignited a diplomatic frenzy when he escaped house arrest last month.

At an elaborate color-guard ceremony welcoming President Hu Jintao of China, President Obama on Wednesday spoke of “universal rights.”

China accused Washington of hypocrisy on Friday for its criticism of Beijing's restrictions on the Internet and dissent, blaming the United States for the financial crisis and saying its own rights record was terrible.

President Barack Obama is walking a tightrope on his first trip to China, seeking to enlist help in tackling urgent global problems while weighing when and how — or if — he should raise traditional human rights concerns.