Human rights and humanitarian issues in China are a growing concern and have never been fully addressed by the international community.  There is no way to know the extent of these human rights abuses without maintaining an independent media in China, as the Chinese Communist Party has been slowly and  consistently eliminating dissent and individual freedoms over the past few years.  As one of the world's leading economies, China's impact on world democracy is an ever growing menace without a free and independent media. 

I call on the International Community to respond by pressuring the Chinese government to release the journalists currently being detained in Chinese custody, some of whom are in urgent need of medical care.  They include include, Huang Liangtian, his reporter Wang Jing, who has been diagnosed with brain tumors; freelance writer Lü Gengsong, who suffers from gallbladder disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure and who has been denied medical parole; and elderly Hong Kong publisher Yiu Man-tin, who has had five heart attacks since his incarceration in 2013.

Lobsang Jamyang, a Tibetan writer and blogger detained in Mianyang prison; Niyaz Kahar, a reporter and blogger jailed in Shikho prison; Kunchok Tsephel Gopey Tsang, founder of the Tibetan cultural issues website Chomei, who has leg and hip pain; and Ding Lingjie, editor of human rights news website Minsheng Guancha, who has hyperostosis, a bone growth disorder, are all in need of medical help behind bars, the Committee to Protect Journalists has said.