Milk activist a taboo topic at NPC session

Despite his release on medical parole, tainted-milk activist Zhao Lianhai remained a taboo subject during the parliamentary session of the National People's Congress.

His case was cited by some Hong Kong deputies as an example of injustices that went on on the mainland, but time and again, senior mainland officials refused to respond.

In different closed-door meetings with Zhang Jun, vice-president of the Supreme People's Court, and Qiao Xiaoyang , deputy secretary general of the NPC Standing Committee, local delegates mentioned Zhao's case. However, none of the officials responded, although deputies said the officials listened attentively to their views.

Zhao was jailed for 21/2 years for 'provoking quarrels and making trouble' after he organised a group to seek redress for the 300,000 victims of the melamine milk scandal.

One deputy, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said no one would go into the details of Zhao's case at the meetings even though it had been mentioned.

Another deputy said he had been told privately by an official 'not to sign any submission like Lew Mon-hung's'.

Lew, a local delegate to the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, filed a proposal which suggested that Daxing District Court should be held accountable for unlawful acts, including the harsh judgment it handed down on Zhao.

Lew told the media last week that two mainland officials had advised him against making the submission, saying it was 'too sensitive'. Hong Kong delegate Peter Wong Man-kong criticised fellow delegates who signed Lew's petition, but refused to endorse the two annual work reports of the Supreme People's Court and Supreme People's Procuratorate.

Delegates often vote against the reports as a way to express displeasure at the administration of justice.

'The reports only stated what the court and the procuratorate had done in the past year, but failed to address what it had not done,' said Wong, who voted against the two reports. '[But] how many cases did they turn away?'

Fellow deputy Bernard Chan also voted against them.

'The judicial system on the mainland still has a lot of flaws,' Chan said. 'As an NPC deputy, I think I should give it some pressure to improve.'

Raymond Ho Chung-tai, who voted for the reports, said endorsing the two documents was not contradictory to his signing of the petition for Zhao.

'Deputies' satisfaction with the reports has increased this year, as seen from the votes ... I wouldn't vote against them because of one case,' he said.