- A Chinese court sentenced a hotel employee and a brothel
keeper to life imprisonment yesterday for organising what was described
as an orgy for hundreds of Japanese tourists.
-
- Twelve other defendants, including several mami (women
who organise prostitutes) were jailed for up to 15 years and Interpol has
been handed papers on three Japanese people suspected of playing a role
in the debauch, which caused public uproar, diplomatic protests, and an
upsurge of anti-Japanese feeling in China.
-
- Fifteen local police officers and tourist agency officials
were reprimanded for negligence in failing to halt the spread of sex tourism
in the attractive beach area in southern China.
-
- The court in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, was closed to
the public. According to the domestic media it found evidence that more
than 200 Japanese men, mostly employees of Kooki, a construction company
based in Osaka, took part in the sex holiday at the Zhuhai International
Convention Centre hotel in mid-September.
-
- The court heard that a Kooki representative contacted
the hotel in March, but the visit was postponed because of the Sars epidemic.
-
- An agreement with the hotel was signed in August.The
Chinese media reported that the contract specifically requested sexual
services.
-
- Finding enough prostitutes was the job of Ye Xiang, an
employee of the hotel, and Ming Zhu, a mami . Both were jailed for life.
-
- The visitors arrived on September 16 and stayed for two
nights. Rather than the mass orgy described in initial reports, the court
was told that some of the men took the prostitutes to their rooms for sex.
-
- Even by the strict standards of the Chinese penal system
the sentences were remarkably harsh. Prostitution is illegal, but the law
is increasingly flouted in vast red-light districts which have appeared
in cities throughout the country.
-
- Many hotels openly offer to procure women for guests,
particularly foreign visitors, and in previous noteworthy cases the maximum
sentence given to pimps and mami has been 15 years.
-
- If the visitors had been from any other country and had
arrived at any other time the outcome would probably have been very different,
but anti-Japanese feeling remains fierce in China.
-
- This year has seen several particularly bad outbreaks
of animosity, including angry demonstrations after a construction worker
was killed by a chemical warhead left behind by the Japanese army, and
a huge protest against two Japanese students who performed a racy skit
in front of their classmates and teachers.
-
- Moreover, the hotel visit occurred on "the day of
shame" - the anniversary of the 1931 Mukden incident, which led to
the Japanese army's invasion of Manchuria, the atrocities of its germ warfare
unit and the use of Chinese as sex slaves.
-
- After sensational reports of the "sex rites"
in the hotel, Chinese websites were flooded with anti-Japanese messages
and a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman described the debauch as "odious".
The Japanese government has acknowledged that the conduct of the tourists
was morally wrong.
-
- The response to yesterday's verdict suggests public anger
has not been appeased. Bulletin boards again hummed with anti-Japanese
feeling. "I worked in a Japanese factory. They're not human. I hate
them," one said. Another said: "Kill the bastards."
-
- Although the Chinese authorities have given information
to Interpol about the three Japanese men who are said to have arranged
the sex tour, it is unlikely that they will be able to proceed against
them.
-
- Tokyo has a policy of refusing to extradite Japanese
nationals, no matter what crimes they are suspected of.
-
- But the formerly bustling Zhuhai entertainment district
may never be the same again.
-
- The local authorities have tightened their restrictions
on massage parlours and ordered karaoke bars, which are often used as a
front for prostitution, to close two and a half hours earlier, at 11.30pm
-
-
-
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,7369,1109257,00.html
>
|
