BEIJING - CHINA declared on Thursday it had 'no dissidents', just hours after a Beijing court upheld an 11-year jail term for one of the country's top pro-democracy voices.'There are no dissidents in China,' foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu told reporters at a regular news briefing.
Mr Ma made the comment in answer to a question about leading Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, whose appeal of his conviction on subversion charges was denied early Thursday. When asked to elaborate, Mr Ma said: 'In China, you can judge yourself whether such a group exists. But I believe this term is questionable in China.'
Activists have said the treatment of Liu, who co-authored a bold petition calling for political change, is just one example of what they say is an increasing Chinese crackdown on dissent in the country.
On Tuesday, Chinese activist Tan Zuoren was jailed for five years for subversion, his lawyer said, after he probed whether shoddy construction linked to offical corruption caused school collapses in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.
Liu's case has sparked calls around the world for his release, and the upholding of his sentence on appeal triggered swift US and EU condemnation Thursday.