As we’ve seen during the Olympic Games, Chinese authorities are applying what they believe is a proven method to counter dissent: Pre-emptive detention of potential ‘trouble-makers’ ahead of an event.

The media couldn’t find many human rights defenders in Beijing last August because most of them had either been detained, arrested, expelled from Beijing or prevented to enter it.

Today is the 60^th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. One way to commemorate the event would have been to release imprisoned human rights defenders, like Hu Jia, so that he could receive his 2008 Sakharov Prize in person next week in the European Parliament. But instead, the government is arresting more on this anniversary.

Today, dozens of people who had gathered outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs protesting that ordinary citizens would not be allowed to contribute to the document were detained. The police even flagged down a public bus to take the demonstrators away.

Monday, prominent human rights defender Liu Xiaobo was taken by police. His arrest is related to his participation in drafting “Charter 8″, a courageous call for democratic reform in China signed by 300 lawyers, writers, scholars and artists. Zhang Zhuhua was held 12 hours for questioning, his computer, books and documents confiscated.

A few days ago, three other human rights activists were detained in the south-western province of Guizhou, where they were organising a conference to mark the anniversary.

At the same time, Wang Chen, director of the State Council Information Office, has the nerve to say in an interview that “China has made historic progress in human rights.” He did acknowledge there were “still many problems and difficulties in the development of human rights,” but simply acknowledging it, on this anniversary date, while people are being dragged off by police, is a mockery.