China Support Network Blog

Output from the Chinese revolution conference

2011-05-31T08:52:00.000-07:00

This past weekend (May 28 and 29, 2011), a significant conference of Chinese dissidents convened in Flushing, New York, titled, "The Centenary of the Revolution of 1911 and the Contemporary Democratic Revolution." It was also subtitled, "Commemoration of Twenty Second Anniversary of June 4," a reference to the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989.

The conference seems to have birthed a new umbrella organization, or coalition: The China Democratic Revolution Federation. The program of speakers included Lianchao Han, Li Dayong, Greg Autry, Liu Guokai, Wu Fan (by video), Huang Xiang, Yan Xiong, Yi Rong, Zhao Yan, Zi Yang, Ruan Jie, Xin Haonian, Tang Baiqiao, Liu Guohua, Li Fengzhi, Guo Baosheng, Bian Hexiang, Mao Xiaomin (by video), Zhang Kaicheng, Ye Ning, John Kusumi, Steve Mosher (by video), Sun Yun, and Feng Congde.

The proceedings also heard an impromptu speech from a young man who will turn age 27 this year. He is identified as the originator of this year's Chinese youth movement and the calls for a 'Jasmine' revolution. What this means is that China's "Generation Y" is beginning to have a voice and a big impact in the Chinese democracy movement.

If you speak Mandarin, the following link points to a three-minute news report about the conference, done by NTDTV (New Tang Dynasty TV):
http://ap.ntdtv.com/b5/20110529/video/63375.html

If you read English, the following link points to reflections about the conference, by Greg Autry, the co-author of a new book, 'Death By China':
http://www.deathbychina.com/blog/?p=103

Also in English, we have to repost here the speech that was given to the proceedings by John Kusumi, the founder of the China Support Network:

Advice for a revolution

A talk given to the conference for China's Jasmine revolution
May 28, 2011 • Marco LaGuardia Hotel, New York City

By John Kusumi

I am happy that the organizers of today's conference brought together so many top revolutionaries -- leading figures in the fight and the struggle of China's pro-democracy movement.

It is 2011, and the world is having many revolutions this year. The conference topic is the matter of change in China, but this year the world has experienced and witnessed the changes in Tunisia and in Egypt, and we see struggles continuing in Libya, Syria, Yemen, Bahrain, and elsewhere.

In fact, there is a European youth movement that coincides with the Arab youth movement. Europe has seen unrest in Iceland, Greece, Ireland, Britain, Portugal, and Spain.

Inevitably, there will be a Chinese youth movement that prevails in changing China from a despotic tyranny to a more free and democratic society.

I would like to use my time today to consider and to compare the Chinese and Egyptian revolutions. I'm making use of Egypt for purposes of discussion, but my thoughts also extend to the other revolutions as well.

Egypt recently displayed 'people power' and unseated its dictator. That is excellent news, as far as it goes.

However, in Egypt they are not finished with having a pro-democracy revolution. The following words are good for China as well as Egypt: Any pro-democracy revolution must change two things: (1.) the party in power; (2.) the system of the society. In Egypt, they did the former -- the first thing. We are waiting to see the latter type of change. The second task is to make the system democratic and run by elected civilians, not by the military. The military was not elected and it did not get there by a democratic process.

Egypt is not finished with step two in the process, and so we must continue to be watchful and to pay attention to what happens in Egypt.

However, even if we expect a successful transition -- let's suppose that Egypt arrives at having a freely elected government -- they are not out of the woods! There are further perils -- hazards and impediments that may stop life from getting better.

I continue to have advice for a successful Egypt and for a successful China. Here is what I would say to Egypt now:

(1.) Do not accept any loans from the IMF (International Monetary Fund); and,
(2.) Please ensure that your government must own and operate its own central bank.

I wonder, do Chinese dissidents understand that there is division and struggle and fighting within the free world? Differences arise about the subject of banking and currencies. Many people believe that currencies must at least be pegged to a commodity standard.

In the old days, currencies could be changed into a fixed quantity of gold. In more recent times, the free world has essentially fallen into the hands of private bankers, who create fiat money in ways that are mercurial and arbitrary. And, there is no backing for the currency. This is not the gold standard. This is “the ‘trust me’ standard.”

As I noted above, a true revolution must change more than the party in power. It must change the system of the society. In the Western world these days, too much power has been given to private bankers who mis-manage the nation's power to issue currency. There is no excuse for this, because the issuance of money is a power of government. Government can and should do this itself, without delegating this task to the private sector.

The currency mis-management has raised the price of food -- and that was a central complaint of the Egyptian people as they took to the streets.

So, as I said above, Egypt is not out of the woods! A true system change would abolish private central banks, and also abolish the gambling and speculation which drives up the price of food commodities. It is not just Egypt, it is the whole world which needs these reforms.

And so, it is not just the job of the Egyptians that I speak of! It is a job for Chinese and yes, Americans as well. In many poor regions of the world, a high price of food means a matter of life and death. Let's remember: If we are reformers, I see it as our job. We must work for banking, currency, and speculation reform.

Ultimately, this matter is like Wall Street reform. For the population, this is a life-and-death matter. And the issue must be put to every government on earth. I believe that is why we are seeing such unrest this year, and it is not limited to the Arab street. We see it on the street in Europe, and we will soon see it on the street in China, by way of your efforts that are under discussion today.

Thank you for letting me contribute these thoughts to the conference.

----------------------------------------------------------
John Kusumi is the founder of the pro-democracy China Support Network, formed in 1989 as the world responded to the slaughter of innocents at the bloody Tiananmen Square massacre.

To locate the 4/23 speech

2011-04-24T08:32:00.000-07:00

The full text of the CSN speech by JPK, delivered to a Falun Gong rally in Flushing, New York on 4/23/2011, is located here:

http://chinademocracy.blogspot.com/2011/04/western-powers-leaving-jews-in-gas.html

Tweet of Saturday, 4/23/2011

2011-04-23T04:25:00.000-07:00

Speech today! It's an important anniversary of Falun Gong persecution in China, +abuse of Tibetans. Rally@ public library, Flushing NYC 1PM

China clashes with Tibetan protestors at Kirti

2011-03-16T12:43:00.001-07:00

From Students for a Free Tibet, this is important:

UPDATE: A young monk from Kirti monastery has died after lighting himself on fire prompting a protest by up to 1,000 monks and lay people. Chinese forces have flooded the town and have surrounded Kirti monastery. Read more about the incident.

Take Action:

1. Call your Embassy in China: Alert them to this incident and urge them to press the Chinese government to respect the right of Tibetans to peaceful protest. http://is.gd/iyKs5d

2. Call Chinese authorities in Sichuan: Demand the immediate release of those detained and for them to uphold the basic rights of Tibetans. http://is.gd/bxGCAe

3. Call the Chinese Embassy in your country: Tell them that people worldwide are watching the situation in Ngaba, Tibet closely and demand the release of all those detained in today's protest. http://is.gd/Gj00Mt

4. Organize a solidarity protest this Friday, March 18th. Send details of your protest to info@studentsforafreetibet.org and we'll help to spread the word.

Presence on Facebook

2011-03-04T07:38:00.000-08:00

For those who want to follow / contribute to the China Jasmine Revolution on Facebook, find below a list of Jasmine-related Facebook pages.

The first one is approaching 10,000 members, and the others are 100 <= x <= 1,000.

I feel it is smart to join and cross-post at more than one of these, because you never know when the evil people will cause a problem for one of these pages.

http://www.facebook.com/jasminerevolution.cn (membership: 9,551)
http://www.facebook.com/Chinarevolution (membership: 824)
http://www.facebook.com/ChinaJasmineRevolution (membership: 483)
http://www.facebook.com/pages/中國茉莉花革命/190173991012902 (membership: 189)
- also known as: -
http://www.facebook.com/pages/%E4%B8%AD%E5%9C%8B%E8%8C%89%E8%8E%89%E8%8A%B1%E9%9D%A9%E5%91%BD/190173991012902
http://www.facebook.com/NoCPP (membership: 162)

Internet posters of #cn220 release a statement on Feb. 22

2011-02-23T08:08:00.000-08:00

(Repost) The Boxun blog has posted the following English translation of a message that claims responsibility for the Chinese Jasmine calls to revolution.

Announcement from the initiators of China's "jasmine revolution":

We are the initiators of the "jasmine" revolution

We have seen how the Chinese society has already collapsed completely, how poisonous food products are breeding like flies and how the younger generation has already suffered deeply from this. The autocratic regime in China have lost their believes and become an organization that share the booty, incapable of saving itself, day by day it is becoming more and more fascistic. The political system is rotten and corruption has run amock. The independence of the courts is being reversed and government officials and their children have monopolized all the resources of the system. Society has become extremely polarized and there is a wide gap between the rich and the poor. Prices are rising, especially real estate prices, causing seething popular discontent. The human rights situation for people in China is disgusting, arbitrary detentions and kidnappings are widespread. News is heavily censored and the livelihoods of media professionals are smashed one after another. The 35 articles of The Constitution perform practically no function; people's properties are recklessly plundered and demolished homes lead to death; sometimes people even light themselves on fire. China has already been reduced to a dark hole of resources, the environment is polluted, the eco-system is destroyed and our children and grandchildren are left a legacy of nothing but trouble.

We deeply feel that the root of all this is the autocratic regime. What makes us even more troubled is that the rulers have already closed off our increasing numbers of communication channels. When investigating government offices we are not only competing with the children of government officials, but also with business interests. We have no way of matching the capital of the big wigs of "the nation advances, the people are left behind." We can do nothing but to bear the weight of high real estate prices and high inflation on our shoulders and struggle to eke out a living; we never see a future.

We only possess a virtual space where we can feel that we exist. Last week we initiated China’s “Jasmine revolution” because we hoped to borrow momentum from the democratization of North Africa and the Middle East and we urge China to reform or change; to change the unfair and unjust situation of the present - a situation of gradual degradation.

We were pleasantly surprised by the activities that took place on February 20th, but we also feel grief and indignation that over a hundred people including Tang Jitian, Teng Biao, Jiang Tianyong, Liu Guohui, Gu Chuan, Chen Wei, Ran Yunfei, Zhu Yufu, Jiang Danwen, Yao Lifadeng, Li Tiantian, You Jingyou, Zhang Lin, Wu Lebao, Qian Jin, Li Wenge, She Wanbao, Li Yu, Zhang Shanguang, Ding Mao, Zhou Li, Wang Sen, Pu Fei, Wang Wusi, Ni Wenhua, Liu Pingdeng, Liao Shuangyuan, Huang Yanming, Lu Yongxiang, Xiao Yong, Zhang Jianzhong, Lou Baosheng, Wei Shuishan, Mo Zhixu, He Yang, Li Renke, Cha Jianguo, Lu Gang, Zhang Shihe (Laohumiao), Chen Xintao, Huang Yaling, Ji Zhiyong, JinYuehua, Sun WenGuang, Li Xiongbing, Zhao Fengsheng, Huang Yaling, Li Heping, Wei Zhenling, He Huan, Li Di, Wei Qiang, Zhang Xianchi, Xue Mingkai, Li Jinfang, Feng Zhengfu, Wang Lihong, Li Xinai, Wang Yongzhi, Shi Xiaobo, Wang Yuqin, You Gui, Di Minglei, Wu Wenjian, Wu Chaoyang, Hua Chunhui, Deng Taiqing, Zhang Dajun, Xu Zhiyong, Wang Yongzhi, Wang Wu, Jia Chunxia, Ye Du, Ye Haiyan, Lan Wuyou, Huang Wei, Shi San, Wei Lanyu, Luo Yuheng, Duan Qixian, Zhang Wei, Hu Shigen, Gao Hongming, Xu Yonghai, Zhang Hui, Zhang Jiankang have suffered from being put in house arrests or taken into custody by the authorities. Among these people, Tang Jitian, Jiang Tianyong, Teng Biao, Liu Guohui, Gu Chuan, Chen Wei and Ran Yunfei have been taken into custody without legal procedures and have still not been able to communicate with the outside world.

The above-mentioned people had nothing to do with the “Jasmine” revolution of February 20th, and by taken them into custody or putting them in house arrest the authorities have illustrated just how recklessly they violate human rights .

The night of February 21st we had a long discussion to confer if we should collectively give ourselves up to the law to avoid that the above-mentioned people, who are still in custody and who had nothing to do with this, get into trouble, but we are many people who have participated to different degrees and we could not reach a uniform decision about collectively giving ourselves up to the law.

We call on the authorities to immediately release these people, who had nothing to do with this. Regardless of how the authorities decide to respond, we will continue to mobilize at the locations that were announced for February 20th (the locations have been slightly changed). The locations that have changed will be announced on Wednesday this week. If we are unable to announce this online due to the current conditions of the internet, we ask our friends to gather at the locations of last week. We call on our friends to enthusiastically participate. A small step for us is a great leap for changing the despotic status quo.

The initiators of the "jasmine" revolution

February 22nd 2011

Beijing Interferes With Journalists: IFJ

2011-02-23T08:03:00.000-08:00

The International Federation of Journalists has issued the following statement.

Media Release: China
February 22, 2011

Journalists Blocked When Reporting ‘Jasmine Revolution’ Protests in China

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is deeply concerned by reports that police and security agents intervened when journalists attempted to cover protests dubbed the “jasmine revolution” in China on February 20.

Many non-mainland journalists were blocked or harassed when covering the protests in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou on the day.

A Hong Kong journalist told the IFJ he was closely followed by a security officer who prevented him from making contact with a number of dissidents in Guangzhou. The journalist was harassed by the officer when investigating the case of a human rights lawyer, who was injured in a beating by five plain clothes officers after he tried to attend the Guangzhou protest.

“The security officer blocked my path to reach the injured lawyer and tried to snatch my cell phone when I recorded his unpleasant behaviour,” said the journalist, who requested anonymity. The officer also damaged the journalist’s phone in the incident.

The English service of state-controlled Xinhua News Agency reported on the protest but the stories later disappeared from its website. Xinhua’s Chinese service did not report the story at all.

“It’s only a show to foreign media - I’m not surprised,” a mainland journalist told the IFJ.

“We haven’t received any orders from the Central Propaganda Department regarding the ‘jasmine revolution’ so far but no relevant reports were published in Chinese media – it’s because anyone who publishes will be fired right away.”

The IFJ’s monitoring of China’s media in recent years has discovered that the authorities will often order punitive action, such as sacking and demotions, against journalists who are working to freely report the news.

“Protests in three separate locations in China are a matter of legitimate public interest, and we applaud those journalists who bravely attempt to cover these events under intense scrutiny and at risk to their livelihoods,” IFJ General Secretary Aidan White said.

“A number of leaders of China’s central authorities have publicly affirmed that public has the right to know about what is happening in their communities.

“Without the right to speak, these affirmations are hollow.”

China authorities further restricted online messaging services and articles after the protests were announced on an overseas website on February 19, the day before the protests took place. Relevant information was totally blacked out and the website was attacked fiercely afterwards.

The IFJ urges central authorities to respect the rights of its citizens to enjoy their freedom of expression and freedom of the press, underwritten by Article 35 of China’s Constitution.

High Time to Re-think U.S. China Policy

2011-01-18T10:18:00.000-08:00

Comments on Mr. Zbigniew Brzezinski’s most recent message on “How to Stay Friends With China” on the eve of Hu Jintao's formal state visit to Washington, DC.

By Ning Ye and John Kusumi
Jan. 2011

On the eve of the summit meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and President Hu Jintao, the Secretary General of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from the People's Republic of China (PRC), Mr. Zbigniew Brzezinski -- the former National Security Advisor to former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and one of the most important front-running "old China hands" -- published an article. His op-ed, “How to Stay Friends With China”, is an apparent attempt to pre-frame U.S. China policy to (mis)guide the White House under the codes of a decades-long, never-changing stereotype of blindfolded China advocacy. The drumbeat of that advocacy has continued ever since the top secret Cohen Memo was presented to former President Richard Nixon on November 7, 1969, regardless of drastic macro-changes in the political/economic landscape of North America and Asia as we see today. In effect, Brzezinski issued a brainwashing dictum to the current Obama administration.

To some degree, Mr. Brzezinski may be one of the extraordinary figures among the ranks of such top-notch godfathers of U.S. China policy, as for example unforgettable figures such as John King Fairbank, Jerome Cohen, Henry Kissinger, and Alexander Haig. Mr. Brzezinski made certain excellent remarks about issues he expressly addressed or at which he implicitly hinted.

He notes that a U.S.-China summit during the Carter administration "marked the beginning of China's three-decades-long economic transformation - one facilitated by its new diplomatic ties to the United States."

Mr. Brzezinski is not simply a witness for what he styled as China’s "economic transformation" over the course of several decades. He himself has played an indelible leading role in designing and devising the engine for that “facilitation," making all such “transformation” accelerated. Henceforth, history and human commemoration must remember his name, whether in good light or bad, for accountability.

Mr. Brzezinski may be absolutely right to point out that "China's three-decades-long economic transformation" from an under-developed, third class banana republic to the world's number two economic superpower -- and expected to surpass the United States, becoming the world's number one economy -- has been "facilitated by its new diplomatic ties to the United States." What this old-fashioned China advocator on Pennsylvania Avenue forgot to mention is explicit language: such facilitation -- helping and driving such a transformation -- could never be realistically achieved, perceived or even imagined without the far reaching efforts and colossal contribution that was made by the author personally, in collaborating with his fellow China hands of the same special interest group that exerts decisive influence 'inside the Beltway.'

Then what has come to fruition from such a broad based "China transformation"? Using the author's own observation and his wonderful voodoo language:

"President Hu's visit takes place in a different climate. There are growing uncertainties regarding the state of the bilateral relationship, as well as concerns in Asia over China's longer-range geopolitical aspirations. These uncertainties are casting a shadow over the upcoming meeting."

It may be self-evident that the picture of such a post-transformation China being "facilitated" by the U.S. Government, misguided by Mr. Brzezinski and his collaborators, may not be good news to the people of the United States, while "China's longer-range geopolitical aspirations" have been showcased in its ambitious military confrontation with the United Nations on the Korean peninsula. Mr. Brzezinski may not be completely ignorant or may pretend to be completely ignorant about the nasty part of "China's geopolitical aspirations" which may not be bright or optimistic. It may even be seen as traumatic.

Brzezinski writes, "China's seeming lack of concern over North Korea's violent skirmishes with South Korea has given rise to apprehension about China's policy on the Korean peninsula. And just as America's unilateralism has in recent years needlessly antagonized some of its friends, so China should note that some of its recent stands have worried its neighbors."

Instead of presenting a realistic picture to both the administration and the people of the United States, Advisor Brzezinski made up his bold mind to take a completely different approach, one bearing a clear-cut trade mark of his "Sinologist School": He has apparently decided to kick away such a "shadow", by invoking his three-plus decade, never-ever changing prescription of painkillers or sleeping pills, rather than anything else, being collectively offered to the people of the United States by such a handful of China advocators and lobbyists since 1969 -- if not 1949 or before. (The roots of such a special interest group can be traced back to the year around 1949, when so-called "Stewart Service" within the U.S. Department of State enthusiastically acclaimed the head of Chinese Communist Party "Chairman Mao" as "China's George Washington," a liberator and founder of freedom for the United States.)

Therefore, Advisor Brzezinski feels it imminently necessary to struggle against the following tendency which apparently concerns him and his fellow old China guards in Washington, Cambridge and elsewhere:

"The worst outcome for Asia's long-term stability as well as for the American-Chinese relationship would be a drift into escalating reciprocal demonization. What's more, the temptations to follow such a course are likely to grow as both countries face difficulties at home."

"A drift into escalating reciprocal demonization"? This sort of micro-scale manipulation of U.S. China policy in prohibiting "verbal demonization" by total control of the administration's central nervous system through linguistic cleansing has echoed what was offered and hidden by such "scholars" as Professor John King Fairbank and then young professor Jerome Cohen, from Cambridge, in 1969, through their "Cohen Secret Memo". The Cohen Memo offered the White House brand new linguistic codes when speaking about China, for example dropping all use of such terms as "Communist China", "Red China," and "Chicong." Therefore, efforts to prevent "reciprocal demonization" (telling the truth about China) can be traced back to November 7, 1969.

Nothing is new here. With such a policy guideline in place, the linguistic cleansing codes for banning "reciprocal demonization" may be sufficient enough to render all U.S. legislative efforts to maintain this country’s stature as the beacon for the "aspiration" of the rest of the mankind null and void. For instance, the U.S. Congress passed an act in 1997, namely the "International Religious Freedom Act" which directs the administration "to issue private demarche and public condemnation" against countries which are listed having religious persecution. The question is: If the administration faithfully observes the 1997 act and "publicly condemns" China's religious persecution, does such adherence to Congressional law violate another set of controlling laws -- the laws from the mouths such old China advocators as Mr. Brzezinski and his collaborators? We need not wonder why the U.S. Government has from time to time voluntarily punted the initiative to speak out for the oppressed in Communist China, and instead has long chosen to keep silent. Mr. Brzezinski, the godfather of U.S. China policy has directed the administration to continue avoiding “reciprocal verbal demonization” with communist China.

Nevertheless, credit should be given to Advisor Brzezinski for some of his well grounded observations and viewpoints, marking his distinction from many of his other colleagues within the "China policy circle" whose IQ may occasionally be open to question. Brzezinski writes, "Our [U.S.] weakening infrastructure is merely a symptom of the country's slide backward into the 20th century."

Here Brzezinski appears brilliant -- more evidence that he does not belong to the group of brain-dead China policy advocators. To point out to the general public that "our weakening infrastructure is merely a symptom of the country's slide backward into the 20th century" requires not just courage and boldness, it also requires sharpness and common wisdom. Things may be even worse than what Mr. Brzezinski observed. It is not just "weakening," neither is it just relating to "infrastructure."

The totality of this once great nation, once a beacon to the rest of the mankind, has been drastically declining, absolutely and relatively, due to the quick rise of its strategic, lethal adversary on the other side of the Pacific Ocean. The national contagion of economic -- not just economic alone -- impotence, lack of vigor, lack of self- criticism, lack of imagination, paralysis and impotency in development of thoughts, wide-spread judicial corruption, self-forfeiture of the world’s moral leadership and prior high ground in advocacy of the Western value system, vis-à-vis the energy and creativity on the side of our major adversary (not "friend"), have all contributed to such a "weakening infrastructure" and national "slide back to the 20th century." Yet one cannot attribute such colossal wrongs to "waging the cold war" by "our lone shoulder." It has been 20 years since the U.S. administration declared victory in the cold war, even though it is a half-done success.

Having clearly noted the “symptom” of America now, against the backdrop of the most recent 30 years, Mr. Brzezinski presents one of the foremost crucial points of what he wants to sell to the White House, as well as to the full power house of Washington:

"Neither side should delude itself that it can avoid the harm caused by an increased mutual antagonism; both should understand that a crisis in one country can hurt the other."

The bottom line of godfather Brzezinski’s above-cited comments is that the constitutional democracy of the United States and the totalitarian China are both living in a co- existent, co-survival eco-system. In this light, we can never blame British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain for his role in negotiating the Munich Pact with Adolf Hitler in September 1938: "I have brought to you, the entire Europe, the enduring peace and lasting mutual cooperation (with co-survival of Nazi Third Reich under the Fuhrer Adolf Hitler!), congratulations!"

Under such a Chamberlain-esque "co-survival" doctrine, there would be no legitimacy for such a crisis-causing opposition movement as the White Rose Movement, because a crisis inside the Nazi Third Reich would definitely "hurt" the United Kingdom and all allied nations! With such a "co-survival doctrine," one's crisis will hurt the other. By this token, one can rationally explain why China's opposition movement has virtually received zero support from the entire West while trillions of hot dollars scampered into the treasury of Beijing's dictators. The reason? "Crises" caused in Communist China will definitely hurt the United States and the allies. Under such a long standing U.S. foreign policy fraud, it follows naturally that the outcry from imprisoned Dr. Liu Xiaobo, and from thousands of Falun Gong practitioners being brutally eliminated in a 21st century genocide, will be neglected and unheard.

Again, at first glance, Mr. Brzezinski’s absurd misleading remarks are just a vivid expression of the state of mind shared by all those "old China hands" who place the national security interests of the Volks Reich of totalitarian China on par with those of the United States, if not above. This is misplaced “patriotism” toward some “motherland” other than the United States, but it has been in place for the last several decades.

But this sort of textbook fraud is more than what we saw in the classic Julius and Ethel Rosenberg case of misplaced "patriotism." There may be the same degree of enthusiasm, but quadruple the harmful consequences. Things that become wrong at this catastrophic magnitude are not so simple. If one carefully checks the linguistic codes employed by these powerful and influential godfathers as they frame up U.S.-China policy, one may find poetic voodoo codes (such as "friend", "strategic partnership", "constructive partnership," "peaceful coexistence," "engagement," "authoritarian," the impermissible "antagonism," and so on) used to mislead, misinform, and misguide the general public by depicting a never-changing honeymoon in diplomacy and foreign policy, the likes of which has never been found in the real world among sovereign states. Such a "one's crisis will inevitably hurt the other" co-survival system has never ever existed in human history since the world map was divided into geopolitical landmasses, not even seen in such relations between allies.

The school of godfathers for U.S. China policy from time to time paint themselves as "pragmatic," rather than "idealistic" policy makers. Therefore, in typical class teachings, their doctrine is: there is no perpetual friend, neither a perpetual foe, but perpetual interests. Such "pragmatic diplomacy preaching" completely changes its tune when communist China comes into the picture: "there are no perpetual friends except for China, but perpetual interests for a few."

Whenever the question is raised about Communist China, one may never expect a clear-cut answer. Americans are from time to time fed with mysteriously concocted plates full of voodoo codes without clarity of thought. Three or four decades have elapsed since these classic China lobbyists started to frame up “waging a cold war” mostly at the wrong targets, while having missed the right one, at colossal cost to ordinary American people. Over a course of decades, the macro-geopolitical landscape has changed drastically in favor of the totalitarian Beijing model (a topic for a separate article), having caused crisis after crisis inside the United States. However, the outdated voodoo codes of these China advocators have never changed or re-formulated. The old fraud used to mislead the Washington decision makers, defrauding the general public of the United States, by these now-aging godfathers of 30-40 years before -- from the midst of the last century -- is still swallowed whole today.

This country's China policy was framed starting with the secretive Cohen Memo in November 1969. The result of this policy is that China has now become one of the world's "G-2" superpowers in all respects after being strengthened with huge financial and technological inflows from the entire West, led by the United States in last three decades, while maintaining its democracy-suppressing totalitarian political institutions and political culture intact.

With such a drastic change, featuring what Mr. Bezezinski styled as "weakening infrastructure" and "sliding back to the 20th century" having caused 26,000,000 job losses and double digit unemployment, and the virtual collapse of U.S. banking and financial systems, vis-à-vis the quantum leap of China's economic stature, U.S. China policy is frozen in the past, where it has been since 1969.

When such front-running godfathers of China advocacy as Mr. Zbigniew Brzezinski, Dr. Henry Kissinger, Professor Jerome Cohen, and General Alexander Haig started advocating, preaching, selling their "new thinking" of a U-turn on U.S. China policy in late 1969, if not earlier; when double digits of Chinese army divisions were killing U.S. soldiers in battlefields of Vietnam; the presentable and persuasive rationale behind such a policy was to utilize China, one of the poorest and most backward nations within the international totalitarian bloc, to fight against the leading Communist superpower the USSR, the then-top strategic threat against this nation's national security and the collective security system under the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). 40 years after forming such a China policy, the geopolitical landscape of mankind has drastically changed.

China has now become the world’s number two economic superpower, predicted to overtake the United States and become the World’s number one superpower. China's economic power is twice that of Russia, and four times that of India.

Politically, the increasingly influential “Beijing Model” has provided the rest of the world an alternative institutional model of civilization diametrically opposed to the conventional Western value system and Western style of constitutional democracy, and may have sweepingly re-written the takeaway from world history.

In the military arena, China is spending its hard foreign currency reserve to quickly gain a certain supremacy in numerous competitive areas by developing advanced military technologies to use in electronic, magnetic, laser, outer space, and submarine weaponry. The most recent development is China’s successful test flight of its prototype answer to the F-22 stealth jet fighter, namely, China’s Jian-20. Today, China has all this powerful new military hardware, an infrastructure to underpin its new “Beijing Model”.

Mr. Zbigniew Brzezinski's 40-years-obsolete "China advocacy" appears completely detached from such a reality, and hence is completely out of touch.

To enable the majority of Americans to clearly see the fallacy of such obsolete, old fashioned China policy advocacy by these China policy godfathers using their voodoo linguistic codes, this nation may need an overhaul by sweeping clean the related vocabularies in describing China first. A brainstorm to re-think China issues will be absolutely impossible without such a linguistic cleansing to weed out decades-old China voodoo codes from our nation's so-called "realist" China policy, thereby opening the way to remake China policy with a healthy and capable way of thinking.

Ning Ye is a Chinese dissident and attorney. John Kusumi is 1989's founder of the pro-democracy China Support Network.

Liu Xiaobo statement re The Internet

2010-12-10T12:49:00.000-08:00

(This is a reprint of a previously-published essay by Liu Xiaobo.)

Laureate Liu: The internet is God's present

Today there are more than 100 million internet users in China. The Chinese Government is ambivalent towards it. On the one hand, the internet is a tool to make money. On the other, the Communist dictatorship is afraid of freedom of expression.

The internet has brought about the awakening of ideas among the Chinese. This worries the Government, which has placed great importance on blocking the internet to exert ideological control.

In October 1999 I finished three years of jail and returned home. There was a computer there and it seemed that every visiting friend was telling me to use it. I tried a few times but felt that I could not write anything while facing a machine and insisted on writing with a fountain pen. Slowly, under the patient persuasion and guidance of my friends, I got familiar with it and cannot leave it now. As someone who writes for a living, and as someone who participated in the 1989 democracy movement, my gratitude towards the internet cannot be easily expressed.

My first essay on the computer took a week to do - I was ready to abandon it several times. Under the encouragement of my friends, I finished it. For the first time, I sent an article by e-mail. Several hours later I received the reply from the editor. This made me aware of the magic of the internet.

With the censorship here, my essays can only be published overseas. Before using the computer, my handwritten essays were difficult to correct and the cost of sending them was high. To avoid the articles being intercepted, I often went from the west side of the city to the east side where I had a foreign friend who owned a fax machine.

The internet has made it easier to obtain information, contact the outside world and submit articles to overseas media. It is like a super-engine that makes my writing spring out of a well. The internet is an information channel that the Chinese dictators cannot fully censor, allowing people to speak and communicate, and it offers a platform for spontaneous organisation.

Open letters signed by individuals or groups are an important way for civilians to resist dictatorship and fight for freedom. The open letter from Vaclav Havel to the Czech dictator Husak was a classic of civil opposition to dictatorship.

Fang Lizhi, a famous dissident, wrote an open letter to Deng Xiaoping, China's leader, to ask for the release of the political prisoner Wei Jingsheng. This was followed by two open letters, signed by 33 and 45 people. These three open letters were regarded as the prelude to the 1989 democracy movement, when open letters rose up like bamboo shoots after rain to support the protesting students.

Back then it took a lot of time and resources to organise an open letter. Preparations began a month before; organisers had to be found to look up the people. We talked about the content of the letter, the phrasing, the timing, and it took several days to reach consensus. Afterwards, we had to find a place to typeset the handwritten open letter and then make several copies. After proofing the document, the most time-consuming thing was to collect the signatures. Since the government was monitoring the telephones of sensitive people, we had to ride our bicycles in all directions of Beijing.

In an era without the internet, it was impossible to collect the signatures of several hundred people, and it was also impossible to disseminate the news rapidly all over the world. At the time, the influence of and the participation in letter-writing campaigns were all quite limited. We worked for many days, and in the end we would only get a few dozen people to sign. The letter-signing movements in this new era have made a quantum leap.

The ease, openness and freedom of the internet has caused public opinion to become very lively in recent years. The Government can control the press and television, but it cannot control the internet. The scandals that are censored in the traditional media are disseminated through the internet. The Government now has to release information and officials may have to publicly apologise.

The first senior official to apologise was in 2001 when Zhu Rongji, who was then the Premier, apologised for an explosion in a school that caused the death of 41 people. At the same time, under the impact of internet opinion, the authorities had to punish officials - for Sars, mining accidents and the contamination of the Songhua River.

The internet has the extraordinary ability to create stars. Not only can it produce entertainment stars, it can also create “truth-speaking heroes”. It has allowed a new generation of intellectuals to emerge and created folk heroes such as the military doctor Jiang Yanyong (who publicly warned about the threat of Sars and forced the Government to take action).

Chinese Christians say that although the Chinese lack any sense of religion, their God will not forsake the suffering Chinese people. The internet is God's present to China. It is the best tool for the Chinese people in their project to cast off slavery and strive for freedom.

Barack Obama statement on Liu Xiaobo

2010-12-10T12:48:00.001-08:00

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
December 10, 2010

Statement by the President on the Awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize

One year ago, I was humbled to receive the Nobel Peace Prize – an award that speaks to our highest aspirations, and that has been claimed by giants of history and courageous advocates who have sacrificed for freedom and justice. Mr. Liu Xiaobo is far more deserving of this award than I was.

All of us have a responsibility to build a just peace that recognizes the inherent rights and dignity of human beings – a truth upheld within the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In our own lives, our own countries, and in the world, the pursuit of a just peace remains incomplete, even as we strive for progress. This past year saw the release of Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, even as the Burmese people continue to be denied the democracy that they deserve. Nobel Laureate Jose Ramos Horta has continued his tireless work to build a free and prosperous East Timor, having made the transition from dissident to President. And this past year saw the retirement of Nobel Laureate Desmond Tutu, whose own career demonstrates the universal power of freedom and justice to overcome extraordinary obstacles.

The rights of human beings are universal – they do not belong to one nation, region or faith. America respects the unique culture and traditions of different countries. We respect China’s extraordinary accomplishment in lifting millions out of poverty, and believe that human rights include the dignity that comes with freedom from want. But Mr. Liu reminds us that human dignity also depends upon the advance of democracy, open society, and the rule of law. The values he espouses are universal, his struggle is peaceful, and he should be released as soon as possible. I regret that Mr. Liu and his wife were denied the opportunity to attend the ceremony that Michelle and I attended last year. Today, on what is also International Human Rights Day, we should redouble our efforts to advance universal values for all human beings.

UN panned for snubbing Liu Xiaobo

2010-12-08T05:55:00.001-08:00

From The Telegraph:

By Max Wind-Cowie 12:36PM GMT 08 Dec 2010

For the first time since 1936, the Nobel peace Prize winner will be represented by an empty chair on Friday. Why? Because China has succeeded where no other state – bar the Nazi regime in Germany all those years ago – has. They have prevented either this year’s winner, Liu Xiaobo, or any member of his family from traveling to Oslo to accept the prize.

The Nobel Committee has, rightly, come in for some flak over the last few years. Awarding the prize to Al Gore – for jetting around the world arguing that people shouldn’t, er, jet around the world – and to President Obama were demeaning to the prize and to its purpose. But this year they got it right. China’s economic reforms are, in the long-term, meaningless without political liberalisation to empower its population.

Many, many Chinese are waking up to that simple fact; and Liu Xiaobo represents them, their hopes and their continued oppression at the hands of their own Government. In awarding him the prize, the Nobel Committee highlighted his sacrifice and the struggle of the Chinese people for freedom. But this award goes beyond that – it has also, unintentionally, served to highlight the hypocrisy of world bodies that mouth platitudes about human rights while ignoring Beijing’s brutality.

Continue here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/8188845/The-UNs-Nobel-decision-is-an-act-of-betrayal.html

It takes a criminal

2010-10-11T04:26:00.000-07:00

To run a United States China policy like that which has prevailed - ever since Tiananmen Square, 21 years ago - it takes a criminal.

American politicos who read this post will immediately think of Hillary Clinton, because some years ago she published a book titled, "It takes a village."

Well, that's no excuse for U.S.-China policy. That operation has been run, not by a village, but by criminals such as George H. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton.

I am not the only one who feels similar sentiments about U.S.-China policy.

On Friday, October 8, 2010, Liu Xiaobo won the Nobel Peace Prize and now the world has learned the story that Liu is still in jail, now being a political prisoner for the third time since the Tiananmen crackdown began.

At the moment, Liu Xiaobo may be experiencing so much world attention that he is "China's most famous dissident."

But, the long time holder of the title, "China's most famous dissident" is Wei Jingsheng, someone who fills a role for China analogous to Lech Walesa of Poland, who ran the Solidarity movement against the Communist government (back when Poland had a Communist government; Walesa and the freedom fighters won).

Wei referred to Hillary Clinton last week, in a TV broadcast that was beamed into China by Voice of America. Let's look carefully at Wei's words:

Currently, because of China's economic development, international society is hot on China's economic growth, and therefore grants political concessions to the Chinese authorities. Human rights gradually evolved into a political deal. Nowadays, both the West and China are too lazy even to do a deal. Little has improved on human rights in China, with more and more international concessions. Human rights are put aside. Even the newly appointed U.S. Secretary of State equivocated with "human rights are not our main topic" during her visit to China. Reduced pressure from the international community has made it more difficult for the Chinese people to realize their hope for democracy.

Wei used carefully-chosen words. He referred to "the newly appointed U.S. Secretary of State," and "her visit to China." It was 2009 when Hillary Clinton was new in that job, and when she made her first visit to China and made her remark, downplaying human rights. That remark infuriated the human rights community, and led to my call from here for Hillary Clinton to resign.

Last week, in response to news of the Nobel Peace Prize going to Liu Xiaobo, I was highly critical of the U.S. news media, saying:

As they jumped on a bandwagon called free trade--which gutted the U.S. economy--they decided that human rights issues inconvenienced free trade. They have now delivered 10 years of one-sided news; they've been largely silent about human rights abuses in China.

Wei and I were really going to the same topic in the same week. He criticized Clinton; I criticized the media. But the bottom line in both cases is really the same. It was well stated by Wei Jingsheng:

Reduced pressure from the international community has made it more difficult for the Chinese people to realize their hope for democracy.

In sum, the bought-off leadership of the West is making it harder for us to do our job. By now, mine is a long standing call, which I can repeat at any time:

Hillary Clinton, resign!

:-)

Barack Obama's statement on Liu Xiaobo

2010-10-08T11:14:00.001-07:00

I welcome the Nobel Committee's decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize to Mr. Liu Xiaobo. Last year, I noted that so many others who have received the award had sacrificed so much more than I. That list now includes Mr. Liu, who has sacrificed his freedom for his beliefs. By granting the prize to Mr. Liu, the Nobel Committee has chosen someone who has been an eloquent and courageous spokesman for the advance of universal values through peaceful and non-violent means, including his support for democracy, human rights, and the rule of law.

As I said last year in Oslo, even as we respect the unique culture and traditions of different countries, America will always be a voice for those aspirations that are universal to all human beings. Over the last 30 years, China has made dramatic progress in economic reform and improving the lives of its people, lifting hundreds of millions out of poverty. But this award reminds us that political reform has not kept pace, and that the basic human rights of every man, woman and child must be respected. We call on the Chinese government to release Mr. Liu as soon as possible.

- per WhiteHouse.gov, Oct. 8, 2010

Dalai Lama statement about Liu Xiaobo

2010-10-08T11:10:00.000-07:00

I would like to offer my heart-felt congratulations to Mr. Liu Xiaobo for being awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.

Awarding the Peace Prize to him is the international community’s recognition of the increasing voices among the Chinese people in pushing China towards political, legal and constitutional reforms.

I have been personally moved as well as encouraged by the efforts of hundreds of Chinese intellectuals and concerned citizens, including Mr. Liu Xiaobo in signing the Charter 08, which calls for democracy and freedom in China. I expressed my admiration in a public statement on 12 December 2008, two days after it was released and while I was on a visit to Poland. I believe in the years ahead, future generations of Chinese will be able to enjoy the fruits of the efforts that the current Chinese citizens are making towards responsible governance.

I believe that Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s recent comments on freedom of speech being indispensable for any country and people’s wish for democracy and freedom being irresistible are a reflection of the growing yearning for a more open China. Such reforms can only lead to a harmonious, stable and prosperous China, which can contribute greatly to a more peaceful world.

I would like to take this opportunity to renew my call to the government of China to release Mr. Liu Xiaobo and other prisoners of conscience who have been imprisoned for exercising their freedom of expression.

October 8, 2010

2010 Nobel Peace Prize citation

2010-10-08T03:38:00.000-07:00

As relayed by the Associated Press, here is the full text of the citation awarding the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize to Chinese dissident Liu Xiabo.

___

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2010 to Liu Xiaobo for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China. The Norwegian Nobel Committee has long believed that there is a close connection between human rights and peace. Such rights are a prerequisite for the "fraternity between nations" of which Alfred Nobel wrote in his will.

Over the past decades, China has achieved economic advances to which history can hardly show any equal. The country now has the world's second largest economy; hundreds of millions of people have been lifted out of poverty. Scope for political participation has also broadened.

China's new status must entail increased responsibility. China is in breach of several international agreements to which it is a signatory, as well as of its own provisions concerning political rights. Article 35 of China's constitution lays down that "Citizens of the People's Republic of China enjoy freedom of speech, of the press, of assembly, of association, of procession and of demonstration". In practice, these freedoms have proved to be distinctly curtailed for China's citizens.

For over two decades, Liu Xiaobo has been a strong spokesman for the application of fundamental human rights also in China. He took part in the Tiananmen protests in 1989; he was a leading author behind Charter 08, the manifesto of such rights in China which was published on the 60th anniversary of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 10th of December 2008. The following year, Liu was sentenced to 11 years in prison and two years' deprivation of political rights for "inciting subversion of state power". Liu has consistently maintained that the sentence violates both China's own constitution and fundamental human rights.

The campaign to establish universal human rights also in China is being waged by many Chinese, both in China itself and abroad. Through the severe punishment meted out to him, Liu has become the foremost symbol of this wide-ranging struggle for human rights in China.

2010's June 4 statement by CSN's J.P.K.

2010-06-04T12:05:00.000-07:00

It is the 21st anniversary of a crime against humanity -- the Tiananmen Square massacre.

I believe that Tiananmen is the issue which separates the humans from the neo-humans; and unfortunately, the neo-humans held the upper hand for the past 21 years.

China's pro-democracy movement is a bright light for humanity; it represents hope for a better future, and light at the end of a tunnel.

In China, the tunnel has been the tenure in power of the Chinese Communist Party -- a time of brutal totalitarianism, assaulting the Chinese people with calamity, devastation, arbitrary campaigns of capricious fiat, mass murder, displacement through land seizures, and environmental destruction. In the Chinese Communist Party, justice is nowhere and corruption is everywhere. As a nation, China will need to heal from wounds which are still being inflicted upon it today.

Those wounds do not represent humanity. Those wounds represent the very most inhuman cruelty, and the perversion of humanity; of government; and of law and justice.

True justice will lead to the prosecution of those responsible for these hideous atrocities, including the Tiananmen Square massacre of 21 years ago.

These 21 years have become a very dark chapter in the history of the free world. There is a cancer in the free world, and it is called neo-politics. 21 years ago, presidential leadership gave way to neo-presidential neo-leadership; and American journalism gave way to neo-American neo-journalism.

This may confuse onlookers. A good old, red blooded American could ask, "Where did all of this 'Neo' stuff come from? What's up with that?" Well, there is a way to make sense of it, once you know the reality in this matter: "Neo" is a word modifier. In contemporary politics, it means "bought off" or "sold out." America is suffering from neo-government, which connotes government of, by, and for the private sector, which is really not public spirited.

There used to be a public sector in this country, but it has atrophied into a fading memory. As a result, the United States has been provisioning Communist China to its own detriment. Indeed, this is detrimental to the entire free world. The U.S. has become its own worst enemy, and the free world has been led towards compromise--rather than expansion--of liberties. For 21 years, we have suffered the policies of neo-American neo-Presidents.

I like the idea of expanding liberties. I would like a new one: Freedom from cruel and unusual journalism. I would like journalists to be public-spirited honest reporters, intending to expand or illuminate the public discourse, rather than to manipulate and steer it. I would like them to inform, rather than deceive, the public.

They might explain that in China, President Hu Jintao is trying to preserve or save face amid the train wreck of Chinese government.

This is the first June 4 in the third decade after Tiananmen Square. What we have in this new decade is a Chinese democracy movement that is maturing; and hence, it will be far more capable of influencing events and effecting change in China.

Many people expect that China will be the rising power of the new century; but the Chinese democracy movement will be the rising power of the new decade, now at hand.

Justice cannot be denied forever. Nor can the train wreck of Chinese government. It is already the time now that China's people must pick up the pieces and create China anew.

In this new decade, your nation has massive challenges, as does mine. I have suggested that the Tiananmen issue separates the humans from the neo-humans. We need human politics, not CCP politics, nor Western neo-politics. We need human journalism, not CCP journalism, nor Western neo-journalism.

The neo-humans belong outside of government, or at least neutralized by a discredited ideology within a government that enables competition among ideologies. In the pro-Chinese democracy movement, our cause is just; our numbers are growing; and our technology is improving. We assert that China must have peace, prosperity, and justice, under a system of freedom, democracy, and full respect for human rights and the rule of law. China needs those improvements as mentioned by Liu Xiaobo in Charter 08.

For that matter, we need Liu Xiaobo! So long as the Communist Party remains in place in mainland China, we continue to demand the immediate release and freedom of Liu Xiaobo; and of Wang Bingzhang; and of Zhou Yongjun; and of Gao Zhisheng. All other prisoners of conscience must likewise be freed, and we demand the support of Charter 08, and the end of persecution and retribution for the signatories of Charter 08.

This movement – for Chinese freedom and justice – should be the highest priority of the United States in its relations with China. It would already be Priority #1, but for the fact that neo-humans run the U.S. State Department. They are champions of bought off, sold out, private sector priorities. Shame on them, but hooray for you, here at New York City’s June 4 memorial of 2010! Thank you for taking in my speech, and God bless China!

June 4 Event In Toronto

2010-06-03T04:10:00.001-07:00

Toronto events for the 21st Anniversary of the June 4th Tiananmen Massacre will be held on Friday June 4th 2010

Friday June 4th 2010

The March

Gather in front of the Chinese Consulate, 240 ST.GEORGE STREET, TORONTO , ON , N5R 2N5

then march to the June 4th Memorial site @ U of T.

Time: 6:30 pm

Candlelight vigil

Venue: June 4th memorial site, Hart House Circle, University of Toronto.

Time: 7:30pm

Berlin Lit. Festival to honor Liao Yiwu on June 4

2010-06-02T22:07:00.000-07:00

Via email, the China Support Network has received this information from Germany:

Appeal for a worldwide reading on June 4th 2010 for Liao Yiwu, and in
commemoration of the Tiananmen Square massacre
The international literature festival Berlin (ilb) calls for cultural
institutions, schools, radio stations and interested people to participate
in a worldwide reading of prose and poems by the Chinese author Liao Yiwu on
June 4th 2010. This day is the anniversary of the Tinananmen massacre in
Beijing in 1989, during which, according to the Red Cross, roughly 2,600
people died. The event itself, from which a democratic movement arose, is
not covered in the official Chinese media, and censorship was further
increased on the 20th anniversary of the massacre, extending deep into the
Web 2.0 internet platforms. The enforced silence in China - which also
covers the period of the Cultural Revolution – and the extremely high number
of executions in the country, as well as the treatment of Tibet, must be
even more clearly communicated by the civic institutions in democratic
societies.

For this reason, the following works by Liao Yiwu will be read on June 4th:
»My Teacher, my Enemy«; »The Public Toilet Manager«; »The Peasant Emperor«;
»Nineteen Days«; »Memories of My Flute Teacher« and, by Wen Huang (the
author's American translator), »Liao Yiwu – Lunatic Outcast«.

Liao Yiwu is one of the authors whose works are not published in China
despite their international success, as the powers-that-be claim that they
promote »the dissemination of counter-revolutionary propaganda with foreign
help«. Even his name may not be mentioned. From 1990 to 1994 he was
imprisoned for his literary and socio-political activities, and was only
released early from jail due to international pressure. His interviews with
underdogs (»Interviews with People from the Bottom Rung of Society«) and his
poetry (including »Massacre« and the anthology »The Fall of the Holy
Temple«) have been published abroad in recent years by renowned publishing
houses and journals like Lettre International (German edition) and the New
York journal The Paris Review.

Despite owning a travel permit, Liao Yiwu was not allowed by the Chinese
authorities to attend either the 2009 Frankfurt Book Fair or the
lit.cologne. The ilb and the Harbourfront Festival in Hamburg have invited
him to both festivals in September 2010. We can only hope that the Chinese
authorities grant him the fundamental right to travel abroad, and to return
to China.

The goal of the worldwide reading is to share Liao Yiwu's works with a
broader readership, to commemorate the massacre of Tiananmen Square, and to
urgently admonish China's human rights record.

On the occasion of the third anniversary of the beginning of the war in
Iraq, the international literature festival Berlin and the
Peter-Weiss-Stiftung für Kultur und Politik for the first time called for a
worldwide reading on March 20th 2006 – this initial »Anniversary of the
Political Lie«, with a reading of Eliot Weinberger's »What I Heard About
Iraq«, was followed by other worldwide readings after the murder of Anna
Politkovskaya, during the run-up to the Olympic Games in China, against the
leadership of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe, in memory of Mahmoud Darwish, and
in support of the democratic opposition in Iran. As many as 100
institutions, including radio and television stations, either participated
in or reported on the worldwide readings across all continents.

The texts intended to be read on this worldwide reading are available in
English and German. Institutions and persons who would like to participate
in the reading on June 4th are asked to inform us of their wish to be
involved. The email address is: worldwidereading@literaturfestival.com

Hooray for Associated Newspapers!

2010-06-02T16:42:00.000-07:00

UK newspaper, the Daily Mail, deserves praise and encouragement from the China Support Network.

On June 2, 2010, their reporting referred to "the June 4 demonstrations, in which 3,000 protesters were killed."

This is worthy reporting, unlike that which has been seen for almost 21 years in the United States' mainstream media. U.S. outlets such as the Associated Press and TV networks have, for two decades, genuflected to Beijing's Propaganda Minister, every time they report "hundreds" killed in mainland China's bloody Tiananmen Square crackdown, which ended the June 4 demonstrations of 1989.

Kudos to a newspaper that isn't afraid of the propaganda ministry! :)

U.S. Speaker Nancy Pelosi Statement

2010-06-02T16:37:00.000-07:00

Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has issued the following public statement for the occasion of this week's 21st anniversary of mainland China's bloody Tiananmen Square massacre:

"Twenty one years ago this week, thousands of Chinese students, workers, and citizens assembled in Tiananmen Square to bravely speak out. They called for the elimination of corruption. They called for an acceleration of democratic reform, freedom of speech and assembly. They called for a dialogue with China's leaders on how to make progress.

"We remember with sadness and outrage how China's military was unleashed on its own people. One of the most enduring images of the 20th Century will forever be seared into our conscience – the picture of the lone man standing in the street, bringing the line of tanks to a grinding halt. Today, the spirit of Tiananmen lives on in the hearts and minds of those continuing the struggle both in China and abroad. These heroes have the courage to speak out for freedom.

"Liu Xiaobo is one of those individuals. In the 1990s, Liu has spent five years in prison and in re-education-through-labor camps for supporting the Tiananmen students and questioning the one-party system. In 2008, Liu was arrested again for being one of the organizers of Charter 08, an online public petition for democracy and the rule of law that has over 8,000 signatures of Chinese citizens. In 2009, Liu was sentenced 11 years imprisonment for 'inciting subversion of state power.' The harshness of his sentence is further proof of the power of his message among Chinese citizens.

"While the Chinese government prohibits its people from publicly discussing the events of June 4th, the people of Hong Kong exercise their civil liberties on each anniversary by holding a candlelight vigil in memory of the victims. This year for the first time, police arrested activists and confiscated the Goddess of Democracy replica statue that is the symbol of the Tiananmen movement. This crackdown on freedom of expression will only succeed in shining a spotlight on the courage of Hong Kong's democratic movement. The United States must stand solidly with the people of Hong Kong in their desire for democracy and freedom of speech and assembly.

"The spirit of Tiananmen continues to inspire and endure. Today we say to the people of China and freedom-loving people everywhere: 'Your cause is our cause. We will never forget.'"

CCP Shenanigans On CNN Poll

2010-02-22T20:14:00.000-08:00

On Thursday (2/18/2009) CNN reported the results of a poll they conducted with Opinion Research Corp. It ran between Feb. 12 and 15 (basically Valentine's Day weekend) and contacted 1,023 Americans by telephone.

They then reported, "Nearly three-quarters of all Americans think Tibet should be an independent country, according to a new national poll."

Hooray. Yes indeed, "Free Tibet" has become a favored cause, slogan, and bumper sticker in America.

On Monday night, CNN's Larry King interviewed the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism and previously the head of state of the Tibetan theocracy (before invasion from China, which occupied Tibet increasingly from 1950-1959).

The Dalai Lama himself was quick to correct Larry King, saying that he does not seek independence. Instead, he seeks the Middle Way which would give Tibet genuine autonomy within China. (China would be externally federal but internally confederate, keeping the tasks of defense and foreign relations.)

Nuances aside, CNN placed a box poll on the Larry King web page. It's question: Should Tibet be independent? Because of only two choices, Yes and No, the question was coarse-grained, with no room allowed for nuanced replies.

Then the trouble began.

I visited that poll on Sunday night, Feb. 21. At that time, I seem to remember that results were something like 83 - 85% yes.

These box polls on the web are not scientific -- they reflect opinions of visitors to that particular web site and the subset of those who choose to reply. So, there is a sampling error built into any web poll. Respondents will have the demographics of that site's web surfers, not the public at large.

More trouble becomes possible if the web site does not require a log in, and allows people to vote more than once. Then, any anonymous prankster can move the results one way or the other, simply by flooding the poll with bogus votes.

So, the Free Tibet community was able to tweet and urge supporters to go there and vote for Tibetan independence. AND, the Chinese Communist Party was able to tweet and urge nationalist Chinese to go there and vote against Tibetan independence.

On Monday, in advance of the Dalai Lama / Larry King show, came this tweet (from a leader of Students for a Free Tibet):

Please vote on CNN's Larry King show page: Should Tibet be independent? 53% say yes. http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/larry.king.live/

Try to remember, I saw it when it was 83% yes. (And remember, the more scientific poll of CNN/Opinion Research said 75% yes.) This new tweet reflects 53% yes -- a wide swing over night.

On Facebook came the replies to that tweet:

(...) is the Chinese Gov't hacking - again? Google, CNN...

(...) so weird. this morning it was about 80% yes.

(...) It was 83% yes when I voted yesterday, but now it's 44% - you'd think someone was trying to rig the vote, hmmm...

(...) its 44% yes and 56% no now...never knew that CNN is this popular in china. FREE TIBET!

(...) Ha Ha Ha China got a long hand in CNN too.

(...) Wow this suck, all yesterday and this morning at 88% yes, Well not surprised who did this. You can vote as many times as you want, vote a lot!

(...) Within 24 hrs, there were only 800 votes with 88% Yes and 12% No. Now its more than 4000. I am seeing 2000 votes in two hours!! Regular chinese citizens are sleeping now, the votes we are seeing is the propaganda work by chinese govt.

--All of the above was before Larry King Live put the Dalai Lama on the air. I became worried that King might "report the results" of this poll, with its faulty results.

I saw the broadcast, and thankfully the poll did not get mentioned.

After the broadcast, right now I'm looking at the poll. From 33,476 votes, the poll is REVERSED completely from when I first saw it. It says Yes - 15%, No - 85%. There are 28,600 "No" votes -- and I believe, most of those are over votes from the Communist Party.

As we will remember, when there was a more scientific poll, with controlled sampling and demographics, CNN/Opinion Research found Americans to be 75% Yes on Tibetan independence.

So, the Larry King poll reflects nothing scientific, and even in its own results box, the web page says: This is not a scientific poll.

Word gets around

2010-02-05T12:59:00.001-08:00

Few people could look at the current state of US-China relations and not see America getting tough. In the past month, Google took a stand against Internet censorship, the U.S. increased arms sales to Taiwan, and President Obama forged ahead with plans to meet with the Dalai Lama--all of which drew angry reactions from Beijing.

--Jake Simpson, in an article posted to TheAtlanticWire, Feb. 3, 2010

Melamine tainted food products resurface in China

2010-01-25T01:59:00.001-08:00

During the Beijing Olympics of 2008, China was covering up the “baby-milk” scandal which surfaced right after the Olympics.

That was 2008. Now, in 2010, the problem is back. The following tweet caught my eye:

“Three Chinese companies have been found selling food products laced with melamine, the chemical blamed for the deaths of six babies in a huge dairy scandal in 2008, state media said Monday.”

And, upon research, there is indeed such an article now on the AFP (Agence-France Presse) newswire, excerpted here:

In the latest reported case, authorities in the southwestern province of Guizhou found that the products, said to include “popsicles,” contained levels of the industrial chemical above allowable limits, the China Daily said.

One official quoted in the newspaper said the products may have contained tainted milk that was recalled after the scandal but had found its way back on to the market.

The paper said the food companies involved had blamed the problem on milk powder bought from suppliers.

In the 2008 scandal, melamine was found to have been added to milk in China to give the appearance of a higher protein content.

It found its way into a range of products including baby formula, leading to the death of six infants and making almost 300,000 ill, according to official figures.

The scandal triggered an uproar in China and abroad, and many products containing Chinese dairy were taken off shelves around the world.

A total of 21 people have been reportedly convicted. Two have been executed and others were given jail sentences ranging from two years to life. Another three executives face possible trial in February….

The products were made in March and April last year 2009, months after the government declared the melamine scare over.

The three firms were Zibo Lusaier Dairy Company in eastern China’s Shandong province, Tieling Wuzhou Food Company in northeastern Liaoning province, and the Laoting Kaida Refrigeration Plant in northern Hebei province, it said.

=== /excerpt ===T
he full article can be read at: http://tinyurl.com/y8btqrr

My Memories of the Decade

2009-12-27T08:31:00.001-08:00

Now that everyone is regurgitating the decade of 2000 - 2009, I thought that I might take the challenge. Writing off the cuff, what do I recall from top of mind awareness?

2000 I began the year fully persuaded that I was opening the doors on my new software company. During 2000, those doors slammed shut, and a product offering became abortive. I pulled software off of the market, not because of any intrinsic technical problem, but simply because an unexpected financial blow found me then to be losing my roof. I couldn't keep my business open, because I couldn't keep my lights on, literally. The unexpected financial blow happened with exquisite timing -- I had just spent 2 and a half years doing the research, development, and programming so that I had a product.

At this time, the China Support Network (CSN) was 100% my responsibility, because I had kept it in my back pocket after its founding in 1989. The financial blow managed to stop the forward progress of this author, and hence it closed off an avenue to resources for CSN. Translation: Expected resources were subtracted out of the picture, just at the time when CSN needed resources the most!

Communist China had recently begun the Falun Gong crackdown. Bill Clinton was offering a setback to Chinese dissidents in the form of a free trade deal with Communist China -- something that would reward China's communists, dictators, tyrants, and thugs for bad behavior.

In 2000, my software entrepreneuring was rudely interrupted; the Congress passed the PNTR free trade deal for China; and I moved from Arizona back to the east coast, where I was to be better situated for pro-Chinese democracy activism.

And in 2000, George W. Bush was selected to be the next U.S. President, in a foul arrangement where justices of the Supreme Court violated the principle of one man, one vote -- because those nine justices voted a second time for President. The nation got to live with the outcome of their second vote.

2001 I was cut off from software entrepreneuring. But never mind that; I was re-establishing the China Support Network. In 2001, I was able to publish an Op-Ed suggesting that Bush should reconsider China's trade deal, and I gave a speech at the observance for the anniversary of Tiananmen Square's massacre, outside the Chinese embassy in Washington DC. Radio Free Asia broadcast me into China. The International Olympic Committee selected Beijing to be the host city of the 2008 Olympics. That was an affront to Chinese dissidents and gave us something more to protest; and, the Bush administration freed Zhang Hongbao, a dissident who had been detained in Guam as he tried to reach the United States for political asylum.

There was a summer of outrage -- a summer of protests against globalization and the WTO. However, the networks made it the summer of Gary Condit (the Congressman) and Chandra Levy (the missing intern). The networks went "wall to wall" with that coverage to the point where they clearly had changed their format from news. To focus on Condit and Levy was a smooth way to avoid showing the American people the summer of protest against the WTO.

Meanwhile, news organizations had formed a consortium to complete the recount of ballots in Florida. As I understand it, they determined that Gore had won the state of Florida. They were just about to announce the results of their recount, but another matter intervened.

That's when September 11 happened. Yes, I remember well watching the carnage on television from Cheshire, Connecticut. The crime of the century had clearly occurred, but (a) where were the interceptors of NORAD? Why was there no response from America's air defenses? (b) Who gets to hit the Pentagon, of all places? Of all places to be undefended, where were Pentagon defenses? (c) How did those buildings fall so quickly? Why was the scene "too Hollywood," such an exactly fatal blow on such a pristine clear day? (d) Why did the anchormen know that it was Osama bin Laden by lunchtime? (e) Why did the FBI have mug shots of these dead hijackers already on file, like a prepared slide? (f) Why did a third skyscraper, Building 7, that was not hit by an airplane fall? (g) Why were passenger lists not released? (h) Why were the black boxes not recovered, or not released? (i) Why was there no investigation by the NTSB? (j) Why did families have to push for a year before there was any investigation of any sort? (k) Why did no one lose their job?

Three more things happened in 2001: The PATRIOT Act was rushed through Congress; the U.S. invaded Afghanistan; and, there were attacks with military-grade, weaponized anthrax.

2002 George W. Bush decided that he was less interested to get bin Laden, and more interested to get Saddam Hussein. He began to prepare America for another war. And, it's easy to gin up a war when your anchormen are Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw, and Dan Rather. The drum beat for war proceeded, with no questions seriously asked. Phil Donahue became "a difficult public face for NBC in a time of war."

Also in 2002, after a second term as a political prisoner in China, Yongjun "Majer" Zhou made his way back to the United States where he had permanent residency and a young son. Zhou and I both appeared and spoke at a human rights rally on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court. Also, we travelled to Crawford, Texas. We beat Cindy Sheehan to the punch, protesting at the ranch of U.S. President George Bush, as he hosted Chinese President Jiang Zemin.

At the end of 2002, Chinese dissident Xu Wenli was freed and exiled to the United States. In 2002 and 2003, the China Support Network was the premier source for English language news and information about the Chinese democracy movement. CSN had a then-new website, and while the U.S. media wasn't covering us, Taiwan's Central News Agency was. Meanwhile, the Falun Gong crackdown was growing worse and worse.

2003 The U.S. invaded Iraq. Meanwhile, with spokesman David Chu, the China Support Network did a series of talk radio interviews, promoting a boycott of goods 'Made In China.' I met former Soviet dissident Lev Navrozov, who had become a columnist (and still ran the Center for the Survival of Western Democracies). He wrote a glowing column, speaking highly about the China Support Network and myself. Navrozov's assistant Isak Baldwin became a friend to both myself and to Majer Zhou, a Chinese dissident mentioned earlier.

2003 included the development of a nasty rift in the Chinese democracy movement. In California, Zhang Hongbao (the guru of Zhong Gong, another qi gong movement) was arrested for allegedly beating his maid. Other dissidents were adamant that this was not the first time for Zhang Hongbao to beat women. The dissident Majer Zhou chose to move to California and to work with, or for, Zhang Hongbao -- at basically the same time that criminal charges came down. The Free China Movement, based in Washington under dissident Lian Shengde, was split by this maneuver. Lian "fired" Zhou from his position as the North America director for the Free China Movement. There began to be a lot of civil lawsuits and litigation between California dissidents and those based around Washington DC.

2004 George W. Bush was "re-elected," although results in the state of Ohio were statistically implausible. The Democrat's nominee, John Kerry, did not challenge the election results, but the Green Party nominee, David Cobb, did. Once again, America's news anchors asked no questions, and hence smoothed over what was likely a stolen election. Thankfully, this election was the last hurrah for the triumverate of Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw, and Dan Rather.

In 2004, I visited the dissidents in California, where Zhang Hongbao was open with me as he frankly told me that he wanted to be President of China. I visited his gated mansion in Pasadena, where he was preparing something called the China Shadow Government.

Also in 2004, there appeared an English language edition of the Epoch Times, a newspaper created by Falun Gong sympathizers. Late in 2004, they published the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, and the stage was set for a movement, in which disgusted Chinese citizens would sever their ties and quit their membership in the Communist Party and related organizations.

2005 In 2005, a coalition of Chinese dissident groups was lined up with the China Shadow Government, and the China Support Network joined in to protest as the European Union proposed to lift its arms embargo on China. The arms embargo was a post-Tiananmen Square sanction, and where China had made no progress politically or in human rights, there was no change of circumstances to justify lifting the ban on military arms sales. This coalition of pro-Chinese democracy groups pushed against the "Jacques Chirac" plan. The U.S. White House came around and similarly objected to any lifting of the arms ban. Under U.S. pressure, the EU abandoned the idea.

However, in 2005 the coalition of Zhong Gong and the China Shadow Government (both under the thumb of Zhang Hongbao) was eclipsed by a coalition of Falun Gong and myriad other groups. CSN joined in the Global Coalition to Quit the [Communist] Party, otherwise known as the "tuidang" coalition. At a web site connected with the Epoch Times, the tuidang campaign was registering statements of resignation as Chinese people proceeded to quit from the CCP and two related organizations, the Communist Youth League and the Young Pioneers.

In book form, the Nine Commentaries was smuggled around in China, where it was having a "distribution build." In tandem with that distribution build, increasing numbers of Chinese citizens quit from the party through the tuidang campaign. By April, 2005, they had recorded one million Chinese resigning from the Party. I spoke at a rally to mark the occasion, but CNN refused to cover the event. By June, 2005, the campaign reached two million people quitting. (If you've never heard of this campaign, perhaps it's because CNN won't tell you about it.)

Early in 2005, I had obtained a demo CD with four rock songs recorded by NoManZero. One song, 'Global Warning,' had politically-charged lyrics, and I thought that this band might like to lend its talents to the Chinese democracy movement. I booked them to appear at the annual commemoration of the anniversary of Tiananmen Square. With only a couple of weeks time before the event, they wrote and recorded a new song, 'Remember Tiananmen Square.' I vetted the lyrics as the band's political advisor. Suddenly, CSN's cause was being remembered in American rock music, and the China Support Network got its theme song! :)

NoManZero was a hit with Falun Gong practitioners who were at the anniversary. I had urged them to play the old standby song, 'Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye' for the Communist Party. That song from 1969 became an anthem familiar to generations of American high school students -- it is commonly played at football games. Here in 2005, NoManZero did play that song, but a well placed woman named Jianmei Yu told them, "I wish you had a Quit CCP song."

By the end of the summer, NoManZero recorded the *new* tune, Bye Bye CCP, and delivered it to New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV) -- the television outfit of Falun Gong practitioners -- and NTDTV added a video montage to thereby yield a music video. NTDTV also made a video montage for the Remember Tiananmen Square song, although it did not premier until the next anniversary of Tiananmen in 2006.

By the end of 2005, seven million people had quit from the Communist Party. 2005 was also a time when YouTube, MySpace, and Facebook were beginning to make their presence felt in the world scene.

2006 By 2006, Author D.J. McGuire (author of Dragon In The Dark, a book warning about China) had become the President of the China Support Network.

McGuire's political views were largely neoconservative, but this aspect fit in with the times, as America had a neoconservative administration. Yet, the American people had begun to sour on the Iraq war, as evidenced by Ned Lamont's successful primary challenge to Senator Joe Lieberman.

In the November elections of 2006, McGuire endorsed Republicans, and the American people turned control of Congress over to Democrats. Perhaps feeling repudiated, McGuire abruptly quit from the CSN presidency the next day.

2006 had an occasion when Zhang Hongbao pleaded "no contest" to reduced charges in the criminal case against him. This seemed to be the end of the China Shadow Government. Then, in July 2006, Zhang was killed in a highway crash in northern Arizona. Hence, 2006 was the end of Zhang Hongbao all together.

2006 also had a visit by China's President Hu Jintao to the U.S. White House. On the South Lawn of the White House, while Presidents Bush and Hu were exchanging remarks, Falun Gong practitioner Wenyi Wang unfurled a banner and began to shout "stop the killing!" and "Falun dafa hao!" (Falun Gong is good). She instantly became the Rosa Parks of the cause for Chinese civil rights. CNN's Wolf Blitzer interviewed her on The Situation Room, but did not breathe a word about what Wang was upset about: the killing, and in fact the forcible removal of organs from Falun Gong practitioners for profitable transplant surgery. 2006 will be remembered as the year that Organ Harvesting came to light. Wenyi Wang was working for the Epoch Times newspaper, which broke the story. Wenyi Wang related the story that, when she was in an elevator at CNN, Blitzer's producer instructed her: "Don't talk about organs." The wider world learned that CNN is just as given to news suppression as delivery.

Also during 2006, a further 10 million people quit the Communist Party, for a total of 17 million. And the rock group NoManZero recorded an album (including both Remember Tiananmen Square and Bye Bye CCP), but then had its singer quit during post-production.

2007 Apart and away from my role for the China Support Network -- simply as myself -- I published the article, 'Breaking My Silence on 9/11 Truth.' At this point, I had seen enough material from the 9/11 truth movement to be ready to stand with them in demanding that the U.S. re-open its investigation into the events of 9/11/2001.

Even though I was simply exercising my own right to political free speech, this was too much for some directors of CSN, who quit. I think of them as "fallen freedom fighters," because how can one advocate free speech in China while disapproving of the same for myself, a citizen in the United States? Through being so disapproving of my article, it means that these neoconservative directors had forgotten just what the fight is all about in relation to political freedom. And, the CSN got a board of directors that was now clean of neoconservatives. That's fine. I added a new director, named Robert Gerald Lorge, who had been the 2006 Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in the state of Wisconsin. His recent election campaign had not succeeded to unseat Senator Herb Kohl (one of the richest men in the Senate), but Lorge was strongly anti-communist and I welcomed him as a new member of the CSN board of directors. --His recent political campaign would be one where he offered a health plan, and other political ideas. Is that okay? Does he have the freedom of speech to express his own politics? Well, yes. At CSN, directors do enjoy their political rights. And the dissenting directors are free to make use of the door if they'd rather not be there. In my view, an organization can be all about political freedom, or it can be all about political correctness, but not both at the same time. CSN continues to be about political freedom.

In fact, CSN started the Freedom First / Olympics Second coalition, to push against the upcoming Beijing Olympics of 2008. I found other groups that would line up with us politically, and did an interview on NTDTV to promote the coalition. The CSN coalition had mostly Chinese dissident groups. Tibetans had their own coalition, and Falun Gong was gearing up a coalition against the Olympics. Separately, the Save Darfur Coalition was also pressing hard for China to change its foreign policy with Sudan.

Now that Democrats had gained control of the U.S. Congress, what can we remember 2007 for? --I think it is best remembered for Nancy Pelosi's line: "Impeachment is off the table." (George McGovern correctly wrote that the crimes of the Bush administration were far worse than Watergate. Evidently not for Pelosi.) This was said as Barack Obama began his campaign for the U.S. White House. Also in 2007, the wheels began to come off of sub-prime lending and the U.S. housing market, and a recession began by the end of the year.

2008 The Olympics were coming. The rock group Light Club -- the new project of NoManZero's guitarist -- wrote and recorded the 'Freedom First / Olympics Second' theme song.

Meanwhile, in March '08, Tibet experienced a new crackdown and uprising against Chinese rule. The Freedom First song became the first rock song to mention the unrest in Tibet. It was debuted at the end of March, as several coalitions coalesced on the Boston Common to launch the Human Rights Torch Relay (HRTR), an alternative to the Olympic Torch relay. I did a lot of travel and gave a lot of speeches for the HRTR and for the Freedom First / Olympics Second Coalition.

In fact, a recent documentary film about the unrest in Tibet features sound bites from speeches that were given in that time frame. One can go to this URL:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fxmlYqkH8Q
--And there, you will see speech excerpts from Dennis Kucinich, and myself, and several Tibetan speakers. In this short (9.5 minute) film, I am heard scolding the Chinese government: "Stop the killing, release the prisoners, and talk to the Dalai Lama!"

A humanitarian emergency in Tibet put a whole new light upon the 2008 Olympics. The IOC should have moved the games away from China, and failing that, the West should have boycotted the games. That is what should have happened, but instead the Olympics became a festival of depravity. I believe there should be an investigation to determine whether human rights abuse *always* coincides with the Olympics. If they are a quadrennial calamity for human kind, then the Olympics should be discontinued altogether.

During the Olympics, China was covering up its poison baby milk scandal. A large number of infants died from ingesting milk, after milk powder was contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine. Milk is not the first deadly product to be 'Made In China.' In 2007, the U.S. received toothpaste spiked with anti-freeze, and pet food was recalled after killing thousands of U.S. cats and dogs. Also the previous year, there were recalls for 450,000 'Made In China' tires, and 19.5 million Chinese made toys, contaminated with lead, nearly made it "the year without a Christmas."

2008 is also when I published my article, 'CNN Caught In Genocidal Correctness.' Immediately after the Olympics, further evidence corroborated the allegations of the deadly practice of organ harvesting in China. As we may remember from the discussion above, CNN knew about this story beginning in 2006. Upon arrival of the further evidence, with organ harvesting confirmed, I wrote my article excoriating CNN.

Also in 2008, the financial system seized up in anticipation of cascading cross-defaults on financial derivatives. Barack Obama supported telco immunity over FISA wiretapping, and he then supported a mugging of the U.S. taxpayers to cover the gambling debts of Wall Street. Just as with 9/11, there is a good question to be asked: Why did no one lose their job? --Then, Obama was elected President of the United States. During the financial crisis, the Chinese dissident Majer Zhou attempted to return to China to see his aging parents. He was arrested by Hong Kong authorities, who then made the secret rendition of turning Zhou over to Mainland Chinese authorities.

Just prior to International Human Rights Day -- December 10, 2008 -- a group of Chinese dissidents released "Charter 08," a petition and manifesto for the reform of China. The authorities of the Mainland arrested Liu Xiaobo, a leading intellectual and writer who had participated in both the Tiananmen Square uprising and the Charter 08 development.

2009 It was the disastrous first year of Barack Obama as the U.S. President. In my view, the Bill Clinton economic team belongs in prison, not in the President's cabinet. But, Obama packed his team with retreads from the Clinton administration. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made an early trip to China, with the message: "Kiss kiss, please buy U.S. T-bonds." U.S. unemployment soared, and Obama blew off many opportunities to create more U.S. jobs. The development of his health reform bill reflected a leadership style that says, "Look Ma, no hands!" The memorable phrases of the year were "cash for clunkers" and "cash for caulkers." The memorable phrases of the year /*should*/ have been "justice for war criminals" and "justice for 9/11."

2009 included a scare about H1N1, or "swine flu." The U.S. government should be a laughingstock after one reviews the comedy of errors that ensued.

In July 2009, another crackdown happened, this time with the Chinese government versus the Uighurs of East Turkestan / Xinjiang. Just like Tibet, it is a colonized and restive region of western China. And just like Tibet in 2008, the Uighur crackdown of 2009 was deadly.

During 2009, along with much material about the Majer Zhou case, new recordings appeared at the China Support Network website. Light Club had recorded 'Chinese Democracy (defiled)' and their remake of the Beatles' 'Revolution.' The tuidang counter approached 66 million resignations from the Communist Party.

In November, 2009, Obama made a trip to China in which Communist Party members were planted in his audience to pretend to be college students. Obama did not bring back so much as a Panda or a ping pong ball, much less gain the release of any Chinese dissidents. Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng published a tract, 'Why Did Obama Fail So Much [in China]?'

In the latter part of the year, China placed Majer Zhou and Liu Xiaobo on trial, choosing International Human Rights Day to indict Liu and Christmas Day to announce that he was sentenced to 11 years in prison. An outcome for Majer Zhou is still pending.

Decade summary It was complete bullshit. On the day before 9/11, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced that the Pentagon cannot account for $2.3 trillion of money that has gone missing. This decade was good for whoever got away with that money. And, it was good for defense contractors, especially those like Halliburton and KBR who were getting no-bid contracts from cronies inside the U.S. administration. And the decade was mostly good for Bernard Madoff, who was swindling investors out of $50 billion with a ponzi scheme that went undetected for most of the decade.

It's also a decade when the U.S. trade deficit with China swelled beyond a quarter of a trillion dollars annually. At the other end of the trade, the surplus has served to fuel and build up a nuclear-armed, communist superpower. And, it's the decade when the Chinese democracy movement "went dark" on U.S. TV networks. I should announce the China Support Network's award for "Most Corrupt Newscaster of the Decade," but there are so many good candidates, it's hard to choose one.

I am sorely tempted to give that award to CNN's Wolf Blitzer, whose producer famously told Wenyi Wang, "Don't talk about organs." However, another leading candidate is ABC News' Ted Koppel. And actually, I have called for Nuremberg-style trials for Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw, and Dan Rather. So why pick on Ted Koppel?

Well, here is why Koppel can at least share the prize. --In 2000, as noted above, "Bill Clinton was offering a setback to Chinese dissidents in the form of a free trade deal with Communist China -- something that would reward China's communists, dictators, tyrants, and thugs for bad behavior." Chinese dissidents were mobilized against the deal, called PNTR. But, did Ted Koppel check in with any Chinese dissidents? No! He didn't tell you that they were literally making a bus trip across the country to tell anyone who would listen that PNTR was a grievous mistake.

What did Ted Koppel do instead? He waited until the night before the vote in Congress, to have his first -- and only -- show looking into trade with China. His guests? --He chose three guests in favor, and zero guests against, PNTR. This was at a time when polls showed the American public 79% against the trade deal. He dutifully put lipstick on a pig, and then the House of Representatives dutifully passed the measure on the floor of Congress. This was a decade in which the establishment was singing "Bye Bye American Jobs," while ignoring those for freedom, democracy, and human rights, who sang "Bye Bye CCP." It should be safe to say that the sorry state of affairs, above, reflects a disconnect between the interests of newscasters and the interests of the American public.

For covering up genocide in China, I think that *all* managing editors and talk producers for network television should jointly share in the China Support Network's "Most Corrupt Newscaster of the Decade" award. And to Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw, and Dan Rather, I say good riddance. Ding dong, their evil has passed from the scene. (But their replacements walk in the same shoes. That's a shame, and a disservice to the news viewing public.)

I happen to think, enough is enough of this decade. Sheesh!

U.S. Network TV Dodges Chinese Democracy Story

2009-12-26T21:53:00.000-08:00

In the past 48 hours, U.S. TV "news media" have once again "made my point for me." They have reinforced my disdain, by showing once again why I am boycotting ABC, CBS, and NBC "news."

They have once again downplayed and diminished (suppressed) news that is likely to be a turning point for the Chinese pro-democracy movement. The YouTube video above tells the story -- in more ways than one. It is a montage of television reports that stem from the sentencing of Liu Xiaobo, a top Chinese dissident, to 11 years in prison.

First is a report by AP television. Second is a report by World News Australia. It shows representatives of the U.S. and French governments calling for the release of Liu Xiaobo. Third is a report by France 24. Fourth is a video by PEN American center. That is a branch of International PEN, an organization for writers. Liu Xiaobo was the President of Independent Chinese PEN, another branch of the same organization.

The video montage is notable for more than what it shows -- who is absent from the montage? (Here's a hint: I was already boycotting ABC, CBS, and NBC.) Close analysis of the video reveals that there is no report from ABC, CBS, or NBC.

It's a big story, internationally. Type "Liu Xiaobo" into News.Google.Com, and it indicates 4,793 recent stories on Liu Xiaobo. (His trial was December 23 and his sentence was announced December 25.) 15 different countries had diplomats who went to the trial (and were refused entrance). Headlines at this time include "France berates China over sentencing of dissident," "US Reiterates Call for Release of Chinese Dissident," "Taiwan leaders must push for Liu Xiaobo's freedom," "Switzerland joins protests against China," and "Jailing of writer in China causes concern at UN."

So what's happening at ABC, CBS, and NBC, where the story is dark? Apparently, to shed light on the Chinese democracy cause, they need a permission slip from their Chamber of Commerce minders. Let's face it. The news divisions at ABC, CBS, and NBC are each "mouthpiece" organizations. They are fastidious to be pro-corrupt status quo, which includes sanitizing the public image of Communist China and being agnostic about China's ugly open secrets like genocide, organ harvesting, and slave labor, not to mention the abuse of Chinese dissidents.

At the networks, they are obedient sock puppets, reading from teleprompters. CNN is just an itty bit better, because they sometimes remember that China in fact has a democracy movement -- something that ABC, CBS, and NBC have not let on since about 2002.

The story is a turning point because it shows that "moderate" Chinese dissent is met with a dead end. The severe sentence for Liu Xiaobo gives new initiative to the "hardline" Chinese dissidents who expect no results from any entreaties to the unreformed Chinese government. Is "further turmoil" ahead? Here is a statement from Wei Jingsheng, previously known as China's most famous dissident:

Statement by Wei Jingsheng

Mr. Liu Xiaobo is an important representative of the moderate faction of the intellectuals inside China. The "08 Charter" he co-drafted is a document meant to push for reform in the way of reconciliation and cooperation, which represents an opinion inside China for an effort to solve social crisis in a peaceful and reconciled approach. In the past many years, the voices and opinions of this faction demonstrated at least some survival space inside China. They illustrated the possibility that the good sensed people within the Chinese Communist government still had the opportunity to present their opinions, thus leaving the option to solve the crisis inside China peacefully.

However, today the severe sentence that Liu Xiaobo received by the Hu Jintao regime releases the message that the regime refuses to reform the political and economic system in a peaceful manner. The regime refuses to reconcile with the people and continues its stand of being the enemy of the people. This kind of policy of being against the historic currents for sure will obstruct the future of reform, and thus result in an even bigger turmoil in China. It will be neither good for the Chinese people, nor for the Communist Party's own existence. It is a policy of extreme stupidity.

We, the members of the Overseas Chinese Democracy Coalition, are against this policy by the Hu Jintao clique. We urge the people who still have some intellect inside the Chinese Communist Party to convince Hu Jintao to change this stupid policy. In particular, the Chinese government must reverse Mr. Liu Xiaobo's guilty ruling during the appeal period and release the person as innocent immediately. Only by leaving room for maneuvering for moderate reform can further turmoil be prevented.

Wei Jingsheng
Chair, Overseas Chinese Democracy Coalition

JPK in documentary

2009-11-24T23:57:00.000-08:00

Tibetan filmmaker makes 9.5 min. documentary, and I'm in it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fxmlYqkH8Q

The last speech in the video is one that I delivered in April, 2008 at the New York stop of the Human Rights Torch Relay. The subject is the crackdown in Tibet which began in March, 2008.

Without mincing words, I told Chinese politicians to (1.) stop the killing; (2.) release the prisoners; and (3.) talk to the Dalai Lama.

Obama's Asia itinerary

2009-11-04T21:48:00.001-08:00

Here's a breakdown of the trip:
Nov. 12-13 -- Tokyo. Obama will meet with new Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama. (Perhaps they'll commiserate over the recent loss of the 2016 Olympics to Rio de Janeiro; Chicago and Tokyo were both finalists.)
Nov. 13-15 -- Singapore, for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference.
Nov. 15-18 -- China, with stops in Shanghai and Beijing. The president will meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao.
Nov. 18-19 -- Seoul. Obama will meet with South Korean President Lee Myung Bak and visit U.S. troops who are stationed near nuclear-armed North Korea.

From the Hong Kong government

2009-10-15T09:33:00.001-07:00

Government statement on Mr Zhou Yongjun's case
**********************************************

In response to media enquiries on the case concerning Mr Zhou Yongjun, a government spokesman said today (October 12): "We do not comment on individual cases. The Immigration Department has the responsibility to uphold effective immigration control. The department handles all entry applications in accordance with the law and immigration policy, having due regard to individual circumstances. In general, a passenger whose travel document does not meet the entry requirements will be repatriated to his or her place of embarkation or origin."
Ends/Monday, October 12, 2009Issued at HKT 17:25

Donald Tsang tries to deny wrongdoing

2009-10-14T14:27:00.001-07:00

In an October 14 press conference, Hong Kong's Chief Executive Donald Tsang defensive tried to both dodge and defuse the question about Tiananmen Square student leader, Zhou Yongjun.

Zhou travelled from the U.S. to Macao in September, 2008, and tried to enter Hong Kong. Stopped by HK authorities, he was somehow sent to Mainland China to face bogus and politically motivated trumped up charges, in proceedings that violate Zhou's human rights.

Here is the press conference exchange:

Reporter: Did the Hong Kong government return Zhou Yongjun, a student leader from Tiananmen, to the Chinese authorities rather than going back to Macau as his family alleged a few days ago?

Chief Executive: Let me say first of all, I'm not in a position, like every other government, to comment on individual immigration cases.One thing is clear, let me explain very clearly to you, our immigration colleagues operate entirely according to the law of Hong Kong and according to established procedures. Anyone who legally enters Hong Kong will be welcome to do so. Anyone who travels with a false document will be treated accordingly, he'll be sent back to wherever is appropriate, that is established policy.

Thank you very much.

Rep.Chris Smith (R-NJ) adds public statement re Oct. 1

2009-10-13T00:54:00.000-07:00

Congressman Chris Smith Remembers the Victims of 60 Years of Communist Rule in China

U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04), a senior Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Ranking Member on the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, today called on free people every where to reject China's self-aggrandizing "celebrations" of its 60 years of Communist rule and instead remember and honor the millions of people who have been killed and those who endure limited freedoms, harassment and torture at the hands of the Chinese Communist dictatorship.

"The Chinese Communist government will mark the 60th year of the People's Republic of China with massive but highly choreographed celebrations-coupled with a massive ramping-up of police control, and roundup of dissidents," said Smith who was recently nominated by President Obama to be Congressional Representative to the United Nations said. "Over 60 years, the PRC government has shown itself by far the most deadly enemy the Chinese people have ever faced. Scholars estimate that this government has been responsible for killing approximately 65 million people in China.

"Rather than bogus celebration, today should be a day of remembrance," Smith said. "The victims of this government may seem like numberless millions, but each one had a human face, loved ones and a contribution to make. I propose that we remember them today, and resolve to pray and work that what happened and is still happening to the Chinese people will one day be stopped-and the Chinese people can truly say, "never again."

Smith, who traveled to China during the Olympics last year on a human rights trip, said that the current Chinese government routinely and viciously persecutes Falun Gong practitioners, Muslim Uighurs, Tibetans, and Christians, as well as activists and journalists promoting human rights and democracy.

"Its most massive crimes were in the 1950s and 60s but even today it perpetrates grave human rights abuses, from widespread use of torture, massive censorship and surveillance of the Internet, jailing of dissidents, across-the-board religious persecution, and ethnic persecution that killed hundreds and jailed thousands of Tibetans in 2008, and Uighurs in 2009. We cannot forget the killing, in the past ten years, of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners.

"October 1 marks 60 years of human rights abuse in China on a scale we can hardly grasp," he said.

Deutsche Presse-Agentur newswire reports "rising pressure" in HK

2009-10-13T00:49:00.000-07:00

Hong Kong - Hong Kong leader Donald Tsang was under increasing pressure Tuesday to investigate the case of a former Tiananmen Square dissident sent over the border into China to be arrested.

Zhou Yongjun, 42, a student leader in the 1989 pro-democracy movement who is now in the process of becoming a US citizen, has been held for a year in China after being picked up in Hong Kong.

He faces fraud charges in mainland China after being found allegedly using fraudulent identity documents in September 2008 to enter Hong Kong from neighbouring Macau.

At a press conference Monday, his lawyer said that Zhou, who was jailed after the 1989 demonstrations and then left China for the US, had been tortured and denied family visits since his arrest last year.

Hong Kong chief executive Donald Tsang was facing renewed pressure Tuesday to investigate the case, which a leading lawmaker said was effectively an illegal extradition.

Speaking on government-run radio station RTHK, Albert Ho, chairman of the Democratic Party, said the case 'constitutes a very serious infringement' of Zhou's rights.

Ho said that Zhou had been picked up by immigration officers, put into a van and driven across the border to mainland China against his will, even though there is no agreement for cross-border extraditions.

Ho appealed to Tsang to make available police records of the incident and to press for Zhou's release, warning that the case could open the door to politically motivated cross-border transfers.

Zhou came to Hong Kong in September 2008 with the intention of visiting his elderly parents in China, using a Malaysian national's passport. He has no Chinese visa since fleeing to the US.

Girlfriend Zhang Yuewei said that Zhou's family only learned of his arrest and detention in Sichuan seven months after he was placed in custody in mainland China.

Zhou, one of the most prominent of the 1989 student demonstrators, was pictured kneeling on the steps of the Great Hall of the People during the Tiananmen Square protests pleading for political reforms.

Asked about the case by reporters Monday evening, however, Beijing-appointed Tsang would only say that he could not comment on individual cases.

Hong Kong reverted to Chinese sovereignty in 1997 under a 'one country, two systems' agreement, after 150 years of British colonial rule.

The city has a separate legal and political system and a mini- constitution that guarantees freedom of speech and political freedoms. There is no formal rendition agreement with China.

Zhou is said to be facing charges including defrauding the Hang Seng Bank, accusations believed to relate to his use of a bogus identity to attempt to enter China.

Hundreds, possibly thousands, of students were killed by Chinese troops in June 1989 when the pro-democracy movement was brutally crushed in the streets around Tiananmen Square.

Speech by Michael Tsang

2009-10-04T18:19:00.000-07:00

Ed. Note. The following speech was delivered by activist Michael Tsang, at the "10-4" (October 4) rally held at the Boston Common to mark the fact that 60 million Chinese people have quit from the Communist Party during the Tuidang campaign of 2005 to the present.

Michael Tsang has words of warning for both Americans and Chinese (and perhaps Australians and others). His speech follows--

The Chinese Communist regime has just celebrated its 60th anniversary. At the same time 60 million of its Chinese people have resigned their membership in the Chinese Communist Party and its affiliated organizations in a movement called "Quit the Chinese Communist Party," or "Quit the CCP." --That's the real thing deserving celebration, and a sign that the days of the CCP are numbered.

Why? There is no shortage of reasons why, let me just recount a few:

- Recently the news is that 70,000 Beijing taxis are now equipped with micro-monitors that can monitor conversations of passengers remotely controlled by the CCP. Coupled with a GPS system you are just so damn vulnerable in this Orwellian society.

- It's been a number of years now that the CCP employs fleets of death-mobiles – these are buses equipped to handle harvesting of organs from executed prisoners, or live Falun Gong practitioners. They travel from detention center to detention center; even homeless people today have been increasingly targeted. In the world of human organ trafficking, China is the only country known to operate it as a systemic practice and state-sanctioned though it is an underground operation.

- "United Front" is an operation by the United Front Work Department that sits below the CCP Central Committee. Its mission is to infiltrate Western society and its politicians, to have them curry favor and back Beijing policies at critical times. If a targeted politician could not be bribed by financial means, then entrapment or fabricated evidence are used to coerce them to submission. This works very well on Westerners, as they are terrified when they are set up – fearing for their future career.

- Recently, in a failed attempt to acquire a stake in an Australian mining giant--Rio Tinto--for $19 billion, the CCP arrested the company's executive on charges of stealing state secrets without providing details or evidence and waited 3 days to inform the Australian government. This is a slip up finally coming through on an international level. God knows how many innocent Chinese citizens have been treated this way arbitrarily, many are even tortured and incarcerated and not heard from again. What are State Secrets? They are basically things that cannot see the light of day and they are trying hard to cover up.

- This is just a sample of recent misconducts by this totalitarian regime. You all know about the hazardous products from China right? And the persecution of the Tibetans, Uighurs, Falun Gong, underground Christians, pro-democracy dissidents, taking land from poor farmers. Recent news also pointed to the disbarment of all human rights lawyers in China that defended the oppressed. Here is another item: the rampant rape of women and young girls by Chinese officials is a sign of status and prestige. Not to mention, the regime caused 80 million unnatural deaths in the history of Communist China; the supply of WMD and related technology to rogue countries; the tortured and murdered in Chinese prisons; the list goes on.

If this was an individual or organized crime in the U.S., they would have been stopped, apprehended and imprisoned, with the keys thrown away. But this is a legitimate government of 1.3 or 1.4 billion people, and the world kowtows to them for business. Nothing has been able to put an end to their despicable violence and countless crimes.

Do people know why? Not many have the time, or sufficient interest, to stop and think about it in the Western world. Many are too busy making money, busy buying cheap consumer goods - guess from where? But do stop and think about it, because this is not just a matter of whether the U.S. is going to be displaced as the economic power of the world, or increasingly lose its military edge. My concern is whether America continues to lead the world in freedom and democracy. We are increasingly condoning all of this and in danger of losing our standards without our realizing it. Not cognizant of their tactics, we are conceding to them rapidly on every front.

For those who have suffered and those who know the evilness of this oppressive regime, a momentum is building to stand up and denounce this most despicable regime and move towards a better future. A future where humanity is embraced and evil eliminated.

For the Chinese people who are against this movement, like those who celebrated the Communist flag raising at Boston City Hall Plaza last Saturday, Let me tell you my brothers and sisters, you are continually being duped. The CCP uses lies and nationalism to keep your loyalty, you are loyal to them and protecting their corrupt ways so that they can stay in power to oppress--perhaps not you, as they always needed and keep someone like you to support them and legitimize them, but those less fortunate than you will become their victims and scapegoats. But deep down they don't care about anyone except their own power. Everyone is disposable. Perhaps the tables will turn on you some day and you will taste what everyone else has tasted; then it will be too late.

The CCP is not China and cannot represent China; it has obliterated the real China that had belonged to you and me and replaced it with a false one that has no dignity and no soul. We urge you to reexamine China, its history and heritage so that you can come to truly see and choose a good future.

Delivered remarks of Oct. 4, 2009

2009-10-04T07:16:00.001-07:00

Delivered remarks
for Tuidang rally at Boston Common, October 4, 2009

by John Kusumi, China Support Network Director emeritus

I want to thank the organizers for bringing me back to Boston, and of course for your own turnout - I know that soggy weather was forecast.

Well, regardless of rain or snow or sleet or hail, we are gathered here on the Boston Common and we know that China has just marked a grim milestone: It has been 60 years since Chairman Mao established the reign of thuggery that is today's Mainland Chinese government. That is why they gathered in Beijing this week, to have one of those military parades that seems just like North Korea. The military parade in Beijing makes it look like Communist Parties are all the same, and that they use large military parades to wow the gullible and distract the world from their deeper, systemic problems.

The deeper systemic problem is this: Nobody believes in communism anymore. In fact, why is there a Communist Party in charge of China? --All across Eastern Europe, and in the Soviet Union, the Communist Parties all collapsed between 1989 and 1991. I said that military parades make it look like Communist Parties are all the same. Hopefully, they ARE all the same. If so, then the collapse of China's Communist Party is inevitable.

It may be that when a system is completely rigged, and has no elections and no functioning justice system -- that this leads to social pressures, which cannot be reconciled because there is no recourse within the system. China has a building pressure of domestic discontent. The Communist Party has a debt of blood on its hands. Some Chinese people know the record of history, including how many of their countrymen have met with untimely and premature deaths at the hands of the CCP.

Today, we stand here with a solemn understanding that enormous suffering continues in China. That crackdowns are still in progress today. That families are split, and that loved ones are kept in the Laogai camps. The Western world is getting to know that word, Laogai: it represents an evil system known as "reform through labor." These are prison camps, where the prisoners are worked to produce manufactured goods. These are a dark and ugly secret behind the face of China's peaceful rise in the world economy. Incarceration and forced labor imply force; that is
the opposite of a peaceful rise. The peaceful rise is one big lie!

Any dictatorship is only maintained by hurting people. It is mistaken for the United States to make its peace with tyrants and to have an easy, breezy countenance for evil. And in the United States, while Barack Obama sounded like a promising candidate offering change -- well, I describe his administration as "Clinton Lite: Less peace, less prosperity, but the same Clintonian taste." Now, why would I say that at this time? --Well, Obama recently postponed a meeting with the Dalai Lama, so that he can visit Mainland China first. When Obama puts human rights in the back seat to business as usual with Communist China, well -- that *is* the Clintonian policy on human rights.

And yet today, we also stand here with more. We have more than suffering; we have more than lamenting. We have hope, and we have determination.

It's because we have another milestone that we mark here today. The bigwigs of the West -- such as Washington and its media -- don't really have this story. They don't know their Jiuping from their Tuidang. And yet, it is time for them to get this story, and to learn those vocabulary words. Due to a shamefully silent news media, the related news has gone unreported, so I'm sure that Washington is foggy over these matters. Here and now, let me work to dispel their fogginess.

In 2004, a book was produced, called the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party. That book is an expose about the actual history of the Chinese Communist Party. For Chinese people, it has been an eye-opener. The evil of that Party is laid bare in the pages of the Nine Commentaries. This is where we get the word Jiuping (pronounce "Joe-ping"). Jiuping means "nine commentaries." Jiuping, the book, made its way around China, being smuggled in and passed hand-to-hand. It is classic underground literature, with every story that might inconvenience the Communist Party.

As the book began to get around China, there also came to be a wave of revulsion at the history revealed within. The impulse was there for people to quit the Communist Party -- to resign their membership. In 2005, my group the China Support Network joined the Global Coalition for Quitting the CCP: a coalition with many other Chinese dissident and human rights groups. This coalition put into place the Tuidang campaign. Tuidang means "quit the party." If everyone quit from the Communist Party, then imagine what's next -- they could have a meeting and no one would go. That is the general idea of this campaign; to isolate the evil-doers and constrain their ability to continue their evil ways.

Quitting the party happens in every conceivable way -- by letter, phone, and fax -- but most commonly, it happens on the Web, where the Tuidang campaign has accumulated an enormous database of resignations from the Party. Resignations tend to be accompanied by personal stories, where the ex-Communist might inform the world about evil they have witnessed, or injustices or persecution which befell their family.

That database has continued to accumulate resignations. In 2005, I spoke at the rally to salute the first one million people to quit the Communist Party. Pretty soon, we were having rallies for 2 million, 3 million, 5 million, and 10 million resignations. It is true also, that my group encouraged a rock group, NoManZero, to release the song 'Bye Bye CCP.' That song, and its music video, are now featured at the website of the China Support Network.

To make a long story short, we are here today because we have collected 60 million resignations in the Tuidang database! --That means 60 million ex-Communists; people who formerly joined the party and have now renounced it. The ranks of the Communist Party are growing thinner and thinner. It is like the air is going out of their tires. This campaign is taking a substantial bite out of the Chinese Communist Party, and we're not done yet!

It is time to salute the former Communists. They are people who have looked at the situation. They have seen the error of Communist ways. They want something better for their country and for their fellow Chinese. And, they have gathered up their courage and registered their displeasure with the status quo. Washington DC needs to get the memo: The Communist Party is headed for a fall, and is on its way to the ash heap of history. If a U.S. administration was wise, instead of reinforcing business as usual, it would instead help China to transition away from Communism by adding pressure for human rights.

China must end the Tiananmen crackdown. China must end the Falun Gong crackdown. China must end the Tibetan crackdown. And, China must end the Uighur crackdown. That means they must release the prisoners whom they've taken in the course of those crackdowns. Right now, my group focuses on four high-profile prisoner cases. Zhou Yongjun, Liu Xiaobo, Wang Bingzhang, and Gao Zhisheng must be released. But really, our focus on them should not be taken to exclude all of the other prisoners of conscience who are today laboring in China's Laogai camps. For another note about human rights, China must abolish the systems of Laogai and Laojiao. They are hideously evil tools of state repression.

In conclusion, I congratulate you, the campaigners. This is a grand and historic movement, celebrating the milestone of 60 million responses. Chinese people are answering the call and distancing themselves from the Communist Party. That is why, in addition to suffering and lamenting, we also stand here with courage, with determination, and with hope that China will soon experience a bright future with freedom, democracy, and human rights. To everybody here, thank you once again!

Hong Kong Chief Executive Scolded in Open Letter

2009-09-19T19:16:00.000-07:00

September 18, 2009

His Excellency Donald Tsang
The Chief Executive of the Government
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
Hong Kong

Re. Open Letter to Call for Awareness of the On-Going Forfeiture of Hong Kong’s Administrative and Judicial Independence to Beijing

In Re. Matter of Zhou Yongjun

Dear Mr. Tsang:

We, the undersigned, a group of Chinese and American Human Rights Campaigners, are here to express our deep concern over the fate of Mr. Zhou Yongjun, one of the most prominent student leaders of the 1989 Tian An Men Square prodemocracy Movement.

Mr. Zhou has been held in custody behind bars, virtually incommunicado, by the government of the People’s Republic, mostly because the Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, under your administration, volunteered the service of extradition of Mr. Zhou, a prisoner of conscience, to the Central Government in Beijing, without even summary judicial proceedings. As the whole world watches, the Hong Kong government’s police action assists Beijing’s on-going, and accelerating human rights abuses targeting political dissidents in and out of China, and has set a bad precedent in forfeiture of Hong Kong’s judicial and administrative independence, having seriously compromised the fundamental freedoms of the people of Hong Kong.

In September, 2008, Mr. Zhou entered Hong Kong from Macao. He was intercepted, detained, and held incommunicado by your government. Shortly afterwards, the Government of Hong Kong, under your administration, secretly and promptly turned Mr. Zhou into the hands of Beijing government, knowing the latter is an internationally condemned murderer and persecutor of Tian An Men Square prodemocracy activists. This serious development occurred one year ago and has come to light only recently. Such a violation of all well recognized international protocols may have shocked all hearts of the international human rights community. We, the undersigned resolutely condemn such an outrageous offense and affront to freedom loving people all over the world. In the wake of such a disgraceful betrayal, we the undersigned call for the international community to launch an immediate investigation into this serious development.

We are here to call for awareness; for the international community to pay close attention such an indecent and disgraceful police cooperation between the government of the P.R.C. and the current Government of Hong Kong, the former British Colony, in their dirty trade of extradition of political prisoners demanded by Beijing in return for forfeiture of Hong Kong’s administrative and judicial independence.

We are here to call for the Hong Kong Government’s immediate self-restraint from continuing such ignominious deals with Beijing, and for it to take all necessary steps to remedy the grave consequences of such lapses in procedure. We are here to appeal to people, the voters of Hong Kong, to stand up and speak out, in urging the government of Hong Kong to preserve its administrative and judicial independence.

Respectfully signed by:

/s./ Ye Ning, attorney and human rights campaigner

/s./ Li Jinjin, attorney and chair of China's Judicial Watch

/s./ Zhang Yuewei, family member of Zhou Yongjun

/s./ John Kusumi, founder of China Support Network

Zhou Yongjun's Family Impact Statement

2009-09-19T19:14:00.000-07:00

We Haven't Seen Zhou Yongjun (Majer) for One Year Already; We're Quite Worrying about His Health
——from Yongjun's families, written by fiance Yuewei Zhang

Yongjun left Los Angeles for China Last year to visit his disabled father and his earthquake-hit hometown, on his 41st birthday, September 26, 2008. Then immediately, he went missing and we couldn't hear from him at all! About two months later in November, 2008, we were relieved to learn that he was arrested secretly in Hong Kong by the Chinese police and then was secretly transferred to Shenzhen and put in secret custody. However, the Chinese police denied that they held him. As we learned about Yongjun's situation on the inside from released inmates, we realized that he was experiencing a replay, quite similar to the last time in 1998, when he was secretly arrested and the Chinese government tried to block all the information about him, until they found a pretext to charge him with a crime. For example, in his 1998 arrest, he was charged with "Secretly Entering China." In May of 2009, he was charged with fraud, a crime that he never committed.

Based on Chinese government officials' harrassment, threats, and intimidation for our family (since the end of November, 2008), we knew that Yongjun was in custody again, but we had no way of knowing his condition (dead or alive?) inside the prison. So we began to write to the Chinese government repeatedly begging them to release Yongjun. Three months, four months, five months passed with no answer -- until seven months passed, there was no reply! Helplessly, we had to cry for help from God, from the media and human-rights-protecting groups and people, from the U.S. government. Ridiculously, we got Yongjun's Arrest Warrant from them--the Chinese government--on May 13, 2009. Then we retained Mr. Mo Shaoping, a well known human rights attorney. But soon thereafter, we received a lot of pressure to fire Mr. Mo.

Under the pressure, Yongjun had to dismiss Mo. In the time since Yongjun's whereabouts were disclosed, we haven't been allowed to visit him. We learned from the released cellmates that Yongjun suffered migraine, chest pain, and extremities pain in Suining Detention Center. Yongjun's sister is herself a government employee and had called international attention to Yongjun's case. She has received warnings and she has to keep silent about Yongjun's case.

It will be Yongjun's 42nd birthday soon, and we don't know how he will celebrate it in China on September 26. He loves his family and his motherland China, however, this motherland, an oriental big "DEMOCRACTIC AND LAWFUL" country has treated him with three imprisonments and cruel tortures within 20 years. Yongjun has been just a hot-blooded youth working hard to seek democracy. What's wrong with this? It's nothing wrong!

Since 1989, Yongjun suffered both mental tortures and physical injuries in the Chinese prisons and the serious consequences. We're quite worrying about his health. We really miss him now, however, we're not allowed to see him. His 80-year-old upright parents need him, and his children need him more. We've been looking forward to his return to the U.S.A.

I am, hereby, expecting everybody here present who loves and supports democracy, freedom, human rights and world peace to keep an eye on Yongjun's third imprisonment by the Chinese government.

Thank you very much,

Yuewei Zhang on behalf Yongjun's daughter, parents, sister and brother
9-14-2009

Zhou Yongjun's Defense Attorney's Memo (English translation)

2009-09-19T19:12:00.000-07:00

Beijing Mo Shaoping Law Firm
The Southwest Yard Zhong Shan Park, Beijing, 10031 P.R. China
Tel/Fax: 86-10-66058311 Email: shaoping@public.bta.net.cn

Attorney’s Memorandum
June 4, 2009
To: Suining Bureau of Public Security, Sichuan Province
Cc: Economic Investigation Branch
Branch Leader: Desheng Xie; Police Officer: Bo Wang:

We are the attorneys from Beijing’s Mo Shaoping Law Firm, representing Yongjun Zhou, who is the suspect of an alleged fraud case handled by your bureau. We are retained by Mr. Zhou’s family, which was confirmed by Mr. Zhou himself. After the retaining, we met with Yongjun Zhou and acquired information about the case. Here we offer our opinions as to this case based on our knowledge about this case and relevant laws for your reference.

I. Regarding the jurisdiction

We believe the Public Security agency of mainland China has no jurisdiction over this case.

1. The Public Security agency of mainland China has no jurisdiction pursuant to the principle of locality jurisdiction

According to the information provided by Yongjun Zhou, which was confirmed by the police officers handling this case, the basic facts relevant to this case are: When Yongjun Zhou entered Hong Kong from Macau, the Hong Kong police suspected him of being involved in a money laundering scam. The police presented to Mr. Zhou a letter addressing Hong Kong Hang Seng Bank from overseas when he was interrogated. The letter was pursuant to a demand for transfer of money from Hang Seng Bank, and the signor of this letter is the same as the name in English spelling present on Yongjun Zhou’s passport: Wang Xingxiang. It is quite clear that the act and its consequence of this case did not happen within the boundaries of mainland China. Pursuant to “The People’s Republic of China Criminal Law” (“Criminal Law”), Section 6, “This law is applicable to all who commit crimes within the territory of the PRC except as specially stipulated by law ….When either the act or consequence of a crime takes place within PRC territory, a crime is deemed to have been committed within PRC territory,” which is the principle of locality jurisdiction, and “The Basic Law of the People’s Republic of China Hong Kong Special Administrative Region”, Section 2 says, “The People’s Congress authorizes Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to have high level of autonomy, owns the power of administrative management, legislating and independent judiciary and final review,” China’s Criminal Law is not applicable to this case and China’s Public Security agency has no jurisdiction over this case.

2. The agency of Public Security of China has no jurisdiction pursuant to the principle of personam jurisdiction.

Yongjun Zhou obtained his green card in the United States on February 4, 1993, and has lived in the United States for 16 years. Considering his Chinese passport had expired, Yongjun Zhou repeatedly applied for the Chinese passport with China’s consulate general in the United States. He also asked his family to help him get a Chinese passport in China. However, his requests were declined, which should be deemed as the denial of his Chinese citizenship by the Chinese government. Without alternative, Yongjun Zhou applied for the U. S. citizenship with the U.S. Immigration and got it granted. According to Yongjun Zhou’s family, the U.S. Immigration has mailed “the notice for taking oath” to Yongjun Zhou’s home in the United States. Pursuant to “The People’s Republic of China Nationality Law”, Section 6, “the Chinese citizen living in foreign countries should be deemed to lose his/her Chinese citizenship when he/she voluntarily applies for or acquires foreign citizenship,” Yongjun Zhou, who lived in the foreign country for a long time and voluntarily applied for United States citizenship, has no longer had his China citizenship. Pursuant to Criminal Law, Section 7, “the crime committed by the Chinese citizen outside China shall be governed by this law. However, the crime subject to the imprisonment for less than three years shall not be prosecuted under this law. The crimes committed by the employees of The People’s Republic of China and servicemen shall be governed by this law,” which is personam jurisdiction principle, the Public Security agency of mainland China cannot exercise its jurisdiction over this case. Here, we need to bring your attention to “the Rule Related to Cases Involving Foreigners,” issued by Foreign Affairs Ministry, The Supreme Court, the Supreme Procuratorate, the Public Security Ministry and Justice Ministry, on June 20, 1995, Section 2, Subsection 1 (1) “as to the administrative detainment, criminal detainment, judicial detainment, detainment questioning and investigation, arrest, surveillance, bailment, attachment of passport and expulsion within limited time of a foreigner,….public security agency, state security agency, people’s prosecutor, the court and other related agencies should report the case, its handling and the way to handling media to its superior agency within 48 hours after taking the abovementioned measures and also inform the foreign affairs agency.” And Section 3, subsection 4(7) “If no valid ID that could be used to identify the dead or the citizenship of the suspect under bailment, surveillance, detainment questioning and investigation, detainment and arrest,….the handling agency should inform the foreign embassy or consulate general via inquiry,” your bureau should report this case to your superior and notify the foreign affair agency of the government at the same level. In the same time, the relevant agency should notify the United States embassy or consulate general pursuant to the “Vienna Treaty regarding Consulate Relationships.”

3. The agency of Public Security of China has no jurisdiction pursuant to the principle of protection jurisdiction.

As stated above, the victim of this case should be Hong Kong Hang Seng Bank or other overseas individual or organization, neither a Chinese citizen nor China as a country. Therefore, pursuant to Criminal Law, Section 8, “Foreigners who commit crimes against a Chinese citizen or China as a country, subject to imprisonment for more than three years, could be governed by this law, except for that such act is not punishable pursuant to the law of the locality where the crime is committed,” which is the principle of protection jurisdiction, the agency of Public Security of mainland China has no jurisdiction over this case.

II. Regarding the evidence in this case

We believe there is insufficient evidence to charge Yongjun Zhou with fraud.

As stated above, the basic facts relevant to this case are: When Yongjun Zhou entered Hong Kong from Macau, the Hong Kong police suspected him of being involved in a money-laundering scam. The police presented to Mr. Zhou a letter addressing Hong Kong Hang Seng Bank from overseas when he was interrogated. The letter was pursuant to a demand for the transfer of money from Hang Seng Bank and the signor of this letter is the same as the name in English present on Yongjun Zhou’s passport: Wang Xingxiang. There is no other evidence to show that Yongjun Zhou had something to do with this letter or Yongjun Zhou was involved in the fraud. According to Yongjun Zhou, he obtained this Malaysian passport from an immigration service company. Although the name on the passport is the same with the name of the signor of that letter, he did not write such a letter and did not see this letter before. Therefore, we believe, without any other corroborating evidence, it cannot be ascertained that Yongjun Zhou is the person who wrote this letter. It is also worth noting that, according to Yongjun Zhou, after verifying the above, the Hong Kong police not only released Yongjun Zhou but also apologized to him. It indicates that the Hong Kong police, who have the jurisdiction over this case, have already excluded Yongjun Zhou as the suspect!

III. Regarding the procedure used in this case

We believe there is a grave problem of overtime detainment.

Yongjun Zhou was detained by Shenzhen police in early October 2008, when Yongjun Zhou did not disclose his real identity. On November 7 or 8, 2008, Suining City, Sichuan Province Bureau of Public Security sent police to meet with Yongjun Zhou in Shenzhen. According to Zhou, some of the police from Suining City Bureau of Public Security know him from before and at that time Yongjun Zhou had disclosed his real identity to Shenzhen Police. Thus, his real identity could be ascertained no later than November 8, 2008. Pursuant to “The People’s Republic of China Criminal Procedural Law” (“Criminal Procedural Law”), Section 128 (2), “The number of days of the detainment should be counted starting from the day when the real identity of the suspect is ascertained if the suspect refuses to disclose his/her name and address,” Yongjun Zhou has been detained 144 days more than that allowed by the law, starting from November 8, 2008, the day when his real identity was disclosed, to May 8, 2009, the day when the Suining Peoples’ Procuratorate granted the arrest of him, subtracting 30 days, the longest for criminal detainment, and 7 days, the days for the review by the People’s Procuratorate, pursuant to Criminal Procedural Law. Pursuant to Criminal Procedural Law, Sections 75 and 96, “the suspect, defendant and his/her legal representative, relative or the attorney or other defender retained by him/her have the right to demand the release of the suspect or defendant or cancellation of the surveillance or household watch if the court, prosecutor or Bureau of Public Security detains them for longer than that allowed by the law” and “the suspect may retain his/her attorney to provide legal counsel, complain or appeal after he/she is detained or interrogated for the first time,” we will complain on behalf of Yongjun Zhou to Shenzhen Police for their overtime detainment of Yongjun Zhou.

Considering the above, we believe:

1. The Agency of Public Security of Mainland China has no jurisdiction over this case pursuant to Criminal Law, Sections 6, 7 and 8 regarding the jurisdiction of the criminal cases;
2. There is insufficient evidence to charge Yongjun Zhou and his case should not stand;
3. There is a grave problem of overtime detainment of Yongjun Zhou.

Yongjun Zhou was the first president of Autonomous Students Federation of Beijing Universities during the [Tiananmen Square uprising of 1989]. Due to the 20th anniversary of the June 4 event, his prominent case may receive great attention from the international community. We hope that your bureau will enforce the law in compliance with the law, ascertain the case as soon as possible and dismiss the case.

Regards,
Shaoping Mo, Attorney
Zerui Chen, Attorney
Beijing’s Mo Shaoping Law Firm

Zhou Yongjun's Jailhouse Interview (English translation)

2009-09-19T19:11:00.000-07:00

Date: May 25, 2009, Monday

Location: Detention Center, Suining, Sichuan

Interviewers: Attorney Shaoping Mo; Attorney Zerui Chen [also transcriber]

Interviewee: Yongjun Zhou

Mo: Are you Yongjun Zhou?

Zhou: Yes. I am Yongjun Zhou.

Mo: I am Attorney Shaoping Mo from Beijing. This is Attorney Zerui Chen.

Zhou: I have heard of Mr. Mo. However, I am not sure that you are really he.

Mo: We are entrusted by your family to be your attorney. It is your father who signed the agreement. Please see if it is your father’s signature.

Zhou: It should be.

Mo: Please sign it if you agree.

Zhou: But I don’t think my family could afford to pay a great attorney like you. I don’t want my father to sell his house for me.

Mo: Oh. Your case has something to do with politics. We haven’t charged your family one cent for this special case as of right now. Don’t need to be worried. Please sign it if you agree. Let’s continue. Were you a student of China University of Political Science and Law? What is your major?

Zhou: Political Science.

Mo: Are you familiar with China’s current law?

Zhou: I know the basics, but the law changes constantly, the specifics of which I don’t know.

Mo: Please check the agreement and sign it.

Zhou: I first have to make sure how much you charge us.

Mo: You don’t need to be worried about it. Your case is special and I will treat it in a special way.

Zhou: I learned politics at China University of Political Science and Laws. I heard about human rights attorneys in China when I was overseas. I never thought that you would be my attorney.

Mo: Let me give you a rundown about your current legal status. Pursuant to “Criminal Procedural Law,” you are still a suspect. Although you have been arrested, you are still in the hands of the Public Security Bureau’s investigation. You are a suspect rather than a defendant. From the date you were detained, you would be detained for 37 days at most. Since you were authorized to be arrested by the prosecution, the Public Security Bureau could detain you for two more months. After then, they have to obtain the authorization from the superior prosecution to detain you for one additional month. If your case is important and complex and the Public Security Bureau wants to detain you for longer, the Public Security Bureau has to obtain the authorization from the provincial prosecution in order to make your detainment extended for two more months. Then the case goes to the prosecution for their review. The prosecution has to make the decision on indictment in one and half a months, during which there are two chances for supplemental investigations, one month each chance. If the evidence is not sufficient, the prosecution may make the no-indictment decision. There was so-called being relieved of indictment, under law which is outdated. If they cannot find sufficient evidence, the only decision they can make is no-indictment.

[The director of the detention center came in unexpectedly.]

Zhou: Good! Director Xie is also here. Mr. Xie told me that I could see all my incoming letters. Please give them to me.

Director: I don’t have any letters for you.

Mo: Oh, let’s continue. We are your attorneys when you are under investigation so your family can engage us on behalf of you. Our job is to provide evidence to prove your innocence, lesser offence or being eligible to be relieved of criminal penalty. The authority law entrusted to the attorney is different from authorities given to the Public Security Bureau, prosecution and court. We can file complaints for you if you were coerced to confess by harsh interrogation or the law enforcement violated the law. We have this authority.

Zhou: I see.

Mo: Are you tortured to confess?

Zhou: Well, I was kind of entrapped to confess. Now, let me take three minutes to give you a clear introduction of this case.

Mo: You are good; you can take only three minutes to give us a clear introduction? Oh, even I cannot do it.

Zhou: This case is political. I went to Hong Kong from Macau on September 28, 2008, with a Malaysian passport, which they said was falsified. I bought this passport from an immigration service company, with which I went to Taiwan and Macau without any problem. The name on the passport is not Yongjun Zhou. It is quite accidental that I was detained in Hong Kong.

Mo: Do you have a U.S. green card?

Zhou: Yes, my green card started from February 4, 1993. I haven’t been naturalized. Since 9/11 the hurdle of immigration was getting higher. I applied for citizenship in 2002. It took a longer time. At the time I left the U.S., I was ready to be a citizen except for an oath taking. Therefore, I am only a national [permanent resident], a “quasi-citizen.” But I was very much homesick because my parents are in China, especially when the big Sichuan earthquake occurred last year. I tried to get a passport via my sister Sufen Zhou, but she tried in vain. Later I applied for a visa through China’s consulate general but was refused. The Chinese government took this matter politically rather than criminally. On September 28, I went to Hong Kong from Macau with the Malaysian passport. I thought there should be no problem with going to Hong Kong. However, the customs officers of Hong Kong found a problem with my passport. I did not disclose to them who I was. At noon of September 30, the Hong Kong Immigration office gave me a notice of denial of entry. I stayed at the police station at Hong Kong-Macau entry for 48 hours, when I was sick and treated. Later they said ‘sorry’ to me that they misidentified me and turned me back over to immigration. The immigration said they needed to verify my identity before letting me go. Then I was sent to a small hotel in Shenzhen by a vehicle, where I was shown a notice of detainment, on which the name shown on the passport was listed. I did not tell them my real name. On November 7 or 8, someone from Suining Public Security Bureau came to Shenzhen. Two of them came, one elder and another younger, one of whom was known to me. They interrogated me continuously on Saturday and Sunday, with Shenzhen police aside. On the 27th, they transferred me to Yantian detention center and forcefully changed my name to Hua Wang. I had told them of my real identity, but they wanted me to sign Hua Wang as my name, to which request I disagreed. I signed my name as Yongjun Zhou. Since November 27, I wrote many letters to my family and asked the police officers to forward. I went on a hunger strike when they refused to forward them for me. However, they refused my requests. They did not interrogate me any more and such situation continued until April. Later, the director told me that someone from superior authorities demanded them to detain me here. Thereafter, Shenzhen police came again to verify something, after which they showed me a notice of detainment. Later, I was moved to Suining on May 4.

Mo: Yes, your family told us all already. Your former cellmate told your family after he was released.

Zhou: Shenzhen Public Security police went to the hotel room in Macau where I lived and took away my belongings without my permission, against my will. They lost my belongings in the process. The list of attached belongings was lost because a new list was issued every time I was transferred. However, Hong Kong Immigration is in possession of an original list of attached belongings. It was shown on that document that my bank cards, credit cards, computer and documents were all gone.

As to the financial fraud case, the only reason for my investigation was something in the transcript of the interview conducted on me by Hong Kong police. My mistake is that I brought with me one copy. It was Hong Kong police who gave me such a copy. If I had not brought it with me, probably nothing would have happened. Hong Kong police showed me a copy of a letter, addressing Hong Kong Hang Seng Bank from an overseas address. They said the name on the letter is the same as that on my passport, and the letter demanded Hang Seng Bank to transfer 2 million Hong Kong dollars to an account with Citibank. I have nothing to do with this letter. I did not write the letter and I’ve never seen it. I denied involvement related to this letter when I was in the Public Security Bureau. I have nothing to do with it. (So they detained me.)

Mo: This is the only matter you are involved in?

Zhou: As to the financial fraud, this is the only reason why they accuse me.

Mo: Is what you told me here consistent with what you told the police? Any changes?

Zhou: Consistent. There is no change in the story; I have said it as it is consistently.

Mo: That is to say, you did not see this letter before, and you had nothing to do with this letter?

Zhou: No. I’ve never seen this letter.

Mo: You are suspected of committing criminal financial fraud. Pursuant to the Chinese law, the financial fraud is to make false representation or conceal material facts to induce others to rely on them to dispose of property.

Zhou: I did not do it. Hong Kong police did not think I had a problem. However, the Mainland police continued to pursue this case because it is related to politics.

Mo: According to what you said, you failed to disclose your identity to Shenzhen police. Pursuant to the law, the dates of the detainment would not be counted if the identity was not verified. The dates of the detainment would be counted from the date when the identity could be verified.

Zhou: Suining police came to Shenzhen in mid-November and they should have known my identity by then at the latest. As to why they detained me, the only thing I can say is for political reasons.

Mo: Okay, this is all for today. Please take care of your health. If you want to see us, you may tell Mr. Xie. How is your health? What do you want your family to send to you?

Zhou: My heart has a problem. Last time my sister mailed me some money [On May 8 the police called Zhou’s sister to deposit money for him]. I still have them now; I don’t need anything else.

Mo: Your friends overseas and the media paid attention to your case. What do you want to say to them?

Zhou: I thank them very much! Although I am in jail now without any freedom, I wish them living a happy life.

Mo: Ok. Please sign the agreement. Take care!

Zhou: Yes. Thanks!

Zhou Yongjun's Indictment (English translation)

2009-09-19T19:10:00.000-07:00

People’s Procuratorate of Shehong County, Sichuan Province

Indictment

No. SPCL (2009) 097

Defendant Zhou, Yongjun, a./k./a. Zhou, Yazhou, male, born on September 15, 1967 in Pengxi County, Sichuan Province. Zhou is an ethnic Han Chinese, and his identification number is 11010819670915631X. He received undergraduate education and his recorded address in his household registration book is Unit 3-5, 39 South St., Chicheng District, Pengxi County, Sichuan. On April 10, 2009, he was detained by Shenzhen municipal Public Security Bureau as a suspect of committing fraud. On May 8, 2009, he was arrested by Suining municipal Public Security Bureau, with the order of arrest approved by Suining People’s Procuratorate.

The investigation of this case was completed by the Public Security Bureau of Suining, and it was determined that defendant Zhou, Yongjun is suspected of committing the crime of fraud. The case was refered to Suining City People’s Procuratorate on July 7, 2009 to review for pending prosecution. The Procuratorate appoints this court for prosecution. This court received the case, questioned the defendant according to the law, has heard the opinions and defense of the defendant and his representative, and reviewed all the materials pertaining to the case.

It has been determined according to the law:

On May 8, 2008, Defendant Zhou, Yongjun fraudulently used the name Wang Xingxiang to have sent a letter in to Hong Kong Hang Seng Bank, requesting the bank to transfer 4 million Hang Kong Dollars in Account 239-082258 (0002) belonging to Wang Xingxiang at the said bank into Account 031027915031 at HSBC’s Australian Branch. On May 19, 2009, Defendant Zhou, Yongjun once more fraudulently used Wang Xingxiang to have requested via a letter to Hong Kong Hang Seng Bank for a wire transfer of 2 million Hong Kong dollars from Account 239-082258 (0002) at the said bank into Account 89730410 at Citibank’s Hong Kong Branch. On May 24, 2009, since the Defendant Zhou Yongjun saw the said two transfers were unsuccessful, he once again fraudulently used the name of Wang Xingxiang to send postal letters to Hong Kong Hang Seng Bank, requesting that the bank send 4 million Hong Kong dollars in Account 239-082258 (0002) at the said bank into Account 031027915031 at HSBC’s Australian Branch and also requesting that the said bank to transfer 2 million Hong Kong dollars from the said account into Account 89730410 at Citibank’s Hong Kong Branch. Since the signatures did not match with the record, the requests were denied.

On October 1, 2008, Defendant Zhou Yongjun used a Malaysian passport with Wang Xingxiang’s name, attempted to enter Hong Kong, and was detained by Hong Kong’s Immigration Affairs Bureau.

The evidence admitted in support of the said facts includes: physical evidence, correspondence, expert opinions, testimonies from witnesses and the defendant’s personal confession, etc.

This court has determined that Defendant Zhou Yongjun has committed fraud, and the amount is considered very significant. The deeds have violated the statutes stipulated Article 266 of Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China, and have committed the crime of fraud. The expected outcomes were not fulfilled due to causes unrelated to his original intent, which conforms to Article 23 of Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China and should be considered criminal attempt. The facts pertaining to his crime are clear and recognized, the evidence sufficient, and his criminal liabilities should be prosecuted under the crime of attempted fraud. According to the statutes in Article 141 of Criminal Procedural Law of the People’s Republic of China, the case should be prosecuted according to the law.

Hereby

People’s Procuratorate of Shehong County, Sichuan Province

Acting Inspector: Hongzhi Li
Acting Inspector: Mingzhe Lan
August 3, 2009

Zhou Yongjun's Arrest Warrant (English translation)

2009-09-19T19:09:00.000-07:00

Suining Public Security Bureau

Arrest Warrant

No. Sui Gong Bu Tong [2009] 04

Zhou Guoqing:

For Suspected Crime of Fraud, Yongjun Zhou was arrested by Suining Public Security Department at 17:00pm, on May 8, 2009, under the approval from Suining People's Procuratorate, and he has been detained at Suining Detention Center.

Suining Public Security Bureau
05-08-2009

If a person is arrested and his/her families or his/her employer can’t be notified within 24 hours, please give reasons here:

Person in charge of this case

Date

This page should be given to the person’s families or employer.

Zhou Yongjun's Case Report, by attorney Li Jinjin

2009-09-19T19:07:00.000-07:00

Introduction

Zhou Yongjun, a./k./a. Zhou Yazhou and Majer Zhou, a student leader of 1989 pro-democracy movement of China, who is a legal permanent resident of the USA, was sent back to China from Hong Kong by Hong Kong’s immigration authorities with no legal reason on or about September 30, 2008 and was secretly detained without any legal action under the law over seven months. Zhou’s whereabouts were not released by the Chinese authorities until May 8, 2009 and he was then officially arrested by the local police department with a charge of fraud. He was recently indicted and the trial was postponed due to the coming event of the PRC’s 60th Anniversary.

This is Zhou’s third arrest since 1989, when he was first arrested as a student leader (Zhou was the first elected leader of the Autonomous Students Federation of Beijing Universities) and as a leader of the Beijing Autonomous Workers Federation. Unfortunately, his third arrest has not gained much attention in the international community. His family has not been allowed to visit him; his circumstances in detention were unclear; his right to counsel has been interfered with; and his family members have also been threatened.

Who is Zhou Yongjun

Zhou Yongjun was born in Pengxi County, Sichuan Province, China on September 26, 1967. He was the first elected chairman of the Autonomous Students Federation of Beijing Universities in the student movement which occupied Tiananmen Square in 1989. At the time, he was in his last year of study at the University of Political Science and Law of China. In May of 1989, he joined the Beijing Autonomous Workers Federation (BAWF). Just before the June 4 massacre, he was elected a member of the Standing Committee of the BAWF.

After the June 4 massacre, he was arrested and detained from 1989 to 1991. In June 1992, he fled to Hong Kong. He was then admitted as a refugee by the United States after arriving there in February 1993. Based on his refugee status, he was subsequently adjusted to the status of Legal Permanent Resident (Green Card Holder) of the United States. He had already applied for and had been awaiting the citizenship swearing-in. He is the father of two US citizen children.

Zhou Yongjun’s Previous Arrests

Zhou’s First Arrest

Zhou Yongjun’s first arrest took place in June, 1989 after the June 4 massacre, when he was placed in prison along with other movement leaders. In March 1990, he was officially charged with a crime of Counter-revolutionary Propaganda and Incitement. However, under pressure from the international community, Mr. Zhou was released without prosecution in January 1991. After the release, he was under surveillance of the local Chinese government until his flight to Hong Kong in 1992.

Zhou’s Second Arrest

In December 1998, Zhou secretly entered China via Hong Kong and was arrested in Guangzhou. He was intensely interrogated by Chinese police about his political activities in the United States. After six months of arbitrary detention in Guangzhou, he was transferred to the police of his hometown in Sichuan province. The local authorities there sentenced him to three years of Re-education-through-labor, an administrative punishment without trial, for the original illegal exiting of China in 1992. During the three years in the labor camp, he was subjected to degrading conditions, forced to labor, and was also tortured. After being released, he was not allowed to register in the Household Registration under his real identity and therefore could not obtain proper identification under the Chinese Resident Identification Regulations. With the help of the US Embassy in China, he returned to the US in 2002.

Zhou’s Current Arrest, Detention, and Charge

Zhou left Los Angeles on September 26, 2008 to attempt to return to China to visit his family, particularly when his father who is stricken with debilitating heart disease. Because he was not able to obtain a return permit from the Chinese consulate in the US, he tried to enter Hong Kong from Macau with a Malaysian passport. However, Hong Kong police held him at the airport to investigate several alleged fraudulent letters under the name on his Malaysian passport, Wang Xingxiang, which requested two transfers from Hang Seng Bank to two separate accounts of the same owner at other banks. The Hang Seng Bank found out that the signature did not match their records. The Hong Kong police got involved. After a few hours of questioning with the signature verification, Hong Kong police authorities released Zhou with a conclusion that Zhou did not engage in fraud. However, the Hong Kong immigration authorities notified him that he was not allowed to enter Hong Kong, but also was not allowed to return to Macau or the US. He was held for 48 hours at the airport, when he became sick severely.

On September 30, 2008, Zhou was secretly sent to Shenzhen, a city in mainland China over the border from Hong Kong, and his case was handed over to the Chinese police authorities or State Security authorities. From then, Zhou was put into secret detention.

Mr. Zhou revealed his real identity on November 7, 2008, but the Chinese authorities refused to book him under his real identity in the jail despite knowing his real identity as Zhou Yongjun from the beginning. He was given a prisoner number of #20 in the First Detention Center of Shenzhen city. In late November 2008, he was transferred to the Yantian Detention center of Shenzhen city under the name of Wang Hua, an alias given to him by the police. Mr. Zhou refused to sign the transfer papers under the name of Wang Hua, and instead signed his real name, Zhou Yongjun. Nonetheless, he was still booked under the name of Wang Hua after the transfer to the Yantian Detention Center.

His family had been looking for him after his disappearance in late September 2008. In November 2008, Zhou through his cellmates passed information to his sister, who is a judge in Chengdu in Sichuan Province. Zhou’s sister flew to Shenzhen, trying to visit him in the First Detention Center. The jail authorities denied her visit application with the reason that there was no such inmate of Zhou Yongjun or under number 20 in the facilities.

After seven months of secret detention, Zhou Yongjun was transferred to Suining city in Sichuan province. On May 8, 2009, Suining police processed the arrest procedure under the Criminal Procedure Law of the PRC (official arrest) with the charge with fraud related to the fraudulent letter that Hong Kong police had already investigated and dismissed. The police department of Suining City notified Zhou’s sister about his arrest. This was the first time that Chinese authorities admitted to holding Zhou Yongjun.

The case was later transferred to Shehong County. The Shehong County People’s Procuratorate indicted Zhou on August 4, 2009. Zhou was charged with attempted fraud under Article 266 of the Criminal Law of PRC with the allegation that Zhou sent several letters to Hang Seng Bank of Hong Kong under the name of Wang, Xingxiang attempting to transfer two sums of the money under Wang’s account in Hang Seng Bank. Please refer to Indictment in the attached Appendix.

The Chinese authorities have refused to let Zhou’s family visit him since he was detained, and had not allowed him to meet with an attorney until May 25, 2009. His family hired Mo Shaoping, an attorney renowned for defending political dissidents in Beijing. Mr. Mo and his associate lawyer Chen Zerui met with Zhou on May 25, 2009 at the Suining detention center. From the attorney’s notes at the meeting, please refer to Transcript of Interview in the attached Appendix. However, Mr. Mo Shaoping was dismissed from the representation while his assistant Mr. Chen has remained counsel of record.

Concurrently, a local attorney Mr. Tang was also retained to represent Zhou. The local Suining authorities refused to let Mr. Tang review Zhou’s file and meet him until August 6, 2009. After meeting with Zhou, however, this attorney became fearful to take on the case, expressing that this involved complicated political matters, though he did comment that there is no evidence to support the criminal charge of fraud. Further, Shehong county court did not let Mr. Chen and Tang review the complete file. Many important documents listed as evidence in the Court file were withheld.

Zhou’s sister, a judge in Chengdu, tried to represent him as a family member, which under Chinese law is allowable. The local Suining authorities refused her to represent Zhou, alleging that she did not establish the sister-brother relationship. Further, Zhou’s sister has received threats to her life and her job.

From Zhou’s cellmates, we learn that Zhou was severely tortured in the detention center.

Legal concerns

Zhou Yongjun’s case alerts us about the legal treatment accorded to political dissidents in the following aspects, which demonstrate that the Chinese authorities are more aggressively violating its law and regulations and ignoring the international criticisms, even involving the cooperation of Hong Kong authorities in violation of Hong Kong’s law and international responsibility to protect human rights.

1. No reason but the political motivation is behind the case. Hong Kong police’s investigation on alleged counterfeit signatures on letters looks like a normal criminal investigation, which was one of hundreds of such investigation. The Chinese government would not have been interested in such a routine criminal investigation unless the Government of China was interested in the person, a political dissident. Zhou’s political background and contacts with groups such as Falun Gong and Zhong Gong are the true reason behind it.

2. This is the first case in which the HK immigration directly transferred a political dissident to Mainland China from the airport. Hong Kong authorities have no legal basis for directly handing Zhou Yongjun to the Chinese police. There is no question of extradition or rendition (on which there is no agreement between Hong Kong and the Chinese Central Government) as Zhou never entered into Hong Kong. Normally a non-HK resident refused entry to Hong Kong would be sent back to his place of origin i.e. the place from which he travelled to Hong Kong. In this case, Zhou would be sent back to Macau, Malaysia, or to the US. For this legal concern, the HK government shall have to answer.

3. The Mainland China has no jurisdiction for prosecuting Zhou. Zhou is currently charged with attempted fraud with alleged letters requesting a Hong Kong bank to transfer a sum of money to two other bank accounts. If Zhou were a criminal suspect, only Hong Kong police have jurisdiction to make investigation and/or referral to prosecute this case. The Hong Kong police in this case questioned and lost interest in Zhou and returned him to the care of HK immigration authorities.

Even if under the jurisdiction of person under Article 7 of the Criminal Law of the PRC, there are some contradictions in this case. First of all, Zhou held a Malaysian passport. The Chinese government would not have jurisdiction over a Malaysian where the alleged crime occurs in Hong Kong. Second, if the Chinese authorities knew Zhou’s identity, the Chinese government should notify his family and the U.S. consulate under protocols. Third, Zhou has maintained U.S. legal permanent resident status and his domicile is in California, USA. He had no relationship to Shehong County.

Further, personal jurisdiction must relate some interests. The crime was alleged in Hong Kong. The potential victim is Hang Seng Bank of Hong Kong. There is no explanation of why a county government in Sichuan would take on a case that Hong Kong authorities declined to prosecute.

4. The Chinese police authorities had secretly detained Zhou without disclosure of his identification for over seven months. According to the procedure law of China, the police authorities must inform Zhou’s family with 48 hours and prosecute Zhou in 7 days or 37 days by extension. This time limit for prosecution might be tolled when the identity of the suspect remains unclear. However, the Chinese government claims the jurisdiction of person in this case, indicating that the Chinese authorities knew the identity of Zhou at the very beginning. From the record, it is also clear that police officers from Sichuan province met Zhou on November 27, 2008. One or two officers knew about Zhou when Zhou was arrested in 1998 and served in a labor camp in Sichuan for over two years. Thus, from November 27, 2008, this prosecution time limit should start running. However, Sichuan local police did not disclose the arrest until May 8, 2009, over seven months into this case.

5. The Chinese authorities have violated Zhou’s right to counsel by pressuring Zhou’s family and Zhou, disallowing the services of Mo Shaoping from Beijing. Further, the Court did not permit Zhou’s attorney to review the complete file.

Prepared remarks for 9/18 news conference

2009-09-18T08:04:00.001-07:00

For those who are with us today, welcome and thank you for your interest in human rights, freedom and democracy for Mainland China. Today's event highlights the continuing ordeal for those who are persecuted by Mainland China.

We are focused on the case of Zhou Yongjun, who chose to be known as Majer to the English speaking world. He continues to struggle against ongoing mistreatment at the hands of Chinese authorities, and those Chinese authorities -- the Communist Party -- are displaying their arbitrary side. From time to time, Chinese authorities give lip service to the rule of law, but that's when it suits them. I repeat that today, they are displaying their arbitrary side.

In the case of Majer Zhou, we see capricious, mercurial, arbitrary, and absurd behavior by the authorities, because even while they are prosecuting Mr. Zhou, they in fact have no case!

Before we delve into details, let me step back and provide a quick overview -- an orientation for those who aren't familiar with some basic points of background.

In 1989, Majer Zhou was a student at the University of Politics and Law in Beijing. On April 15 that year, a significant Chinese leader died. His name was Hu Yaobang, and he was known to be reform-minded. Out of mourning for Mr. Hu, on April 17, Majer Zhou led his campus to parade into Tiananmen Square.

That march into Tiananmen Square began a whole series of events generally known as the Tiananmen Square or "June 4" uprising. Once they occupied Tiananmen Square, students didn't leave. They issued demands of the government, looking for the reform that seemed lost with the death of Mr. Hu.

As the student action became a pro-democracy movement, multiple campuses in Beijing joined together to form the Autonomous Students Federation of Beijing Universities. Majer Zhou was elected to be the first President of that Federation. As we see it here, Majer Zhou was pivotal as an early Tiananmen Square student leader.

At roughly the same time, Li Jinjin was another early leader in the students' actions. Li Jinjin is with us here today; he is a presenter who will continue our program after my introduction.

The Tiananmen Square democracy movement led to the Tiananmen Square massacre. The Chinese government declared martial law and sent troops to Beijing to retake Tiananmen Square. June 4, 1989 was the date when troops shot their way into the Square, using live ammunition and killing about 3,000 Beijing residents on their way in. That date is reason why Chinese people refer to it as the "June 4" movement and massacre.

Now, Majer Zhou has a post-movement history that is briefly recounted as follows: He was arrested soon after the massacre in 1989, and jailed until his release in 1991. He then made his way to the United States, where he became a legal U.S. permanent resident, and the father of two children who are U.S. citizens. In 1998 he attempted a return to China. He was captured -- jailed a second time as a political prisoner -- and sentenced to three years in a labor camp. He was released in 2001, and returned to the U.S. in 2002.

Last year in late September, he attempted another return to China. The authorities have captured him again, and he is now jailed for his third time as a political prisoner. He has been held for almost a year already. The authorities have arrested him on trumped up charges, and plan to soon prosecute him in a trumped up case.

Ultimately, this case is Tiananmen Square political persecution, carried forward into the present day. However, there are legal nuances and that is why we have Li Jinjin to be our next presenter. Li Jinjin became an attorney, and the editor-in-chief of China Judicial Watch.

I believe that when we analyze the nuances as he will present, it can be concluded that the behavior of the Chinese government in this case is laughably absurd. I've said it once, and I'll say it again: They have no case! As will be presented, they lack a leg to stand on, and they have no business prosecuting Majer Zhou, who is a political prisoner and not a criminal.

The China Support Network demands the immediate, unconditional release of Yongjun ‘Majer’ Zhou.

Now it is my pleasure to now give you --- Li Jinjin.

Media alerted about upcoming news conference

2009-09-15T16:50:00.000-07:00

MEDIA ALERT FOR FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2009

NEWS CONFERENCE ON THE ARREST CASE OF LEADING CHINESE DISSIDENT, ZHOU YONGJUN, STUDENT LEADER IN TIANANMEN SQUARE UPRISING OF 1989

Co-hosts: China Support Network (CSN); China Judicial Watch (CJW);Rescue Alliance for Zhou Yongjun (RAZY); and theTear Down This Wall Foundation (TDTWF)

Pro-Chinese democracy campaigners, legal experts, and dissidents will hold a news conference on Friday, September 18, 2009 with specific focus on the "outrageous" case in which Chinese authorities now hold Tiananmen Square student leader Zhou Yongjun, a U.S.-based father of two U.S. citizen children, in prison for his third time as a political prisoner under Chinese state repression.

WHO: Presenters include -Li Jinjin, a student leader from the Tiananmen uprising, who became a lawyer and chief of China Judicial Watch;Ning Ye, a prominent dissident attorney, accomplished commentator and public speaker;John Kusumi, the founder and director emeritus of the China Support Network;Yuewei Zhang, the fiance of Zhou Yongjun on behalf of his U.S. and China-based families.

WHAT: Presenters will make it clear that China's government lacks a leg to stand on as they incarcerate Zhou for a third time.

Attorney Ning Ye will explore the ominous legal precedent for Hong Kong -- a challenge posed by this case -- where HK immigration authorities acted against the rule of law by extraditing Zhou to Mainland China with no legal basis or proceedings whatsoever.

The fiance of Zhou Yongjun will bring out examples of persecution -- threats, harrassment, and intimidation -- directed against Zhou's family, and the impact of the case there.

In the upshot, this capricious, arbitrary instance of rule by fiat will be decried as direct continuation of Tiananmen Square political persecution, and there will be announcement of next steps as the Rescue Alliance pursues justice in this case.

Communist China and Hong Kong immigration authorities will certainly be criticized. As time permits, the U.S. State Department might be criticized. And, the New York Times and its columnist, Tom Friedman, might be criticized.

WHERE: The National Arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park South, New York, NY 10003In Manhattan, that's E. 20th St between Park and 3rd Avenues.

WHEN: 12:00 to 2:00pm on Friday the 18th of September, 2009.

BACKGROUND: The Tiananmen Square massacre is a famous occasion in Chinese history, also broadcast to the world by television networks. Beginning on April 17, 1989, the college students of Beijing Universities occupied Tiananmen Square and became the vanguard of a nationwide uprising in favor of freedom, democracy, human rights, and less corruption. The Communist Party of China, which still rules today, sent its army and used live ammunition to clear the square, killing about 3,000 unarmed protestors in Beijing. This is also known as the "June 4" massacre for the day--June 4, 1989--when the army ended the uprising.

Books about Tiananmen Square have plenty to say about the prominent roles played by Zhou Yongjun, the political prisoner who is the focus of concern at this newser; and Li Jinjin, one of the presenters slated to appear at this Friday's news conference. Zhou was first arrested in 1989 and jailed until 1991. He moved to the United States, and attempted a return to China in 1998, when he was arrested again and sentenced to three years in a labor camp. Released in 2001, he returned to the U.S. in 2002. Now is his third prison term in China; for details of the case, attend the news conference.

The China Support Network was among hundreds of groups that sprung up to protest, to push back, and to respond after the massacre. In less than two months, it rose to become the only American-run group that was integrated among Chinese dissidents, functioning as political handlers for top Chinese dissidents. Its other credits include coordinating simultaneous activities in over 150 cities; organizing thousands to march on the Chinese embassy in Washington; and collecting hundreds of thousands of signatures on a joint petition with Amnesty International.

The Tear Down This Wall Foundation is a Chinese dissident group which is running an art exhibit and they have provided the venue at the National Arts Club for this news conference. They are commemorating the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The Foundation has been co-sponsored by numerous well known Chinese dissidents, including Fang Lizhi, Liu Gang, Wang Dan, Wang Juntao, Wei Jingsheng, Xiong Yan, and Xu Wenli.

Their point is to say that The Wall is still there for those under Communism in China. We still need to tear down this wall. About the art exhibit, see also an earlier announcement from the Foundation, at: http://www.duping.net/XHC/show.php?bbs=11&post=998854

# # #

Prominent Chinese Dissident Shengde Lian Reports Altercation With Cab Driver

2009-08-18T08:24:00.001-07:00

Former Tiananmen Square student leader Shengde Lian was granted a visa by the Chinese government to visit his dying father who is hospitalized for brain cancer in Chengdu. An incident happened around 11:30 PM on August 17 near Lian's parents' house close to Shuangliu International airport.

The taxi driver first ran through nine or so red lights from the Zhongyi XueYuan hospital on the way to Lian's family's house and did not follow Lian's specific request of routes and instead ran up over 20% more fare than the usual mileage.

After arrival, Lian tried to talk to the driver, advising him to be honest and not do this again. The driver became agitated and pulled out a large plier from the car after threatening Lian by saying if this was another time he would had killed Lian already. Lian was lucky not to be hit and possibly killed by the violent driver because his wife pulled him away to the gate of the community entrance. Lian's nine year old son was witnessing the whole violent attack scene and was in shock afterwards -- he could not fall asleep after this attack.

Lian reported this to the Shuangliu Police station after dialing 110 and requested this case be handled promptly and justly. This is the exact same thing as happened in Chengdu a week ago, where a driver killed a young girl after hitting her only because the girl complained to the driver.

Lian has observed that the drivers in Chengdu do not follow the traffic laws at all and it is very scary to walk on the streets of Chengdu where taxi and private car drivers were just running through red lights, among other illegal behaviors, whenever there is no traffic camera. Many cars just drive around passengers anytime and anywhere, disregarding the traffic lights or the safety of others.

Lian calls for the Chinese government to continue the crackdown on such violent behaviors according to the law so no more tragedies like the one mentioned above will ever happen again. Otherwise, those people who conduct such violent acts and crimes might think they need to fear no one as they have money and connection. Without consistent and strict application of law, those people with money or power connection would have no fear of law or other people's safety and rights at all and this will make the rule of law still far away from reality.

Oklahoma newspaper reports straight, no Beijing propaganda ("spin")

2009-07-26T01:35:00.000-07:00

Published: July 23, 2009 07:05 pm

Edmond woman joins peaceful protests in Washington, D.C.

The Edmond Sun

EDMOND — Edmond resident I Chun Lin, also known by the English name Estelle, recently took her 6-year-old son to Washington, D.C.

The primary purpose of the visit was not to see the usual sights, but to to join thousands of Falun Dafa practitioners during four days to call for an end to the persecution of Falun Dafa by the Chinese Communist Party.

Falun Gong is a traditional Chinese spiritual discipline that is Buddhist in nature. It consists of moral teachings, a meditation and four gentle exercises that resemble tai-chi and are known in Chinese culture as “qigong.”

At the core of Falun Gong are the values of truth, compassion and forbearance (or in Chinese Zhen, Shan and Ren). Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, teaches that these are the most fundamental qualities of the universe itself and uses them as a guide for daily life and practice.

The practice began in China in 1992 and quickly spread by word of mouth throughout the country and then beyond. In just seven years since its 1992 introduction to the public, an estimated 70 million to 100 million persons in China were by 1999 making Falun Gong a part of their daily lives.

On July 20, 1999, the Communist Party launched a brutal persecution of Falun Gong, Lin said. The persecution was not only toward Falun Gong, but also aimed to destroy the moral standards and human principles of all people, she said.

Since the start of the persecution, Falun Dafa practitioners throughout the world have been constantly speaking out about the truth of Falun Dafa and exposing the Party’s actions in a tireless effort to end the persecution, Lin said.

In Washington, the large-scale event began when practitioners from around the world had a rally in front of Capitol Hill on July 16.

Nine members of Congress delivered speeches or sent statements, as did many leaders of human rights and faith-based organizations in support of Falun Dafa practitioners’ ongoing efforts to end the persecution in China, Lin said.

Colorado Sen. Mark Udall sent a statement to be read at the rally commending Falun Dafa practitioners for traveling to Washington to protest the persecution in China and expressing his continuing support, Lin said.

“The next morning I visited Oklahoma Congresswoman Mary Fallin’s office in the Longworth Building with a couple of my fellow practitioners from Oklahoma,” Lin said. “We spent 15 minutes with Matt Wise to update him on the current situation regarding the suppression of Falun Dafa in China.”

Thousands of practitioners began a large-scale group practice at 9:30 a.m. on the west lawn of Capitol Hill, Lin said. Just past noon, a grand march set off with the Divine Land Marching Band in blue and white uniforms leading the procession.

“As usual, I marched and played in the clarinet section,” Lin said.

The march of several thousand people proceeded from the National Mall in front of Capitol Hill all the way to Liberty Square near the White House.

After practicing Falun Dafa exercises in front of the Capitol building, more than 2,500 Falun Dafa practitioners from 20 countries arcross the world marched down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Federal Triangle, Lin said.

Every year around July 20, this spectacular scene is repeated in the U.S. capital, Lin said. Year by year, passers-by have become more and more aware and concerned about Falun Dafa practitioners’ words and actions, she said.

The messages on the banners included, “Falun Dafa is Great,” “Stop the Persecution of Falun Dafa in China,” “Bring Jiang Zemin, Luo Gan, Liu Jing and Zhou Yongkang to Justice” and “Only When CCP is Gone Will the Persecution End.”

Falun Dafa practitioners of different nationalities and cultural backgrounds carried many different banners and display boards bearing the messages, “Falun Dafa is Great” and “The World Needs Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance,” Lin said.

On July 18, around 3,000 practitioners congregated in the Daughters of the American Revolution Constitution Hall for the annual Washington, D.C., Falun Dafa Experience Sharing Conference.

Seventeen practitioners of different nationalities shared their experiences of personal improvement, the healing effects of the practice, and their work toward rescuing fellow practitioners imprisoned and tortured in mainland China.

At the end of the day, the founder and teacher of the practice, Li Hongzhi, spoke for about 40 minutes, Lin said.

On July 19, participants from many organizations and the public joined Falun Dafa practitioners for “The Million Minutes of Meditation.” People sat down at the National Mall for a few minutes to meditate for freedom and human rights in China, Lin said. A rally and concert followed, concluding the four days of events.

Wei Jingsheng comments about Uyghur unrest and Government violence

2009-07-26T01:29:00.000-07:00

The Tragedy in Urumqi and Current Political Situation in China-- Wei Jingsheng

They all say it is a season of events in China. It is indeed so. What has happened in ShaoGuan of GuangDong and Urumqi of XinJiang has already resulted continued condemnation from the international society. Meanwhile, there is the news that the Communist Chinese Party (CCP) made trouble with the Australian government and arrested the China chief of a big Australian company. The Chinese government would not put the person on trial, or sentence him, nor would it provide detailed information to the Australian government even when the Australian Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister made the inquiries. This kind of conduct that violates international convention will surely induce anger from the Australian society.

This conduct also surely makes foreign business people in China more nervous. Who knows when the Laws of Secrecy of the Chinese Character will start to rule over them? Since the YanAn period of the Mao Zedong era, the Laws of Secrecy of the Chinese Character have been 100% effective with eminent power. However, because the XinJiang issue is more important to us the average Chinese, and it also has new developments, let us put aside the Australian big business and the Chinese Communist corruptive clique first.

There are two news lately that did not receive enough attention. According to the report from the most reputed overseas Chinese website BoXun, an old cadre who retired from the CCP's 17th Congress revealed that the reason for the explosive situation in XinJiang was due to internal struggles with the CCP. From the jailed Shanghai Mayor Chen LiangYu to last month's detention of ShenZhen Mayor Xu Zongheng, Hu Jintao joined hands with Wen JiaBao to really beat up the leading members of the Jiang Zemin faction. So the Jiang faction had to take their opportunity for revenge. They fueled the atmosphere from the ShaoGuan incident, demobilized the police during the Urumqi riots, and thus enabled the Uyghur terrorists to use the peaceful demonstration to murder the Han Chinese to the degree that Hu Jintao lost his face in the G8 meeting in Italy. Hu had to return to China to guard his own territory, to prevent the situation from developing unfavorably to himself.

Much information leaked recently has proven that it was the CCP government's guilt of not doing anything that indulged the thugs to produce the large scaled tragedy of murder. This tragedy does not have any relationship with the World Uyghur Congress that supported the peaceful demonstration. The CCP XinJiang government had reliable intelligence and rights to initiate police action. However, with the Jiang faction controlling China's legal and jurisdiction system, they choose the strategy of not doing anything before and during the tragedy. They enabled the Uyghur terrorists to do what they wanted and caused the situation to loose control. Indeed, it was a skillful cooperation between the CCP's XinJiang government and the Uyghur terrorist group that produced such horrifying tragedy.

Some friends are still not willing to believe it is the CCP that took the initiative for this tragedy. They do not believe that the CCP is trying to stir up the hateful ethnic killing, in an effort to switch political attention. If one thinks so, one might want to consider the second piece of news. During the review of the Sino-Russia joint military exercise, the CCP military Chief of General Staff, Admiral Chen Bingde, talked a lot about "anti-terrorists" and targeted it at the Uyghurs. He claimed that China would cooperate with the four countries of Mid-Asia in the "Shanghai Cooperation Organization" to send the military out of China to attack the Uyghur terrorist organizations. This way of talking skillfully used the average people's psychology of wanting security, and thus reached its goal of expanding the hostile mood. Meanwhile, it also pushed China's military forces to the edge of the petroleum producing Mideast area, which opened up a frontier for its goal of thwarting Western goals of controlling the petroleum produce areas. This strategy of one stone for two birds cannot be a coincidence of one time, but a lone term plan thought ahead.

Some people question whether the XinJiang tragedy was to make trouble for Hu Jintao. Why does he have to swallow this bitter fruit? Why did he not try to stop it or even counterattack? They are too anxious. Counterattacking does not have to happen today. The old Chinese saying is that "one could wait for ten years to take revenge". Not counterattacking today does not mean never counterattacking.

Besides, the whole plan of producing the tragedy was perfectly done. The reasons before hand were sufficient, the choice of timing was just right. So Zhou Yongkang, the CCP's person in charge of security could say that without the order from Hu Jintao, we cannot open firearms to stop the escalation, which created the needed several hours for the thugs to murder. As for why not letting the military police move into Urumqi, there is the simplest excuse of underestimation.

Underestimation itself is not enough to produce a death sentence; what could you do with the person?

The most important thing is that there is sufficient reason for the matters after the tragedy. Now these conspiracists did not just shift the attention for people's opposition, but even may have obtained a frontier base to move west into the petroleum producing areas. What reason could Hu Jintao go against? This is exactly what he wanted to do, but did not dare to conduct. He does not have a reason to against, but has to silently take this knife hit in his back. This situation is just like back when Hu Jintao murdered the 10th Panchen Lama, which scared Deng XiaoPing. But that was also the goal of Deng XiaoPing, something Deng wanted to do but did not dare to do. In addition, they dealt with the matter afterwards skillfully, which did not let the Western media find any handle to protest against. So Deng happily took this unexpected surprise and saw Hu in a new light.

This time, the dealing of the aftermath was more difficult, but pretty good. So even some anti-CCP patriotic youths turned around to help the CCP to attack the Uyghur opposition forces. Some Western media that only see the tree leaves without seeing the forest were also made unconsciously to be an accomplice of the evil. It all proves that the CCP's conspiracy is pretty successful, and in progress to expand its success. We must have our clear observation to distinguish between good and bad, and not fall into the conspiracy of the Chinese Communist Party.

To hear Mr. Wei Jingsheng's commentary, please visit:http://www.weijingsheng.org/RFA/RFA2009/WeiJS090724Urumqi4.mp3

(Written and recorded on July 24, 2009. Broadcasted by Radio Free Asia.)

Rebiya Kadeer sets 'em straight at National Press Club, 2009-07-20

2009-07-26T01:26:00.001-07:00

Unrest in East Turkestan: What China is Not Telling the Media

Statement by Ms. Rebiya Kadeer, Uyghur democracy leader at the National Press Club on July 20, 2009

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

Before we begin, I would like to thank the National Press Club for the organization of this event, especially Mr. Peter Hickman. I would also like to thank you for your attendance here today.

Since the unrest in Urumchi on July 5, 2009, the official Chinese media, led by Xinhua news agency and Chinese Central Television, has vigorously presented to the world the Chinese government’s version of events and the cause of the discontent shown by Uyghurs in the streets of East Turkestan’s regional capital. Today’s press conference is to shed light on that reporting.

The version of the Urumchi unrest that has been presented to the world by the Chinese government follows this narrative. On July 5, Uyghur “plotters[i]” took to the streets and in a display of “beating, smashing, looting, and burning” killed 197 people and injured 1,721[ii]. The riot was masterminded[iii] by Rebiya Kadeer and the World Uyghur Congress. Yesterday, Nur Bekri, the Chairman of what the Chinese government calls the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, admitted[iv] that Chinese security forces used live ammunition and shot dead protestors, who were referred to as “mobsters” in the official media, to control the unrest.

This version of events, as is so often the case with Chinese reporting, is not true. For instance, we know that far more than 12 Uyghurs were shot by Chinese authorities.

The Chinese government, through its proxies in the official media, is obscuring the truth in order to conceal a mass killing of Uyghurs by Chinese security forces. Furthermore, through its demonization of Uyghur protestors in the official media, it is attempting to justify the impending mass executions of Uyghurs as promised by Chinese officials.

The actual events in Urumchi according to eyewitness reports are as follows.

In the days leading up to July 5, an unknown person or persons posted on the forums of China-based websites an appeal to Uyghurs in Urumchi to peacefully protest the Chinese government’s mishandling of multiple killings of Uyghurs by Han Chinese at a toy factory in Shaoguan, Guangdong province. The forum post surprisingly remained online, which is contrary to the known behavior of Chinese government censors.

On July 5, Uyghurs, mostly young men and women, some of whom carried the flag of the People’s Republic of China, assembled and marched peacefully in Urumchi toward People’s Square. They asked for justice for the victims in Shaoguan and expressed sympathy with the families of those killed and injured. They also demanded to meet with government officials but none came out to meet with them.

As the protest was public knowledge, the protestors were met en route by a show of force, including four kinds of Chinese police- regular police; anti-riot police; special police and People's Armed Police. The police surrounded the protestors and tensions between police and protestors grew. According to an eyewitness caller to our offices, the protestors were incited by plain clothes agents to respond to the police presence. As tensions became heated, police started beating, kicking, and arresting protestors. Then, under the cover of darkness, Chinese security forces began to fire[v] upon Uyghur protestors.

Protestors fled to other points of the city, where they were forced into several closed areas from which they could not escape. The protestors were indiscriminately shot and killed in these locations, and those remaining were arrested. Reports indicate that Chinese authorities turned off the street lighting in the areas where protestors were present. These reports also describe the possible killing of Han Chinese bystanders in the shootings by Chinese police, which may explain the high numbers of Han Chinese fatalities. That Han Chinese civilians may have been killed by Chinese police must be investigated by independent journalists.

In another phone call to our offices, a protestor at Xinjiang University reported that Uyghurs were being fired upon by Chinese police “right now”, and in the background we could hear the screams of people in the vicinity. The caller stated that they could see approximately 50 Uyghurs lying dead from Chinese police shooting in an area around the stop for the number 1 city bus.

On July 11, Reuters[vi] quoted a Uyghur resident of Urumchi who said that the official death toll is “the Han people’s number. We have our own number…Maybe many, many more Uighurs died. The police were scared and lost control.” In that same report, Reuters also stated that “a spray of bullet holes could be seen on the glass front of a Bank of China office…Many Uighur residents say they heard or saw gunfire.” That Chinese security forces used live ammunition in suppressing the protest was confirmed in several calls to our office received on Sunday night from protest participants.

Some Uyghurs reacted to the intimidation of Chinese policing. Uyghurs killed and injured Han Chinese in violent attacks. Here, I would like to say that I strongly condemn the violence which took place in Urumchi.

In the immediate aftermath of the violence, Chinese security forces conducted mass-arrests of Uyghurs, according to sources quoted by Radio Free Asia in a July 9 report[vii]. A caller to our offices stated that the dormitories at Xinjiang University were broken into by Chinese police in a bid to arrest Uyghurs deemed to have been involved in the unrest. In a Xinhua report[viii] dated July 7, Urumchi Communist Party secretary, Li Zhi, was quoted as saying that authorities had detained 1,434 people for their role in the Urumchi unrest. The World Uyghur Congress contests that number, as it has not been independently verified. A July 19 Financial Times report[ix] states that more than 4,000 Uyghurs have been arrested and that Urumchi’s prisons are so full that detainees are being held in People’s Liberation Army warehouses. We fear that these detainees face execution in non-transparent judicial procedures.

In further communications with our offices, Uyghurs reported that some of the Uyghur wounded from July 5 did not go to the hospital for fear of arrest. Those who did go to the hospital reported that they were either turned away or charged for treatment, while Han Chinese victims received assistance free of charge.

On July 6-7, 3,000 to 4,000 armed Han Chinese took to the streets attacking and killing[x] Uyghurs. Radio Free Asia reports[xi] an eyewitness as seeing 150 to 200 dead Uyghurs in the Hualin district. There have been no reported arrests of Han Chinese from these two days of violence against the Uyghur community in Urumchi. Radio Free Asia reported[xii] a Uyghur man as saying that “[w]hen the Chinese came out with batons and clubs, there is no one to stop them. They are pretending to stop them, but they are not really strict… If the Uyghurs had come out with batons and clubs, they would immediately be fired upon.”

In a further act of heavy handed policing, on July 13 reports[xiii] detailed the fatal shooting by Chinese armed police of two unarmed Uyghurs.

The Chinese government’s crackdown[xiv] on ordinary Uyghurs in East Turkestan is in full swing. The July 19 Financial Times report[xv] states that Chinese armed police have established checkpoints on all roads in and out of Urumchi and that “[p]rivate cars without Uighur passengers were waved through after a quick document check for the drivers. Vehicles with Uighur drivers or with Uighur passengers were being searched at gunpoint.” The report added that numbers of armed police in the region would be raised to 130,000 by October 1, 2009, the sixtieth anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

The Chinese government has been vocal about the fact that it allowed the western media into Urumchi to confirm its version of events in order to create a veneer of legitimacy. This is most certainly a change of policy from the ban it imposed on foreign journalists during the March 2008 unrest in Lhasa. However, scratching below the surface, a careful media management strategy is evident. Through this strategy the Chinese government is attempting to conceal the events surrounding the Urumchi unrest, as it is the events surrounding the Shaoguan killings, which precipitated the Urumchi protests. Nevertheless details of those two events have filtered through Chinese censors to present a picture far different than that reported by the official media.

The official Chinese media reports[xvi] that two Uyghurs were killed during the Han Chinese mob attack at the toy factory in Shaoguan on June 26.

This is not true.

In the U.K. Guardian newspaper, Jonathan Watts reports[xvii] an interview with a Han Chinese man involved in the Shaoguan killings, who states that he personally “helped to kill seven or eight Uighurs, battering them until they stopped screaming.” The eyewitness added that the death toll could be around 30, a figure which tallies with reports we have received from workers at the toy factory who have been brave enough to call us.

In a Far Eastern Economic Review piece titled Fear Grips Shaoguan's Uighurs[xviii], Kathleen E. McLaughlin reports that 700 Uyghurs from the Shaoguan toy factory are now being detained at an abandoned factory ten miles away. The official Chinese media is not reporting this because, as eyewitness accounts testify, the version of events at Shaoguan it has given the world is false. The unlawful detention of these workers illustrates that if the real details of the Shaoguan killings emerge, they will reveal the unwillingness of the Chinese authorities to protect Uyghur citizens from Han Chinese mob violence.

The permission given to western journalists to report from East Turkestan is not all that it seems. Not only was the western media carefully guided through its stay in Urumchi, but reporters also faced detention if they ventured out themselves. Reporters from Radio Free Asia, Associated Press, Agence France-Presse[xix], and TV Tokyo[xx] were expelled or detained in the region because the authorities felt that they could not manage them sufficiently. Journalists who have reported a version of events which has strayed from the official path have received death threats[xxi] from Han Chinese nationalists.

In the wake of the unrest, internet and wireless communications went down[xxii] in Urumchi, and in the region. This was for a very good reason – to prevent an Iranian style spread of news from citizen journalists.

The Chinese authorities’ deep fear that that a different version of events will emerge from the one reported in the official media has spread to a threat issued to the legal community. According to the Congressional-Executive Commission on China[xxiii] (CECC), the Beijing Municipal Judicial Bureau[xxiv] “issued a notice on its Web site on July 8 calling on justice bureaus, the municipal lawyers association, and law offices in Beijing to ‘exercise caution’ in representing cases related to events” in East Turkestan.

The Chinese reporting on the Urumchi unrest has also not given any prominence to the involvement of key government officials in exacerbating disharmony between Han Chinese and Uyghurs.

Urumchi Communist Party secretary, Li Zhi, at a press conference[xxv] on July 8, stated that executions would be used to deal with protestors. The well-documented lack of transparency in the Chinese judicial system, especially for Uyghurs, coupled with the state-sanctioned threats towards lawyers who may represent protestors, illustrates that these executions, when they do take place, are political.

However, Xinhua did find it reasonable to report[xxvi] Li Zhi’s inflammatory chanting of “Down with Rebiya”, at the scene of the unrest, further fanning the flames of Han Chinese nationalism and dividing Uyghurs and Han Chinese. Indeed, official comments have taken on an even more hyperbolic nature, as the China Daily charges[xxvii] that the Urumchi unrest can be linked to Al-Qaeda.

Since the Urumchi unrest, the Chinese government has made a number of high profile attacks on freedom of speech in western countries to suffocate Uyghurs in exile.

On July 8, I published an op-ed[xxviii] in the Wall Street Journal. I commend the Wall Street Journal’s decision to publish the piece due to the disgraceful nature of some of the remarks left on its comments section by Han Chinese nationalist “netizens”. The remarks not only attacked the newspaper, calling for a boycott of the publication, but also a number of distressing personal comments were made about myself. Xinhua, in a July 13 report[xxix], went so far as to congratulate those people who had left these abusive ultra-nationalist comments.

Rightfully so, if free speech is to be respected, the Wall Street Journal published a letter[xxx] from Wang Baodong, the spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., on July 15. However, Mr. Wang used his opportunity to chastise the western media for its exercise of freedom of speech by stating that “[t]he Chinese government and people are very much displeased with the Journal's decision to publish Rebiya Kadeer's…op-ed”.

The attack on freedom of speech in the western media was also taken to Australia. The cultural attaché at the Chinese consulate in Melbourne, Chen Chunmei, urged[xxxi] organizers of the Melbourne International Film Festival to withdraw a film about my advocacy work. The festival organizers dismissed the pressure.

Naturally, what is missing from the Chinese official media’s reporting of the Urumchi unrest is the larger picture of repression of Uyghurs in China. This repression includes the forced transfer[xxxii] of young Uyghur women to Chinese sweatshops; the demolition[xxxiii] of Uyghur cultural heritage in Kashgar; a monolingual[xxxiv] language-planning policy; discriminatory[xxxv] hiring practices; torture and execution[xxxvi] on political charges; and curbs[xxxvii] on freedom of religion.

The six decades-long repression of Uyghurs by the Chinese government is the true cause of the unrest in Urumchi.

At this point in the East Turkestan issue, I seek an independent and international investigation into the Shaoguan killings and into the Urumchi unrest. Let the world understand the real events. The streets of cities in East Turkestan are littered with closed-circuit television. The tapes from cameras on the streets of Urumchi during the unrest should be made freely available to western journalists. If the truth were to emerge, this would surely contribute to a path of dialogue between Han Chinese and Uyghur based on equality and trust.

I also urge the Chinese government to allow journalists access to East Turkestan and Uyghurs without any conditions. It is well-known that Uyghurs who speak to western journalists often disappear. No one knows the whereabouts of Dilkex Tiliwaldi, a Uyghur who disappeared after speaking to a PBS journalist several years ago.

This access to East Turkestan will be critical in the coming days as looming executions of Uyghurs on political charges come ever nearer (see CECC’s Authorities Pledge Crackdown Following Xinjiang Demonstration and Clashes[xxxviii]). We fear that a number of Uyghurs are going to be executed unnoticed by the world. In order to prevent such state-sanctioned killing we require the eyes of the world’s media and the world’s governments to remain on East Turkestan and to speak out against a further abuse of the Uyghur people’s human rights.

My last appeal is to western journalists. Please consider carefully the information you receive from the official Chinese media. I understand that the Chinese government’s management of information makes it difficult for you to produce work under tight deadlines, but please consider the source of the information, the Chinese government, and the political motives that drive its output of news.

Thank you.

[i] http://www.legaldaily.com.cn/0801/2009-07/11/content_1121455.htm
[ii] http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/21/world/asia/21china.html?_r=2&hpw
[iii] http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-07/10/content_11688780.htm
[iv] http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/07/19/china.uyghur.threats/
[v] http://www.cecc.gov/pages/virtualAcad/index.phpd#id125582
[vi] http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SP463729.htm
[vii] http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/clampdown-07092009101424.html
[viii] http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-07/07/content_11666945.htm
[ix] http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5aa932ee-747c-11de-8ad5-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1
[x] http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/21/world/asia/21china.html?_r=2&hpw
[xi] http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/witnesses-07172009121028.html
[xii] http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/clampdown-07092009101424.html
[xiii] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/13/china-protests-police-kil_n_230531.html
[xiv] http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/20/world/asia/20xinjiang.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2
[xv] http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5aa932ee-747c-11de-8ad5-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1
[xvi] http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009.../content_8336978.htm
[xvii] http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/10/china-riots-uighurs-han-urumqi
[xviii] http://www.feer.com/politics/2009/july58/Fear-Grips-Shaoguans-Uighurs
[xix] http://cpj.org/2009/07/journalists-detained-in-xinjiang-commentator-missi.php
[xx] http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/reporter-from-japan-released-after-detention-in-chinas-urumqi
[xxi] http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/malcolmmoore/100003535/journalists-in-china-get-death-threats/
[xxii] http://www.reuters.com/article/newsMaps/idUSTRE56513820090706
[xxiii] http://www.cecc.gov/
[xxiv] http://xkyw.bjsf.gov.cn/
[xxv] http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/09/world/asia/09hu.html?_r=3
[xxvi] http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-07/07/content_11666941.htm
[xxvii] http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25797162-2703,00.html
[xxviii] http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124698273174806523.html
[xxix] http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-07/13/content_11701303.htm
[xxx] http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124762185860842743.html
[xxxi] http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/jul/15/rebiya-kadeer-melbourne-film-festival
[xxxii] http://www.uhrp.org/articles/762/1/Deception-Pressure-and-Threats-The-Transfer-of-Young-Uyghur-Women-to-Eastern-China-/index.html
[xxxiii] http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/28/world/asia/28kashgar.html
[xxxiv] http://www.uhrp.org/articles/378/1/-Bilingual-education-marginalizing-Uyghur-language-instruction-in-East-Turkistan/index.html
[xxxv] http://www.cecc.gov/pages/virtualAcad/index.phpd?showsingle=122703
[xxxvi] http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA17/018/1999
[xxxvii] http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2005/04/11/devastating-blows
[xxxviii] http://www.cecc.gov/pages/virtualAcad/index.phpd#id125931

Full text of July 19 speech by CSN's John Kusumi

2009-07-20T14:09:00.001-07:00

Communist Party creates problems faster than it resolves them

Speech at 10th anniversary of Falun Gong crackdown, a rally at the National Mall in Washington DC, July 19 2009

By John Kusumi

Whether you are organizing, attending, or playing music at today's event, thank you and welcome. I know that many people are involved here, and my thanks go out to you.

And yet, there are two men who are not here today. I want to speak about—and even address—Hu Jintao and Barack Obama. They are two men who have yet to get the message and have yet to size up today's situation in China and in U.S.-China relations.

With faulty leadership from the Communist Party, China has engineered crackdown after crackdown after crackdown.

These have been tragedies in China, indeed genocide and crimes against humanity. In America, they have been met by a Clintonian blind eye: willful and deliberate connivance to ignore the crimes of CCP leaders, who actually belong on trial at the International Criminal Court.

Do I think that Hu Jintao and Barack Obama should have a meeting? No! I think that Hu Jintao should resign, surrender, and turn himself over to the International Criminal Court for prosecution, over the matters of genocide and crimes against humanity.

They say that history is written by the winners, but now with the internet, that saying is less true. We all have the opportunity to correct the record of history. And in all of history, including every corner of the globe; every calamity; and, every war -- the greatest suffering is that of Mainland China, during 60 years of misrule by the corrupt and deadly CCP.

History has no larger humanitarian disaster. World War II may have claimed 40 million lives. Chairman Mao starved to death 38 million Chinese, and when we add up the victims of more crackdowns and the Cultural Revolution, the CCP has killed more Chinese than the world-wide death toll in World War II.

In the Western world, we refer to Hitler, Stalin, and Mao in the same breath. But for mass murder, Mao gets the gold medal, and the others can only have silver and bronze. World history will say these things -- they are already true!

China is an active crime scene, and the CCP brings it more misery each and every day: Humanitarian disasters are in motion, crime is in progress, and corruption is diminishing the future of many Chinese families.

And shame on Barack Obama -- he's got the Clintonian blind eye, the better to collect blood stained profits for Fortune 500 companies. With lots of free trade, America has financed the Communist Party, and that is to the shame of America and Bill Clinton, who in essence told corporate America: Go ahead, collect blood stained profits. We'll be really quiet at the U.S. executive branch.

Apparently, the cat is keeping the tongue of Barack Obama. While the cat's got his tongue, I'll say something myself:

China needs to step away from Maoism completely. China needs to remove its red shirt. And, China needs to put on the blue shirt of being a free and democratic country, respectful of the human rights of all of its citizens. If this does not happen immediately, the separatists may gain the upper hand - with very good reasons to split away from China's central government.

There are no remaining minutes to delay. China needs reform *now*!

Any objective analysts must observe a deteriorating human rights situation in China. The China Support Network deplores the Tiananmen crackdown; the Falun Gong crackdown; the Tibetan crackdown; and the Uyghur crackdown. Ours is a human rights organization which started due to the Tiananmen crackdown. But China has continued to add new problems on top of its older problems.

Whether you are Chinese or Western, I want you to write down the take away point of my speech: The Communist Party is creating problems faster than it is solving problems! It is abundantly evident, and for the laobaixing [common people] of China, it is not tolerable any longer. Did you write that down? The Communist Party is creating problems faster than it is resolving problems!

Today we are here to denounce the persecution of Falun Gong. They are the post-Maoist Chinese. They are already over Communism and the Communist Party! Their message says to put the CCP in the rear view mirror, on the ash heap of history!

Falun Gong has the longest, worst, and most deadly of the four crackdowns that I mentioned. We are here because ten years of this malarkey is ten years too many.

And for ten years, the U.S. executive branch has been shamefully silent while it nods, winks, and passes a trade surplus to communists, dictators, tyrants, and thugs!

The recent crackdown on Uyghur Muslims brings to light the latest example of how China mistreats its minorities. President Hu Jintao cancelled his attendance at the G-8 summit in Italy and returned to China. There is no joke as I say, he hurried home to commit genocide and crimes against humanity!

Between the people and the government, we know which side has all the guns in China. When news comes of hundreds dead, that can only happen with government guns. The civilians are less heavily armed! The news has airbrushed out of the picture the role of the security forces in accumulating hundreds of recent deaths.

China should release the prisoners of conscience which it is now holding in its jails and labor camps. That includes all Falun Gong practitioners, all non-violent Tibetans, and all non-violent Uyghurs. And I will conclude with direct words for Hu Jintao, Barack Obama, and my audience.

For Hu Jintao, I have a four-part visual message. [Holding up signs/picture placards:] Hu Jintao, release Wang Bingzhang! Hu Jintao, release Zhou Yongjun! Hu Jintao, release Liu Xiaobo! And Hu Jintao, release Gao Zhisheng!

For Barack Obama and the U.S. State Department, shame on you for not making these calls yourself! You should have been out here today; instead, I'm out here pinch hitting! You're welcome.

To my audience, I call upon everyone to move onwards to victory for freedom, democracy, and human rights! Corrupt old ways, Maoist ways, and Clintonian ways do not lead to freedom, but the values of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance *will* lead to freedom! Thank you, God bless America, and God bless China!

Gospel Hip Hop Meets Falun Gong, Rips Hu Jintao

2009-07-20T09:24:00.001-07:00

Gospel Hip Hop
Meets Falun Gong,
Rips Hu Jintao

The China Support Network participated in a 'Freedom For Falun Gong' rally on Washington DC's National Mall on Sunday, July 19 2009, where I personally attended and gave a speech. (The speech can be seen in a separate blog post: http://chinasupport.blogspot.com/2009/07/full-text-of-july-19-speech-by-csns.html )

The guys and I need to have an "after action review," because I expect that we were surprised by what happened, and we are still sizing it up. Did we know what we were getting into?

There is no bad thing in Sunday's event. This is not a complaint -- far from it. "Wow!!!" is more closely the take away that I'm having.

It's this way: I can take credit for bringing in the rock band, Light Club, to the causes of Chinese democracy and of freedom for Falun Gong, Tibetans, Uighurs, and more groups that are persecuted in Communist China. It was 2005 when I invited Tim Britt and his bandmate Ron Luke to perform at the commemoration of the 16th anniversary of Tiananmen Square. They were being brought into the middle of the Chinese dissident scene in Washington, DC.

For that occasion, they were inspired to write and record the song, 'Remember Tiananmen Square,' in the style of American rock music. Previously, I was aware of one such song ('The Ghosts of Beijing' by Eye In The Village) that was recorded in 1989 just after Tiananmen Square's bloody massacre of June 4 that year. And of course, Axl Rose from Guns'n'Roses was reportedly working on an album called Chinese Democracy.

--But aside from that, the U.S. rock music scene had been silent for 16 years on this topic. The emergence of new rock music for the cause was going to be big, especially for the Falun Gong community which was just coming out of its shell.

The backstory on Falun Gong is this: In 1989, it didn't exist. In 1992, it was introduced. It had explosive growth of popularity in China, until its size was estimated in the range of 70-100 million members. That scared the chief of the Communist Party, and a crackdown commenced in 1999. In 2004, a related newspaper published 'Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party' and began the movement to have all Chinese quit and resign their membership in the Communist Party. In those days of 2004-2005, the Falun Gong community (perhaps they can be called "neo-dissidents") was beginning to integrate better with other groups such as the secular pro-democracy movement ("paleo-dissidents").

Being in on the planning stages with Britt and Luke, we realized that U.S. rock music was coming from an alien culture in the eyes of those from Mainland China. We realized that the dissidents had never heard anything like this -- strong American rock music as a delivery vehicle for a pro-Chinese democracy message. It was even said that the Falun Gong "didn't like" rock music. We were going to get in everybody's face -- from Beijing thru Chinese diaspora thru the American public -- with this music, carrying a hard-edged political message.

They loved it! --A Falun Gong practitioner suggested expanding on the 'Bye Bye CCP' theme, and that inspired a second song, 'Bye Bye CCP.' The Falun Gong TV studio made two music videos that were done as footage montages with those two songs. The U.S. rockers had touched a chord (or in the eyes of Beijing, where Falun Gong is banned and verboten and persecuted, a raw nerve).

More collaboration followed. The Human Rights Torch Relay (HRTR) in 2008 brought together all of China's persecuted to call for human rights ahead of the Olympics. Light Club wrote and recorded another song, 'Freedom First, Olympics Second' for our coalition by the same name. HRTR elevated more musical acts into the picture, and released a compilation CD called 'Songs to Save the World: Music of the Human Rights Torch Relay."

This may have meant that more musical acts were nipping at our heels, but we welcomed that because we want the good cause of Chinese rights to grow. And, Light Club's picture was on the CD cover and the lead song was 'Freedom First, Olympics Second.'

Just when you're feeling on top of the scene, you can't grow complacent. The foregoing is backstory to the "Wow!!!" that I am still having from what we witnessed yesterday.

And, I can't claim credit for bringing a new act onto the scene: Jared Pearman organized yesterday's event for Friends of Falun Gong. CSN co-sponsored. I think that at CSN, we were all surprised because Jared had invited us, but had not shown us the rest of the program lineup. In our experience, we would have expected a lot of speeches, plus Light Club and possibly one or two other musical acts.

So, we arrived at the National Mall and act after act after act appeared, sprouting like mushrooms. Jared had not told us that he was throwing a musical Woodstock for this final rally in the week that marks 10 years of Falun Gong persecution. "Wow!!!"

In fact, the Light Club band was also running the amplifiers, sound system, and sound board for the event. --I don't think they knew what was about to hit them.

Jared may be a practitioner of Falun Gong, but he is also a practitioner of opaque scheduling. While introducing Light Club, he stepped up to a mike and told the crowd as much.

"Being the person that I am, I rearranged the schedule right from the very beginning. And Light Club has been really gracious. These guys are running sound for our event; they drove all the way down from Connecticut to be here today with us. They're doing sound for the event; it's been a really really great pleasure to have them. I've been a thorn in their side rearranging things and changing everything up to the last minute, and I'm gonna do some more of that later on today, sorry about that guys..."

About ten minutes later I began my speech. I had prepared remarks designed to rip into Hu Jintao, the President of China, and also to scold Barack Obama, the President of the United States. And this was politically breaking some new ground in the free Chinese movement. Falun Gong and the China Support Network previously joined in a Global Coalition to Bring Jiang to Justice. That refers to the previous Chinese President, Jiang Zemin, who began the persecution of Falun Gong.

But, Falun Gong did not create a matching Coalition to Bring Hu to Justice. Even though the current Chinese President Hu continued the persecution, his is "the new administration," and the Falun Gong hope that he will reverse course. While that was understandable at first when Hu was new, it was unrealistic and the passage of time bears out the fact that Hu did not reverse the persecution. So, CSN has suggested the anti-Hu coalition, but Falun Gong did not agree with us.

Until today. Now, it must be clear to the Falun Gong that their's is not the most recent crackdown. In 2008, a Tibetan crackdown made news, and just this month in 2009, a Uighur crackdown made news. It is already time to denounce Hu Jintao for the handling of the situation with Uighurs.

My view is that it is in fact time to send Hu Jintao to the Hague (the International Criminal Court) to face charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. Think about it: Falun Gong, Tibetans, and Uighurs have all become victims under crackdowns in the Hu Jintao administration. All three of these groups should be calling for Hu Jintao's scalp, and they are natural allies to join in a new Coalition to Bring Hu to Justice.

My speech did not press Falun Gong for a decision about a coalition; instead, my speech pressed Hu Jintao himself, suggesting that he should resign, surrender, and turn himself over to the International Criminal Court for prosecution.

Politically, it breaks new ground, because my earlier speeches didn't focus on Hu Jintao personally, just the Communist Party regime in general. I judged that the time was right for this. The latest crackdown was only two weeks earlier, and it brought to light another example of genocide and crimes against humanity, committed by Hu's government just this month. The Uighur crackdown is echoing the Tibetan crackdown of last year -- but already, the death toll is higher in this crackdown than in last year's.

So. It was important to rip Hu Jintao, and I did so. One can also note that mine was the keynote speech -- the program was largely music, not speeches. Jared and his wife and some other victims of persecution provided anecdotes about the persecution; so yes, the program had speech, but no Congressmen or secular Chinese dissidents.

'Point being, mine was the strong voice, not eclipsed by anything else on the program.

Or perhaps, I've got that exactly wrong. If we cease to think of music and speeches in different compartments, then the program overall had many strong voices: singing!

I continue to think "Wow!!!," and yesterday serves as an example that just when you think you've seen it all....you ain't seen nothing yet.

The enormous discovery came near the end of the program, when the rapper (and ordained deacon) Joe L. Da Vessel took the stage. OMG... Look at the bio and music pages at http://www.joeldavessel.com/. Can a Falun Gong rally be turned into a hip hop revival? If I didn't see it with my own eyes, I would not have thought it plausible.

Joe L. Da Vessel is a giant hulk physically, an imposing presence. I first met him when I stepped off the stage at the end of my speech. He was kicking back in a nearby van or SUV, and he and his manager shook my hand, and gave me a shrink-wrapped copy of a CD titled, "Testimony: 1 Lyrics 4 Life." The CD cover also has this clue: "The 2008 Gospel Music Stellar Award Nominee, Rap/Hip Hop Gospel CD of the year."

Likely, he had just overheard my speech, ripping into Hu Jintao. He asked me, "How do you pronounce the name of the Chinese President?" I replied appropriately, something like "Who gin tahw."

Soon enough, he was taking the stage, doing highly engineered rap music, and ripping a new orifice for Hu Jintao and the Communist Party. In fact, he was bellowing, "Hu Jintao! You are not God!" over and over again.

At one time, Tim Britt and Ron Luke were feeling that something big was going down, because they (Falun Gong) had never heard anything like the music they would put on the table. But at July 19's event, they were not the big discovery. (In fact, Light Club decided against performing their new song, 'Chinese Democracy Defiled,' feeling that the moment was not right to try the new achievement of performing it live.)

Well, they (Falun Gong) had never heard or seen anything like Joe L. Da Vessel hammering Hu Jintao. I could sense that something big was going down. This was the big discovery.

Apparently, Joe previously rapped out a song, "In DC We Demand The Vote," for District of Columbia voting rights, and that video was played at the Democratic National Convention (I got that from his MySpace page, myspace.com/joeldavessel ).

So clearly, he doesn't mind getting involved politically, and on July 19 we appreciated his presence and his appearance in support of freedom for Falun Gong and indeed, for all of China.

And of course, I'm happy to watch people pile on against Hu Jintao. In this way, I wasn't the only American offering a challenge, or a political assault that seems frontal and direct to Hu Jintao, on that day.

It's a heartwarming discovery, and for some in attendance it must have been jaw dropping. As mentioned above, American rock music was once an alien culture to Falun Gong. Hip hop is like a subculture all of its own, and would seem even farther removed from the experience of Falun Gong.

But it's like that -- at the event site, a reporter for the Epoch Times asked me to reflect on what changes I had seen across the ten year's time that we were marking in the persecution. I replied as indicated, that Falun Gong began by being known only to those in its own circle. Various different "interest groups" have discovered Falun Gong and vice-versa in these ten years.

It's inevitable that if you go to shout at the Chinese embassy, you will notice other demonstrators there, and realize that Taiwanese, Tibetans, Uighurs, Falun Gong, and secular dissidents are all regular protestors outside of Chinese embassies and consulates.

These ten years allowed for many exchanges, joint actions, and coalitions among the groups. All of these groups overlap in their common humanity. American rockers joined in the overlap, and now American hip hoppers are also coming together to denounce the persecution.

All there agreed that the persecution itself is ridiculously absurd. Indeed, Joe L. Da Vessel helped to ridicule it, listing some practices of the Communist Party and saying, "What is that?" as a short way to dispose of the matters' legitimacy.

He also sang his song, "Yea Though I Walk," a rap song built around the 23rd Psalm in the Christian Bible: "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me." Fearing no evil was an apt subtext for our event, as we indeed pushed back against evil -- that of China's Communist Party and Hu Jintao.

^ Photo at side stage ^

^ Wide view of the scene ^

Support the Uighurs, protest the slaughter!

2009-07-09T02:19:00.000-07:00

ALERT OF IMMEDIATE PROTESTS
===========================
LOS ANGELES
Host: Uyghur Community in US
Date: Thursday, July 9, 2009
Time: 2:00pm - 6:00pm
Location: Federal Building
Street: 11000 Wilshire Blvd
City/Town: Los Angeles, CA
Phone: 310-883-5189
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=127777380405

CANBERRA AUSTRALIA
Date: July 10, 2009
Where: In front of Chinese Embassy in Canberra
Address: 15 Coronation Drv,Yarralumla ACT 2600
When: 3pm

NEW YORK CITY
Place: Across The Street from the UN Building
Corner of 43rd Street & 1st Avenue
Time: 12PM - 2PM
Date: Friday July 10, 2009
Hosted by: Federation of Turkish American Associations (FTAA/TADF - Turk Amerikan Dernekleri Federasyonu)
Information:
email: tadf@tadf.org
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=107743666891

LONDON
Host: Uighur People of London
Date: Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Time: 3:00pm - 6:00pm
Location: Chinese embassy
Street: 49-51 Portland Pl, London, W1B 1JL
Email: purdi_pimpcess@hotmail.com
Information: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=127436610785&ref=mf

WJSF releases Farsi tract

2009-06-24T03:43:00.001-07:00

RT Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng Foundation released Farsi translation of 'The 5th Modernization' http://tinyurl.com/d57cjz #iranelection

Good videos - June 2 - 3, 2009

2009-06-05T00:58:00.000-07:00

The China Support Network recommends taking in these YouTube videos:

1. Nancy Pelosi speaks for over 10 minutes on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, about the June 2, 2009 resolution for the 20th anniversary of Tiananmen Square

2. Lhadon Tethong, Executive Director of Students for a Free Tibet, speaks at a June 3, 2009 gathering of Tibetans in solidarity with Tiananmen victims

June 4, 2009 (c) Hong Kong crowd astonishes media

2009-06-05T00:38:00.000-07:00

June 4, 2009 (c)
Enormous crowd quadruples the usual size of turnout
for a Tiananmen anniversary vigil in Hong Kong

The following is a blog post by Shanghai correspondent Malcolm Moore of the Telegraph:

Even before I reached Victoria Park for tonight's candlelit vigil, I heard it. My hotel looks over the park, and I heard the first shouts at 5pm, three hours before the event started.

As it turns out, the vigil attracted far more people than Victoria Park's six football pitches could hold - 150,000. Amazingly, more people turned up than on the first anniversary of the Tiananmen Square bloodshed.

It was a heartwarming experience to see so many people, all singing and waving candles. When you live on the mainland, you forget about the strong emotions that unite such large crowds.

If you wanted to snipe, you could say that local pro-democracy parties (HK has said there will not be full parliamentary democracy on the island until 2017 at the earliest) may have whipped people up. Perhaps the people were coming to sound off about local politics as much as to protest against Beijing.

And if they really thought about it, democracy on the mainland may not be in Hong Kong's interests - the lives of the Cantonese on this island are very different from those of mainland Chinese and their views may not find much representation in one unified state.

But at heart, these 150,000 people came because they feel deeply Chinese and because they felt a deep obligation to do something that mainlanders cannot do - speak freely and with emotion.

June 4, 2009 (b) Tiananmen leaders presser coverage

2009-06-05T00:04:00.001-07:00

June 4, 2009 (b)
Tiananmen Square student leaders again call
for Chinese democracy

Following is the text of a news article by AFP, the French newswire:

Tiananmen leaders call for China democracy
By Shaun Tandon

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Leaders of the 1989 Tiananmen Square uprising crushed 20 years ago appealed Thursday for democracy in China, with US lawmakers pledging support amid silence in Beijing on the anniversary.

Nine of the top student leaders, who now live in exile, reunited at a Washington news conference where they observed a moment of silence for the hundreds, perhaps, thousands killed when the army sent in troops.

"It is our unfailing pursuit to build a democratic China," some 15 dissidents said in a joint statement read out by former student leader Wang Dan, who had topped Beijing's most wanted list.

"We are calling on the generation of the 1989 massacre, both in China and overseas, as well as those who came before us and those who will come after us to work together and combine our strengths," they said.

Key figures from the Tiananmen movement also enjoyed a show of support at the US Congress, where House Speaker Nancy Pelosi welcomed three men who defaced the giant portrait of Mao Zedong in Tiananmen Square.

The three men, who now live in the United States and Canada, said they endured intense abuse in custody after their arrests.

"Imagine the courage against the regime that they continue to express at the expense of their lives and liberty," said Pelosi, who dressed in white as a sign of mourning in line with a call by dissidents.

Pelosi visited China last week, where she said she personally petitioned President Hu Jintao for the release of Tiananmen Square prisoners and detained human rights activists.

China has tried to block any commemoration of the anniversary, pouring police into Tiananmen Square and blacking out foreign media reports.

Congressman Jim McGovern, like Pelosi a member of President Barack Obama's Democratic Party, said the dissidents should be encouraged by Beijing's reaction.

"If the survivors of Tiananmen Square think they were somehow defeated, just look at the impact the very idea of remembering or talking about those events is having on the Chinese government," he said. "They are scared to death."

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday called on China to provide a public account of the dead, missing and injured and to release prisoners still being held for taking part in the protests.

China flatly rejected her call, with a foreign ministry spokesman saying that "on the political incident that took place in the 1980s, the party and the government have already reached a conclusion."

Wang Dan, the former student leader, said the comment showed that China's government has not changed.

"Many Western leaders and President Ma Ying-jeou in Taiwan believe that the leadership in China is not the same one as 20 years ago. I think that what this spokesperson said shows they're wrong -- the Chinese Communist Party has not changed one bit," Wang said.

Ma, who has championed reconciliation with mainland China, had said that Beijing is now willing to discuss human rights, pointing to a Human Rights Action Plan released earlier this year by China's cabinet.

The Tiananmen dissidents voiced optimism about movements such as Charter 8, a petition drive in which leading intellectuals at great risk to themselves pushed last year for democratic reforms in China.

"We believe that China's hope lies with the efforts of the Chinese people themselves and with political reforms, which are currently turning in the direction of the people," the statement said.

June 4, 2009 (a) Nancy Pelosi statements

2009-06-05T00:03:00.000-07:00

June 4, 2009 (a)
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made four more gestures
(in addition to her hand in the June 2, 2009 passage of a House Resolution)
for the 20th anniversary of Tiananmen Square:

1.* She spoke about Tiananmen Square in her own press conference;
(* see relevant text, below)

2.* She attended a Tiananmen Square-specific press conference, at which she had
prepared remarks (* below);

3. She noted the "opening of a photo exhibit under the auspices of the National Endowment for Democracy";

4.* She attended a Tiananmen Square-specific rally on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol
(* speech below)

*1. Press conference excerpt:

As was reported to you a couple of days ago, last week I led a bipartisan delegation to China. At that time, we talked about climate change and how our two countries could work together to come to some agreement that would fit within a bilateral Copenhagen Agreement.

We also talked about human rights. And as you probably know, today is the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. We have a number of events following this: an opening of a photo exhibit under the auspices of the National Endowment for Democracy; following that, an event on the West Lawn of the Capitol.

And, yesterday -- day before -- we had a resolution on the floor of the House that passed overwhelmingly in a strong bipartisan way.

*2. Prepared remarks of Nancy Pelosi for Tiananmen Square
-related press conference:

"Today, I am honored to join with Harry Wu and three former Chinese prisoners who were arrested during the Tiananmen Square protests.

"I had the opportunity to meet with them -- Yu Zhijian, Yu Dongyue, and Lu Decheng -- in the Speaker's office yesterday. Together, they spent nearly 40 years in prison. It is a relief that they are finally free.

"I would also like to thank Harry Wu for leading the effort to display the Tiananmen Photo Exhibition here in the Rayburn Building by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists David and Peter Turnley.

"Twenty years ago this week, thousands of Chinese students, workers, and citizens assembled in Tiananmen Square.

"They called for the elimination of corruption. They called for an acceleration of democratic reform, freedom of speech and assembly. They called for a dialogue with China's leaders on how to make progress for the future.

"We remember with sadness and outrage how China's military was unleashed on its own people.

"One of the most enduring images of the 20th Century will forever be seared into our conscience -- the picture of the lone man standing in the street, bringing the line of tanks to a grinding halt.

"Yesterday, the House of Representatives sent a clear message by passing a resolution commemorating the 20th Anniversary of Tiananmen Square, calling on China to allow full and independent investigations into the massacre, and calling for the release of those imprisoned in the 1989 protests.

"Last week, I had the opportunity to lead a bipartisan delegation to China. The topic of human rights was discussed in our high level meetings and in my speeches.

"In particular, I delivered a letter calling for release of certain prisoners of conscience, in accordance with the principles in China's Constitution.

"Liu Xiaobo is one of those individuals. Liu spent five years in prison for supporting the Tiananmen students and questioning the one-party system.

"Late last year, Liu was again arrested for being one of the organizers of Charter '08, an online public petition for democracy and the rule of law.

"Liu continues to be held without charges. Today, we call for his immediate and unconditional release.

"Many in China do not know about the events of June 4th, but they continue to fight for the same causes -- accountability from the government, freedom from corruption, and respect for the rule of law.

"Today we say to the people of China and freedom-loving people everywhere: Your cause is our cause. We will never forget. We will never forget."

*4. The full text of her speech:

“Good afternoon. Thank you very much Yang Jianli and the Initiatives for China for bringing us together this morning and this afternoon.

“Words fail me to adequately tell you what an honor it is to be on the same stage and in the presence of so many of the heroes of June 4 — to have a message at the same time from His Holiness the Dalai Lama in solidarity for more openness in China and Tibet.

“We stand here in front of the Capitol of the United States, a beacon of freedom to the world, with a great history of free speech and open discussion.

“On this side of the Capitol, here on these grounds, we stand with people who took to heart and to mind, the words of our Founders. In our Declaration of Independence, in our Constitution, our words talked about every person being equal and ‘endowed by their creator.’ ‘Endowed by their creator,’ not by the state, but ‘endowed by their creator’ of certain rights like liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And it was for life and liberty — and some people paid that price in Tiananmen Square. They paid with their lives and their liberty to speak out for freedom.

“It’s interesting to me that this week there are also observances in Eastern Europe about freedom emerging there at this time 20 years ago. And for those of you who are old enough to remember Tiananmen Square, you would have seen that the students gathered in the square in May in the days leading up to June 4th were an inspiration to the world, to the entire world. They inspired others to have the courage and they had a drumbeat of liberty and freedom that was felt around the world.

“What they wanted was dialogue with their government on openness and freedom and freedom of speech and religion and ending the corruption in China. They wanted that dialogue, they wanted that conversation — what they got was crushed. Crushed. Some of those people crushed in the square and other streets of Beijing. But they could not crush the spirit of Tiananmen.

“And that’s why it’s important these 20 years later — I remember meeting Chai Ling in Paris. She was newly escaped from China — we are so proud of her, she is so courageous, and so many others, so many other heroes of that movement. Many of them, when they got out of China, signed my man before the tank poster in my office, which is getting old now, but I’m very proud of the signatures that are on there. They are the signatures to a declaration of freedom in China and what this freedom means is openness, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, accountability, rule of law according to the Chinese Constitution.

“So what is important for us to do now? Who would have ever thought all of you here who are gathered with great leaders for democracy? Who would have ever thought that 20 years later, we would still be in this situation? That the same cowardice that inspired — I don’t know if inspired is the word — that insisted that the regime crush the people in the square — to clear that square at such and such a time. The same cowardice that did that — that same fear of the people exists in China today.

“We were told 20 years ago that peaceful evolution and economic reform would lead to political reform. Indeed, the economic reform has occurred. And I was so pleased that Secretary Clinton said in a statement that China has made enormous progress economically. I saw that last week in China. But she also said that a China that had made all that progress should examine openly the darker events of its past and provide a public accounting of those killed at Tiananmen Square — both to learn and to heal. We need to do that as we go forward.

“I also want to reference a speech made by President Obama in Egypt today. President Obama made a very excellent speech in Egypt and this is what he said there: ‘But I do have an unyielding belief that all people yearn for certain things. The ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed, confidence in the rule of law and equal administration of justice, a government that is transparent and doesn’t steal from the people, the freedom to live as you choose. Those are not just American ideas, they are human rights, and that is why we will support them everywhere.' That is what the President said in Egypt, looking out to the Muslim world.

“I have said over and over again: if we do not support human rights in China and in Tibet, we lose all moral authority to speak about human rights any place in the world. So here we are in front of the Capitol, a building symbolic of the core values of our American independence and our Constitution, in solidarity with those who, using our words, modeling the Goddess of Democracy after the Statue of Liberty, having those aspirations — people carrying those aspirations crushed in Tiananmen Square.

“Twenty years later, the spirit is still alive. In Hong Kong in the observance of Tiananmen Square, over 150,000 people turned out last night. 150,000 people — the biggest crowd since the one-year anniversary of Tiananmen Square. So I know that the long arm of the Chinese government will be reaching out to the media all over the world to suppress reporting on what’s happened in China, and also restricting communication from China through the Internet and the rest, but the fact is that here we are at the Capitol, there they were in Hong Kong, a drumbeat of activity across the world, an echo of the voices of the heroes of Tiananmen. We will never forget. We want a record of what happened, and we will continue to work for more openness and improvements in human rights in China and Tibet.

“Thank you for your courage to turn out here today, to stand in front of the Capitol, to hold us accountable to our own values, and to continue to work together to remember the Tiananmen Square Massacre, to get a public accounting of it

“And let me say just one thing in closing that was shocking to me. On the way there — perhaps you’ve seen the Frontline documentary on Tiananmen Square? And they have a picture of the man before the tank, this picture, an icon that is seared in the minds of people throughout the world. And they had in this documentary that they showed it to some students at Beijing University just a couple of years ago and those students had no idea what the photo was. They said, ‘What is that? Is that art? Did you put that together?’ This is an indication of how the Chinese government has suppressed what happened on June 4th and the days leading up to it.

“So our work is large. It’s work that many of us have been involved in for 20 years. In 1991, I stood in the square and unfurled a banner remembering those who sacrificed so much in Tiananmen Square. I wear white today to signal to the families a sympathy for what they have lost. I did that in 1991 as a Member of Congress, an individual Member, to express my views and the views of my constituents. It was a bipartisan group of us on the square that day, Democrats and Republicans.

“Eighteen years later as Speaker of the House, I had the opportunity to sit across from the President of China, the Premier of China, the Chairman of the People’s Congress, and to express to them the bipartisan concern in the Congress of the United States about China’s human rights record both in China and in Tibet.

“Whatever our roles in whatever stage of our involvement, we have to use everything at our disposal so that they know that we have not forgotten, and that we will not rest until there is freedom of speech and expression and assembly and openness in China and in Tibet.

“So thank you all very much for coming out today. Thank you for what you have done, thank you for what you are going to do, thank you for giving me the privilege of being associated with this very important historic movement for freedom in the world.

“Thank you all very much.”

June 3, 2009 (b) John Kusumi statement

2009-06-05T00:00:00.002-07:00

June 3, 2009 (b)
John Kusumi, founder of the China Support Network,
calls for Chinese people to rise up and sweep
away "the model of government-by-gangster"

Full text of the speech:

"'Game on' for Revolution!"

A speech by John Kusumi, Director emeritus of the
China Support Network, a pro-democracy group

- for the 20th anniversary of Tiananmen Square -
- as prepared for vigil of June 3, 2009 -
- Victims of Communism Memorial, Washington, DC -

I want to thank the many friends of freedom who are gathered here. 20 years after a bloody massacre in Beijing, China, the Chinese democracy movement still exists -- in exile, and gathered right here, right now to say "Never Forget," and "Never Again." My group, the China Support Network, still exists -- largely off the radar of sellout news media.

Tiananmen Square had more than a massacre. First, before the army came in, it had an uprising. It was not quite a counter-revolutionary rebellion, but it was a determined, insistent, and unyielding demand for political reform. Inside the high echelons of the Communist Party, there was a power struggle. And, if a different faction had won that power struggle, there would have been peace instead of violence; good instead of evil; and change instead of schlerosis. The title of Shen Tong's book says it well: "Almost A Revolution."

It would be well of United States journalists to focus on that aspect -- the forthcoming change of China -- rather than just photos of the military action.

The Communist Party greatly fears the Chinese democracy movement, because it had and still has the potential to change China's government. In the news this week, we have learned that the Chinese government blocked Twitter and Hotmail. Hello--?? They blocked Twitter and Hotmail!! --And that's in order to stop messages like mine, here.

I'll contribute my personal note here because 25 years ago this month, I started my mercurial -- independent -- teenager's campaign for U.S. President. I ran for the U.S. White House -- of course, I was minimized like Ralph Nader and I lost that race. But it becomes relevant when I am standing together with this reunion of Tiananmen Square leadership. In China, you were the first Generation X politicos. In America, I was the first Generation X presidential candidate. One has to remove the two-party blinders to see that, but it's not a stretch as I claim that mantle -- it is my record.

We are the youth of the 1980s, a decade when there was your attempt to change China, and my attempt to change America. Consider the combination! "We are Generation X, and we demand the keys to the kingdom!" --And next time, we won't take "no" for an answer.... ;)

In any case, I do fully support the Chinese democracy movement and its present-day agenda for political reform that is far-reaching and not just baby steps of incrementalism. There will be a change as the Communist Party is swept away, into the dustbin of history. There are consequences for blocking Twitter and Hotmail: we've got come down hard on them! Tell the people of China, it's "game on" for revolution!

The people of China must rise up, revolt, and sweep away the model of 'government-by-gangster.' The new law of Generation X -- those of us here -- says this: "If you block the emails, you will get a revolution." It's an important precedent to set. We can stop other governments from trying this malarkey in the future. If we can make this stick, government leaders will never again mess with Twitter and Hotmail -- and perhaps, not even with Generation X. :)

There is strength in this cause and in this movement. In 1989, students were asking the government for change. Some even kneeled on the steps of the Great Hall of the People -- and one of them, Zhou Yongjun, has been arrested again in China. He belongs here, at this event, today. We demand his release, and that of Wang Bingzhang, Liu Xiaobo, and Gao Zhisheng. This is 2009. This time, we are not asking the government, we are telling the government -- and calling for a revolution to come along side us.

We are standing where there is a statue of Tiananmen Square's Goddess of Democracy. I remember standing here in 2007 with Tang Baiqiao as he called for a second June 4 movement. With today's open call for revolution, his call is joined. Could the Chinese government negotiate, perhaps with Xu Wenli? Xu Wenli is a Chinese dissident who has called for a Future of China Conference, to be held this fall in Beijing. That, in preparation for a Constitutional Convention of 2010. Those events can and should happen, with or without the Communist Party at the table!

Xu Wenli released that schedule in 2006. Tang Baiqiao called for uprising in 2007. And today, I add my voice in calling for the same. Long live democracy, and may the future of China be bright! Thank you for taking in my speech, and God Bless China!

June 3, 2009 (a) Hillary Clinton statement

2009-06-05T00:00:00.001-07:00

June 3, 2009 (a)
U.S. Secretary of State releases four paragraph statement
for the 20th anniversary of Tiananmen Square

Full text of the statement:

On this the 20th anniversary of the violent suppression of demonstrations in Tiananmen Square by Chinese authorities, we should remember the tragic loss of hundreds of innocent lives and reflect upon the meaning of the events that preceded that day.

Hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets for weeks, in Beijing and around the country, first to honor the late reformist leader Hu Yaobang and then to demand basic rights denied to them.

A China that has made enormous progress economically, and that is emerging to take its rightful place in global leadership, should examine openly the darker events of its past and provide a public accounting of those killed, detained or missing, both to learn and to heal.

This anniversary provides an opportunity for Chinese authorities to release from prison all those still serving sentences in connection with the events surrounding June 4, 1989. We urge China to cease the harassment of participants in the demonstrations and begin dialogue with the family members of victims, including the Tiananmen Mothers. China can honor the memory of that day by moving to give the rule of law, protection of internationally-recognized human rights, and democratic development the same priority as it has given to economic reform.

June 2, 2009 Resolution in U.S. House

2009-06-04T23:46:00.000-07:00

June 2, 2009
U.S. House of Representatives passes H. Res. 489,
for the 20th anniversary of Tiananmen Square

Full text of the resolution:

Recognizing the twentieth anniversary of the suppression of protesters and citizens in and around Tiananmen Square in Beijing, People’s Republic of China, on June 3 and 4, 1989 and expressing sympathy to the families of those killed, tortured, and imprisoned in connection with the democracy protests in Tiananmen Square and other parts of China on June 3 and 4, 1989 and thereafter;

Whereas freedom of expression and assembly are fundamental human rights that belong to all people, and are recognized as such under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;

Whereas June 4th, 2009, marks the 20th anniversary of the day in 1989 when the People's Liberation Army and other security forces finished carrying out the orders of Chinese leaders to use lethal force to disperse demonstrators in and around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square;

Whereas the death on April 15, 1989 of Hu Yaobang, former General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, was followed by peaceful protests throughout China calling for the elimination of corruption and acceleration of economic and political reforms, especially freedom of expression, and freedom of assembly; and calling for a dialogue between protesters and Chinese authorities on these issues;

Whereas by early May 1989, citizens advocating publicly for democratic reform across China included not only students, but also government employees, journalists, workers, police, members of the armed forces and other citizens;

Whereas on May 20, 1989, martial law was declared in Beijing after authorities had failed to persuade demonstrators to leave Tiananmen Square;

Whereas during the late afternoon and early evening hours of June 3, 1989, ten- to fifteen thousand helmeted, armed troops carrying automatic weapons and travelling in large truck convoys moved into Beijing to “clear the Square” and surrounding streets of demonstrators;

Whereas on the night of June 3 and continuing into the morning of June 4, 1989, soldiers in armored columns of tanks outside of Tiananmen Square fired directly at citizens and indiscriminately into crowds, inflicting high civilian casualties, and killing or injuring hundreds of unarmed civilians, who reportedly ranged in age from 9 years old to 61 years old; and whereas tanks crushed some protesters and onlookers to death.

Whereas even after 20 years, the exact number of dead and wounded remains unclear; credible sources believe that a number much larger than that officially reported actually died in Beijing during the period of military control; credible sources estimate that the numbers of wounded at least were in the hundreds; detentions at the time were in the thousands, and some political prisoners who were sentenced in connection with the events surrounding June 4, 1989 still languish in Chinese prisons;

Whereas there are Chinese citizens still imprisoned for “counter-revolutionary” offenses allegedly committed during the 1989 demonstrations, even though, according to the 1997 revision of China's Criminal Law, the “offenses” for which they were convicted are no longer crimes.

Whereas the Tiananmen Mothers is a group of relatives and friends of those killed in June 1989 whose demands include the right to mourn victims publicly, to call for a full and public accounting of the wounded and dead, and the release of those who remain imprisoned for participating in the 1989 protests;

Whereas members of the Tiananmen Mothers group have faced arrest, harassment and discrimination; the group’s Web site is blocked in China; and international cash donations made to the group to support families of victims have been frozen by Chinese authorities;

Whereas Chinese authorities censor information that does not conform to the official version of events surrounding the Tiananmen crackdown, and limits or prohibits information about the Tiananmen crackdown from appearing at all in textbooks in China;

Whereas Chinese authorities continue to suppress peaceful dissent by harassing, detaining or imprisoning journalists, advocates for worker rights, religious believers, and other individuals in China, including in Xinjiang and in Tibet who seek to express their political dissent, ethnic identity or religious views peacefully and freely;

Whereas Chinese authorities continue to harass and detain advocates for democratic processes such as Mr. Liu Xiaobo, a Tiananmen Square protester, prominent intellectual, dissident writer, and more recently a signer of Charter 08 (a call for peaceful political reform and respect for the rule of law published on-line last December by over 300 citizens and subsequently endorsed by thousands more), who remains under house arrest.

Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the House of Representatives—

(A) expresses sympathy to the families of those killed, tortured, and imprisoned as a result of their participation in the democracy protests in Tiananmen Square and elsewhere in China on June 3-4, 1989 and thereafter, and all those persons who have suffered for their efforts to keep that struggle alive during the last two decades;

(B) calls on the People’s Republic of China to invite full and independent investigations into the Tiananmen Square crackdown, assisted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the International Committee of the Red Cross;

(C) calls on the legal authorities of the People’s Republic of China to review immediately the cases of those still imprisoned for participating in the 1989 protests for compliance with internationally recognized standards of fairness and due process in judicial proceedings and to release those individuals imprisoned solely for peacefully exercising their internationally-recognized rights;

(D) calls on the People’s Republic of China to end its harassment and detention of and its discrimination against those who were involved in the 1989 protests not only in Beijing, but in other parts of China where protests took place; and to end its harassment and detention of those who continue to advocate peacefully for political reform, like Mr. Liu Xiaobo, a signer of Charter 08 who remains under house arrest, and his wife, Liu Xia.

(E) calls on the People’s Republic of China to allow protest participants who escaped to or are living in exile in the United States and other countries, or who reside outside of China because they have been “blacklisted” in China as a result of their peaceful protest activity, to return to China without risk of retribution or repercussion.

(F) calls on the Administration and Members of the Congress to mark the 20th Anniversary of the events at Tiananmen Square appropriately and effectively by taking steps that include: meeting whenever and wherever possible with participants in the demonstrations who are living in the United States, and meeting with others outside of China who have been "blacklisted" in China as a result of their peaceful protest activities; signaling support for those in China who demand an accounting of the events surrounding June 4th, 1989; and expressing support for those advocating for accountable and democratic governance in China.

- Good news, bad news, and a clarification -

2009-05-13T10:46:00.000-07:00

Today's good news is that major news wires have "broken" the story that Chinese dissident Zhou Yongjun (also known as Majer Zhou, his English name), a former Tiananmen Square student leader, was arrested and is being held (unjustly) in China, by "the authorities," or the Chinese Communist Party.

To bring this to world attention is a positive, constructive step and therefore it is today's good news. The bad news is that, "They're holding Majer Zhou!" This is a new Tiananmen-Square related arrest -- the continuation of a crackdown that has happened for almost 20 years. (June 4, 2009 will be the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown.)

The clarification is this: Most of the coverage correctly identified Zhou as a U.S. permanent resident, or a "green card holder." That's correct. He would have obtained that green card in 1993, when he first came to the United States for exile.

The clarification becomes necessary where the Associated Press, within its article, reported: "Zhou had applied for but does not yet have a green card, his family said."

This was an exchange with perhaps a misunderstood question, or a misunderstood answer. The source of that statement, Ms. Yuewei Zhang, clarified to CSN that Zhou applied for naturalization (a step to citizenship) two years ago, but that it's not approved as yet.

Naturalization is a completely different matter than U.S. permanent residency. The former is an application process now interrupted. The latter is something that Zhou Yongjun already has.

We can therefore underscore that yes, Majer Zhou is a U.S. permanent resident. And as the CSN has reported in connection with other political prisoner cases, "Yes, Virginia, there is such a thing as a non-citizen U.S. national." A permanent resident may be considered a U.S. national.

It is also true that the China Support Network (CSN) was mentioned in the related coverage by the New York Times and the AFP news wire.

Earlier draft of Zhou Yongjun story

2009-05-05T04:26:00.001-07:00

Tiananmen Square Student Leader Captured

CSN demands the immediate release of Zhou Yongjun

April 16, 2009 (CSN) -- One of the student leaders at Tiananmen Square was named Majer Zhou -- or if you are Chinese, his name is Zhou Yongjun. He has now been captured. He is the latest case of a prisoner in China whom we need to demand that the Chinese authorities must release.

He has been living in the United States and has been an enthusiastic ally of the China Support Network. He spent some time being the North American Director of the Free China Movement. And his placement in the Chinese democracy movement is as solid as they get.

When the students rose up in Tiananmen Square, he led the first student march into the square, that got the action started in the first place. And then, he was the first elected leader of the student association -- they made a combined association of Beijing Universities -- in Tianamen Square.

He was elected there; he was a spokesman of the students; and he appears in a famous photograph of students kneeling on the steps of the Great Hall of the People. Zhou was one of the three students kneeling with a petition that looked to be a scroll intended for the emperor. That scene took place during the funeral for ousted Chinese leader Hu Yaobang.

Books about Tiananmen Square's June 4 movement mention Mr. Zhou. Zhou is a blue-chip name among the Tiananmen Square student leadership, and he has been captured in China.

This is now his third time to be a political prisoner in China. He was jailed immediately after Tiananmen Square's 1989 atrocity, then released in 1991. He made his way to the United States for exile. In 1998, he attempted a return to China. Then, he was picked up by the authorities and sentenced to three years in a labor camp. He was released nine months early in 2001 as a government gesture to win favor with the International Olympic Committee.

Heretofore, this was the "rumored disappearance" of Majer Zhou. The China Support Network is confirming the story ahead of the newswires and the Chinese government. Prominent dissident attorney Ning Ye, and another source inform CSN that Mr. Zhou is being held at a prison in Shenzhen.

In English, the only earlier report was on Dec. 19, 2008 when the China Aid Association reported that Zhou was arrested on Sept. 30, and that authorities first charged him with "espionage," then changed the charge to "financial fraud."

The China Support Network calls upon the government of China to immediately release 'Majer' Zhou Yongjun. If he is not present at the upcoming 20th anniversary of the June 4 massacre, he will be conspicuous by his absence, and circumstances will require that we must clatter and raise pressure for his release amid the commemorations for June 4 -- the yearly time of world attention for the June 4 issue.

Invitation to New York event

2009-04-13T22:27:00.000-07:00

NYU Wagner’s International Public Service Association (IPSA-Wagner) presents:

HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS AGAINST THE UYGHUR PEOPLE OF THE XINJIANG UYGHUR AUTONOMOUS REGION OF CHINA (EAST TURKISTAN)

Learn about the Chinese government’s human rights violations against the Uyghur people, the forcible return to China of Uyghur asylum-seekers and refugees by China’s neighbors, and the detention of Uyghurs at Guantanamo. Find out what you can do to help the Uyghurs.

Date and Time: Thursday, April 16, 2009, 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Location:
Rudin Family Forum
New York University Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
295 Lafayette Street (Puck Building)
New York, NY 10012

*The Rudin Family Forum is on the 2nd Floor of the Puck Building.

**Non-NYU attendees must show ID at the security desk on the 2nd floor (take the elevator to the 2nd floor). Non-NYU attendees, please also try to RSVP. You can do that by filling out the short RSVP form at http://wagner.nyu.edu/events/ipsa-04-16-2009.

Featuring:

NURY TURKEL, ESQ. -- Mr. Turkel, a Uyghur, is former President of the Uyghur American Association and former Executive Director of the Uyghur Human Rights Project.

Screening of a short documentary on the Uyghurs.

Action opportunities.

Background:

The Uyghurs are the Turkic Muslim people of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in northwestern China (known to the Uyghurs as East Turkistan).

For decades, the Chinese government has subjected the Uyghurs to political, religious, and cultural persecution. Several of China’s neighbors have assisted the Chinese government’s persecution of the Uyghurs by forcibly returning Uyghur asylum-seekers and refugees to China, where they face severe human rights abuses, including imprisonment, torture, and in some cases, execution.

Since September of 2001, the Chinese government’s crackdown on the Uyghurs has steadily intensified. The government has consistently portrayed the Uyghurs’ political, religious, and cultural activities as terrorism to justify its crackdown on the Uyghurs.

Although there are currently 17 Uyghur prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, most of them have been cleared for release, some as early as 2003. The U.S. government – aware that it cannot return the prisoners to China due to credible fears that they would be tortured upon return – has unsuccessfully tried to find another country to resettle the Uyghurs rather than resettle them itself. The U.S. has refused to resettle the Uyghurs in the U.S., despite their civilian status and assurances by the Uyghur-American community and interfaith refugee settlement groups that they would provide the Uyghurs with housing and language and job training. No other country has offered to accept the Uyghur prisoners, in part – according to Human Rights Watch – because of the U.S.’s failure to resettle any detainees itself.

Note: The Puck Building, 295 Lafayette Street, NY, NY is walking distance from the Broadway-Lafayette subway station (B,D,F,V trains), Bleecker Street subway station (6 train), and the Prince Street subway station (R train).

Wei Jingsheng appears with Tibetans

2009-03-10T11:29:00.001-07:00

The following news was run by AFP, the newswire:

In Lafayette Park facing the White House, hundreds of exiles holding Tibetan and US flags bowed their heads in prayer.

The protesters marched to the Chinese embassy joined by one of China's most famous dissidents, Wei Jingsheng, who has questioned historical claims to Tibet put forward by his country's leaders.

"The Tibetans have been deprived of their right to protest but we can see that they are very strong," Wei told AFP.

Prepared Remarks of Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ)

2009-02-26T15:33:00.001-08:00

From a press conference of Feb. 26, 2009:

Good morning and thank you for coming here today. I’m here with Congressmen Mike Pence, Frank Wolf, and Joe Pitts and a group of former political prisoners and human rights activists to talk about U.S. policy toward China.

Last week, Secretary Clinton told the global media that concern for the protection of human rights of the Chinese people can’t be allowed to “interfere” with the economic crisis, climate change, and security – as if human rights were disconnected and irrelevant to those issues.

With those words, the Secretary effectively took human rights off the U.S. agenda with the Chinese Government. It was a shocking display of pandering, immediately understood by the Chinese government, whose party-controlled press rejoiced. Secretary Clinton made it clear in Beijing that the Obama Administration has chosen to peddle U.S. debt to the largest dictatorship in the world over defending the Chinese people from its government’s policies of torture, forced labor, forced abortion, religious persecution, human sex trafficking, gendercide, and genocide.

Forced abortion deserves a special word in this list of human rights abuses, as it is the only one that the Democratic Congressional leadership appears determined to fund with U.S. taxpayer money. Yesterday the Democratic leadership blocked amendments to the FY 2009 Omnibus spending bill that would prevent President Obama from lavishing $50 million of U.S. taxpayer money on the UN Population Fund (UNFPA). U.S. Government reports and the international media have consistently found that the UNFPA systematically aids and abets the Chinese government’s one child per couple forced abortion policy. That cruel, anti-family policy has made brothers and sisters illegal in China and murdered tens of millions of children and wounded countless Chinese women.

The protection and promotion of human rights ought to be at the core of our relationship with an egregious violator like China – but the Secretary has signaled that for her it will be a talking point at the bottom of the diplomatic agenda--one she’s in no hurry to get to.

In a sad irony, within days of the Secretary’s airy dismissal of human rights, the Department of State issued its Congressionally-mandated annual Country Reports on Human Rights, which concluded that in 2008 the Chinese government’s human rights record “worsened.”

Every day, brave Chinese risk their lives and liberty in the pursuit of freedom, democracy, protection of the family and respect per human rights. As we speak, Chinese political prisoners languish in gulags – laogai concentration camps – facing unspeakable torture and abuse. As a matter of a fact, approximately half a million each day endure the cruelty and humiliation of the labor camp.

When I read the Secretary’s words, I thought of Wei Jingsheng, the Democracy Wall hero who is here with us today. In 1999 Wei told me—When your government submits to the Chinese government’s demand to stop raising human rights issues, they beat us more; when you stand up to them, they beat us less.

Right now, Chinese political prisoners are paying the price for the Secretary’s words. They are being beaten. Their jailers are taunting them that the world has forgotten them, telling them that nobody cares about their fate.

Congressmen Pence, Wolf, and Pitts have joined me to deliver a message to the Chinese people: there are many of us in Congress who will not let the United States government forget about their human rights; we will keep speaking out for them; and we will do everything in our power to urge the administration to do the same.

After my colleagues speak, I will introduce the former political prisoners and human rights defenders.

As Hillary Clinton shows weakness, Beijing wins a game with the U.S.

2009-02-22T12:15:00.001-08:00

The following is an exceedingly good post from commentator Gordon Chang:

The Chinese Head Game
Gordon G. Chang - 02.22.2009 - 1:22 PM

“It’s a bit chilly in Beijing,” said Yang Jiechi, “but I have confidence that you will see the biggest number of smiling faces here.” China’s foreign minister was not commenting on yesterday’s weather in friendly banter with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. His point was that China’s happy people were proof of the regime’s good human rights record.

Yang was lying, of course. But that’s not the point. Clinton knew he was lying, and that’s not the point either. The point is that Yang knew that Clinton knew he was lying but did not challenge him. The Chinese, in short, were putting forth their version of reality and Americans were accepting it. Minister Yang knew he had just humbled the United States.

“You know, a lot of international diplomacy is a head game,” Mrs. Clinton said on Friday before arriving in Beijing. She’s right, and the Chinese have just outmaneuvered her. She thought she could buy their good will by accepting an obvious deception. They, however, interpreted her acceptance of their outrageous views as a sign of weakness. As one Indian observer recently remarked, Beijing now perceives the United States to be “a beakless eagle.” Abe Greenwald noted on Friday that the issue of human rights in China cannot be separated from the supposedly “broader issues.” He’s correct because the Communist Party, which has yet to shed the mentality of its early years, only respects strength.

Mrs. Clinton has lost the initial round of the “head game,” so don’t expect Beijing to be cooperative in the near future. President Obama’s diplomacy in China has just gotten off to a truly bad start.

More about today's editorial

2009-02-21T12:53:00.000-08:00

There may be some people who did not read or hear the news, prior to the latest article 'Hillary Clinton Visits Her Communist Masters In Beijing.' Therefore, it may seem abrupt to take in an article which, under better (more normal) circumstances, could be termed shockingly rude.

These are not normal circumstances. For 20 years since the Tiananmen Square massacre, U.S. China policy has been morally indefensible, for turning a blind eye to the atrocities, the genocide, and the crimes against humanity which China's CCP government perpetrates against normal, innocent civilians in China. The CCP, by the way, is still the Chinese Communist Party, the same totalitarian institution that was brought to power by Chairman Mao in 1949.

Before arriving in Beijing, Hillary Clinton telegraphed her attitude about human rights. As reported in the Washington Post, "We pretty much know what they are going to say" on human rights issues such as greater freedoms for Tibet, Clinton told reporters traveling with her on a tour of Asia.

To help to put this into perspective, I will paste in an article from AFP (Agence France-Presse, the newswire) below. It has led to a situation where the human rights community should rightly be roaring angry with Clinton, and today's CSN article amounts to a verbal and rhetorical "hurling of shoes" at Hillary Clinton.

That is as it should be, in light of circumstances. It is a brilliant man in Iraq who started this trend of throwing shoes at world leaders. Recently, China's Wen Jiabao had shoes thrown at him in London. Isn't it great when people catch on? ;-)

Activists 'shocked' at Clinton stance on China rights

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Amnesty International and a pro-Tibet group voiced shock Friday after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton vowed not to let human rights concerns hinder cooperation with China.

Paying her first visit to Asia as the top US diplomat, Clinton said the United States would continue to press China on long-standing US concerns over human rights such as its rule over Tibet.

"But our pressing on those issues can't interfere on the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis and the security crisis," Clinton told reporters in Seoul just before leaving for Beijing.

T. Kumar of Amnesty International USA said the global rights lobby was "shocked and extremely disappointed" by Clinton's remarks.

"The United States is one of the only countries that can meaningfully stand up to China on human rights issues," he said.

"But by commenting that human rights will not interfere with other priorities, Secretary Clinton damages future US initiatives to protect those rights in China," he said.

Students for a Free Tibet said Clinton's remarks sent the wrong signal to China at a sensitive time.

"The US government cannot afford to let Beijing set the agenda," said Tenzin Dorjee, deputy director of the New York-based advocacy group.

China has been pouring troops into the Himalayan territory ahead of next month's 50th anniversary of the uprising that sent Tibet's spiritual leader the Dalai Lama into exile in India.

"Leaders really need to step up and pressure China. It's often easy to wonder whether pressure makes a difference. It may not make a difference in one day or one month, but it would be visible after some years," Dorjee said.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch had sent a letter to Clinton before her maiden Asia visit urging her to raise human rights concerns with Chinese leaders.

Before she left, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said human rights would be "an important issue" for Clinton and that she would "raise the issue when appropriate."

China has greeted President Barack Obama's administration nervously, believing he would press Beijing harder on human rights and trade issues than former president George W. Bush.

= = = = =
Other headlines:
CNN -- Clinton: Chinese 'human rights can't interfere' with other crises
Australian news -- In China, Clinton avoids rights issue
Radio Netherlands -- Rights groups shocked at Clinton's China stance
NDTV India -- Rights group slams Clinton's China remarks
USA Today -- Amnesty Int'l 'shocked' over Clinton's human rights remarks

Challenging and hammering U.S.-China policy

2008-11-24T21:52:00.000-08:00

A recent TV interview was very good for the China Support Network.

'Digging to China' hosted by Dong Xiang at NTDTV is a regular talk show in the style of Meet the Press. Just after Obama's election, I visited Washington to appear on the latest episode of his half-hour show.

The show is in two segments, and I'm the second guest. It can be taken in here:http://english.ntdtv.com/?c=164&a=6082

Very likely, I'll chop it in half to make a YouTube video for CSN out of my excerpt. I hope you like it.

My best wishes,
/s./ John P. Kusumi

President Obama, Stop These Deadly Imports!

2008-11-08T20:34:00.000-08:00

President Obama,
Stop These Deadly Imports!

The China Support Network calls to stop cases of Americans being killed by Chinese exports - deliberately contaminated for profit as Chinese producers cut corners, harm public health and safety.

- 500,000 people protested China's deadly milk on October 25 in Taiwan -

Dear President-elect Obama,

Americans are dead in "solved" cases of product poisoning. The Made-In-China products were exported from Communist China / the P.R.C., and imported by the United States of America. Americans are dead. Is this acceptable?

You may remember that in 1999, U.S. President Bill Clinton "negotiated" no-strings-attached, unconditional PNTR for Communist China. This meant tariff breaks for Communists, dictators, tyrants, and thugs; and in 2000 the U.S. Congress passed the deal. This served to:

reward bad behavior on the part of the Chinese Communist regime;

increase the U.S. trade deficit (which weakens the U.S. dollar and increases inflation);

remove manufacturing jobs from America;

endanger the health and safety of U.S. consumers

This letter is about the latter concern -- health and safety of U.S. consumers. It is salient to have a situation review in two parts:

1. The story so far

2006: 138 citizens in Panama died after taking cough syrup, contaminated with diethylene glycol from the P.R.C.. As many as 260,000 bottles of cough syrup were contaminated, and diethylene glycol was also found in toothpaste.

2007: The United States experienced the arrival of toothpaste with diethylene glycol. This included counterfeit knock-offs of Colgate and Sensodyne toothpastes. Also affected: Australia, Costa Rica, England, and Spain.

2007: The United States experienced the pet food recall as American cats and dogs dropped dead in the thousands. The melamine contamination originated in China. Contamination was also found in animal feed for pigs, chicken, and fish in the United States and hence, in the human food chain as well as the supply of pet food. Additional contaminated foodstuffs included wheat gluten, corn gluten, rice gluten and protein concentrate.

2007: Chinese textiles in Australia were quarantined after formaldehyde was found at 10X the level of safety standards.

2007: The United States experienced the recall of 450,000 Made-In-China tires that were found faulty by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

2007: It was almost "the year without a Christmas." The United States experienced recalls of 19.5 million Made-In-China toys, due to lead paint and faulty magnets. Normal American families began to change their shopping habits to avoid Made-In-China toys.

2008: Frozen Chinese dumplings, contaminated with pesticide, sickened 10 people in Japan and perhaps more.

2008: The United States experienced the recall of Baxter blood thinners, made with counterfeit heparin from the P.R.C.. 81 Americans died as acknowledged by the U.S. FDA. As recently as November 6, two days after your election, the FDA seized 11 lots of heparin from Celsus Laboratories Inc. of Cincinatti, Ohio. Also affected: Australia, Canada, EU, Japan, since those were destinations for Celsus products. The contaminant: over-sulfated chondroitin sulfate (OSCS).

The above situation includes 81 American fatalities, and at least one other U.S. fatality made the news from this wave of poison products. Further, fatalities can be vastly under-reported. We saw this in the pet food recall of 2007. The FDA received reports of 8,500 animal deaths and confirmed 14 cases, so the news reported 14. (An independent web site separately collected 3,600 reports of dead pets in the US.) The disparity suggests that Americans watch "fairy tale" news, sanitized for the comfort of Communists and their business partners. We must ask this question: How many more Americans are dead, beyond the public reporting?

The China Support Network, the sponsor of this letter, will never forget another example of U.S. news under-reporting fatalities. --Upon Tiananmen Square's massacre in 1989, there were 3,000 people dead, and the reporting said so. Shortly thereafter, the media began its absurd, insulting, and highly offensive "climb down" to reporting 300 dead. So, first they disappeared 2,700 souls; then about ten years later, they disappeared the Chinese dissidents, the Falun Gong, and the China Support Network. Human rights concerns with respect to China only began to resurface this year, due to the Tibetan uprising / crackdown, and your commendable support for the Tibetan cause! In the case of the Falun Gong, U.S. China policy is as good as leaving the Jews in the gas chambers.

2. The new crisis

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was covering this up during the Olympics. Melamine has appeared again, but this time it's in the human food chain, not just pet food. China's children have been sent to the hospital. They are the most vulnerable to melamine; 99% of sickness due to melamine has occurred in victims less than 3 years old. Reuters puts the total number of illnesses at 94,000, but thankfully(?) only four children have been reported dead. China's top three brands of milk were found to have melamine, among 23 suppliers thus far implicated. China's dairy industry now resembles the U.S. banking industry, with sudden collapses of longstanding silos. Sanlu was the first large Chinese brand implicated. Before the crisis, this was a $19.5 billion industry; now, it is a $6.5 billion industry. On September 17, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange halted trading of shares in Mengniu, another top brand implicated.

The contamination is deliberate. Melamine, with its high nitrogen content, "fakes out" tests that are conducted on foodstuffs. Without nutritional value, it boosts test scores to make the protein content appear higher. The use of melamine is a cost-cutting measure and a way of cutting corners at the expense of consumer safety. Watered down milk, spiked with melamine, can test and appear to stand in for undiluted milk. The 2007 pet food recall already introduced the United States to melamine, which interacts with cyanuric acid to produce kidney stones and renal failure.

Contaminated chicken feed has now led to contaminated eggs. Egg powder and milk powder are contaminated. The situation may be referred to as the baby milk scandal, but that is a misnomer because the crisis goes beyond babies and milk. Xinhua reports that the scandal was exposed on July 16, when 16 babies were found to have kidney stones. New Zealand dairy cooperative Fonterra, the owner of a 43% stake in Sanlu, says that it learned about the contamination on August 2. However, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the public only learned of contamination on September 11, after the Olympics. That is when the recalls started. The delay from mid-July to mid-September is an example of CCP leadership, playing politics with public health (to avoid tarnishing the Olympics).

The WHO has labelled this "one of the largest food safety events" that it has had to deal with in recent years. WHO and UNICEF also jointly decried the "particularly deplorable...deliberate contamination of foods intended for...vulnerable infants and young children." On September 26, the WHO warned health officials around the world to be alert for dairy products of Chinese origin that could be tainted. On September 21, the government admitted that it was facing 53,000 cases; 10,000 more were reported by September 26; and by October 8, Reuters was reporting a total near 94,000 cases. The European Commission's Joint Research Center set up a web site about detecting melamine (http://irmm.jrc.ec.europa.eu/melamine). French authorities ordered all Chinese dairy products off shelves. At least 25 countries have done likewise. On September 25 the EU stopped imports of baby food containing Chinese milk.

In Connecticut, authorities warned about White Rabbit candy that was found and taken off of store shelves there. Another brand recalled in the United States is Lotte Koala cookies. In non-U.S. markets, there have been consequences for brands of Unilever, Cadbury, and Heinz - and Starbucks' operation in China was supplied with milk from Mengniu. In China, there have been lawsuits and arrests and state promises of free medical care.

China also has a collapsing economy; and a collapsing Communist Party. Another consequence is that melamine extended the legacy of Premier Wen Jiabao. He has now become China's Apologizer-In-Chief. In recent memory, he has apologized to the public for:

the deaths of coal miners

polluted drinking water

train passengers stranded by snowstorms; and now,

poisoned milk products

Needless to say, Premier Wen Jiabao is very sorry. China faces a profound and humiliating loss of face. In this quarter, it is felt that threats and hazards to public safety deserve a response strategy that goes beyond an apology. If it cannot do better than apologize, then the Communist Party is showing its own limitations and shortcomings.

At the level of the U.S. White House, even one American death should be unacceptable. "Faulty products" is a malarkey basis for a rising American death toll. The foregoing list of faulty products has led to more than one American death. At the China Support Network, we are fans of the idea of a grand tyranny tariff that stops all Chinese imports. (Our organization joined the Boycott Made In China coalition years ago.) A sweeping approach would side step the necessity to parse which products are deadly and which ones aren't (yet?). You may or may not take it upon yourself to do that parsing, but to borrow a phrase there is a "fierce urgency of now." We urge you to "go large" in backing freedom, democracy, and human rights for China. The "free China" community sees and agrees that there is a clear and present danger - an imminent threat - to the American people AND the Chinese people.

Whichever way you do it, President Obama: Save the lives of your fellow Americans and STOP THESE DEADLY IMPORTS!

Sincerely,
/s./ John P. Kusumi
Founder and Director Emeritus
The China Support Network
Cheshire, CT
USA

# # #

Press invited to Friday 9/12 event

2008-09-11T01:50:00.000-07:00

PRESS ADVISORY

Human Rights in Post-Olympics China and Asia

DATE: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2008

TIME: 2:00PM ~ 4:00PM

PLACE: Gold Room (room no. 2168), Rayburn House Office Building

Contact:

Dr. Binh Nguyen at 240-731-3630 or binhnguyenmd@gmail.com

Ms. Ciping Huang at 202-543-1538 or HCP@weijingsheng.org

Ms. Iris Ho at 202-280-0166 or irisho@fapa.org

China was awarded the hosting of the Olympics by the International Olympics Committee at the beginning of this century with the expectation that China would improve its human rights. Events and reports proved that China's human rights record did not improve but rather rapidly worsened prior to and during the Games.

Now the Games are over, more than a dozen Asian human rights organizations are jointly urging the international community to keep pressure on China and other authoritarian regimes in Asia to embrace democracy.

Please join us this Friday at one of the largest gatherings by leaders of Asian human rights organizations to happen in the US capital.

Event notice: Protest on Aug. 7 '08

2008-08-07T00:57:00.001-07:00

Media advisory: Press Notice and Press Release for a "Freedom First - No Olympics Medal for China" Rally on August 7, 2008, in Front of Chinese Embassy in Washington DC, Sponsored by Multiple Organizations and Joined by Hundreds Tibetans and Freedom Loving People

PRESS NOTICE
No Olympics Medal for China:　Protesting China's Abysmal Human Rights Record

DATE: August 7, 2008
TIME: 2PM to 5PM
PLACE: Chinese Embassy (2300 Connecticut Ave. NW., Washington, DC, USA)

Contact: Ms. Doma Norbu 646-812-5228 or Ms. Ciping Huang 202-543-1538

Speakers include but not limited to Ms. Rebiya Kadeer and Mr. Wei Jingsheng, both of whom met with President Bush in the White House on July 29 regarding their efforts in promoting democracy and human rights in China; as well as leaders of Asia Democracy Alliance, and representatives from the international human rights organizations including Reporters Without Borders and Amnesty International.

There will be hundreds of Tibetans traveling from New York to attend this demonstration, led by Doma Norbu, President of Chushi Gangdruk.

Sponsoring Organizations:
Asia Democracy Alliance
Chushi Gangdruk
Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA)
Overseas Chinese Democracy Coalition
World Uyghur Congress
Inner Mongolian People's Party
Reporters Without Borders
China Support Network
Independent Federation of Chinese Students and Scholars
Freedom First, Olympics Second Coalition

Press Release "FREEDOM FIRST" - " NO OLYMPICS MEDAL FOR CHINA"

August 7, 2008

The Olympics is intended to be a　celebration of the human spirit, but the spirit of the Tibetan, Uyghur, Inner　Mongolian and Chinese people are being crushed under the weight of an　oppressive regime. As the opening ceremony of the Olympics are underway, harsh　measures are currently being implemented in Tibet, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia　and China to intimidate the people and prevent any further signs of dissent.

Thousands of people are still missing or in detention, and a climate of fear　prevails. While Tibet, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia are in theory open to　foreign visitors and journalists, in practice, only a government-approved few　are permitted.

When Beijing won the rights to host the　2008 Olympics in 2001, the Chinese government made a promise to the　International Olympic Committee and the international community to concretely　improve human rights. But those promises have for the most part been empty.

Amnesty International in its 8th July 2008 report states "In fact, the　crackdown on human rights defenders, journalists and lawyers has intensified　because Beijing is hosting the Olympics. The authorities have stepped up　repression of dissident voices in their efforts to present an image of　"stability" and "harmony" to the outside world. This has resulted in the　detention and imprisonment of those who wish to draw attention to the other　side of the picture, which includes human rights violations perpetrated in　preparation for the Games.

We are counting on President Bush and other world　leaders to make clear while in Beijing that token gestures from the Chinese　government are not enough to silence international concern for these oppressed　people. "The Chinese government's policies in these areas will continue to　impact China's image abroad, for good or ill, long after the Olympics spotlight　dims.

In light of this grim situation, we request that:

1. The Chinese government stops its crackdown on innocent people in the guise of Olympic security.

2. The Chinese authorities should account for those who remain in detention and that they will be accorded due process in accordance with international legal standards.

3. Journalists, Representatives from the United Nations and Aid agencies should be provided with free access throughout Tibet, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia.

4. President Bush and all world leaders attending the Olympics should request permission to travel to Tibet, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia. Such a visit would demonstrate their genuine concern in resolving the issue through a meaningful and lasting process.

NED-China-awards to highlight human rights abuse, honor Tom Lantos

2008-06-17T11:36:00.000-07:00

NED-China-awards

Life and work of Tom Lantos will be honored with Democracy Service Medal

According to their press release, on Tuesday June 17, the National Endowment for Democracy will honor the heroic efforts of Chinese workers, lawyers, and writers working to advance democratic values and fundamental rights within China with the presentation of its annual Democracy Award. Chen Guangchen, Zhang Jianhong, Yao Fuxin and Hu Sigen, who are all serving sentences in Chinese prisons, are four of the recipients. Other honorees cannot be named publicly until the award ceremony. The award presentation and a roundtable discussion will take place on Capitol Hill in the Caucus Room (345) of the Cannon House Office Building at 3:30 - 5:00 PM.

Commenting on the selection of this year's awardees, NED Chairman Vin Weber said, "As China prepares to host the Olympic Games, with the attention of the world focused on that country's many achievements and its rich culture, the world must not forget those who labor in the background to secure the most basic rights and protections for the people of China - the right to associate, to write and speak freely, to worship, to organize for better working conditions, for the rule of law, and for and the protection of basic human dignity."

The award presentation will be preceded by a roundtable discussion, Law, Rights and Democracy in China: Perspectives of Leading Advocates. The honorees will be joined in the discussion by other notable activists and advocates for basic rights in China, including Han Dongfang, - executive director of China Labour Bulletin, Bob Fu - founder of the China Aid Association and a student leader of the 1989 Tiananmen democracy movement, Sharon Hom - executive director of Human Rights in China, Xiao Qiang - founder and publisher of China Digital Times, Wang Tiancheng - a founder of the Liberal Democratic Party of China and the Free Labor Union of China, and Yang Jianli - a Chinese democracy activist recently released from prison, who now is president of Initiatives for China.

The Democracy Awards, which this year focus on work in the areas of Human Rights and Rule of Law, Religious Freedom, Freedom of Expression, and Worker Rights, will be presented by three members of the US Congress, Reps. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Adam Schiff (D-CA), and Frank Wolf (R-VA), as well as the vice chairman of NED's Board of Directors Richard Gephardt, who is the former House Minority Leader. Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman (D-CA) will also make remarks at the program.

NED will also honor the life-long contributions of one of the US Congress' most stalwart supporters of human rights in China and every other part of the world, the late Tom Lantos (D-CA) with the presentation of its Democracy Service Medal.

The National Endowment for Democracy is a private, nonprofit, bipartisan grant-making organization created in 1983 to strengthen democratic institutions around the world. It is active in more than 90 countries, supporting grassroots, democratic initiatives. It now houses the Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA), which is devoted to strengthening the field of media assistance. More information about NED and the Democracy Award (http://www.ned.org/events/democracyaward.html) can be found at www.ned.org.

(SOURCE: National Endowment for Democracy)

Nancy Pelosi's Remarks of June 4, 2008

2008-06-04T16:47:00.000-07:00

Thank you all very much for your wonderful welcome.

Nineteen years ago, Chinese students, workers and citizens marched in peace in Tiananmen Square. They raised the Goddess of Democracy in the image of our own Statue of Liberty. They quoted America's Founding Fathers. We remember with sadness and outrage how the Chinese government unleashed an army on its own people.

One of the most enduring images of the twentieth century will forever be seared into our conscience. The picture of the lone man standing in the street and bringing a line of tanks to a grinding halt -- that image has been seared into our conscience. That massacre of the demonstrators in Tiananmen Square challenged our conscience and the conscience of the world.

Thank you, Carl Gershman, for your leadership as President of the National Endowment for Democracy. You referenced that privilege that you gave to me -- to bestow your award of the National Endowment for Democracy on two of the heroes of the Democracy in China movement. It was a great privilege for me. That that award is a smaller version of the Goddess of Democracy is an overwhelming image. I have that same statue in the Speaker's office. Any visitor to the Speaker's office will see among the very few artifacts I have in my office the importance of that great symbol of democracy there.

I am proud to be here today with so many heroes and advocates of human rights in China and Tibet. I thank the Reverend Gordon Schultz for his reference to our visit to China in the early 1990s where we spoke out in association with those that have spoken out for Democracy in China. We're also joined today by Dr. Yang Jianli, a Tiananmen Square activist of 1989 who spent five years in prison because of his criticism of the Chinese government. We're also joined by Rebiya Kadeer, a champion of human rights of the Uyghur people who had to endure five years of notoriously harsh prison conditions for her activism. Thank you for your tireless efforts and unquantifiable sacrifices for the cause of freedom and human rights in China.

As we pay tribute to the brave souls of Tiananmen Square, we also offer our deepest condolences to the thousands of victims and their families of the earthquake struck in China last month. I hope that it's a comfort to those affected by this terrible tragedy that so many people throughout the world are thinking of them and praying for them at this sad time. And in remembrance of all those that lost their lives, let us observe a moment of silence.

In the spirit of standing with the Chinese people in this moment of grief, it is in that spirit that we stand here today and pay tribute to the martyrs of Tiananmen Square. Today we remember the heroes of Tiananmen and call for the release of all political prisoners in China -- all political prisoners in China.

I'd like to read the names of some of the other prisoners: Hu Jia, who was recently sentenced recently for speaking out on the link between human rights and the Olympics; Shi Tao, sentenced to ten years in prison for reporting on the 15-year anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre; Chen Guangcheng, a blind lawyer and advocate who exposed the truth about human rights violations; the 11th Panchen Lama, who was kidnapped as a young boy; Alim and Ablikim Abdureyim, the sons of Rebiya Kadeer who have been imprisoned, harassed and intimidated by Chinese authorities.

People who have been imprisoned for their political or religious beliefs say that the greatest and most terrible torment to them is that their captors tell them that nobody remembers them -- that they are forgotten by the outside world, so why don't they just confess and get it over with. We don't want that excruciating form of torture to ever take hold among political prisoners anywhere. To the extent that we know the names in China, we will continue to recite them in public, whether in places such as this, or on the floor of the Congress of the United States. While we may not be able to read all of the names all of the time, they are all in our thoughts, our prayers, and our hopes so that one day they may be free.

The spirit of Tiananmen Square endures and inspires in China and in the rest of the world something special. But for many of you that I have worked with over the years and some more recently, can you imagine that 19 years have gone by? Remember when they told us at the time that engagement was going to lead to democratic freedoms and plurality in China? That we shouldn't be worried about trade, because trade would lead to peaceful evolution, which is in fact considered an evil in China. At the time that we were going to use the leverage of trade in order to release the prisoners of Tiananmen Square -- that was a modest goal.

At that time, we had about a $3 billion trade deficit with China. As we continued the debate over the next couple of years, that grew to a $5 billion a year trade deficit with China. We were told that this commercial relationship was not only going to lead to better commercial relationships with the United States, but it was going to lead to political mobilization in China. Nineteen years later, the trade deficit is not $5 billion a year, but $5 billion a week. China took the opportunity to continue to bar market access for U.S. products into China, to continue its piracy of our intellectual property, and the list goes on.

'Oh, that's OK,' people said, 'When they join the WTO everything will be better.'

It simply hasn't happened. But if we want to make that commercial decision for our country, we certainly did not make it for American workers, and we certainly did not make it for Chinese workers. Who will benefit? We were told that if we engaged, China would modify its behavior in supporting rogue regimes around the world. And now look who has a better friend in the UN than Iran, who has China as its friend. Who has a better friend in the UN for Sudan than China?

This has not improved the security of the world, the freedom of expression in China, nor has it improved the commercial relationship between the U.S. and China.

But what we're here to talk about here today is human rights in China. I want to thank all of you for keeping the flame of that torch alive all these many years. Let us hope that if we continue to do this and in the following years after the Olympics and whatever openness that brings to China, that we continue to observe the anniversary of Tiananmen Square. We will have made some progress; we will see something different happening in China -- for the people there, the people in Tibet, and the security of the world.

I said when I was in Dharamsala to see the Dalai Lama, he said, 'Tashi delek [hello].' Let America continue to speak out for human rights in China and in Tibet. Unless we do that we will have lost all moral authority to speak out for human rights anyplace in the world.

I appreciate the kind words of appreciation for the leadership that some of us have provided on this. I'm pleased to hear that Congressman Chris Smith was here earlier -- this is bipartisan, we work in a bipartisan way -- Democrats and Republicans together. [Applause.]

I appreciate that and I thank you for that, but I am here to say thank you to all of you, many of you that have risked your lives, many of you whose families risked their lives, all of you who care deeply for human rights in China and Tibet and therefore the entire world.

Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to spend time with you today.

Wednesday Event in San Francisco

2008-06-04T01:42:00.000-07:00

San Francisco Event To Remember Tiananmen Square

We are pleased to add to our listings of events, commemoration of the 19th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre in the Chinatown of San Francisco.

In San Francisco's Chinatown -- just one block west of the Transamerica Pyramid skyscraper -- there is Portsmouth Square, a park with a large underground garage that many people use as the parking lot for Chinatown. (733 Kearny Street)

In the square, there is a replica of the Goddess of Democracy -- a statue first erected in Tiananmen Square by students in the uprising prior to June 4, 1989.

On June 4 2008 (Wednesday) people will lay flowers at that statue to remember the fallen martyrs of the Chinese democracy movement. This activity will be on Wednesday afternoon prior to 6:30pm.

At 7:00pm, a seminar, panel discussion, or forum will be open to the public at the "San Francisco Chinatown Chinese People's Rights and Interests Promotion Agency." The address for the panel is 17 Walter U. Lum Place, and it is adjacent to Portsmouth Square.

The panelists will include Feng Congde, a famous student leader of the 1989 uprising.

Sunday Event in Seattle

2008-05-30T20:41:00.000-07:00

Date: Sunday, June 1st, 2-4 pm
Place: Westlake Park 401 Pine St. Seattle, WA
Against Violence in Tiananmen, Tibet and Elsewhere

As the Beijing Olympic comes closer, in 2008, the world is spotting human rights issues in China more than ever before. People in Beijing, in Tibet, in Xinjiang and elsewhere deserve non-violence and human rights!

The Government of China has long tried to erase the memory of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre. We are going to preserve it, and against violence and military crackdown in Tiananmen Square and elsewhere.

During the spring of 1989, the people of China gathered at the Tiananmen Square to appeal democracy in a peaceful movement. The government responded with Tanks, assault rifles, and bayonets in the streets of Beijing, taking the lives of the civilians stunned with the sudden riot. The hopes of the people of China for freedom and justice were devastated.

Sponsors and Co-sponsors

Amnesty International Puget Sound
Federation for a Democratic China, Seattle Chapter
Global Alliance for Democracy and PeaceAlliance for a Democratic China, Seattle Chapter
Release Dr. Wang Bing Zhang Foundation
China Social Democratic Party, Seattle Chapter
Alliance of Forcibly Evicted Property-Owners in Mainland China
China Democratic Party (Overseas), Seattle Chapter
King County Human Rights Commission
Society of Peaceful Transform for Democratic China
Support Dr. Yang JianLi Citizen Walk WA Group

Contact: (206) 829-8972 email: seattlefdc@comcast.net

Federation for a Democratic China http://www.fdc64.de/
Tiananmen Massacre Record (pictures and videos) http://64memo.org/
China Social Democratic Party http://csdp.com/
Amnesty Democratic China (Oversease headquarter) http://cdp1998.org/
http://bjzc.org/en
Amnesty International http://www.scn.org/amnesty

Appeal for the Color Orange

2008-05-04T07:26:00.000-07:00

In line with our recent story about the Color Orange movement, what follows is the text of an email appeal. The project's originators would like all concerned to copy and paste this into an email, then send it to everyone on your list or in your address book:

Hello friend

*******Can China forbid the Color Orange?****
Help us making a global manifestation about the human rights in China, and support our appeal. If this is going to succeed it will take many people using their own mailing list and networks to send this letter further, only in that way can we create a wave in the global communication and bring thecolororange.net project out in all corners of the world.
*Translations of the appeal on: www.TheColorOrange.net/uk/page21
*Support the idea on: www.TheColorOrange.net/uk/page35
See this appeal with better layout at this page: http://www.TheColorOrange.net/uk/page63

*******Can China ban The Color Orange?*******

*Take part in checkmating the Chinese regime andmaking a global manifestation for human rights

*We hereby encourage you to join the initiative TheColorOrange.net with the aim of showing China - during the Olympics in August 2008 - that we are many people who are keeping an eye on China's human rights violations.

*The idea is both sophisticated and simple. By using something with the color orange during the Olympics - both inside and outside of China - you are sending a signal to the world that something is wrong in China. It can be anything, like an orange hat, camera bag, tie, pen, paper, dress, suit, bag etc. Even pealing an orange will be considered a pronounced statement.

*No political or religious movement can claim to have a monopoly of the initiative. By
participating in the project you show that you support the fight for human rights in China.

*The Chinese Government wants to present the Olympics as perfect and streamlined to billions of television viewers around the globe with the aim of promoting China as a modern and efficient society. They will do anything it takes to avoid getting criticized on television. However, by using the Color Orange we are exactly capable of breaking with the harsh censorship and embitter the joy of the regime. At the same time, millions of oppressed Chinese people will have a voice during the Olympics 2008.

*The Olympic Charter stipulates as fundamental Olympic principles: "the respect for universal fundamental ethical principles" and the promotion of "?a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity". Nobody can fairly claim that the Chinese regime is living up to these standards. On the contrary, the usage of the orange color will be an ethical and non-political statement that is indeed in deep harmony with the fundamental principles of the Olympic movement.

*The initiative can only succeed if a lot of people are aware of the significance of the Color Orange. This would normally require a publicity budget of million of dollars. This, however, we don't have. But in stead we (might) have you :-) If you, and millions of others, help pass on this idea together we can create a butterfly effect blowing an orange wind over China.

-Pass on this e-mail to everybody on your mailing list. Go to the website http://www.thecolororange.net/ and sign up to the mailing list in order for you to get continuous updates about the initiative. Report to the website with those activities or ideas in which you have used the Color Orange so that we can spread out the happy message as an inspiration to others.

- Make creative use of the Color Orange in relation to Olympic events. If you practice any kind of sport or are a member of an association that supports human rights you can encourage them to use orange in their material and to publicly support the campaign.

- The Dutch national Olympic team is because of their orange colors natural born members of the initiative. What about your country's Olympic heroes? Are the only heroes when it comes to sport? Imagine if the first gold winner in China wipes off the sweat with an orange handkerchief...

*The Danish sculptor Jens Galschiot is the one behind the manifestation 'the Color Orange'. The artist is independent from political and religious interests and has often made global art events in favor of humanism, among others in collaboration with the democratic movement in China.

*The Color Orange is inspired by what the painter Kandinsky said when he stated that the color orange is in fact red that has been made more human by the color yellow. The Chinese color is exactly red so maybe we can support the humanistic forces in the country by introducing the Color Orange. The selection of the Color Orange is however also inspired by the color of the prison uniforms in Guantanamo, the monks in Tibet and Burma and so on.

*We hope that many individuals and organizations will support this initiative and use the Color Orange.

*Jens Galschiot, sculptor, Banevaenget 22, DK-5270 Odense NTel.: +45 6618 4058, Fax: +45 6618 4158, E-mail: contact@TheColorOrange.net

*www.TheColorOrange.net

John Kusumi blogs about April, 2008

2008-04-28T17:12:00.000-07:00

It can be said that my month of April really began on March 30. On that day, the Human Rights Torch Relay got underway in the United States, and I spoke at length to its kickoff rally in Boston, Massachusetts.

That was two weeks after a renewed uprising in Tibet turned deadly -- the Chinese government began its crackdown on March 14. World attention had swung to these new human rights abuses by Communist China.

It was six days after the Olympic flame was ignited in Olympia, Greece (March 24), and on the same day, Greek officials were handing over the torch to Beijing Games organizers. The Olympic torch relay would get underway the next day (March 31).

In this, my first speech since Tibetan bloodshed was renewed, I underscored that Chinese leaders had three steps as "the least they could do" to defuse the crisis: "Stop the killing, release the prisoners, and talk to the Dalai Lama!"

Also, I had slated plans to speak in Providence, Portsmouth, Portland, and New Haven during April. At the Boston event, organizers and I decided to also have me speak in Washington DC, New York City, and Princeton, NJ.

So, seven appearances were slated for the Human Rights Torch Relay, and an eighth appearance would be in Fairfax, VA -- an event for the China Support Network in its own right, not under auspices of the Human Rights Torch Relay.

The following are my notes, largely to have a diary or journal.

April 5 - I was speaking in Providence, RI. The speech was extemporaneous. When I was in the largest cities (Boston, Washington, New York), I had and kept to prepared remarks, but in smaller cities I was willing to "wing it" and speak off the cuff.

April 6 - I was speaking in Washington, DC. Meanwhile, the Olympic torch was encountering trouble in London. And, an article in the Providence Journal noted that I was a speaker on the program the previous day.

April 7 - The Olympic torch was encountering trouble in Paris. Also this day, the Epoch Times published an article, quoting from my Washington speech.

April 8 - I gave an interview to American Family Radio News (AFRN). I then drove to Charlottesville, VA.

April 9 - AFRN broadcast their report, with my congratulations for the protestors who had intercepted the Olympic torch in Paris. This was the day that the Olympic torch was in San Francisco. Protestors and authorities played cat and mouse. The torch was run in a very truncated (shortened) and unannounced route.

Also this day, the Epoch Times published coverage stemming from the Human Rights Torch April 5 stop in Providence.

Also this day, CNN's Jack Cafferty made comments that (naturally) offended the Foreign Ministry of Communist China. There began a backlash against CNN in China, although it was very orchestrated through the official media.

Meanwhile, I spent the day in Charlottesville, VA like a tourist. I took a tour of Monticello, which was Thomas Jefferson's house. While protests were roiling in San Francisco, I took in the view from Jefferson's mountaintop, and visited the grave of liberty's author -- the American revolution's man of letters.

April 10 - I visited George Mason University (Fairfax, VA) at the invitation of the campus chapter of Amnesty International. They were having a Human Rights Fair which included the China Support Network. Also on this day, OpEdNews (OpEdNews.com) published the text of my Boston / Washington / New York speech, under the headline "China is the new Soviet Union." Two other web sites also published the speech.

April 11 - I put out a podcast for CSN. It included audio from the AFRN report, and from the speech I had given in Boston on March 30.

April 12 - The Human Rights Torch Relay, and I, arrived in Portsmouth, NH. Mine was one of many speeches, from various oppressed or concerned groups.

April 13 - It was the New York City stop of the Human Rights Torch Relay, and my own speaking tour. Again, many groups had speakers in the rally, and two leading Chinese dissidents (Tang Baiqiao and Yang Jianli) were scheduled to speak. At the last minute, Yang Jianli was unable to be there, so I was handed his speech to read in his absence. So really, at the New York stop, I gave two speeches, his and mine. I was the pinch hitter for Yang Jianli.

The New York event was covered by NTD TV and Sound of Hope (SOH) radio. In a post-speech discussion on SOH (translated into Mandarin), I emphasized that China invites tragedy if it does not talk to the Dalai Lama, who represents an historical opportunity to arrive at a negotiated, peaceful settlement over Tibet.

There are sidebar stories to my month of April. This was a month in which I got some pretty good press coverage, but I was kicking the news media at the same time. Actually, this month I opened Issue 6 of Compassion magazine, put out by Falun Gong, and I saw myself cited within an article, 'Out of the Media Spotlight':

"John Patrick Kusumi of the China Support Network, for instance, argues that Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw, and Peter Jennings for years grounded the bias of not seriously discussing human rights in China on U.S. television."

April 14 - I published a "public diary" at OpEdNews. It was titled "Seething at United States network TV 'journalists'." This directed my ire at Jennings, Brokaw, and Rather again, but not CNN.

April 19 - The Human Rights Torch Relay, and I, arrived in Portland, ME. Amid many oppressed and concerned groups, I delivered my stock speech.

April 21 - Even though I don't owe any favors to CNN or to Jack Cafferty, I did them one. I published an article, "CNN's Cafferty should not be demonized." It was published at three web sites that commonly run my columns, OpEdNews.com, TheConservativeVoice.com, and NolanChart.com.

We should face it that CNN was under attack by the Chinese government -- even though they made it look like public sentiment in China, it was very orchestrated. The Foreign Ministry was demanding apologies from CNN, and creative people in China had already penned two new pop songs, both called 'Don't Be Too CNN.'

I think that Cafferty had made a poor choice of words, but that is a mere quibble where his overall point was right on. I have long decried China's "communists, dictators, tyrants, and thugs" without the blowback that hit Cafferty --because my line is clearly talking about the leadership, while his line was ambiguous, and then misrepresented as talking about Chinese people in general.

"Thugs" is not a racial slur; it's an assessment of the Chinese government, and I know what Cafferty meant, so I defended him. Also on April 21, the Epoch Times published coverage of the Portsmouth, New Hampshire stop of the Human Rights Torch Relay.

April 24 - The Human Rights Torch Relay, and I, arrived in Princeton, NJ. I had thought about defending Jack Cafferty some more, but I didn't. Instead, I ad libbed with my usual talking points. This is when I said--

"I think that Beijing's only way out of a predicament--or a pickle that it's in--is to talk to the Dalai Lama." This was once again a crowd pleasing applause line. Continuing to ad lib, I said--

"I would say also that the Western press and news media has been a funny beast, because there was a lot of coverage right after the Tiananmen massacre, and in fact the Chinese dissidents could be seen on the mainstream news conveying the stories of human rights abuse in China.

"The Western press really has been downplaying stories -- particularly about the Falun Gong persecution. And that's in a time period since -- y'know, 1999 is when Bill Clinton signed a free trade deal with Communist China and so the trade deal was starting at the same time as the Falun Gong persecution.

"And I think that some in the American news media made a choice to be silent about the persecution in order to preserve a path for the free trade deal. But that's shortsighted -- that suggests that they must be silent eternally.

"And especially in this year, with the Olympics upcoming, we've already now seen a new crackdown against Tibetans that has come to be front and center in the mainstream news media. And so that means that there's been coverage of the Tiananmen crackdown and there's been coverage of the Tibetan crackdown.

"--We still have not seen any justice done, even just as a matter of journalism, to the story of the Falun Gong. The Western news media has still got to convey fully to the people what is happening with the Falun Gong in China.

"And so, I encourage the media to do so. I've tried at many occasions -- I've offered criticism; I've written articles; I have a book manuscript that's in progress; and something was just published this morning on OpEdNews.com.

"--All of these are occasions where I am pressing, and I am pushing, and I am challenging the Western news media to open up a bit. To elucidate about the Falun Gong persecution. It's a very important piece of the puzzle and it has been the missing piece of the puzzle thus far. We need more in the way of attention paid and indeed respect for the work of David Matas."

(applause)

Alrighty then. I was able to point at David Matas, because he was another speaker on the program, sitting right there. He is the co-author of Bloody Harvest, the investigative report about organ harvesting as a tool of Chinese government cruelty against Falun Gong practitioners whom it holds incarcerated in China.

Also on April 24, I published another diary at OpEdNews.com, titled 'Bigots of the U.S. news media.' It reflected similar thoughts as my speech -- that the press has still got to do justice to the Falun Gong persecution as a story. After all of the above, I drove to New York City for the night.

April 25 - Beijing announced that it will meet with emissaries from the Dalai Lama.

This was somewhat good news. It meant that Beijing blinked under international pressure. But it also meant that I had to change my speech for the next day. I found myself pulling an all nighter to rewrite the speech, aware that Chinese dissident Tang Baiqiao would also be on the program with me in New Haven.

Also on April 25, I missed a call in radio program on WNPR in Connecticut. I had been invited to call in while they discussed China and the Olympics. Unfortunately, I was just driving back into Connecticut from New York City and was on the road at the appointed hour.

I would have joined Marcus Gale, spokesman for the Human Rights Torch Relay, and I would have added anti-CCP balance into that program. I regret missing it, and that episode of the show 'Where We Live' seemed to skew in a pro-CCP direction without me. Dang it!

April 26 - The Human Rights Torch and I arrived in New Haven, CT. This time, my speech was different and titled, 'White Flowers for June 4.' I had begun to look ahead to this year's June 4 (Tiananmen massacre) anniversary, and I called upon the Chinese people to take white flowers and go to Tiananmen Square with them. This is a way to honor the dead, and also it is a way to press China to meet the demands of the Tiananmen Mothers.

The Tiananmen Mothers have long demanded the right to mourn publicly for their dead children. I was backing them up, and I also adjusted my speech upon talking to Tang Baiqiao, a leading Chinese dissident, at the New Haven Green. My speeches are often "Reaganesque anti-Communist" against Communist China. The new one was similar, and the Yale Daily News reported that a Yalie had found it too "hawkish" and insufficiently "conciliatory" towards Communist China.

As far as I'm concerned, I direct at the China Support Network and the Freedom First, Olympics Second Coalition. That Yalie is likely too young to remember the Ronald Reagan presidency and Reagan's style with the Soviet Union. Reagan also had his critics, who would cringe at the verbal assaults upon the Soviet Union. (I used to be a Reagan critic - in fact, Reagan's youngest political opponent - so I understand that feeling.) The existence of critics didn't stop Reagan, nor did it stop yours truly on the New Haven Green.

Related coverage proceeded to appear:

WTNH TV:
http://www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?S=8232796

April 27 - New Haven Register:
http://www.nhregister.com/WebApp/appmanager/JRC/BigDaily?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pg_article&r21.content=/MAIN_REP/Article/2008/04/27/1960862

April 28 - WNPR Radio:
http://www.cpbn.org/competing-demonstrations-regarding-olympics-china

New Haven Independent:
http://www.newhavenindependent.org/archives/2008/04/china_protest.php

Yale Daily News:
http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/24724

NTD TV:
http://english.ntdtv.com/?c=258&a=2918

China Support Network via YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5aK-HonGf8

April 29 - John Kusumi via OpEdNews.com:
http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_john_kus_080428_britt_3a_these_olympic.htm

April 30 - The Epoch Times:
http://en.epochtimes.com/news/8-4-30/69990.html

Anyway, looking back upon April, a lot happened for a lot of people. As for the inclusion of myself in press coverage, I think it was best by American Family Radio News and by WNPR. (Even though I had missed WNPR on April 25, they caught up with me on the New Haven Green the next day.) I know that this isn't the end of the story; in Chicago on May 10, Robert Gerald Lorge is going to be speaking for the China Support Network/FFOSC, and by the end of May, the Human Rights Torch Relay will conclude in the United States, but the CSN/FFOSC will move immediately to run their observances of the June 4 anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown.

For Tibet's monks, death by starvation?

2008-03-27T05:12:00.001-07:00

According to the blog over at SFT (Students for a Free Tibet),

As the Chinese government continues its inhumane siege of major monasteries in and around Lhasa, a new danger is emerging for Tibetan monks: death by starvation.

Chinese military forces have surrounded the monasteries, cut off water and electricity, and are refusing to let Tibetans bring food and medicine to the increasingly starving (and potentially injured) monks.

This tactic is particularly inhumane, and yet historically appropriate for the Chinese Communist Party, which has a long history of massive collective punishment as a way of maintaining its control.

The major monasteries of Sera, Drepung, and Ganden are cut off, and sources in Lhasa report near-starvation among the monks. Tibet.net, the website of the Tibetan government in exile, is reporting that at least one monk has starved to death at the smaller Ramoche Monastery in central Lhasa.

The Chinese government is currently bringing some hand-picked foreign reporters on a carefully-scripted 3-day tour of Lhasa. These journalists should insist on being allowed to visit the monasteries to see the situation for themselves. China’s inhumane collective punishment against Tibet’s monks cannot be allowed to stand.

Does this sound like proper conduct for an Olympic host? Does this sound like proper conduct for any civilized country? Or does this sound like something out of the Middle Ages? Unfortunately, this is Tibet under Chinese occupation.

Wei Jingsheng speaks at Tibet protest opposite U.S. White House

2008-03-23T23:08:00.000-07:00

On the afternoon of March 22, 2008, the Tibetans in the Washington DC metro area held a rally in the park just north of the Whitehouse. They protested the Chinese Communist government's killing of Tibetan people and monks. They also protested President Bush's insistence on attending the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.

The Chairman of the Overseas Chinese Democracy Coalition, Wei Jingsheng, was invited to attend and deliver a speech. The following was his message:

The whole world was shocked to learn that the peaceful protests of the Tibetans were suppressed with bloodshed by the Chinese Communist government. People of every country, including many Han Chinese, are sympathetic and are supporting your anti-suppression struggle.
The Europeans are pushing their leaders to refuse attendance at the Olympics Games. At this time, President Bush openly insists on attending the opening ceremony. This insistence is equivalent to encouraging the Chinese Communists' bloody suppression. It is very inadequate. It is against the conscience of the human race. It is also against the stand of the majority of Americans.
But it is only the current stand of President Bush. As the situation develops, if the Chinese Communists continue to suppress with force and refuse to negotiate, President Bush could change his decision any time. We trust that he will care about the lives and safety of the Tibetan people and their struggle for justice.
Many Han Chinese, including some Han Chinese within the ruling class of the Chinese Communists, are sympathetic to the Tibetans. They do not support the bloody suppression policy of the Chinese Government. Thus, the main strategy of the Chinese Communist Party is to sow discord of ethnic conflict between the Han Chinese and the Tibetans, in an effort to divert the people's attention and divert the conflict for the Chinese Communist Party.
I hope that you, Tibetan friends, will not be tricked by the Chinese Communist Party. You should stay together with the majority Han Chinese to fight against the tyranny of the Chinese Communist Party. Only when people of all nationalities are united together, can we finish the autocracy of the Chinese Communist Party, and gain freedom and happiness for everyone.

At the end of the speech, Wei Jingsheng encouraged the Tibetan friends to continue their struggles until the Chinese Communists are willing to sit down for negotiation.

During the speech, Tibetan friends applauded enthusiastically several times. After the speech, they all came to shake hands with Mr. Wei to express their gratitude to the Han brothers, as well as wishing more Han Chinese friends would stand out to speak up for them, like what Mr. Wei had done recently in many news media in the USA, England, France, Germany, Netherlands, Japan, etc.

Wei Jingsheng At European Parliament

2007-12-08T21:18:00.000-08:00

Wei Jingsheng Speaks at the European Parliament to the ALDE Group about Chinese Human Rights Issues: The Death Penalty, Arms Embargo, and Beijing Olympics

The chairman of the Overseas Chinese Democracy Coalition, Mr. Wei Jingsheng, was invited by the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) group of the European Parliament to attend its conference from December 6 to 7, 2007. He also attended a luncheon as the VIP guest at the European Parliament Members' Restaurant hosted by its European Parliament members.

The organizer at the European Parliament, Marco Cappato, member of the Parliament, told the audience that the Chinese government called all of their Parliament members in an effort to prevent Wei Jingsheng’s participation.

In his speech, Wei Jingsheng said that the group's effort to establish a moratorium on the death penalty, in particular by the Nonviolent Radical Party, Transnational and Transparty, not only received attention in the United Nations, but also had very important effects in China where 90% of the world's executions take in place. The Chinese government's Supreme Court has already decided on resumption of the right to review all death penalty decisions made by lower courts, and has informed the lower courts to reduce the number of death penalties. These actions indicate that although the dictatorial government could be playing games orally, it will quietly reduce its bad actions when there is strong international pressure. The human rights pressure from the international society has its important effect in pushing forward the human rights progress in China.

Wei Jingsheng also said that the huge trade deficit between Europe and China could not be compensated for by the 30 billion Euros worth order that France received from China. More European enterprises have lost their business, and more European workers have lost their jobs. These losses are not because the European business is not competitive, but due to unfair trade relationships and cheap labor. Why is there cheap labor? Because the Chinese workers do not have the rights to demand rightful wages. Why is there unfair trade? Because the Chinese government monopolizes the market. These problems are part of the Chinese human rights issue. So paying attention to Chinese human rights is paying attention on Europeans' own interests as well.

Wei Jingsheng also talked about what people have been talking about France recently, after it received the 30 Billion Euros' order -- that France is trying to persuade other nations of the European Union to lift the arms embargo against the Chinese Communists. Wei said that it is a huge matter related to standards of value, as well as security, that it should not be used to trade politically. The security of Asia is tied to the security of the globe. Should a major war break out in Asia, the security of Europe would be directly threatened. The uprising of Russian extreme nationalism, as well as the massive export of Russia's advanced weapons and technology, are all for the final goal to resume its traditional control over the East Europe. The Europeans should pay attention to this situation.

Near the end of conference, Wei Jingsheng also encouraged the attendees to continuously pay attention to Chinese human rights, especially during the time before Beijing's Olympic Games. The Games offer the best opportunity to push for the progress of Chinese human rights.

Bush, Dalai Lama Remarks Transcript

2007-10-18T04:26:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, October 17 2007, a ceremony was held at the U.S. Capitol, in which the Dalai Lama -- spiritual and temporal leader of Tibetans -- was honored and received a Congressional Gold Medal. This blog post is not an analysis, but just the literal words that were said by U.S. President George Bush, and by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

U.S. President George W. Bush:

Madam Speaker; and Senator Byrd; Mr. Leader; members of the congressional delegation, particularly Senators Feinstein and Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen; Senator Thomas -- God rest his soul -- distinguished guests, particularly our friend, Elie Wiesel; and Your Holiness.

Over the years, Congress has conferred the Gold Medal on many great figures in history -- usually at a time when their struggles were over and won. Today Congress has chosen to do something different. It has conferred this honor on a figure whose work continues -- and whose outcome remains uncertain. In so doing, America raises its voice in the call for religious liberty and basic human rights. These values forged our Republic. They sustained us through many trials. And they draw us by conviction and conscience to the people of Tibet and the man we honor today.

Nearly two decades have passed since the Dalai Lama was welcomed to the White House for the very first time. Members of both of our political parties and world leaders have seen His Holiness as a man of faith and sincerity and peace. He's won the respect and affection of the American people -- and America has earned his respect and affection, as well.

As a nation, we are humbled to know that a young boy in Tibet -- as a young boy in Tibet, His Holiness kept a model of the Statue of Liberty at his bedside. Years later, on his first visit to America, he went to Battery Park in New York City so he could see the real thing up close. On his first trip to Washington, he walked through the Jefferson Memorial -- a monument to the man whose words launched a revolution that still inspires men and women across the world. Jefferson counted as one of America's greatest blessings the freedom of worship. It was, he said, "a liberty deemed in other countries incompatible with good government, and yet proved by our experience to be its best support."

The freedom of belief is a yearning of the human spirit, a blessing offered to the world, and a cherished value of our nation. It's the very first protection offered in the American Bill of Rights. It inspired many of the leaders that this rotunda honors in portraits and in marble. And it still defines our way of life.

Consider where we gather today. This great symbol of democracy sits quietly near a Catholic parish, a Jewish synagogue, a Muslim community center, a Greek Orthodox cathedral, and a Buddhist temple -- each with faithful followers who practice their deeply held beliefs and live side by side in peace. This diversity is not a source of instability -- it's a source of strength. (Applause.) This freedom does not belong to one nation -- it belongs to the world.
One of the tragic anomalies of the past century is that in an era that has seen an unprecedented number of nations embrace individual freedom has also witnessed the stubborn endurance of religious repression. Americans cannot look to the plight of the religiously oppressed and close our eyes or turn away. And that is why I will continue to urge the leaders of China to welcome the Dalai Lama to China. They will find this good man to be a man of peace and reconciliation. (Applause.)

Throughout our history, we have stood proudly with those who offer a message of hope and freedom to the world's downtrodden and oppressed. This is why all of us are drawn to a noble and spiritual leader who lives a world away. Today we honor him as a universal symbol of peace and tolerance, a shepherd for the faithful, and the keeper of the flame for his people.

I congratulate His Holiness on this recognition. I'm so honored to be here with you, sir. Laura and I join all Americans in offering the people of Tibet our fervent prayer that they may find days of prosperity and peace.

And now I ask the Speaker and Senator Byrd to join me for the Gold Medal presentation. (Applause.)

His Holiness the Dalai Lama:

President Bush, Speaker Pelosi, Senator Byrd, my fellow Laureate Elie Wiesel, Honorable Members of Congress, Brothers and Sisters.

It is a great honor for me to receive the Congressional Gold Medal. This recognition will bring tremendous joy and encouragement to the Tibetan people, for whom I have a special responsibility. Their welfare is my constant motivation and I always consider myself as their free spokesperson. I believe that this award also sends a powerful message to those many individuals who are dedicated to promoting peace, understanding and harmony.

On a personal note, I am deeply touched that this great honor has been given to me, a Buddhist monk born of a simple family from the remote Amdo region of Tibet. As a child I grew up under the loving care of my mother, a truly compassionate woman. And after my arrival in Lhasa at the age of four, all the people around me, my teachers and even the housekeepers, taught me what it means to be kind, honest, and caring. It is in such an environment that I grew up. Later my formal education in Buddhist thought exposed me to concepts such as interdependence and the human potential for infinite compassion. It is these that gave me a profound recognition of the importance of universal responsibility, nonviolence, and inter-religious understanding. Today, it is a conviction in these values that gives me the powerful motivation to promote basic human values. Even in my own struggle for the rights and greater freedom of the Tibetan people, these values continue to guide my commitment to pursuing a nonviolent path.

I have had the honor to be in this hall once before when I visited your country in 1991. Many of the faces that welcomed me then, I can see today, which gives me great joy. Many have retired and some are sadly no longer with us. However, I would like to take this opportunity to recognize their kindness and contribution. Our American friends have stood with us in the most critical of times and under most intense pressure.

Mr. President, thank you for your strong support, and for the warm friendship that Mrs. Bush and you have extended to me personally. I am deeply grateful to you for your sympathy and support for Tibet, and your firm stand on religious freedom and the cause of democracy.

Madam Speaker, you have not only extended an unwavering support to me and the just cause of the Tibetan people, you have also worked hard to promote the cause of democracy, freedom and the respect for human rights in other parts of the world. For this, I would like to offer my special thanks.

The consistency of American support for Tibet has not gone unnoticed in China. Where this has caused some tension in the US-China relations, I feel a sense of regret. Today, I wish to share with you all my sincere hope that the future of Tibet and China will move beyond mistrust to a relationship based on mutual respect, trust and recognition of common interests.

Today we watch China as it rapidly moves forward. Economic liberalization has led to wealth, modernization and great power. I believe that today's economic success of both India and China, the two most populated nations with long history of rich culture, is most deserving. With their new-found status, both of these two countries are poised to play important leading role on the world stage. In order to fulfill this role, I believe it is vital for China to have transparency, rule of law and freedom of information. Much of the world is waiting to see how China's concepts of "harmonious society" and "peaceful rise" would unfold. Today's China, being a state of many nationalities, a key factor here would be how it ensures the harmony and unity of its various peoples. For this, the equality and the rights of these nationalities to maintain their distinct identities are crucial.

With respect to my own homeland Tibet, today many people, both from inside and outside, feel deeply concerned about the consequences of the rapid changes taking place. Every year, the Chinese population inside Tibet is increasing at an alarming rate. And, if we are to judge by the example of the population of Lhasa, there is a real danger that the Tibetans will be reduced to an insignificant minority in their own homeland. This rapid increase in population is also posing serious threat to Tibet's fragile environment. Being the source of many of Asia's great rivers, any substantial disturbance in Tibet's ecology will impact the lives of hundreds of millions. Furthermore, being situated between India and China, the peaceful resolution of the Tibet problem also has important implications for lasting peace and friendly relation between these two great neighbors.

On the future of Tibet, let me take this opportunity to restate categorically that I am not seeking independence. I am seeking a meaningful autonomy for the Tibetan people within the People's Republic of China. If the real concern of the Chinese leadership is the unity and stability of PRC, I have fully addressed their concerns. I have chosen to adopt this position because I believe, given the obvious benefits especially in economic development, this would be in the best interest of the Tibetan people. Furthermore, I have no intention of using any agreement on autonomy as a stepping stone for Tibet's independence.

I have conveyed these thoughts to successive Chinese leaders. In particular, following the renewal of direct contact with the Chinese government in 2002, I have explained these in detail through my envoys. Despite all this, Beijing continues to allege that my "hidden agenda" is separation and restoration of Tibet?s old socio-political system. Such a notion is unfounded and untrue.

Even in my youth, when I was compelled to take on the full responsibility of governance, I began to initiate fundamental changes in Tibet. Unfortunately, these were interrupted because of the political upheavals that took place. Nevertheless, following our arrival in India as refugees, we have democratized our political system and adopted a democratic charter that sets guidelines for our exile administration. Even our political leadership is now directly chosen by the people on a five-year term basis. Moreover, we have been able to preserve and practice most of the important aspects of our culture and spirituality in exile. This is due largely to the kindness of India and its people.

Another major concern of the Chinese government is its lack of legitimacy in Tibet. While I cannot rewrite the past, a mutually agreeable solution could bring legitimacy, and I am certainly prepared to use my position and influence among the Tibetan people to bring consensus on this question. So I would also like to restate here that I have no hidden agenda. My decision not to accept any political office in a future Tibet is final.

The Chinese authorities assert that I harbor hostility towards China and that I actively seek to undermine China's welfare. This is totally untrue. I have always encouraged world leaders to engage with China; I have supported China's entry into WTO and the awarding of summer Olympics to Beijing. I chose to do so with the hope that China would become a more open, tolerant and responsible country.

A major obstacle in our ongoing dialogue has been the conflicting perspectives on the current situation inside Tibet. So in order to have a common understanding of the real situation, my envoys in their sixth meeting with their Chinese counterparts suggested that we be given an opportunity to send study groups to look at the actual reality on the ground, in the spirit of "seeking truth from facts." This could help both sides to move beyond each other's contentions.

The time has come for our dialogue with the Chinese leadership to progress towards the successful implementation of a meaningful autonomy for Tibet, as guaranteed in the Chinese constitution and detailed in the Chinese State Council "White Paper on Regional Ethnic Autonomy of Tibet." Let me take this opportunity to once again appeal to the Chinese leadership to recognize the grave problems in Tibet, the genuine grievances and deep resentments of the Tibetan people inside Tibet, and to have the courage and wisdom to address these problems realistically in the spirit of reconciliation. To you, my American friends, I appeal to you to make every effort to seek ways to help convince the Chinese leadership of my sincerity and help make our dialogue process move forward.

Since you have recognized my efforts to promote peace, understanding and nonviolence, I would like to respectfully share a few related thoughts. I believe this is precisely the time that the United States must increase its support to those efforts that help bring greater peace, understanding and harmony between peoples and cultures. As a champion of democracy and freedom, you must continue to ensure the success of those endeavors aimed at safeguarding basic human rights in the world. Another area where we need US leadership is environment. As we all know, today our earth is definitely warming up and many scientists tell us that our own action is to a large part responsible. So each one of us must, in whatever way we can, use our talents and resources to make a difference so that we can pass on to our future generations a planet that is at least safe to live on.

Many of world's problems are ultimately rooted in inequality and injustice, whether economic, political or social. Ultimately, this is a question of the wellbeing of all of us. Whether it is the suffering of poverty in one part of the world, or whether it is the denial of freedom and basic human rights in another part, we should never perceive these events in total isolation. Eventually their repercussions will be felt everywhere. I would like to appeal to you to take a leadership role in an effective international action in addressing these problems, including the huge economic imbalance. I believe the time has now come to address all these global issues from the perspective of the oneness of humanity, and from a profound understanding of the deeply interconnected nature of our today's world.

In conclusion, on behalf of six million Tibetan people, I wish to take this opportunity to recognize from the depth of my heart the support extended to us by the American people and their government. Your continued support is critical. I thank you once again for the high honor that you have bestowed on me today. Thank you.

(Bush remarks are as found at http://www.whitehouse.gov/; Dalai Lama remarks are as found at http://www.savetibet.org/.)

Cinderella Singer Hides from Communist Goons Trying to Stop Her from Attending International Vocal Competition

2007-10-11T19:22:00.000-07:00

The following story is inspired by the situation of Su Hongyu:

Su Hongyu had always dreamed of being a singer. Since the time she was six years old she used to spend hours a day listening to famous singers around the world. Her parents would ask her what she was doing and she said, "Preparing to sing in America." While her parents didn't have a lot of money, her parents wanted to support her. On her 7th birthday, her father got out the piggy bank where he'd been saving for his retirement and broke it. He collected all the money inside and went and found the best teacher in their city of Fushun in Liaoning and gave her his entire life savings so that his daughter could have her dream come true.

From that point forward little Su trained with her vocal teacher, Ms. Li, day in and day out. Overtime her voice became more and more pure and beautiful. In spite of her meager upbringings, she did very well at the statewide competitions.

Then one day they heard news about an International Vocal Competition in New York City hosted by the TV station New Tang Dynasty TV. She really wanted to go. It was her life's dream. But she didn't have any money. Her parents didn't have any money as they had given it to the teacher and were just poor farmers. That night little Su prayed and prayed, and cried and cried, for a way for her to come to America and sing.

When Little Su came to see, Ms. Li she was crying. "What's wrong," Ms. Li asked? "I want to go to America and share my heart with the people of the world, but I have no money!" Little Su said. Ms. Li looked at her with understanding eyes. Ms. Li went into the other room and got out the piggie bank from under her bed where she had put all the money from Little Su's father. She walked across the room and gave it to Little Su: "Here - take this money and fulfill your dream and the dream that was taken from me by the Cultural Revolution." Little Su trembled with the piggy bank in her hands as tears fell down onto her peasant clothing.

Ms. Li looked at her and smiled: "But you can't compete in those clothes." Ms. Li patted her head and went into a trunk. She pulled out a beautiful hand-embroidered dress: "This was the dress that my mother made for me when I was going to compete in an international vocal competition," Ms. Li said. "But the Communist Party wouldn't let me leave the country...and then they killed my mother in the Cultural Revolution. You wear it when you sing for freedom in America." Little Su and Ms. Li hugged as they cried.

Little Su packed her competition dress and her meager belongs to go to the competition in America. Then on October 8, as she was preparing to go to the airport, her music teacher called her: "You must hide; the police are trying to arrest all the contestants. They don't want anyone to go New York and sing about freedom." Taking the advice of her teacher, Little Su hid while police arrested another contestant. In hiding, Little Su cries and cries and prays and prays that the kind people of the world will rescue her so that she can come to America and sing for the people of China...

Details: As of right now, Su Hongyu is still hiding from Communist "police" because she is trying to attend New Tang Dynasty TV's International Vocal Competition. The true details of life are unknown and the substance of the story is inspired

Washington Post publishes Yang Jianli

2007-09-29T13:47:00.000-07:00

It was interesting to see the Op-Ed article by Yang Jianli, released by the Washington Post for its September 30 issue.

It is rare for mainstream U.S. news media to let on -- to breathe a word of the existence of the Chinese democracy movement, still active with voices, events, and activism in the United States (the "land of the free," were it not for censorship by the mainstream press). The Post previously rejected a joint Op-Ed from Lian Shengde and John Kusumi.

So. The cat is out of the bag at the Washington Post. Here is an excerpt from what Yang wrote:

All of us in the Chinese democracy movement stand in solidarity with the Burmese people, who are engaged in a life-or-death struggle to free their country from years of oppression and decay. Everything is at stake for the Burmese, but the outcome in Burma will also have a major impact on our struggle in China....

China has a parasitic relationship with Burma. Beijing sucks out Burma's natural resources -- especially oil, gas and timber -- at heavily discounted prices, which it obtains because so few countries are willing to do business with a regime that manages its own economy so poorly and that has such a terrible human rights record. China views the junta's preservation as in its own interest, to ensure that competition for those resources remains minimal. To this end, China is the principal arms exporter to Burma, providing 90 percent of its weapons. Without $1.6 billion in past military assistance from China, Burma would not have been able to create a 400,000-member army, the second-largest in Southeast Asia, behind only Vietnam.

See the whole article at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/28/AR2007092801356.html