As a high-level meeting between the U.S. and China approaches, 1989 Movement leader Wang Dan called on the U.S. to urge China to release a large number of political prisoners during the talks. Many overseas pro-democracy activists believe that everyone has an obligation to speak out on behalf of political prisoners in prison and warn the Biden administration not to fall into the trap of Chinese hostage diplomacy, but to join with allies to establish a human rights policy that has “teeth” and is deterrent and sustainable.
On March 14, through Dialogue China, an overseas Chinese opposition think tank he founded, Wang Dan sent a letter to the U.S. National Security Council and the State Department, submitting a list of 50-60 political prisoners, including Wu Gan, Wang Yi, Yu Wensheng, Zhang Zhan, Qin Yongmin, Chen Qiushi, Li Qiaochu, Geng Xiaonan, and others, calling on the United States to He called on the U.S. to submit the list of political prisoners to the Chinese side during the talks and asked them to release them.
In addition, Wang also made two appeals: 1. hope that the U.S. side will attach great importance to the issues of the crackdown in Hong Kong and the Xinjiang concentration camps, and expand the scope of sanctions against the officials responsible; 2. hope that the U.S. side will replace the traditional policy of “strategic ambiguity” with “strategic clarity” and give a clear message to the Chinese side about the need to defend democratic Taiwan. I hope the U.S. will replace the traditional policy of “strategic ambiguity” with “strategic clarity” and clearly express to China its determination to defend democratic Taiwan.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan will meet with Yang Jiechi, Director of the Foreign Affairs Working Committee of the CPC Central Committee, and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Alaska for the first high-level meeting between the U.S. and China since Biden took office.
As World Focuses on Hong Kong’s Xinjiang, Mainland Human Rights Abuses Worsen
At a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing last week, Blinken made clear that the U.S. will put human rights and democracy back at the center of foreign policy and will not give in to the Chinese Communist Party over cooperation issues such as the environment and climate. In a call with Yang Jiechi last month, Blinken also stressed that China must be held accountable for human rights abuses in Xinjiang, Tibet, Hong Kong and elsewhere.
“I think human rights will be the top priority in this meeting, followed by trade. This is also the first ‘summit’ between the top diplomatic echelons of China and the United States that will determine the broad framework for the development of U.S.-China relations in the coming years. While the eyes of the world are focused on Hong Kong’s Xinjiang, there are many human rights lawyers and citizen journalists in mainland China who are suffering from more severe persecution. There are statistics of more than 1,100 people.” Wang Dan told the station that the human rights situation on the mainland has deteriorated rapidly, including the recent case of Niu Tengyu, who was sentenced to 14 years at the age of 20 and was subjected to sexual harassment, which was rare just a few years ago.
Wu Shaoping, a human rights lawyer who was forced into exile in the United States because of his participation in the “Xiamen Gathering,” said the number of political prisoners detained and sentenced in recent years in mainland China is no less than in Xinjiang and Hong Kong, but is geographically dispersed and has received less public attention.
“I haven’t seen the whole list, and I hope Xu Zhiyong, Ding Jiaxi and Chang Weiping of the Citizens’ Movement are on it. The Xinjiang and Hong Kong issues are ultimately Chinese Communist issues. The Chinese Communist Party is ensconced in China because the whole system on the mainland has not changed. These political prisoners are the conscience of China, and if China’s transformation is successful, the Xinjiang and Hong Kong problems will be solved.”
According to Wu Shaoping, Blinken has said that he will continue to cooperate with China if necessary, and this petition also reflects the pro-democracy activists’ concern about the direction of Biden’s policy toward China, especially to be wary of the U.S. style of paying lip service on human rights issues.
In the list provided by Wang Dan, Wu Gan, whose screen name is “Super Vulgar Butcher,” was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2017 for repeatedly supporting human rights defenders and dissidents, and has been tortured and abused; Wang Yi, pastor of Chengdu’s Qiu Yu Church, was sentenced to nine years in prison in 2019 for defending religious freedom; Yu Wensheng, a human rights lawyer, was sentenced to four years in prison after advocating for constitutional reform, and his health is deteriorating; and the Chinese Democratic Party (CDP) has been sentenced to four years in prison for defending religious freedom. His health continues to deteriorate; Qin Yongmin, founder of the China Democratic Party and Human Rights Watch, was detained dozens of times for advocating democratic politics and sentenced again to thirteen years in 2018.
In addition, citizen journalists Chen Qiushi and Zhang Zhan were arrested last year after going to Wuhan to report on the Xin Guan Epidemic, with the former missing for more than 400 days to date and the latter sentenced to four years in prison; Beijing-based rights activist Li Qiaochu, who has continued to speak out in protest for Xu Zhiyong and the parties involved in the Xiamen party case, was formally arrested on March 15 and detained at Linyi City People’s Hospital East (a prison hospital) in Shandong Province.
“Hostage Diplomacy”, Merits and Demerits
Although Wang Dan is not optimistic about Xi’s release of a large number of political prisoners, he is convinced that the rescue of political prisoners by overseas figures cannot be stopped, and that silence will only fuel the tyranny of the Chinese Communist Party.
Wang Dan: “Basically, since the latter part of Hu Jintao’s reign, there has been no acceptance of Western pressure on human rights issues in China, directly related to the growth of national power and the judgment of the situation. Hostage diplomacy has been over for a long Time, I think it was ten years ago. This list was brought up to political prisoners who were suffering in prison. It is a spiritual boost for those who are behind bars.”
China has used hostage diplomacy as a means of using its own dissidents as bargaining chips in exchange for political and economic benefits with the West, using its capital and technology to bide its time and grow its power, with no fundamental change in its political machinery and the international human rights treaties it once joined reduced to a dead letter.
“You don’t trade with the terrorists in the Middle East, how can you trade with the Chinese Communist Party? The paradox is that it must do business with the Chinese Communist Party.” Su Xiaokang, chief contributor to the television film “River Elegy” and a Chinese Writer in exile, recalled that Washington politicians had fallen prey to China’s market, trade and cheap labor, and ended up feeding the tiger.”
“After the June 4 massacre, Bush Sr, Bush Jr, Clinton to Obama have been swapping with the Chinese Communist Party. Clinton traded with Jiang Zemin for Wei Jingsheng and others in exchange for access to the WTO and most favored nation status. This is the reason why the Chinese Communist Party has become strong, eaten you in the United States and suppressed you in the West over the past 30 years. During the Clinton era, a very bad start was made, and to this day the U.S. can’t change it, it’s just defensive.”
The era of hostage diplomacy is coming to an end as China tears off its mask of hiding its light and the United States abandons the illusion of a policy of engagement.
“Human rights issues were once the focus of U.S. policy toward China. But the Bush administration made the wrong decision to stop making deals with China on human rights, nominally eliminating hostage diplomacy and in essence removing its concern for human rights in China as a burden. When Hillary visited China, she actually said that human rights were no longer the focus of our conversation.” Wei Jingsheng, a pro-democracy leader who was once put on a flight to the United States from Jiang Zemin’s prison cell, told the station that Biden should put substantial pressure on the Chinese Communist Party on human rights issues, not just empty slogans.
“Human rights is a fundamental value of Western democracy, and you give it up, the other side can’t give up the value of dictatorship — and that creates a worldwide, democratic regression.”
Wei Jingsheng calls on U.S. to join allies to give CCP a “taste of its own Medicine“
Looking ahead to the U.S.-China meeting this Thursday, Su Xiaokang suggested that the Biden Administration should stick to the economic pressure of the Trump era, and that it would be better to trade with the devil than to eradicate him, “Playing the human rights card is the easiest way for them to engage in appeasement. Playing the economic card, the trade war is what the Chinese Communist Party is afraid of, and it’s very happy for you to play the human rights card with it.”
Wei Jingsheng also called on the U.S. to establish a human rights policy with teeth and threats that would take the CCP’s economic, military, and international political interests at face value, and impose penalties if violated, rather than reward and give concessions:.
“The U.S. government used to give it only sweeteners, turning it into ‘hostage diplomacy.’ Now it should become a ‘with teeth’ approach, giving it bitterness, to join allies in being tough on China: every time you conduct military-security and economic negotiations, you have to put human rights as an important condition. You don’t care about human rights in China, and slowly your personal security will be implicated.”
Since Xi took power, the list of political prisoners has grown longer and longer, even capturing Western citizens as hostages, including Michael Kovrig, Michael Spavor, Cheng Lei, Yang Hengjun, and Gui Minhai from Canada, Australia, and Sweden, respectively, sparking protests in multiple countries.
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