A senior U.S. official, Kurt Campbell, has arrived on an
unscheduled trip to Beijing, apparently to negotiate over Chinese dissident
Chen Guangcheng, believed to be under U.S. protection. The fate of the activist
puts both China and the U.S. in a tricky diplomatic bind, with no easy answers.
Chen's
whereabouts have yet to be officially confirmed, though several activists and
groups with whom he had been in contact say he is under U.S. protection. There
was no comment from Assistant Secretary of State Campbell as he flew into
Beijing, days earlier than planned. So far, the U.S. silence is a good sign,
according to Susan Shirk, a professor of Chinese politics at UC San Diego, who
was a State Department official responsible for China during Bill Clinton's
presidency,
"Rather
than making big public statements and dramatic gestures, the United States is
using quiet diplomacy," Shirk says, "which is exactly what I would
think is needed at the current time."
Heightened Risk For Activists And Their Families
Chen
himself has not stayed quiet. Escaping after 19 months under house arrest, the
blind, self-trained lawyer on Friday released a dramatic video, describing
abuses and naming the perpetrators. Chen shot to prominence after exposing
illegal forced abortions by local officials, later spending four years in
prison on charges of intentionally damaging private property and organizing a
crowd to disrupt traffic.
"Chen's
case has become the epitome of China's human rights situation," says
activist Hu Jia, who met Chen in Beijing after his escape. "The government
kept lying about it, while citizens kept exposing the truth. Chen is living
evidence both of violent family planning abuses and of an unimaginable
crackdown on human rights."
Hu said Chen was in good spirits, but had blood in his
stool, sparking fears about the state of his health. Since talking on the phone
to NPR, Hu himself was detained and questioned for 24 hours before being
released.
Two other supporters who helped Chen escape, He Peirong and
Guo Yushan, have also gone missing, and are thought to have been detained as
well. Several of Chen's relatives are also reported to have been held by local
authorities, though this could not be independently confirmed.
It's not clear what Chen Guangcheng himself is seeking. Hu
says he clearly expressed a wish to remain in China, rather than seeking
asylum. The last precedent for such a case was back in 1989, when dissident
Fang Lizhi sought asylum at the U.S. embassy in Beijing, subsequently spending
a year holed up there before Beijing gave him permission to leave. But Chen's
case could be more complicated still, given the number of supporters and
relatives whom Beijing could use as bargaining chips ..... continue to read
Blind civil rights activist Chen Guangcheng who had been under house arrest for 20 months since his release from prison on September 8 2010 has finally escaped from Dongshigu Village in Shandong province. On the other hand, Pearl, He Peirong, who helped Chen to escape has been taken away by police from her home in Nanjing on Friday April 27 2012.
Since February 2011, Pearl He has been trying to visit Chen Guangcheng and campaigning for his release. A few months ago I interviewed her briefly about her activist's path for a research project on Gender and Citizenship conducted by a NGO - IT for Change. Below is a summary of the online interview:
Who is He Peirong?
Pearl lives in Nanjing city, Jiangsu province. She had been an English teacher until 2008 when the Wenchuan Earthquake took place. She left her job and went to Sichuan as a volunteer for earthquake relief work. A few months later, the Sichuan government started cracking down citizen initiated disaster relief groups and citizen investigation of bean-dreg school building construction. A number of activists including Tan Zuoren and Huang Qi were arrested. Then Pearl decided to join an activist group to provide assistance to political prisoners and their families. Her first campaign was fund raising via Twitter. Through the campaign, she was connected to a wider network of like-minded people and later decided to campaign for Chen Guangcheng.
In September 2011, upon learning that Chen's 6-year-old daughter could
not attend school due to illegal house arrest, she urged other netizens
to visit Chen's family in Dongshigu Village. She tried entering the
village twice herself but was beaten up by local thugs. After several
failed attempts, she changed her strategy to online campaigns
by raising public and international awareness of Chen's condition.
[Many netizens have spontaneously joined hand to campaign for Chen's
freedom], one of the most well known action is the “Free Guangcheng: Dark Glasses Portrait” by Hexie Farm:
Pearl has not given up the idea of getting Chen physically out of the village. Now Guangcheng is free and has spoken out to the world on the illegal prosecution committed by local government in Linyi county, Shandong province.
However, Pearl has been missing since April 27 after the news of Guangcheng's escape spread through the Internet. Her last tweet [zh] is about Guangcheng's brother's safety:
Any friend who are nearly by Shandong? Please drive along 205 highway and look for Kegui [Chen Guangcheng's brother]. Give assistance to him, please help out. I can't leave my place anymore or else I would have driven there myself.
Campaigning for Pearl's release
Upon the confirmation of Pearl arrest by China Aid, Chinese Twitterers started campaigning for her release. Poon Siu To, a radio host in Hong Kong urged [zh]:
From today onward, please remember this Nanjing heroine, her name is “Pearl”, He Peirong. She sacrificed herself to save Chen Guangcheng. She is such a courageous and noble fighter. Return Pearl to us, return our beautiful Pearl! (Please spread this).
Zeng Jinyan, whose husband Hu Jia has met with Chen Guangcheng upon his escape also pleaded [zh]:
Demand: 1. The release of He Peirong @pearlher; 2. The release of Chen Guangcheng's wife, daughter, mother, brother's family and villagers; 3. Make sure that Chen Guangcheng's family can be free in the future; 4. Stop harassing and prosecuting rights defenders and their family members; 5. Officials and thugs who have participated in illegal prosecution should be put on court.
The significance of Chen's prison break
Prominent video activist, Prof Ai Xiaoming sums up [zh] the significance of Chen and his supporters' prison break action:
Breaking through the door of the hell and taking Chen Guangcheng away is a prison break thriller. The prison house is not only a physical place but in people's heart. How can evil manifest itself so openly? The problem is not only in the system but in people's silence. The Free Chen Guangcheng's campaign has broken such silence. The successful escape implies the power of such action. The courage comes from our practice of freedom; the wisdom, collective effort and planning are the fruit of a series of process that overcomes our fear. Chen's freedom is a result of Pearl and Yushan courage and persistence. The citizens who visited Dongshigu village and were beaten up by local thugs are in the frontline to fight against fear and terror. For those who have made their pledge in twitter or exhibited their sun-glasses images were once the silent majority, but eventually they have joined together in support of each others to defend goodness. Violence oppression cannot extend its power towards people's spirit. Although justice has always been the target for cracking down, its has endless power. Like Pearl has said in Google plus: The most significant act is for people to voice out.
Where Is Chen Guangcheng Right Now? Tiananmen: Here’s that picture I promised you from about 12 hours ago. Thus ... bit.ly/Kj0tHa
— Beijing Cream (@beijingcream) 4月 29, 2012
--
AI Xiaoming
Professor of Chinese
Department of Chinese
Sun Yat-sen University
Guangzhou, Guangdong
P.R.China, 510275
牛博国际 艾晓明的博客
http://www.bullogger.com/blogs/XIAOMINGAI/
艾晓明的第三个博客
http://aixiaoming.blogspot.com/
