Feng Zhenghu vows to stay at Tokyo airport until Chinese government recognizes his right to return home

Washington DC, January 22, 2010. Initiatives for China announced this morning that Mr. Feng Zhenghu, a Chinese human rights lawyer stranded at Narita Airport since November 4, 2009, met with Japanese congressman, Makino Sheishu. Feng expressed regret for any inconvenience he may have caused the Japanese government. However, he vowed to remain at the airport until Chinese authorities recognize his right to return to his home in Shanghai.

On November 3, 2009 Chinese authorities refused Feng’s attempt to enter China for the eighth time since June, 2009 and forcibly put him on a flight back to Japan. Upon arriving in Japan, Feng voluntarily surrendered his Japanese visa and vowed to remain in the customs area of Terminal 1 until the Chinese government recognizes his right to return home. For the past 80 days, Feng has survived on supplies delivered by supporters who fly to Tokyo from countries as far away as Australia. These “airlifts” are coordinated by Initiatives for China.

During the meeting, Mr. Seishu, accompanied by a Japanese human rights lawyer and four officials from the Ministry of Justice, expressed his deep concern for Mr. Feng’s plight, and his long standing support of human rights for all individuals. Mr. Feng thanked the Congressman for his visit. He emphasized that his situation is the result of Chinese authorities’ violation of laws guaranteeing the right of citizens to freely enter and leave their country.

At the end of the 30 minute meeting, Congressman Seishu agreed to coordinate with other Japanese ministries to help resolve Feng’s dilemma.

The meeting between Feng and Japanese officials was arranged by Initiatives for China President, Yang Jianli. Dr. Yang is also coordinating with the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to help resolve the situation. Article 13 of the the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes the right of citizens to leave and return to their countries. China is a signatory to this Declaration.

Pictured at right: Dr. Yang Jianli (left) with Japanese Congressman Makino Sheishu during Yang’s visit to Japan in December, 2009.

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Initiatives for China advocates for a peaceful transition to democracy in China through education, advancement of citizen power, and development of cooperation and understanding among all the peoples of China.

Background Information:
1. A complete brief on the Mr. Feng Situation can be found the Initiatives for China website: www.initiativesforchina.org
2. LA Times article on Feng situation: http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-japan-terminal-man19-2009nov19,0,29937.story

BY YANG JIANLI

Google’s announcement on Tuesday that it had detected “highly sophisticated” attacks on the email accounts of Chinese human rights activists clearly illustrates the consequences of a policy toward China based on a long-standing but faulty argument. For 30 years, Western commentators have argued that expanded human and political rights for Chinese citizens will automatically flow from increased engagement with China on economic and security issues, and other areas of mutual interest. But this thesis is not supported by history — or my personal experience.

In June 1989, I stood in Tiananmen Square with thousands of other Chinese citizens demanding an end to official corruption and advocating for democratic reforms. The Chinese communist regime was then morally bankrupt and floundering. Its rulers were locked in a paralyzing internal debate between hard-liners and reformers. (I urge readers to peruse the memoirs of Zhao Ziyang, who was general secretary of the Communist Party during the Tiananmen pro-democracy movement, to understand just how close Chinese citizens came to bringing democracy to our country.) But our hopes were sorely dashed.

Today, 20 years later, the same Chinese communist regime rules China. But it is now stronger and bolder. Despite the country’s overall economic success and three decades of deepening integration with the world community, the political repression of Chinese citizens continues unabated.

The recent cyberattack on Google is only one example — albeit a striking one — of the Chinese rulers’ disregard for international standards of human rights. In recent months, nine Uighurs have been executed by the Chinese government without even the hint of a fair trial. On Christmas Eve, the widely respected Chinese intellectual and rights activist Liu Xiaobo was sentenced to 11 years in prison for “incitement to subvert the state.” His alleged crime was to co-author a treatise, known as “Charter o8,” on the failures of the current government and recommendations for bringing to China greater rule of law. One can only imagine what our world will look like 20 years from now if the world’s collective policy of acquiescence toward the Chinese government’s disregard for law and human rights continues.

This latest event should serve as a wake-up call to the international community to heed the wise words of Soviet-era human rights activist Andrei Sakharov that the world cannot rely on governments that do not rely on their own people. As such, human rights should not be viewed as a distinct issue, but as the very foundation for sustainable and just global partnerships. Despite a clear history demonstrating that acquiescence to tyranny only emboldens tyrants — and raises the price we all ultimately must pay in defense of freedom — the current administration still clings to the tenet that human rights, in the words of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, “can’t interfere with the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis, and the security crisis.”

Today, Google deserves the unanimous praise of world governments and the international business community for its brave decision to no longer censor its Chinese search engine, google.cn. This action in defense of its mission to “do no evil” stands in stark contrast with Yahoo’s decision, in 2005, to hand over to the Chinese government the private emails of a Chinese journalist, Shi Tao. Those emails were subsequently used to build a case against Shi for “divulging state secrets abroad.” He was sent to prison for 10 years. Unfortunately, Yahoo is not alone. Today many companies in the IT sector and other sectors routinely acquiesce to dubious requests by the Chinese government. But as Google now realizes, such cooperation in fact provides no insurance against security breaches and human rights violations in the future.

While I applaud Google’s stand, I also caution it not to withdraw from China — at least, not without a fight. Doing so would only strengthen the control of the Internet by the Chinese government, handing over the search business to Google’s well-regulated Chinese competitor, Baidu. Unfortunately, it seems that Google and other foreign companies operating in China are being forced to make a tough choice — comply with China’s harsh rules, or exit. That choice hasn’t gotten any easier in the 30 years since China’s reform period began. Time hasn’t erased the essential friction.

The burden of finding a better path forward, however, shouldn’t rest upon the shoulders of one company alone. I urge President Barack Obama’s administration, the U.S. Congress, and the U.S. business community to work together to develop principles of engagement, similar to the Sullivan Principles, which were created for dealing with apartheid-era South Africa.  Those principles should include a call for a free and uncensored Internet. I believe that a free flow of information, more than anything else, will open the door to freedom. Such steps will help China’s rulers realize that they must change their behavior toward their own people if they want to be truly accepted as a member of the world community.

Harvard Fellow, Dr. Yang Jianli has been cited among the top 100 Chinese Public Intellectuals of 2009. Each year this recognition is given by an ad hoc committee of 20 well-known Chinese scholars from Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.  The purpose of the recognition is to document the work of citizens whose efforts have stimulated scholarly debate through their writings and communications.  Particular emphasis was given to those scholars who utilized the Internet to circulate ideas and issues withing Chinese society.

Among Yang’s contributions were his leadership of the Fifth Interethnic/Interfaith Leadership Conference held in Washington, DC last October and a month long  interactive webcast for Chinese citizens to discuss the 20th Anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Pro Democracy Movement.

Most recently Yang assumed leadership of the popular web based magazine, Yibao, which publishes scholarly articles on political and social developments in China.

Liu Xiaobo, the recently imprisoned intellectual and author of the Charter 08, a widely distributed treatise calling for political reform in China, was also recognized in the top 100 list.