FOLITICAL
CFF.
11
53 304 8732 2.05
In addition, Article 4 of the Law on Administration of Border Exit and Entry by Citizens of the PRC stipulates: "Upon leaving the country, citizene shall not engage in activities endangering the security, prestige or interests of the state".
According to the statement made by the spokesperson of the Ministry of Public Security: "After he went to the US, Han Dongfang colluded with anti-Chinese organizations and cbtained their support to blatantly assume the leadership role of the illegal Free Trade Union of China. On this pretext, Han then attended several international conferences and relentlessly issued speeches and statements opposing the Chinese government. He engaged in anti-Chinese activities that were detrimental to the international prestige of China".
The MPS spokesperson then listed, in chronological order, a whole series of such "criminal acts" - any one of which could, potentially, have landed me in jail the moment I stepped into China. Let us, therefore, take a closer look at these various so-called facts.
1) "In an interview published in issue No. 11 (November, 1992) of the overseas reactionary magazine <China Spring>, Han stated that he had never tried to hide his opposition to the current government.
"
The article in question was actually entitled "The Future of China Hinges Upon Social Detente". The full version of the quoted passage reads as follows:
"I have never hidden the fact that I oppose the present government. However, I believe that we
we must replace it through legal means. This will naturally be a long process. Our first task is to convince the Chinese people that the goal can be achieved through proper legal procedures. I have always believed that the future of China's development will depend upon social detente. Revolution and violence might bring some momentary satisfaction, but in the final analysis they will never provide any lasting solution. Such means can only engender mutual hatred among people and a perpetual desire for revenge. They can never bring true peace to society”.
2) "At a seminar entitled "The Challenge to Democracy at the Turn of the Century', held by the U.S. National Endowment for Democracy in Washington D.C. on the evening of April 27, 1993, Han claimed that human rights conditions should be attached when the US renewed Most Favored Nation status for China. Furthermore, he said that pressure should be exerted on the Chinese government in order to grant Chinese workers the right to establish independent trade unions.
•
In my meeting with President Clinton at that seminar, I did talk about the relationship between Chinese workers' right to freedom of association and the issue of MFN. But the main gist of my comments were as follows: "It is entirely a matter for the U.S. whether or not to award MFN status to China. I doubt whether what I have to say would have any influence over your decision on this issue. I would just like to say that many business people and capitalists from both China and America have reaped considerable economic benefits from China's MFN status, and there is nothing at all wrong with this. However, what have
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.