[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 62 (Tuesday, May 13, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4376-S4377]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         RELEASE WEI JINGSHENG

  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I rise today to ask the Chinese 
Government that the Chinese Government immediately release Wei 
Jingsheng, an extraordinary man who tells truth to power, authoritarian 
and arbitrary power. I meant to bring his book to the floor. It is 
being released today, May 13.
  Mr. President, the publication date of this book is today. The title 
of the book is ``Courage To Stand Alone.'' I have very limited time, 
but I just want to say on the floor of the Senate, because I really 
believe there ought to be a focus on Wei Jingsheng, that this is a man 
of tremendous courage. I have had a chance to skim-read the book. I am 
going to read it word for word.
  I know that Wei Jingsheng was in prison from 1979, I believe, until 
1993. Then he was released, and then again he spoke out, as anyone 
should do, about the importance of freedom and democracy, and again he 
finds himself in prison.
  Mr. President, I hope that my colleagues will all help me in calling 
for his release. I know Senator Helms has signed this letter. So has 
Senator Kennedy. I am very pleased to work with both of those Senators, 
and, in addition, Senator Moynihan has signed this letter as well. We 
are going to add more and more signatures. We are talking about a man 
who is in very poor health. I just want to quote from Wei's outline of 
``My Defense'' which was delivered at his trial on December 13, 1995.

       To sum up, the basic error of the indictment . . . is that 
     it confounds the actions of defending human rights and 
     promoting democracy and reform with ``conspiracy to subvert 
     the government.'' Therefore, anything that can be linked to 
     the ``Democracy Movement'' or ``human rights'' is an act of 
     conspiracy and subversion. . . . A government that can be 
     subverted by a movement of human rights and democracy can 
     only be a government with a contradictory and opposite 
     nature, a government that does not respect human rights or 
     promote democracy, a government of ``feudal, fascist 
     dictatorship.'' . . . According to our Constitution and laws, 
     the people are the owner of this nation and the government is 
     merely an agent of the people. The government must respect 
     the sovereignty of the people, namely the individual freedoms 
     and political rights of each citizen, including the right of 
     people to know, the right to criticize and supervise the 
     government, even to replace the government. If the government 
     abolishes or suppresses such democratic rights, then it 
     becomes an illegal government and loses its legitimacy, which 
     is based on the Chinese Constitution. Therefore, if the 
     general charges brought by the indictment against the human 
     and democracy movement are valid, then the government it 
     represents is not the legal Chinese Government and the 
     charges it brings are illegal.

  Mr. President, these are words that might have been uttered by Thomas 
Jefferson. I again want to just rise in the Senate today and call on 
all of my colleagues to stand up for Wei Jingsheng, this extraordinary 
man. He has now been sentenced to 14 years in prison under austere 
conditions that threaten his life. Today is the publication of the 
book, ``Courage To Stand Alone.'' This is a collection of Wei's letters 
to Chinese leaders, prison officials, and to his family.
  He is a remarkable man, as I have said before. This is an extremely 
important work. He is eloquent. If you think about the conditions under 
which he has written these letters, it makes this all the more 
remarkable.
  It is not only urgent that the Chinese Government release Wei, but 
also that it provide him with the medical care that he desperately 
needs but has been denied. He has a heart disease that threatens his 
life, severe hypertension, and a serious back ailment that renders him 
unable to hold his head erect. The Chinese Government ought to release 
this courageous man. He is a prisoner of conscience.
  Today is the publication of a remarkable book, ``Courage to Stand 
Alone.'' Wei Jingsheng is a man who represents the very best of the 
tradition of our country. He is a man who has spoken up for human 
rights and democracy and has paid a terrible price for it. I believe it 
is important for all of us, regardless of political party, all of us in 
our country to speak up for prisoners of conscience. In this particular 
case, I take the Senate floor to call on the Chinese Government to 
release Wei Jingsheng from prison, to release him from prison today and 
to provide him with the medical care that he needs.
  Mr. President, again, I hope my colleagues will join me in this 
effort. I hope my colleagues will have a chance to read this remarkable 
work, ``Courage To Stand Alone.'' I hope it becomes a best seller in 
the United States of America.
  In the 30 seconds I have left, let me just say, personally I do not 
know how people find the courage. If I lived in such a country and I 
thought that by speaking up I could wind up in prison, or even worse, 
that my children could be rounded up and that they could end up being 
tortured or they could end up

[[Page S4377]]

being in prison, which so often happens in these countries headed by 
repressive governments, I do not think I could find the courage to 
speak up.
  I think it is time all of us in the U.S. Congress speak up for men 
and women like Wei Jingsheng who have had the courage to stand alone. I 
think it is extremely important that we do everything we can to call on 
the Chinese Government and to make it crystal clear to the Chinese 
Government that they ought to release this courageous man from prison, 
and other prisoners of conscience as well. If they do not do that, then 
I think all of us ought to look at trade relations and other relations 
with China and other countries that violate the basic human rights of 
their citizens. We need to exert leadership and we need to make a 
difference.
  I yield the floor.

                          ____________________