[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 62 (Tuesday, May 13, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4381-S4382]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             WEI JINGSHENG

  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, today is the publication date of a book of 
prison letters by Wei Jingsheng, ``The Courage to Stand Alone: Letters 
From Prison and Other Writings.'' Wei's book is the subject of a May 5 
editorial in the New York Times; I ask unanimous consent that it be 
printed in the Record at the conclusion of my remarks.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  (See exhibit 1.)
  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, Wei is China's most prominent dissident. 
Perhaps I should say that he is China's most prominent dissident in 
jail. In any event, there are no active dissidents in China, according 
to this year's State Department human rights report--they are all in 
jail, or silent.
  Wei became famous for his powerful, articulate statements during the 
Democracy Wall movement. After his release in 1993, he returned his 
advocacy of democratic reform. After 6 months, he was rearrested and 
held incommunicado for almost 2 years before being sentenced to another 
14-year prison term in 1996.
  Wei shows no concern for himself. His health is poor, threatened by 
heart problems. Yet he continues to stand up to the Chinese Government, 
demanding freedom and democracy for the people of China.
  Wei's letters reveal courage in the face of a brutal and immoral 
regime. His example is bound to humble any one who dares take for 
granted the freedoms enjoyed by the American people.
  I hope that, somehow, Wei will learn of the enormous respect and 
support he has from the American people. I urge Senators to join in 
calling upon the Chinese Government to release Wei and immediately 
provide him with the medical treatment he so badly needs.

                               Exhibit 1

             [From the New York Times, Monday, May 5, 1997]

    Letters From a Chinese Jail--The Blunt Demands of Wei Jingsheng

                          (By Tina Rosenberg)

       For nearly 20 years, the Chinese government has sought to 
     silence one of the world's most important political 
     prisoners, Wei Jingsheng. Once an electrician in the Beijing 
     Zoo, Mr. Wei is the strongest voice of China's democracy 
     movement. He has spent all but six months of the last 18 
     years in prisons and labor camps, most in solitary 
     confinement in conditions that would have killed a less 
     stubborn man long ago and may soon kill Mr. Wei, who is 46 
     and very ill.
       Now serving a second long sentence, he is watched around 
     the clock by non-political criminal prisoners who insure he 
     does not put pen to paper. But during his first imprisonment 
     he was permitted to write letters on certain topics to his 
     family, prison authorities and China's leaders. Most were 
     never sent. But they have now been translated and published. 
     They form a remarkable body of Chinese political writing.
       The book, ``The Courage to Stand Alone,'' is published by 
     Viking. It shows why the Chinese Government is so afraid of 
     Mr. Wei. His weapon is simplicity. Unlike other Chinese 
     activists, Mr. Wei does not worry about tailoring his 
     argument to his audience and does not indulge in the Chinese 
     intellectual tradition of flattering the powerful. He does 
     not worry about being seen as pro-Western, or a traitor to 
     China. He writes as if what is obvious to him--that China 
     needs democratic freedoms--should be clear to anyone.
       ``Dear Li Peng: When you've finished reading this letter, 
     please pass it on to Zhao Ziyang and Deng Xiaoping,'' begins 
     one typical letter to three top Chinese leaders. ``I would 
     like to offer several concrete suggestions.'' The first 
     suggestion: ``take great strides to implement a democratic 
     government as quickly as possible.''
       He wrote this letter on May 4, 1989, one month before the 
     massacre in Tiananmen Square, ordered by Li Peng and Deng 
     Xiaoping.
       Although he was not allowed to write of his worst 
     mistreatment, his letters describe his health and request 
     books, a heater, medicine or a hutch to breed rabbits when he 
     is in a labor camp. The Government expected Mr. Wei to show 
     he was being ``re-educated.'' Instead, he wrote essays on 
     democratic restructuring of the Government.
       Mr. Wei has always been uncompromising. In 1978, Mr. Deng 
     was fighting for control of the leadership and encouraged 
     reformist thinking. The activists created a Democracy Wall 
     along a highway outside Beijing, where writers put up posters 
     with their thoughts. Mr. Wei wrote the boldest poster, a 
     tract arguing for real democracy and criticizing Mr. Deng, 
     who was then revered by the activists. Mr. Wei then founded 
     an independent magazine. He was arrested in March 1979, given 
     a show trial and sentenced to 15 years.
       He was released six months before completing his sentence, 
     as part of China's bid to

[[Page S4382]]

     win the Olympics in 2000. He refused to leave before getting 
     back letters the prison authorities had confiscated. Once 
     free, he immediately resumed his work for democracy. He was 
     rearrested, and after a 20-month incommunicado imprisonment 
     he was sentenced to another 14 years.
       Although censorship insured that few Chinese heard of Mr. 
     Wei after 1979, he has remained a touchstone of the democracy 
     movement. In January 1989, Fang Lizhi, the astrophysicist, 
     wrote a public letter to Mr. Deng asking for amnesty for 
     political prisoners, mentioning only Mr. Wei by name. That 
     letter touched off more letters and petitions and was one of 
     the sparks of the student movement and the occupation of 
     Tiananmen Square.
       There is no visible dissent in China today. Some of the 
     activists went into exile, many were arrested, others gave up 
     politics and turned their talents to commerce.
       The moral force of Mr. Wei's writing recalls the prison 
     letters of other famous dissidents, such as Martin Luther 
     King Jr.'s ``Letter From the Birmingham Jail,'' Adam 
     Michnik's ``Letters From Prison'' and Vaclav Havel's 
     ``Letters to Olga.'' Mr. Wei's letters are less eloquent, 
     however. He is not a man of words, and he was probably not 
     writing with an eye to publication.
       But the most important thing the others had that Mr. Wei 
     does not is widespread international support. Mr. King, Mr. 
     Michnik and Mr. Havel knew that people all over the world 
     were looking out for them and their governments were under 
     pressure to free them, treat them well and heed their cause.
       This security is as important to a political prisoner's 
     survival as food and water, and Mr. Wei and his fellow 
     Chinese dissidents do not have it. Their names are not widely 
     known. While some American and other officials have brought 
     them up during talks with Chinese leaders, in general the 
     outside world treats Beijing officials with the deference due 
     business partners.
       Today Mr. Wei suffers from life-threatening heart disease. 
     Because of a neck problem, he cannot lift his head. All 
     indications are that he has not seen a doctor in more than a 
     year. He is due to be released in 2009--if he lives that 
     long.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina.

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