[House Hearing, 113 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
THEIR DAUGHTERS' APPEAL TO BEIJING:
``LET OUR FATHERS GO!''
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICA, GLOBAL HEALTH,
GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS, AND
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
DECEMBER 5, 2013
__________
Serial No. 113-140
__________
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______
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
EDWARD R. ROYCE, California, Chairman
CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York
ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American
DANA ROHRABACHER, California Samoa
STEVE CHABOT, Ohio BRAD SHERMAN, California
JOE WILSON, South Carolina GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York
MICHAEL T. McCAUL, Texas ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey
TED POE, Texas GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia
MATT SALMON, Arizona THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida
TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania BRIAN HIGGINS, New York
JEFF DUNCAN, South Carolina KAREN BASS, California
ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois WILLIAM KEATING, Massachusetts
MO BROOKS, Alabama DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island
TOM COTTON, Arkansas ALAN GRAYSON, Florida
PAUL COOK, California JUAN VARGAS, California
GEORGE HOLDING, North Carolina BRADLEY S. SCHNEIDER, Illinois
RANDY K. WEBER SR., Texas JOSEPH P. KENNEDY III,
SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania Massachusetts
STEVE STOCKMAN, Texas AMI BERA, California
RON DeSANTIS, Florida ALAN S. LOWENTHAL, California
TREY RADEL, Florida GRACE MENG, New York
DOUG COLLINS, Georgia LOIS FRANKEL, Florida
MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina TULSI GABBARD, Hawaii
TED S. YOHO, Florida JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas
LUKE MESSER, Indiana
Amy Porter, Chief of Staff Thomas Sheehy, Staff Director
Jason Steinbaum, Democratic Staff Director
------
Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and
International Organizations
CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey, Chairman
TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania KAREN BASS, California
RANDY K. WEBER SR., Texas DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island
STEVE STOCKMAN, Texas AMI BERA, California
MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina
C O N T E N T S
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Page
WITNESSES
Ms. Lisa Peng, daughter of Peng Ming............................. 5
Ms. Grace Ge Geng, daughter of Gao Zhisheng...................... 9
Ms. Ti-Anna Wang, daughter of Wang Bingzhang..................... 14
Ms. Bridgette Chen, daughter of Liu Xian Bin..................... 18
Ms. Danielle Wang, daughter of Wang Zhiwen....................... 20
Pastor Bob Fu, founder and president, ChinaAid Association....... 30
Mr. Chen Guangfu, brother of Chen Guangcheng and father of Chen
Kegui.......................................................... 44
Devra Marcus, M.D., physician and activist....................... 53
LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING
Ms. Lisa Peng: Prepared statement................................ 7
Ms. Grace Ge Geng: Prepared statement............................ 11
Ms. Ti-Anna Wang: Prepared statement............................. 16
Ms. Bridgette Chen: Prepared statement........................... 19
Ms. Danielle Wang: Prepared statement............................ 21
Pastor Bob Fu: Prepared statement................................ 34
Mr. Chen Guangfu: Prepared statement............................. 47
Devra Marcus, M.D.: Prepared statement........................... 56
APPENDIX
Hearing notice................................................... 68
Hearing minutes.................................................. 69
THEIR DAUGHTERS' APPEAL TO BEIJING: ``LET OUR FATHERS GO!''
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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2013
House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health,
Global Human Rights, and International Organizations,
Committee on Foreign Affairs,
Washington, DC.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 11 o'clock
a.m., in room 2172 Rayburn House Office Building, Hon.
Christopher H. Smith (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.
Mr. Smith. The hearing will come to order and good morning
to everyone. When China bullies, incarcerates, tortures, and
even executes a prisoner of conscience, their entire family and
friends suffer an excruciating sense of loss, bewilderment,
emotional pain, and agony. Often members of the family are
themselves subjected to interrogation, mistreatment, and house
arrest in order to amplify the hurt.
In a very real sense, everyone close to a prisoner of
conscience goes to jail and lives a seemingly unending
nightmare. Every day, family and friends are left to wonder
what terrible abuse awaits Dad or Mom or a brother, sister or
child. Every day, the tears flow.
The people who rule China today with an iron fist resort to
these ugly methods of control in the mistaken assumption that
the people, the masses, can't be trusted to govern themselves,
practice their faith as they see fit, or create a family.
China's barbaric one-child-per-couple policy, for example, in
effect since 1979, continues despite some of the hyperbole
about reform, unabated to make brothers and sisters illegal and
relies on ruinous fines and penalties, forced abortion, and
coercive sterilization, crimes against humanity, to achieve its
ends. And all ``news'' content and commentary in cyberspace, on
TV, radio or in print media in China today continues to be
strictly controlled and manipulated by the Communist Party.
The Chinese Government today is in the business of breaking
minds, bodies, and hearts. The repression is systematic,
pervasive, unrelenting, and unnecessary. That is because the
people of China love their nation and they do deserve better
treatment. Even heroic persons like Chen Guangcheng, who is
with us today, and his dear wife who is equally brave; Wei
Jingsheng, Rebiya Kadeer, Bishop Su of Baoding, Harry Wu and
countless others who have demonstrated by their extraordinary
perseverance and indomitable will to advance bedrock human
rights principles regardless of cost, carry the indelible scars
of unspeakable mistreatment.
The people who rule China today employ these ugly methods
of control to prop up their own political power and increase
their personal wealth. China, a great nation, deserves better.
Far too many of us who live in freedom often fail to exert
ourselves in a meaningful way to assist prisoners of conscience
and their loved ones, in China, and frankly, elsewhere. Far too
many of us fail to empathize with their plight or to see what
is just below the facade of the purported harmonious society.
How can it be that the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu
Xiaobo remains in prison while his wife, Liu Xia, is forced to
endure the extreme isolation of house arrest and is now
reportedly experiencing severe depression?
Perhaps we are uninformed or too busy or prefer to look
askance. However, with so much preventable suffering being
endured by so many prisoners of conscience and their families
in China today, the time has surely come for a more serious and
sustained defense of these heroic individuals and their noble
causes. All of us, including the Chinese Government, have a
duty to protect.
Today, we will hear the cries for release and freedom from
five remarkable daughters on behalf of their wrongly imprisoned
fathers and from a dad on behalf of his unjustly jailed son.
This is an appeal directly to Beijing. This is an appeal from
five young women on behalf of their fathers who they miss so
deeply. We hope that Beijing will be listening.
We will also hear expert testimony from a previously
incarcerated Christian pastor who cares deeply for the
vulnerable and at risk, and another human rights activist who
was who was detained in China after an attempt to visit a
dissident. I will provide the introductions as we go to our
panels.
I would now like to yield to my good friend and colleague,
Mr. Pittenger, for any comments that he might have.
Mr. Pittenger. Thank you, Chairman Smith, for inviting me
and allowing me to make an opening statement. I thank you for
the over 30 years, that I have known you, that you have been
faithful to the commitment of those who are persecuted for
their religious faith, for their freedoms of conscience, and
for your commitment to bring liberty to these individuals.
I want to thank you for the leadership that you are
bringing to this discussion which is so important today for all
Americans to know and to hear, and as well as for Beijing to
hear this important message.
I would like to thank these brave witnesses, those who I
met earlier today, for appearing before us and I look forward
to hearing your testimony.
The issues of human rights, religious liberties, and the
rule of law in China have been of great importance to me my
entire adult life. These are issues that I have been dedicated
to since I graduated from college and with my 10 years of
service with Campus Crusade for Christ serving as the president
of that organization, Dr. Bill Bright, we spent much time
overseas and are aware very much of the plight of the believers
in China and various parts of the world.
The United States must remain committed to monitoring the
continued violation of the rule of law by the Chinese and stand
with those committed to ending the persecution of Chinese
citizens for practicing their religious beliefs, for freedoms
of conscience, and striving for democracy.
As a Member of Congress, I take an active role on these
issues as a commissioner on the Congressional-Executive
Commission on China. America must be the unwavering light for
religious freedom, freedoms of conscience, and political
freedom throughout the world. Our stance on issues relating to
these freedoms must be resounding.
As we bring light onto China's appalling record of human
rights violations and persecutions of believers of all faiths,
we must call on them to release their political and freedoms of
conscience prisoners. China signed the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights in 1998, but 15 years later, they
have still not ratified the covenant. The time is now for China
to take real meaningful steps toward reform.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the privilege of being here
and I yield back.
Mr. Smith. Thank you very much, Mr. Pittenger, and for your
leadership on religious freedom issues and issues related to
human rights in China especially.
Mr. Pittenger. Yes, sir.
Mr. Smith. I would like to now welcome our very
distinguished panel of five daughters to the witness table and
I will introduce and if they could come and then make their
presentations.
We will begin first with Lisa Peng, a daughter of Peng
Ming. Lisa's father, Peng Ming, founder of China Development
Federation was framed by the Chinese Communists in 1999 and
imprisoned for 1\1/2\ years. When he was released from the
labor camp, Mr. Peng fled to Thailand and arrived in the United
States in 2001. There, he founded China Federal Development
Committee. In 2004, Peng was trapped by Chinese special agents
and kidnapped to China. In 2005, he was sentenced to life in
prison on the false charge of organizing and leading a
terrorist organization. Lisa Peng, his 17-year-old daughter,
our witness, was born in Beijing and suffered doubly as a
second child by being denied official, legal recognition. Her
family fled political persecution in 2000 and was accepted by
the United States as a U.N. refugee in 2001.
Lisa is currently a senior at Laurel School in Cleveland,
Ohio. She is the principal keyboardist of the Cleveland Youth
Orchestra, and was a featured high school Lincoln-Douglas
Debater at the City Club of Cleveland, Ohio.
Lisa, thank you, and welcome.
We will then hear from Grace Ge Geng, who is the 20-year-
old daughter of imprisoned Chinese human rights lawyer, Gao
Zhisheng, was convicted of inciting subversion of state power
and sentenced to a 3-year prison term. After being arrested and
released several times from 2006 to 2010, Gao Zhisheng was
accused of violating the terms of his parole and sent back to
jail to serve his 3-year term. Many times during this period
Gao disappeared. He is currently incarcerated in a prison in
far western Xinjiang.
During years of her father's disappearance and torture
under Chinese Government persecution, Grace, along with her
mom, Geng He, also experienced tremendous harassment,
intimidation, and beatings. She was deprived of her educational
opportunity as well. Unable to live a normal life anywhere,
Grace, her mom, and her little brother, Peter Gao, fled to the
United States before Gao's 2009 re-arrest and re-disappearance.
Grace now lives in California and is a sophomore in De Anza
College in California. Welcome, Grace.
We will then hear from Ti-Anna Wang, daughter of Wang
Bingzhang. She was born in 1989 and was named to commemorate
the victims of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Soon after her
13th birthday, her father, a veteran democracy activist
disappeared. After 6 months of secret custody, the Chinese
Government announced Wang Bingzhang's arrest. He was
subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment on false charges of
espionage and terrorism. Ti-Anna has spent much of her time and
energy working for her father's freedom. This journey has taken
her around the world in a process of discovery of the ideals
that her name embodies and efforts have been fictionalized into
a book of young adult fiction titled ``Nine Days'' by Fred
Hiatt, which I encourage people to read. It is a wonderful
book. I originally got it from the Library of Congress when it
was published and I thank him for bringing light to many of the
issues here, but especially to Ti-Anna.
Ti-Anna graduated from McGill University with a degree in
East Asian Studies and recently spent a year studying Mandarin
in Taipei. Currently, she is advocating full-time for her
father's release.
We will then hear from Bridgette Chen. Many of us know that
Bridgette's dad, Liu Xianbin, who used the pen name Wan
Xianming. He was one of the original signers of Charter 08 and
participated in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protest. Liu was
first arrested in 1991 and held in Beijing's infamous Qiugcheng
Prison. There he served 2\1/2\ years for so-called ``counter-
revolutionary incitement.'' After being released, Liu was
sentenced again to a 13-year prison term for ``inciting
subversion of state power.'' After his release, he was detained
in June 2010 and then sentenced to a 10-year prison term in
March 2011, again for ``inciting subversion of state power,''
whatever that is.
Bridgette's father has been in prison for almost all of her
life. In 2011, after the Chinese Government refused to give
Bridgette's mother a passport, Bridgette fled China and arrived
alone in the United States. Now just 16, Bridgette will speak
up for her dad and for her family as a witness.
Next, we will hear from Danielle Wang, on behalf of her
father, Wang Zhiwen, a PRC Ministry of Railways engineer who
became a Falun Gong practitioner in 1992. On July 20, 1999,
Wang was seized from his bed by police and taken away. This was
the same day the Chinese Communist Party began its crackdown on
the Falun Gong. On December 26, 1999, Wang was sentenced to 16
years in prison. The sentencing trial, in which Wang was one of
the four defendants, was nationally broadcast and it was clear
to viewers that defendants had been physically abused. The four
were convicted of organizing and using a heretical organization
that caused death, another big lie, and illegally obtaining
state secrets.
Wang Zhiwen's daughter, Danielle, is a U.S. citizen. Since
her father's arrest, she has been working tirelessly to call
for his release through public events, hunger strikes, sit-ins
at Chinese consulates, and speaking out at various events
around the world. Danielle has not been able to get back to
China since she arrived in the U.S. in 1998. She hasn't been
able to speak with her father since July 1999. It is her hope
that one day soon she can be reunited with her mom and dad as
they rebuild their lives together.
Thank you, ladies, for your bravery, your courage, your
extraordinary love which has been ongoing for so many years.
Frankly, we are all moved by your loss, which God willing, will
be turned into a release. And when you speak today, know that
you are speaking right to the Government of China because my
hope and prayer is that they will be listening. If we can begin
now.
STATEMENT OF MS. LISA PENG, DAUGHTER OF PENG MING
Ms. Peng. I am Lisa Peng, daughter of political dissident
Mr. Peng Ming. I would first like to thank you for reaffirming
the universal values of freedom, democracy, and justice for my
father, and other dissidents like him. I know that my father
would be very grateful for your efforts to revive his mission.
My father, Mr. Peng Ming, is an environmentalist, an
economist, and a human rights activist. He is the author of The
Fourth Landmark, a book on China's economic and political
growth that was sponsored by the Ford Foundation. He was also
the founder and president of China Development Union, an
organization which sponsored think tanks that gave his fellow
Chinese citizens the opportunity to discuss highly censored
topics like freedom, democracy, and justice. As a result of his
political activism, in 1999, my father was sentenced to 18
months of ``reeducation through labor'' camp. At the time, I
was 2 years old. Upon his release, my father was faced with the
possibility of a second arrest, and so my family fled from
political persecution in China to the United States as U.N.
refugees in 2001. But 18 months of labor camp did not stop my
father from continuing to stand up for human rights. In 2004,
when I was 8 years old, my father went to Thailand to establish
a safe haven for persecuted refugees like himself. There, he
was lured by eight Chinese secret police to the border of
Thailand and Burma, where he was kidnapped at gunpoint and
brought back to China, the country that had persecuted him in
1999, the country that now sentenced him to life in prison.
The United Nations Working Group for Arbitrary Detention
has determined that deprivation of my father's liberty is
arbitrary and is in contravention of articles 19 and 20 of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Furthermore, my father
is a U.S.-based dissident with U.N. refugee status who escaped
political persecution in China. Therefore, his kidnapping is in
violation of the principle of non-refoulment, which forbids the
return of a victim of persecution to their persecutor. My
father has also been arbitrarily deprived of his right to due
process, as he was denied access to a lawyer and to a jury of
his peers.
Although my father has been denied the exercise of his
right to freedom of expression, he continues to exercise
physically and mentally. Despite nearly 10 years in prison
suffering heart attacks, arthritis, malnutrition, and kidney
stones with no medical care, my father still persists and
remains hopeful. It is this hope that my father has instilled
in me despite the thousands of miles that have separated him
from nearly a decade of my life, a decade during which I have
been privileged to receive an American education and learn
about freedom, democracy, and justice, but a decade during
which my father has remained imprisoned for fighting to secure
those very same values.
As an American citizen, I cannot merely stand by and
tacitly approve as these fundamental freedoms are undermined.
It is Congress' unwavering dedication to upholding those values
and unrelenting efforts to free prisoners of conscience that
give me hope for the future, for the possibility of telling my
father in person how much we have all cared about his health
and his dream for China's future. I hope that my father will
first and foremost be given proper medical attention and
visitation rights, and ultimately I seek his release.
I join with my fellow sisters here today to request that
Vice President Biden ask Chinese leaders to release our
fathers, and to request an Oval Office meeting with President
Obama to share our stories. I know that my dream to be reunited
with my father and my father's dream for his country can come
true with your support, persistence, and affirmation of the
universal and fundamental values of our country: Freedom,
democracy, and justice.
Thank you very much.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Peng follows:]
----------
Mr. Smith. Thank you so very much for your testimony. We
have been joined by Congressman Mark Meadows.
Mr. Meadows, and then we will go to Ms. Geng.
Mr. Meadows. I would love to hear from you. I will make one
brief statement because your testimony right now just spoke to
that is that this is a story that needs to continue to be told.
The chairman has dedicated his life to making sure that it is
heard. I am privileged and honored to be part of the support to
do just that. We will not stop until families have been
reunited and that truly that this atrocity is taken from the
face of not only your country, but many countries this world.
There is William Wilberforce, who fought for many years to
end slavery, and today we look out and we see a different kind
of slavery that is happening. So let us continue on in the
effort of the William Wilberforces of the world and I just
applaud you for being here and I thank the chairman for his
dedication. I yield.
Mr. Smith. Mr. Meadows, thank you very much for your
comments and for your leadership as well. I would like to now
go to Ms. Geng.
STATEMENT OF MS. GRACE GE GENG, DAUGHTER OF GAO ZHISHENG
Ms. Geng. Dear honorable friends, I am thankful for you
giving me this opportunity at this hearing so I can speak up
for my dad, human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng. I am very
grateful for the U.S. Congress for caring about my father's
case. I am Attorney Gao's daughter, Grace. I was born in a
happy, harmonious family, with Mom and Dad's loving care, and
relatives and friends around. I had been happy and never felt
lonely. But at the age of 13, my life has turned upside down.
On October 15, 2006, policemen kidnapped my father at my aunt's
home in Shandong Province, because of my father's taking up and
investigating the cases of the persecuted faith groups. On the
very same day, a group of policemen forcibly broke into my
house at Beijing. Since then, six to seven policemen have been
stationed at my house every day. There has been house arrest
for me, my mom, and young brother with surveillance 24 hours a
day and 7 days a week, including watching over our sleep and
even going to our bathroom. In order to monitor us tightly,
they didn't allow me and my 3-year-old kindergarten brother to
go to school. Under my mom's death protest by turning on the
gas on the stove, the policemen finally agreed to our rights of
education, but still under the severe surveillance of
policemen.
I had to ride in the police car to school every day. There
were six or seven policemen accompanying me to school. They
always abusively insulted my father in the police car. One day
on the way to school, there were two people talking along the
roadside and one policeman pointed to them and said, ``Aren't
they Gao Zhisheng and Hu Jia chatting?'' Another policeman
followed-up immediately and said that ``Yes, they are gay
friends,'' and then they all laughed weirdly. That's how I
started my day of school each day. Policemen went in and sat
behind me in the classroom in each class, including music
course. The severe surveillance was applied to my toileting,
too. They went in the restroom with me and did not let me close
the door. One of the most annoying things is that my teacher
once said in front of the whole class: ``None of you can bring
cell phone to school, if Grace uses your cell phone, you will
face serious political charges.'' Also, my computer class in
the school was cut off. My spirit and nerves almost collapsed,
after my father was taken away from us. I had to endure the
pressure in my day-to-day life, suffered discrimination from
classmates and teachers, and was forced to experience the
loneliness at young age. I lost all my sense of security.
My 3-year-old brother also had to sit in the police car to
classes. His kindergarten classroom is the only room with a
surveillance camera in the whole nursery.
In September 2008, the policemen did not allow me to go to
school. This prompted our determination to leave China to
escape this unbearable mistreatment, partly for education.
Under friends' help, my mother took me and my brother to flee
China, and came to the United States. Coming to this land of
free, I did not have a trace of excitement. I missed my father
so much. Combined with the accumulated worries about my father,
I couldn't take it anymore and experienced a complete nervous
breakdown. The first Christmas night in the United States, I
was admitted into the hospital.
I have been living in the United States for nearly 5 years
now. I couldn't hear my father's voice nor received his letters
or word about current situation. I miss him so much. The most
recent news was on this past January that my uncle went to the
prison to see him. My uncle was not allowed to release any
information about my father by the Beijing Authority. It is
almost another year since then. For various reasons and
regulations, they did not allow my family members to see my
father. My grandma, grandpa, three aunts, his brothers,
sisters, and all other relatives, all my relatives' names were
so-called blacklisted. They were deprived the basic rights of
even getting a passport. Eight years passed, the persecution on
my father is not only still continuing, but also extends to all
of his family members. Living in the freest country with the
world it has been sour in my heart. The freedom has not yet
been open to me or my family.
My younger brother tearfully said to me once, ``I really
couldn't remember Daddy's face and figure; I am no longer
familiar with his voice.''
Today, gathering my courage, I come and speak up of my
story and injustice suffered. I want to let you know that my
father is still behind the bars, and my mom is in poor health,
struggling to support the family. I need to go school to
complete my education, and my brother is still small. How
individuals or a family can constantly fight with a huge
country that has made our family's suffering so long. I hope
the U.S. Government and the people can hear our hopeless voice
and act right now. I know that only you can help me get back to
my normal life, comfort my brother's young heart and feelings,
help my father to be released with peace and get my reunited.
Thanks.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Geng follows:]
----------
Mr. Smith. Ms. Geng, thank you so much for your testimony.
Ms. Ti-Anna Wang.
STATEMENT OF MS. TI-ANNA WANG, DAUGHTER OF WANG BINGZHANG
Ms. Ti-Anna Wang. Thank you honorable Members of Congress
for giving me the opportunity to testify today. My name is Ti-
Anna Wang, and as the world prepares to commemorate
International Human Rights Day, I would like to tell you about
my father, Wang Bingzhang, a political prisoner currently
serving a life sentence in China.
My father, Wang Bingzhang, is a New York-based, permanent
U.S. resident and a prisoner of conscience currently serving
the 11th year of a life sentence for his pioneering work in
pro-democracy activism. He is the founder of the overseas
Chinese democracy movement and dedicated his life to promoting
rule of law, freedom and human rights in China by starting the
dissident magazine, China Spring, and several organizations
opposing the Communist government.
In 2002, my father was kidnapped in Vietnam and forced back
into China where he was taken into custody by Chinese police.
After being held incommunicado for 6 months, he was subjected
to a sham trial and found guilty of ``espionage'' and
``terrorism.'' My father was sentenced to life in prison and
has been serving his sentence in solitary confinement ever
since.
In a country without meaningful rule of law, my family has
no means to legally appeal my father's conviction, despite
having secured exonerating evidence for the graver charges
against him. The lawyers we have retained on his behalf are
routinely intimidated by authorities, obstructed from visiting
him, and threatened with disbarment.
My father will be turning 67 in a few weeks. The past
decade of confinement has taken an irreversible toll on his
physical and mental health. While he languishes in prison, I
have spent the past decade campaigning for his release by
telling his story on public platforms and lobbying the American
and Canadian Governments for assistance. As a result, the
Chinese Government apparently decided that I too needed to be
punished. Since I began speaking in public, the Chinese
Government has refused to issue me a visa. It is now been 5
years since I have been able to visit my father.
I am joined here today by four young women whose
circumstances are disturbingly similar to my own. Each of us
have had our young lives defined by our father's wrongful
imprisonment. So I speak on behalf of the five of us when I
urge the United States to intervene more assertively on our
behalves.
First, I unabashedly ask the leaders of the U.S.
Government, including President Obama, Vice President Biden,
Secretary of State Kerry, and Ambassador Power to seize all
diplomatic opportunities with China to seek the release of our
fathers. I believe high-level diplomacy is our fathers' best
chance for freedom, and their releases must be discussed on
occasions such as Vice President Biden's recent trip to
Beijing. I request the help of all Members of Congress in
conveying this message to the administration and compelling
them to act on our behalves.
Second, I ask the Obama administration to meet with the
five of us and listen to our first hand experiences as
witnesses of China's human rights abuse. I want our stories and
efforts to be heard, acknowledged, and taken into serious
consideration when the U.S. devises its foreign policy with
China. And again, I ask Members of Congress to help us secure
such a meeting with top U.S. leadership.
I would like to end my statement by reminding everyone that
it was the very values espoused by the U.S. Government and
other democracies that inspired activists like our fathers. If
we cannot ask this government and its leaders to advocate for
their release, to whom else can we turn?
[The prepared statement of Ms. Ti-Anna Wang follows:]
----------
Mr. Smith. Thank you for your extraordinary testimony.
Ms. Chen.
STATEMENT OF MS. BRIDGETTE CHEN, DAUGHTER OF LIU XIAN BIN
Ms. Chen. Dear honorable friends, my name is Bridgette.
Today, I want to simply introduce the current situation of my
father, Liu Xian Bin, as a daughter and a witness. My father
has been in prison three times which totals up to 14 years
because of his political views. Like every other parent, my dad
has always wanted to take care of me as I grew up, yet he was
absent from my childhood until I was 11. When he was released
from prison in 2008, it was so hard for him to believe that I
had already grown up. However, he was once again taken away
from my life by the policemen in June, 2010. Therefore, I came
to the U.S., and the distance between my dad and me was
lengthened. Moreover, my mom was unable to leave China since
the government would not grant her a passport. Because of this,
my family was separated in three different places: My father is
in an actual prison, and my mom is in an invisible prison. As a
daughter, all I want is the reunion of my family, and the
completion of my parents' marriage. However this simple wish
became unrealistic in China, and my dad was convicted of
inciting subversion of state power just because he has told the
truth and done what is righteous.
Life in prison must have been really hard for my dad, but
fortunately, we can still encourage each other by mailing. In
the newest letter from my dad, he wrote,
``My child, your complaint of your ugly handwriting has
made me feel guilty, for if I was with you when you
were little, I would have taught you a beautiful
cursive. The absence of me has made this family
incomplete, and it must has been difficult for both you
and your mom when I am not by your side. So I can only
express my love through these letters so that you would
still feel my love for you even when I am not here with
you. Never stop being virtuous and kindhearted, for
even though kind people has always been treated
unjustly in this chaotic world, they will be blessed
and remembered eventually.''
At the end of the letter, he writes,
``Your happiness and confidence in the United States
has comforted me. You know what, all a parent want is
to see his children live happily, healthily, and
peacefully.''
Like my dad mentioned in this letter, kind people will be
blessed eventually. I hope and believe, one day my dad, and
those who have suffered for human rights and justice in the
world as the China 18, will eventually receive the freedom they
deserve, the freedom of both their bodies and souls. Therefore,
I sincerely ask the U.S. Government, Mr. Biden, and President
Obama to concern more of the families of prisoners of
conscience and help us to free our fathers. And I ask for an
Oval Office meeting with President Obama for a more direct and
detailed conversation in order to reunite our families. And
dear friends, please keep helping us to free all the prisoners
of conscience and to keep truth and justice for every human
being. Just like Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of
Independence, everyone deserves the rights of life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness.
There was misery and fear in the past, but there is more
hope ahead of us. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Chen follows:]
----------
Mr. Smith. Ms. Chen, thank you very much.
Ms. Wang.
STATEMENT OF MS. DANIELLE WANG, DAUGHTER OF WANG ZHIWEN
Ms. Danielle Wang. Thank you to the organizers for
including my dad's story in this event. In a way, Zhiwen Wang
can stand in for millions of Falun Dafa practitioners in China
living under persecution by the Chinese regime. All of the
victims being honored here and their families have endured many
hardships that should have never come about. Yet the fact that
we are standing here today with all of you in the audience
shows that there will always be people standing up for justice
and the greater good in the world.
The holiday season is coming up again. Here in the United
States, many families are getting ready to gather for Christmas
and New Year's. In China, we would be starting to look forward
to Chinese New Year. But this time of year is always
bittersweet for me, because of the painful absence in my family
since my father's summary arrest and detention in July 1999. He
was targeted for no more than his peaceful practice of Falun
Dafa, and he has been gone for over 14 years.
My Dad was born in 1949, the same year as the People's
Republic of China. He served his country throughout his long
career, including as an engineer at the PRC Ministry of
Railways. He began practicing Falun Gong in 1992. Over the next
5 years, he became a volunteer contact person for Falun Gong
practitioners in Beijing, teaching the exercises, meditation
practice, and principles of truth, compassion, and tolerance.
In the early morning of July 20, 1999, according to
eyewitness accounts from our neighbors, my father was seized
from his bed by police and taken away in waiting police vans.
He was subjected to physical abuse. The tortures includes his
teeth being pulled out, all his collar bones were smashed. They
put bamboo sticks and pierced all his fingers. He suffered
numerous beatings. No sleep for 7 days. I have in my hand a
wooden stick that I recently obtained from China. Fifteen
years, that is the only thing I get from him. That was a
polished wood stick that he polished with his hands in jail. It
is really smooth, but that is the only thing so far I ever got
from him. Being away from my dad, without his guidance is very
hard.
I hope that the decisions I have made in my life will make
him feel really, really proud.
On my wedding day, we placed a single rose in his chair to
symbolize his absence and celebrate his place in my life. I
still have that rose, it has been dried and discolored. I
really hope that he can be always with me.
Throughout the past decade and a half, I have been working
to get my father released. Though I am only one person, with
limited abilities, time, and resources, I have always felt
obligated to dedicate 100 percent of my effort to raising
awareness of my father's unlawful arrest and detention for no
more than his spiritual beliefs.
I would like to bring my dad home one day, so here, I want
to ask you as Congress to ask the Obama administration to meet
with U.S. five daughters to hear our stories and bring him
home. I also want to speak on the phone with my father. I want
to channel two-way communication with my father. I want him to
be released safely from jail and give him a life here in
America.
And finally, last, I want all of the Falun Gong
practitioners in prison in China be released. I really hope
that happens. It is really hard to go on and I never truly felt
that happy ever, ever since my dad was arrested. And all the
daughters here, they are so much younger than me. I just hope
they don't go through what I go through for 15 years. Thank
you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Danielle Wang follows:]
----------
Mr. Smith. Ms. Wang, thank you. And your testimonies need
to be heard by the President of the United States, the Vice
President, Members of the Congress, House, and Senate, members
of the U.N. I find it appalling that on November 12, 2013,
China was elected to serve as a member in good standing on the
U.N. Human Rights Council. It seems to me that your
testimonies--and we will send your testimonies to every member
on the U.N. Human Rights Council, as well as to every head of
delegation at the United Nations and Ban Ki Moon as well--they
need to hear the extraordinary agony that you and so many like
you suffer as a result of having your dads and other family
members in other cases ripped away from you. I can assure you,
we will do serious follow up to make sure that the five
daughters and your testimonies are heard by a greater number of
people.
I respectfully ask that the press amplify not just for
today, but in a serious and sustained way the plight of your
dads and other people, because you are not exceptions. You are
the pattern. You are the norm in China today. And I can assure
you that our human rights subcommittee will continue doggedly
to try to reach the hearts and minds of our own Government
officials so that this is not a talking point on page five, if
it is that at all, and that Xi Jinping and others in the
leadership take seriously the damage they are doing to the
people over which they rule.
I do believe your fathers would be extraordinarily proud of
you being here and for your tenacious defense of them for so
many years. I mean what love, what compassion, what empathy.
Five brave, compassionate young women from China, you do your
countrymen and countrywomen a great service. Americans should
see this is the pride of China sitting here and I am in awe,
frankly, of each of you and I thank you for your testimonies.
As a source of perhaps some hope, immediately behind you
sits Chen Guangcheng and Yuan Weijin, his wife, who suffered 5
years of imprisonment and house arrest and as you all know, he
made a herculean journey to the U.S. Embassy and thankfully by
the grace of God, he now is a free man, but his nephew is not
and we will hear from the father of his nephew in our next
panel. But there is hope and I can assure you that if we do
more and make this the priority, not a distant page five
asterisk priority, which it is now in far too many
policymakers' minds, it will help effectuate the release of the
innocent fathers who are suffering so bravely and so horribly
in Chinese Laogai and prisons and detention centers.
Just a very brief question, if all of you could speak
directly to Xi Jinping, maybe in a minute or so and to
President Obama. I did notice I think at least two of you,
maybe more, suggested a White House meeting. I think that would
be a tremendous idea. The President needs to hear you, look you
in the eyes and hear what you have got to say. When we meet--
and I do this as well, when you meet with high government
officials, with all the trappings of office, what really
happens on the ground, especially with ubiquitous secret
police, that are in the employ of the Government of China, is
that a whole different story is told as to what really occurs,
day in and day out, especially in the prison camps and the
Laogai throughout China.
So what would you say to Xi Jinping? What would you say to
President Obama? What would you say to Ban Ki Moon? Because
certainly those three individuals and others, could have a huge
effect on the plights of your fathers.
Ms. Peng.
Ms. Peng. Many people have asked me why have I, as a 17-
year-old, sort of given up a part of my life, my childhood, to
go to Taiwan, to go to DC to testify on behalf of my father,
and what I hope to accomplish. The answer to that question is I
was a second child in China, so I wasn't granted official
recognition. I had no right to an education. So when we fled
political persecution, because of my father's political
activism and the fact that I was accepted by the United States
and granted citizenship years ago, I feel immensely grateful to
have been able to receive such a great American education and
to learn about these issues of human rights, democracy,
justice, and freedom. And therefore, I feel that it is my moral
obligation, not just to my father, not just to the China 18,
not just to the thousands of prisoners in China, but to these
fundamental values that every single human being on this planet
deserves.
So therefore, I think by not speaking out, by not doing
anything, by merely watching and looking as these atrocities
continue to occur, that I will be sending the wrong message to
China, to President Xi Jinping. The message that I don't want
to send is that it is okay, is that I will merely watch by and
that is a form of tacit consent. So it is my belief that any
little step I can do, any time I have the opportunity to share
my story, to share my story of the American dream which was
inspired by President Obama's American dream as well, I really
hope that he will continue to press for the release of my
father and the fathers of the young ladies with us today and to
make human rights the forefront of our agenda, which I believe
is the fundamental foundation on which other conversations of
economics can develop.
Mr. Smith. And that is a hope, making it a forefront of our
agenda, that has not been achieved.
Ms. Peng. Right.
Mr. Smith. Ms. Geng.
Ms. Geng. Yes, I want to say to Xi Jinping to please
release our fathers so they can come back with us. I hope that
the governors in China can visit my father since the Chinese
Government doesn't allow my family to see my father and please
give us more information about our father's situation and his
condition of health and that's all. Thank you.
Mr. Smith. Ms. Ti-Anna Wang?
Ms. Ti-Anna Wang. To President Xi Jinping, I would like to
ask him to please release our fathers so that our families can
be reunited, that we can finally end this nightmarish chapter
of our lives. To President Obama, I would like him to know that
his personal intervention is our fathers' best chance for
freedom and I would like him to prioritize human rights in
high-level diplomacy. And to Mr. Ban Ki Moon, I would like him
to defend the universal values of human rights by advocating
for our fathers' release publicly. Thank you.
Ms. Chen. I would like to say to President Xi Jinping to
please release our fathers and all the prisoners of conscience
in order to fix the country, to make this country better and
stronger. I would like to receive the basic rights of life,
liberty, and pursuit of happiness and I want my family's
reunion and my parents' marriage completion.
And also, I want to say to President Obama, who is the dad
of two daughters, please understand our situation and let our
voice be heard. And please help us to make this country and
this world better. Thank you.
Mr. Smith. Ms. Wang.
Ms. Danielle Wang. I want to talk to Xi Jinping, you know,
I want to explain to him that the principles of Falun Gong
which are never wrong which are compassion, truthfulness, and
endurance. I want my father to be released because I know he is
a father, too. And his daughter actually studied in U.S. not
too long ago. I think he understood a daughter really crying
for her dad's safety, nothing more than a girl wants her
family.
I want to talk to President Obama because he is the leader
of this very strong country and I hope he can stand up for the
basic human rights and get our dads safely home.
Mr. Smith. Thank you. I noticed Grace, in your testimony,
you mentioned how that when your father was home after the
forced disappearance, ``he would try to show a lifted spirit
and entertain me and my brother with humor.'' That certainly
underscores that even though he had suffered so much, his love
and devotion to you and your brother was so strong, but he
tried to divorce himself. He obviously didn't just unload and
tell you all the terrible things he had suffered. That has to
make it even more painful, knowing that he was putting you
first and now, of course, he has disappeared again. That, I am
sure, has been the situation with all of you because you are
such devoted daughters, so full of love and devotion, but I
caught that as a very important aspect of your testimony.
Also, I noticed, Ms. Lisa Peng, you said you suffered
doubly, because you were a second order birth. Most Americans
are woefully uninformed, and I would say most people in the
world are, about how draconian, the one-child-per-couple policy
is and that when a woman is able to, through hiding her
pregnancy or perhaps even sometimes a payoff to family planning
cadres, have a second child, that second child is grossly
discriminated against. If you would briefly speak to that.
Ms. Peng. I think some other people have mentioned,
especially Grace, about the isolation that she suffered in
China. Because I was a survivor of the one-child forced
abortion policy, I of course was considered a non-entity,
couldn't go to school. And even when my mom would drive my
brother to school and I was in the car, the government would
have four secret police tailgate us and bump into us as we were
driving to school. And our house was, of course, tapped, not in
particular because of me, but mostly because of my father's
activism. So there was no future for me in China. And so the
fact that I safely escaped and was accepted by the United
States and respected in classrooms and my voice is heard in
classrooms and I have opportunities, unimaginable opportunities
to do whatever I want in the future and to give back to the
community that has given me so much, that is really what makes
me feel so grateful and hopeful every day.
Mr. Smith. I would like to yield to Mr. Pittenger and then
to Mr. Meadows.
Mr. Pittenger. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank each of you.
I am a father of three daughters. I love my daughters. Your
fathers love you. One of my daughters' name is Grace. I want
you to know how special you are to your dads. You have taken up
his cause. You have taken up the cause of liberty, of freedom,
of democracy, something that you will never be able to break
from. You know the pain and the difficulty it is that your dad
is going through and yet you are living for him, you are living
for those like him in your country and throughout the world. So
I really want to commend you for your life. You are living a
very profound, just life, and your fathers are very deeply
proud of you as I am proud of my daughters, not necessarily
because of what they do. Fathers love their daughters no matter
what. And your father's abiding love is always there and I hope
that you will sense and you will know that.
And I pray that someday you will united with him. I want
you to know that your work will not be in vain. As you live
your lives and you should live your lives. Your father wants
you to live your lives, but you will also be carrying this
banner that it will not be in vain. You play a very important
role and as you continue to live and to speak and to be a part
of coming here to Congress and going to other places, you will
have a major impact upon the whole world. So you are part of a
very great cause. You have been chosen for a very important
time. This is an important day, an important era that America
needs to recognize that human rights, religious liberties,
freedoms of conscience are superior. They are preeminent. They
are far greater than any economic destiny or hopes that we
would have. They supersede all.
So I am grateful for your lives. I am grateful for your
testimony. And having said all that, I would just like to ask
we as Members of Congress, we are busy people. There are many
issues in this country. This will always have a deep impression
for us. But if you want to give us a reminder, if you want to
give something to the American people, if you want to leave one
word to the American people, if you want us to convey one
thing, what is that one thing? When you go to bed every night,
knowing that you are alone, knowing that your dad can't hug and
kiss you goodnight, knowing that thousands and millions of
others can't as well, what do you want us--what can we carry
back to our Members of Congress, to our colleagues that will do
the most to cause us to make sure that this is objective is
achieved? Could you just speak a little bit to that?
Ms. Peng. Rather than asking myself when will be my father
be released, I instead try to think my father hasn't been
released yet. We haven't been reunited yet. He hasn't received
medical care and he hasn't received visitation rights yet. So
for me the word ``yet'' really encapsulates my hope and my
faith and my father's hope and faith and our hope and faith
that one day we will be reunited. But I think hope is
necessary, but not sufficient because even though I have
immense hope that my father will be released, even though he
has immense hope, we have to act on that hope and we have to
make that not just a dream, but a reality.
So I think the importance of today's hearing is to try to
make that transition as soon as possible by calling for an Oval
Office meeting by asking Vice President Biden to raise the
names of these political dissidents. I think that--and high-
level diplomacy--is how we can make that effective transition
from dream to reality. So that is what I would say. Thank you.
Mr. Pittenger. Thank you.
Ms. Geng. I want all Americans to remember our fathers and
stand up for our fathers. And that is all.
Mr. Pittenger. Thank you.
Ms. Ti-Anna Wang. To the American people, I would like them
to know that it is the values of the United States that
inspired my father to take the champion pro-democracy activism
in the first place and I ask that he not be forsaken in his
time of need. Thank you.
Mr. Pittenger. Thank you.
Ms. Chen. The word I want to give to everybody in the
United States is love. It is because of my father's love to
China, that is why he has done all the things, he has written
all these articles, it is not because he hates China, it is
because he loves China. And because of his love and because of
my love to him, I came here as a witness. And because my mom
has loved my dad and my mom has loved me, she didn't divorce my
dad. She chose to keep this marriage and keep this family
stable. And because all the people's love, they helped me to
come out of China and study here and get all those happy lives
right now. And because of everyone's love here, we can have
this opportunity to be speaking here to fight for what we
chose, to fight for justice and rights.
Everybody think of love while you are doing this. It is
because of love. Thank you.
Mr. Pittenger. Thank you.
Ms. Danielle Wang. The phrase I choose here is the courage
to speak the truth. I think because my dad was withstanding his
belief and he is trying to keep truthful to himself in his
heart, he is being imprisoned. And I also believe that America
was founded on being truthful to beliefs. So I really think
there is a deep connection there. And I am here to speak what
is true to my heart. So I think it is really meaningful to
Congress.
Mr. Pittenger. Thank you. God bless you all.
Mr. Smith. Mr. Meadows.
Mr. Meadows. Thank each one of you. As a father, a daughter
has a special place in a father's heart and I want each one of
you to hear that and just know that even though miles and time
may separate you, there is nothing, nothing that will ever
separate you from your father's love. I want to thank each one
of you for your testimony and ask for your forgiveness. I was
talking to my staff before I came here about the importance of
making a difference in people's lives. And as I came to this
particular hearing, we have been in a number of hearings, Mr.
Chairman, on human rights issues in China and for me I thought
well maybe it would just be another hearing. It has profoundly
touched me, your testimony. I want to thank each one of you and
just say as a father, speaking on behalf of your fathers, I am
proud of you. Very proud of you.
I also want to let you know that there are many
negotiations and many things we do here in Congress that have
lasting impact. But my commitment to each one of you is that as
discussions go on with those in official positions in China,
that not a single one of those conversations or negotiations
will happen with my staff or me without the faces of each one
of you being at the forefront of our mind. And so I want to
just say thank you.
Many of you have called on the President and truly on the
Vice President to be your advocates. They are dads, too. So I
would join with you and say that we need to make sure that this
is not something that gets overlooked. You have my commitment
to do that. And my friend and colleague, Mr. Pittenger here,
had asked if you would each share one word. And so my one word
to you would be that we will be unflinching in our dedication
to help you in this area, but the one word is that you will see
your dad soon. And so soon is where we will be and I just want
to thank each one of you for being here today and for giving
your touching testimony. I will yield back, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Smith. Thank you very much, Mr. Meadows. And for the
record, Mr. Meadows is the congressional delegate to the United
States and I know in his contacts and lobbying of heads of
delegation, he and I and others will literally carry your
testimonies and put it in the hands of these individuals from
the very top, from Ban Ki Moon, right on down. Your love and
devotion to your dads, your courage, the pain and agony that
you carry, as well as the rest of your family, just begs the
question, we have to do more and why haven't we? So I thank you
so much. Your testimony is landmark. It will have an effect.
And I guarantee all of us and not just those that are here,
others who are equally dedicated to the cause of human rights
will be unceasing as my colleagues said and I associate my
remarks to my two very distinguished friends and I thank you,
too. As a father of two daughters, one daughter-in-law who is
just like our daughter, we love her just as much, you are
amazing and I thank you.
I would like to now ask for our second panel if they can
make their way. Thank you, ladies.
Our second panel will begin with Pastor Bob Fu who was a
leader in the 1989 student democracy movement in Tiananmen
Square and later became a house church pastor and founder,
along with his wife. In 1996, authorities arrested them and
imprisoned them for their work. After their release, they
escaped to the U.S. and in 2002 founded ChinaAid Association.
ChinaAid monitors and reports on religious freedom in China and
provides a forum for discussion among experts on religion, law,
and human rights in China. Pastor Fu is frequently interviewed
by media outlets around the world and has testified frequently
as U.S. congressional hearings. He has also appeared before the
European Parliament as well as the United Nations. Pastor Fu
holds a double bachelor's degree from People's University and
the Institute of Foreign Relations and has taught at the
Beijing Communist Party School.
In the United States, he has earned a master's degree from
Westminster Theological Seminary and is now working on his
Ph.D. And I just say from a very personal point of view, when
we were working very hard for the release of the great Chen
Guangcheng, it was Bob Fu who on two of those occasions during
hearings on Mr. Chen, actually got in touch with him in a
hospital room in Beijing and put the microphone, the phone
right next to this microphone here and we heard directly from
Mr. Chen who testified in absentia halfway around the world via
Bob Fu.
We will then hear from Mr. Chen Guangfu, brother of Chen
Guangcheng and father of Chen Kegui, nephew of Chinese
activists Chen Guangcheng, who was arrested after defending
himself and his family against local government officials who
forced their way into Chen's home on the night of April 27,
2010, in Shandong Province. Mr. Chen was charged with
``intentionally inflicting harm.'' All of these people burst
into his home with fists and other things raining down upon Mr.
Chen. Obviously, any of us would defend ourselves, but he was
unfortunately convicted in December 2012 and sentenced to 3
years and 3 months in prison.
Mr. Chen has suffered beatings and a medical emergency and
was rejected for consideration for medical parole. Chen Guangfu
is the elder brother, as I said, and we will hear from him
momentarily.
We will then hear from Dr. Devra Marcus, a graduate of
Stanford Medical School and a fellow of the American College of
Physicians and for more than 40 years has been a Washington,
DC, internist. In addition to her medical practice, Dr. Marcus
has long worked to protect and serve Chinese Government
targeted leaders and groups. She has traveled to Tumen, China
to provide medical services for North Korean refugees and the
Government of China seeks to deport to North Korea gulags.
Dr. Marcus played an essential role in the case of Fang
Zheng, the Chinese dissent, a Tiananmen demonstration amputee
and ensure he received prosthetic limbs and prosthetic training
and sent a message to China and elsewhere of American
generosity and compassion.
Dr. Marcus recently traveled to Hangju, China to examine
and bring public attention to the case of imprisoned dissident
Zhu Yufu and to protest the denial to him of adequate medical
services. Dr. Marcus is from McLean, Virginia, and her name has
long been a place for refuge for pro-democracy dissidents from
all over of the world.
Zhu Yufu is the founder of a major pro-democracy
publication and China Democracy Party who was detained and
sentenced to 7 years in prison in 1999. After his release in
2006, Zhu was arrested in May 2007. He was sentenced, again,
two more times.
Pastor Fu, if you could proceed.
STATEMENT OF PASTOR BOB FU, FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT, CHINAAID
ASSOCIATION
Mr. Fu. Mr. Chairman and honorable Members of Congress,
thank you very much for giving this opportunity for those five
daughters whose fathers are still suffering in prison, for 15
years, 11 years, 10 years, and on.
This is the third time in this year that I sit here to
testify before the U.S. Congress, the international community,
and all the people concerned with China's human rights
condition about the rapid deterioration of human rights
condition in China. Of course, nobody can really stay still and
silent after hearing those cries and appeals of these daughters
and fathers.
We have been monitoring China's human rights condition for
the past 11 years, because we specifically focus on religious
persecution, human rights violations, and the promotion of the
rule of law in China. We got to know hundreds and thousands of
sons, daughters, and family members of prisoners of conscience
like Ti-Anna Wang, Lisa Peng, Grace Geng, Bridgette Chen, and
Danielle Wang, and of course, Mr. Chen Kegui.
China's worsening human rights violations and its notorious
human rights record are surely caused by this totalitarianism
and wickedness of the Chinese Communist authorities, but are
also a result of the loss of some God-given, self-evident
fundamental ideals and principles by some countries like our
country, the United States in recent years. Today, the reality
that the Chinese Government dares to despite human rights
dignity and blatantly violate universal values truly has a
correlation with the appeasement policy of so-called ``harmony
diplomacy'' adopted by some Western democratic societies toward
totalitarianism.
So I will just briefly use the three perspectives for my
testimony today. I request the chairman to allow my written
testimony into the record.
Mr. Smith. Without objection, so ordered.
Mr. Fu. On June 6th this year, ChinaAid Association and
other 30 international human rights organizations jointly
launched the ``Free China 18 Campaign'' calling on the release
of 18 Chinese prisoners of conscience. They are Wang Bingzhang,
Peng Ming, Gao Zhisheng, Liu Xiaobo, Guo Quan, Zhu Yufu, Liu
Xianbin, Yang Tianshui, Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, Yang Rongli,
Alimujiang Yimiti, Wang Zhiwen, Lobsang Tsering, Li Chang,
Gulmira Imin, Chen Kegui, Dhondup Wangchen, and Guo Feixiong.
They are only the representatives of tens of thousands of
political prisoners of conscience in mainland China. The
majority of them expressed their views or protested against
tyranny with peaceful methods, and some were imprisoned because
of their religious faith. They are ethnically diverse,
including Han Chinese, Tibetans, Uyghurs, and other
ethnicities.
And I would not be able to list all the sufferings, the
tortures, the deprivations of their basic human rights because
of the time limit.
Apparently and clearly the condition for human rights in
China has continued to worsen in recent years and recent
months. It has reached the worst scenario since the Tiananmen
massacre on June 4, 1989. Likewise, China is regressing in the
rule of law and there is no sign of improvement in the short
term.
The Chinese Communist authorities also suppress house
churches more harshly, and religious persecution is also
worsening.
Mr. Chairman, on this religious persecution front, I wanted
to pay attention on several particular cases such as one of the
largest independent house churches called Shouwang Church. It
was forbidden to worship indoors; it was even forbidden to even
enter into their own purchased buildings. They had no choice
but to worship outdoors for 2 years. And believers go to
different locations every week, and every week in the past 2
years, a number of believers from 10 to 120 were taken to
different police stations every Sunday, and it continues. Some
were beaten, some women were raped, some pastors, elders of the
church had been under house arrest for more than 2 years
without freedom.
Another case, this happened recently to a government-
sanctioned church group. Pastor Zhang Shaojie and 23 believers
from Nanle County Christian Church, Puyang, Henan Province were
taken into police custody secretly, and the majority of them
have not received any legal papers so far. This happens to
government-sanctioned church and church leaders just because
believers of the church fight for their basic rights and social
justice and offended some local government officials. Yet, the
leaders, these 23, are still in custody.
And of course, the Chinese Government has always spared no
effort in its United Front work through religion and overseas
propaganda packed with lies. Unfortunately, some U.S.-based
NGOs or religious organizations take a different standing than
standing united with those persecuted. As understandable as it
may be, that Billy Graham Evangelistic Association needed to
collaborate with the Chinese Communist Government in its
disaster relief efforts, this organization, at the China U.S.A.
Protestant Church Leaders Forum held in Shanghai and Beijing on
November 19th and 20th of this year, just last month, according
to the news released by the Chinese Government authorities,
recognized leaders of the Three-Self Patriotic Committee, a
puppet created by the government. The Billy Graham Evangelistic
Association has collaboration with the Chinese Government-
sanctioned church bodies, recognized solely the representatives
of the Chinese Government established church, and said nothing,
nothing about the religious persecution to their fellow
brothers in the house church.
The 2014 General Assembly of the Word Evangelical Alliance
will be held October 27 to 31 in 2014 in Seoul, South Korea.
According to the Chinese Government, the WEA has already sent
an invitation by the senior leaders to the Chinese Christian
Council and the Three-Self Patriotic Movement Committee, the
government organization, but it is still unknown if it will or
has invited the leaders of the house churches who are the
representatives, actually the majority of the Chinese church.
The majority of the Protestant church leaders as we recall in
the history of humanity, the majority of the Protestant church
leaders back then in the 1940s, praised Hitler and pledged
allegiance to Nazi Germany, the state government. They did not
oppose principles of Darwinian evolutionary theory introduced
by the Nazis and the notion of so-called pure breed and
superior breed derived from it. We know how churches in Germany
became an ally, shamefully, of the Nazi regime, betrayed God,
and left the mark of shame in human history. Likewise, we want
to know: Where do we want to stand? Do we want to stand with
the Nazi, the Chinese Government Communists who established the
church, as did the Nazis, did the church in Germany in 1940s,
or do we want to stand with the confessional church which
stands against the dictatorships and warmongers.
So I want to just make five specific recommendations to
Congress. I hope the Obama administration will deliver a note
to the Chinese Government asking for the immediate and
unconditional release of these 18 prisoners of conscience. And
I hope President Obama will meet with these five daughters and
other representatives of the China 18 as soon as possible so
that he can hear directly from these daughters.
Secondly, I hope human rights issues can become an
indispensable component in the meetings and the strategic
dialogues between Chinese and American top leaders.
Thirdly, I propose to broadcast live the annual Chinese-
U.S. Human Rights Dialogue on the Internet, make the dialogue
specific in goals and substantial in content. Make evaluations
of the China binding. Don't reduce the highest level human
rights dialogue between the two countries to a useless show.
Fourthly, I hope the House Committee on Foreign Affairs
will make it mandatory that the officials of the U.S. Embassy
and consulates in China, especially the visa officers, receive
at least 14 days of systematic training on the background of
human rights and religious freedom in China. I propose this
because at present, many people who can make significant
contributions to freedom and rule of law in China, and as well
as the communication between China and the U.S., have been
denied visas unreasonably, including some even invited by the
leaders of Congress, even though they meet the criteria for
entry into the U.S.
Finally, and fifthly, as I just flew back from the Taiwan
Congress along with Ti-Anna Wang and Lisa Peng after we
testified before the Taiwanese Congress, one bit progress was
made, that is, in the Taiwan Congress--four Members of the
Taiwan Congress, along with the 14 or more Members across party
lines, issued a letter to the leaders of the Taiwanese
Government, including President Ma Ying-jeou to urge them to
clarify whether Dr. Wang Bingzhang is a spy from Taiwan. In the
letter it says if Dr. Wang, who was sentenced to life in prison
for being accused as a Taiwanese spy and with terrorism, if he
is a spy, the Taiwanese authorities have a moral and
governmental obligation to fight for his freedom. And if he is
not, it makes more sense that the Taiwanese Government should
seek clarification for the international community and for the
Wang family, including the daughter, Ti-Anna Wang.
So the deadline for the President Ma Ying-jeou to submit
that clarification to Taiwanese Congress, and actually it was
promised already by President Ma Ying-jeou's representatives
during the hearing, is December 10th before the Human Rights
Day.
Mr. Smith. Pastor Fu, we will come back. We are out of
time----
Mr. Fu. I will finish one sentence, sorry. I ask Mr.
Chairman to really do a follow up--formally request President
Ma Ying-jeou and Taiwanese Congress and through the American
Institute in Taiwan to do a follow up for that request because
both Dr. Wang and Mr. Peng Ming are permanent residents of the
U.S. as refugees. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Fu follows:]
----------
Mr. Smith. We will. So thank you for that recommendation.
We do have a series of votes and I apologize and we will have
to take a very brief recess. But I do encourage, to the best of
your abilities, if the press could stay to hear our two next
witnesses who have really done enormous work on behalf of human
rights. Chen Guangfu is here in the United States, but he is
going back and he has bravely come forward on behalf of his son
who is imprisoned and I would just hope if you could stay long
enough to hear these two fine testimonies. We stand in very
brief recess.
[Recess.]
Mr. Smith. We will resume our seating. We do have a few
members that I know who are making their way over from the
votes. We have been joined by Congressman Trent Franks from
Arizona. Mr. Franks is the chairman of the Religious Freedom
Caucus here in the House. He is also chairman of the Judiciary
Committee's Constitution Subcommittee and we welcome him to the
hearing. Thank you for being here today.
Our next witness will be Chen Guangfu. As previously
introduced, he is the brother of Chen Guangcheng and is
extraordinarily important as the father of Chen Kegui, who has
been arrested. Mr. Chen is here and will be going back so I
want to again underscore and salute his bravery in coming
forward as he is doing. He is a dad who cares so deeply and
loves so deeply his son. And like the panel before us where
five daughters spoke out so eloquently on behalf of their dads
here is Mr. Chen speaking on behalf of his son.
Mr. Chen.
STATEMENT OF MR. CHEN GUANGFU, BROTHER OF CHEN GUANGCHENG AND
FATHER OF CHEN KEGUI
[The following testimony was delivered through an
interpreter.]
Mr. Chen. Honorable Congressman Mr. Smith, members of
subcommittee on global human rights of the Committee on Foreign
Affairs and ladies and gentleman, I am Chen Guangfu, the older
brother of Chen Guangcheng, the father of Chen Kegui. Speaking
of the long-term persecution of our family, the name of Chen
Guangcheng has to be mentioned because this is a continuation
of the persecution of Chen Guangcheng. The current imprisonment
of Chen Kegui is the punishment for Chen Guangcheng's escape.
After Chen Guangcheng risked his life to escape from his home,
the officials of local authorities worked themselves into a
frenzy of rage and fear.
It was past midnight of April 27, 2012, when I was
kidnapped with a black hood on my head by the police of Yinan
County. Led by the captain, Xu Kewei, the police officers in
plainclothes climbed over the wall and broke into my house
without going through any legal procedure. They were in
plainclothes. They did not go through any legal procedure. I
was taken to the Unit of Economic Affairs Investigation, Yinan
County, and put through nonstop 72-hour-long torture, during
which I was tied to an interrogation chair with handcuffs and
foot chains. They heaped abusive language on me, struck me hard
on the face, trampled on my toes, whipped me, deprived me of
food, drink, sleep, and denied me the use of the bathroom as
well other inhuman treatment.
About 20 minutes after my kidnapping, the head of Shuanghou
Township, Zhang Jian, led two dozen personnel, armed with picks
into my house, rummaging through every room without any legal
justifications. They carried off cash, cell phones, ID cards,
documents, and other items. They damaged the TV set, the sewing
machine, and furniture. They pried open several locked drawers
and took away everything in them.
During the search, they beat up Chen Kegui's mother, while
Kegui was beaten with clubs the mob was carrying and left him
injuries on the face, neck, arms, and legs. When Kegui's mother
was attempting to protect her son with her body, she was
grabbed by the hair and savagely beaten. In fear of his life
and in order to protect his son--stricken with a fever--whose
body temperature reached 104 degrees, Kegui grabbed a knife in
self-defense. At the sight of the knife, Zhang Jian yelled,
``He has a knife in his hand, kill him.'' In desperation, Kegui
slashed at the attackers with the knife and injured Zhang Jian
and two of his men in the chaotic darkness. Afterwards, Kegui
dialed 110 for police, but police did not take any action. In
fear of his life, Kegui left home and went into hiding.
On April 29th, Kegui turned himself in at the Hong Hua Fu
Police Department in Yancheng City.
On the same day, Kegui's mother was arrested, interrogated,
and tortured before she was thrown into jail. In prison, she
was forced to work a dozen hours every day in spite of her
illness, laboring over needlepoint work, which was to be
exported for foreign exchange. Because she couldn't fill the
data quota, she was penalized by standing in front of
everybody. Sometimes she had to stand for 6 hours straight
during one night. On May 5th, she was released on bail. She
went to the hospital for physical examination. The examination
results showed infection, in addition to a kidney stone. She
also has periarthritis due to the beating. The medical cost was
up to 4800 Chinese yuan.
On the 27th, Kegui's wife, Liu Fang, received a short
message from Kegui, ``Please hire lawyer for me.'' Afterwards,
two attorneys, Ding Xijui and Si Weijang from Beijing, were
retained, but they were never allowed access to the case even
though they have been to Yinan five times. The reason given by
the authorities was they have only made arrangements by hiring
legal aid lawyers.
On November 30, 2012, the case of Chen Kegui was put on
trial, but Kegui's family was not notified of the court trial.
The witnesses on trial were all perpetrators who were involved
in beating, looting, and robbing at my house. The testimony of
Kegui's mother was given under the threat that you have to sign
whatever we ask you to sign. If you don't sign, you will die
here. You don't have any human rights in here.
Kegui was sentenced to 3 years and 3 months in prison,
which is in violation of substantive and procedural law.
Apparently he is serving time in the prison located in Jining,
Shandong province, the same place where Chen Guangcheng served
his time before.
Since early March 2013, on my way to sending my grandson to
his school, I have been followed many times by men on
motorcycles, military jackets and helmets. One afternoon after
school hours, Hui Shitai, from the Family Planning Office, went
to the school asking to send for my grandson. They even did not
want to leave a small child alone. Beginning from April 18,
2013, they would throw rocks, bricks, and beer bottles at my
house around 1 o'clock a.m. every night, damaging the tiles,
doors, and windows. They also threw dead chickens and ducks
because the bird flu was at its peak at the time. They also
posted and passed along a large amount of pamphlets, hurling
abuse and insults of Chen Guangcheng, calling Chen Guangfu a
traitor and a troublemaker. They also threatened to break our
legs and stone the whole family to death. The poplar tree that
we planted was pulled out several times, and they did the same
to vegetable fields, leaving them withered.
All this persecution was aimed to stop Chen Guangcheng from
going to Taiwan. During this time period of harassment, I
called for police a dozen times, but it came to nothing.
Sometimes they just refused to answer my phone call. Whenever I
changed to another phone, immediately the phone call went
through, but the police never took any action.
On May 9th, an unidentified person who was driving a car
without a plate assaulted me and damaged my motorbike. After I
returned home, I tried to post the assault incident online,
only to find that my account had been closed.
If throwing dead chickens and dead ducks are some petty
crooks' doing, I believe it must have been big crooks behind
the account cancellation.
On April 24, Chen Kegui was positively diagnosed with
appendicitis, but the prison administration repeatedly denied
the family's application for release on parole for medical
treatment. The delay in treatment resulted in suppurative
appendicitis from which he still hasn't recovered, while at the
same time he is ordered to work over 10 hours manual labor.
In May 2012, the Central Government promised that the
persecution of Chen Guangcheng and his family by local
officials would be thoroughly investigated. However, this
promise has not been fulfilled at this point.
Finally, I sincerely hope that in accordance with human
rights principles the U.S. Congress and the Obama
administration extend their fundamental support to those
Chinese citizens who suffer from political persecution. Thank
you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Chen follows:]
----------
Mr. Smith. Guangfu, thank you very much for your testimony.
I do have some questions but I will wait. Now I would invite
Dr. Marcus to present her testimony.
STATEMENT OF DEVRA MARCUS, M.D., PHYSICIAN AND ACTIVIST
Dr. Marcus. Thank you very much for inviting to this event
which I have found inexpressibly moving. My own experiences
were moving enough, but this has gone beyond anything that I
had experienced before.
First of all, I think the chairman articulated what I have
learned extremely well and I have nothing to add to that. It
was an incredible summary of the condensation of my own
experiences in China.
Secondly, I think that the daughters of the men who are
imprisoned are a credit to the United States. It is China's
loss. These young women are just astonishing and actually are
exemplars of what we would hope all of our children would
epitomize; their dignity, honor, passion, and commitment to the
values that make the United States unique are beyond anything I
ever anticipated. I am so proud that we offer them the ability
to explore life fully even though it has an inordinate amount
of pain associate with it. At least they have the freedom to
express their points of view.
I might then segue just a bit to why I got interested in
this because there is a sixth daughter whom I will speak for
without her authority, but I think she would give it to me and
that is Zhu Li who is the daughter of Zhu Yufu. This is the man
whom I went to visit and I went because we have something that
Bob Fu calls fondly, I think, the Horowitz Hilton. When Chinese
come to Washington for one reason or another, we house a number
of them and it has enriched our lives enormously. Among the
people who came to stay with us were, in fact, two sisters and
a brother of Zhu Yufu. Two of them now have sought political
asylum and attained it along with their spouses and one child,
I believe, each. I think that both of them have left a child
behind in China. There was a third sister who has a son by a
Japanese man and she has gone back to live in Japan now.
We bonded with one another over knitting. It was quite
remarkable. We sat at the kitchen table, neither of us spoke
each other's languages, but we spoke the language of knitting.
And they are inordinately talented. I had huge admiration for
them. In addition, I do brush painting and the brother, Zhu
Qiaofu, is a brush painter, so we made friends over art, if you
will, without language at all. That got me interested in Zhu
Yufu. It also taught me the lesson of the price that is paid by
families, including extended families for the nobility of
thought of someone that they love.
I happen to see a submission by a lawyer on behalf of Zhu
Yufu to the U.N. indicating that he had cardiac problems of a
rather potentially severe nature that might cause him either to
die suddenly or in fact, to develop an illness that if it were
not properly treated would cause him to die. I opined that if
it were possible for me to do anything to make life easier for
him which is to say to get him adequate medical attention, I
would like to do it. And as it happened, it was thought by
people who were very active in human rights in China that it
might be useful for me to go. So I went. I went with Kody Kness
who had spent time in China and speaks Mandarin. And we went on
a date that we knew would be a day when Zhu Yufu's wife would
be visiting him in prison. We met her in the prison. We were
admitted to the prison. We then had to negotiate with a guard
in the prison who wanted to know why I was there. I said I was
there because I had read that Zhu Yufu had potentially serious
cardiac problems and I wanted to be assured that he was getting
adequate medical attention. I had been told that he was seen
once a month, that he had his blood pressure checked, he was
given an antihypertensive and he was given an herbal medicine
for heart failure, but nothing more than that and that his
treatment was very perfunctory at best.
There also was some concern that he was despairing, given
the fact that he had spent a third, at least, of his adult life
in prison. The man, when I reviewed with him what the U.N.
report said, ``Well, we don't believe in the U.N.'' Then I
said, ``Well, what if he dies in prison?'' His response was,
``There is no if.'' After a little more skirmishing, it became
clear to me that we were not going to be allowed to get in.
Finally, I said to him, ``Would you tell him that I have
come?'' because I knew that it would be important to his morale
if he knew that a westerner had come to visit him. The man said
no and ushered us out.
By that time he was pretty angry, but in control. But he
subsequently detained us and confiscated Kody's cell phone and
held the phone for a couple of hours and, I am sure, scrubbed
it. So we have no idea what happened to the phone. We clearly
could not leave the prison at that point because there were two
guards here. We were here, the door was there. And there was no
way we were going to get out. We got interviewed. The interview
was relatively benign. Finally, after about 2 hours, the cell
phone was returned and we were allowed to leave.
As a result of our efforts to get in, the Chinese Internet
carried this fairly widely and the attention of a rather
eminent human rights lawyer was attracted. He came from Nanjing
the following day, agreed to take the case, and started the
legal proceedings to do so. He has, to date, not been permitted
to see Xhu Yufu and in fact, we understand, relatively
recently, has been threatened with withdrawal of his license if
he continues to pursue the case.
In addition, and we have heard about reprisal, Xhu Yufu has
been moved from his prison block to the psychiatric block,
which is not viewed as good news. It is, in a way, an effort to
gaslight him and also to neutralize him so that he will be
sufficiently demeaned, that he will give up his desire perhaps
to live, although that isn't at all clear.
What became clear to me with my relationships with his
wife, Xhu Yufu's wife and his daughter, is that they are more
or less in despair as opposed to the young women who are here.
If Zhu Li were here, she would be shocked that anybody would be
advocating for her and for her family in this body because her
expectation is always to be told no and to back off. When she
was doing my interpreting when we were in the office of the
prison, every time the guard said no, she backed off and I had
to almost pull her forward because no is viewed as no, not as
an invitation to the dance or an invitation to negotiating, but
no. So the repression of her ability to think is what was very
striking to me, also the fact that her mother is emotionally, I
think, really running out of resilience.
So I learned about the long-term profound and extensive, as
you have learned here again, repression in a way, indirect
torture of family members of people who have a very profound
sense of morality.
The Chinese do indeed have laws on their books that would
allow for the release of Xhu Yufu. He fulfills all the
requirements. However, they are not allowing him to make
application for early release, despite that. So the fact is
that although the laws are on the books, they are under the
control of political authorities and judges do not exercise any
authority other than that which I believe is essentially given
to them by the State. So it is unclear at this point what will
happen to him in terms of his ability to make use of those laws
which if he were able to do so, would allow for him to have an
early release.
I thank you very much. I am deeply appreciative of being in
the company of the people in whose company I am today. Thank
you.
[The prepared statement of Dr. Marcus follows:]
----------
Mr. Smith. Dr. Marcus, thank you for your testimony and
thank you for your advocacy, your willingness to put yourself
out, to bring your medical degree and background, 40 years as a
medical doctor to at least try to examine Mr. Zhu which would
have been, I think, an extremely important contribution to his
health. You have adopted, more or less, this brave man as a
prisoner of conscience and more people ought to do just that.
Find one or two individuals, adopt them and advocate for them
the way you are doing and doing it again today. So I certainly
thank you for that. It makes a huge difference.
And to the Horowitz Hilton, I know you leave the light on.
That is a different hotel chain, of course, and that generosity
just goes so far in letting people know that the hospitality
and the warmth that you and your husband, Michael, show to
dissidents and people who have braved so much, suffered so
much, and yet they find a place of refuge in your home. That is
truly remarkable. Thank you.
I would like to ask Mr. Chen, if I could just say briefly,
your brother, Chen Guangcheng, has relentlessly, and I mean
relentlessly in every speech, every venue that I have seen him
at, here, right where you sit when he testified last spring,
has pressed doggedly for the release of your son and has asked
the State Department over and over and over again to advocate
for his release and to hold your entire family harmless. That
has been his number one priority and the fact that you are here
today at his request, I think, further underscores that his
concern for your family back in China is unceasing. He does say
this to the State Department, ``What are you doing in-
country?'' Has the Ambassador, our U.S. Ambassador, tried to
see Chen Kegui? What are they doing to advocate for his
release?
You mentioned in your testimony, and it was very telling,
if I can find it again, how you spent 72 hours being beaten and
tortured and that they also were beating family members until
they got tired. They couldn't punch any longer because they
were tired. That just underscores the brutality and the cruelty
that I think most Americans don't appreciate and this goes on
day-in and day-out directed against the best and the bravest
and the brightest of the People's Republic of China. So I just
want you to know that we will continue to bring your case, that
of your son, the entire family, following Chen Guangcheng's
tremendous leadership on that to try to get our Government to
do far more than we have done.
Guangcheng had asked a series of specific questions of the
State Department and got back a totally inadequate answer. He
laid it out here. He laid it out elsewhere, too, but from where
you sit when he testified and got a nothing answer, which I
found appalling, in terms of his own situation and the
investigation that you referenced in your testimony as well. So
thank you and I would like to yield to my good friend and
colleague, Mr. Meadows for any comments or questions that he
might have.
Mr. Meadows. Thank each of you for your testimony and for
being willing to serve and answer a call to truly make a
difference, so I just want to say thank each one of you. I
guess my question becomes, as I mentioned earlier, we have had
a number of hearings where this is a reoccurring theme, where
we have human rights abuses that continue to happen in China.
My concern, specifically Mr. Chen with you being here today, is
the repercussions that family members may face in China as a
result of you being here.
Do you think highlighting this issue is something that we
need to continue to do and is it starting to make a difference?
[The following testimony was delivered through an
interpreter.]
Mr. Chen. I believe that we still should continue to expose
those inhumane acts by the Chinese Government. There is an old
saying in China which is ``the heavens are watching over what
we are doing here on earth.''
The reason why I came here today is not just to appeal for
my son because there are hundreds of thousands Chinese citizens
who suffer from injustice and persecution under all kinds of
excuses made by the Chinese authorities. Even worse, some of
them have been deprived life. So I believe that the attention
given by the outside world will make a great difference in such
situations.
I believe the sufferings our family has endured, thus far,
is not that important compared to the larger goal of promoting
the human rights movement in mainland China.
Mr. Meadows. Thank you. And Dr. Marcus, when you went to
visit, obviously you were forwarded at a number of different
fronts in terms of continued access. Would you say that this
would be indicative of a lower level person trying to implement
directions from a higher authority or is it someone at a lower
level just implementing their own sense of justice of lack
thereof? I guess what I am getting at is do you think it is
systemic throughout most of the top officials in the Chinese
Government?
Dr. Marcus. I think that what was interesting to me was
that we got waved in, so somebody knew that we were coming. I
have no idea. So I think probably both things were occurring. I
think that he had probably gotten instructions and I think he
was more than happy to comply with those instructions. I think
he wanted to get us out of there as fast as he could. And I was
fairly persistent. So it didn't work and it made him angry.
Mr. Meadows. Thank you. Pastor Fu, good to see you again.
Thank you for being a faithful voice for those that do not have
a voice.
Mr. Fu. Thank you.
Mr. Meadows. One of the things that I just heard that this
is a plight that many, I guess it was hundreds of thousands, of
other Chinese people are experiencing. Would you concur with
that? I mean it is very easy to take just a few people and say
well, this is only happening in a few isolated situations. It
is very different if it is indeed hundreds of thousands of
people and I saw a few people nodding in the background that it
was hundreds of thousands. So would you characterize that as
being accurate?
Mr. Fu. Absolutely. These 18 are just the tip of the
iceberg, representative of hundreds of thousands. Just this
year alone, we have seen several hundred, perhaps even
thousands. We don't know their names, but we know some of their
names. In my written testimony, I listed more than 130 who were
just detained, arrested. Some were already been tried and
sentenced for simply making a poster and asking the government
officials to be transparent with their property; they posted a
picture online and were arrested. And that is this year in the
past few months. And already more than 120 Tibetans committed
self-immolation, were killed because of the desperation.
And already there are many, many others of the faith
community, the Christian pastors, the Catholic bishops, the
Uyghurs, and the Falun Gong practitioners. This year already
reached the worst as I mentioned, since the massacre of
Tiananmen Square in 1989.
So this absolutely not just a local or just some short
period of time persecution. It is systematic. It is Central
Government orchestrated and it is still going on right now.
Mr. Meadows. There is a danger from time to time when you
address human rights violations of the nature perhaps that we
are talking about today, that some of them may be more
horrific, some perhaps less, but there is a danger when we do
that, that the people of that particular country may see it as
anger or animosity toward a people that are far away and yet
would you say that the majority of the people that you know,
that you have heard from--I heard it earlier from some of the
young ladies that testified, that there is truly a love for
their country of China, that this is not a ``We hate China''
mentality. That there is a love for their country, and what
they want is justice within their own country, not to put away
their native homelands to go somewhere else. Would you say that
is across the board the predominant feeling?
Mr. Fu. Absolutely that is the predominant feeling. The way
that these hundreds of thousands prisoners of conscience handle
their advocacy, their campaign for freedom, for transparency
demonstrates itself that they are the true patriots. They are
the love of the motherland of China. They are not anti-China or
anti-Chinese people at all. They are actually just the
opposite. They want to hold those abusers, the corrupted
officials accountable which should be echoed, approved by the
Chinese Central Government leaders. Yet, they were jailed for
loving their country and I think really those are not only
heroes for freedom for China, but also they are the campaigning
essence for the defining of the 21st century.
If China is free in the 21st century and becomes a
democratic country, you essentially remove a threat, not only a
regional threat as Chinese Communists have demonstrated to
Taiwan, to Japan, to many neighbors of China, but also to the
world. I think they are doing something more than for their own
country, but also for the world.
Mr. Meadows. I will finish up with this one question and I
will throw it out to any of you that would care to comment
because it may be something that you can't speak to and I guess
it is more advice for me and some of my colleagues. How can we
communicate most effectively a desire to address the human
rights issues, but at the same time a love for the Chinese
people and a respect for Chinese sovereignty at the same time?
Because sometimes they get crossed.
Dr. Marcus, any idea how to do that?
Dr. Marcus. It is a toughy.
Mr. Meadows. It is a toughy, okay. Well, if you have any
thoughts, we will leave it at that. If you have any thoughts on
how we can best do that, if you will just provide some written
guidelines. I can tell you that perhaps those that are covering
this here today will hear the heart of a father and a
Congressman who wants to deal with some of the issues that we
have heard, and yet at the same time has a mutual respect and
admiration for the Chinese people. I believe in sovereignty. It
is one of those things that is foundational to our American way
of democracy that may be foreign to many others and so with
that, Mr. Chairman, I will yield back.
Mr. Smith. Thank you very much to my good friend and
colleague. Let me just ask a few final questions and then
anything you would like to add before we close.
Dr. Marcus, and again, I appreciate your advocacy on behalf
of Mr. Zhu. What is the status of his family? We have heard
from Mr. Chen's family, the five daughters, obviously. You
might want to speak about how his family and perhaps friends
that you may have met are faring under this tremendous
pressure.
Secondly, Pastor Fu, you pointed out that the appeasement
policy of harmony diplomacy adopted by some western societies
toward totalitarianism is enabling the dictatorship to do what
it wants because they know that we are very weak and seemingly
unconcerned. Will say some of the right words, but what is
behind it? If you could speak to that and also whether or not
religious freedom is improving, is it the same as it was
perhaps a year ago or two, which was awful, or is it getting
worse?
I would also ask Mr. Chen, you pointed out in your
testimony that, and I think this bears repeating, without Chen
Guangcheng's escape, Chen Kegui's case wouldn't exist. The
continued imprisonment of Chen Kegui is punishment for Chen
Guangcheng's escape. You also point out that ``In 2012, the
Central Government promised that the persecution of Chen
Guangcheng and his family,'' you, and your loved ones, ``by
local officials would be investigated thoroughly and
fundamental civil rights of Chen Guangcheng's family will be
protected. However, this promise has not been fulfilled at this
point. Even worse, the government has continued to attack,
retaliate, and persecute Chen Guangcheng's family in his
hometown in the form of imprisonment, surveillance, slandering,
insulting, harassment, and beating.'' Has Ambassador Locke,
Gary Locke, our U.S. Ambassador to China, met with you, talked
to you, visited you and your family? Has he raised the issue
face-to-face with his interlocutors, with the Foreign Ministry
leaders and others in China?
Dr. Marcus, perhaps you can begin.
Dr. Marcus. Yes. As far as Zhu Yufu's family is concerned,
there are a total of six in the family. It is a very large
Chinese family. Two of his siblings are lying low. They are
staying away from the government's eye. There is a brother and
a sister. One sister has gone to Japan. She has a son there.
Two have sought political asylum in the United States and have
gotten it. His wife is working, has a menial job. She was a
pharmacist, but she is no longer working in that capacity and I
don't know if she lost the job or not, but she is now working
for somebody doing something fairly menial even though she is
trained a pharmacist. His daughter has a degree in art history
and is credentialed to teach art, but cannot get a job because
she is the daughter of a criminal. So she has gone back to
school and she is now training in museumology. Their son has a
degree in physics. He was imprisoned for a year because he
barred the door to the police when they came after his father
during one of the times his father was arrested. So he was
imprisoned for a year, so he is now a criminal. So he can work,
but not as a physicist.
I would like to respond, I was a little flip to Mr.
Meadows. It does occur to me that what I have heard when I have
asked people about what seems to make a difference in China,
why it is different is always the same answer, the Internet.
And what I have also heard is that what the Chinese lack, the
people lack is the truth because it is often spun by the
government. The one thing that is very difficult to spin is
direct social media and I had the opportunity of discussing
this with a young woman who got an MBA at Stanford that I met
in the Shanghai Airport. She said the major difference she has
seen is because of the Internet. So I think the Internet is
crucial. I think, if you will forgive me, I don't want to offer
an opinion other than that. This is what I have heard. So I
would say to you if there is one focus that keeps one away from
the issues that you are talking about, it would be the
Internet.
And may I, business matter, offer my written testimony for
the record.
Mr. Smith. Without objection, your full testimony and that
of all of our witnesses today will be made a part of the
record.
Dr. Marcus. And the only other thing I want to say is that
we assume that the reason that Zhu Yufu has been changed to the
psychiatry block is that it is in retaliation for the attention
he has gotten. We don't know that. Thank you.
Mr. Fu. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Before I answer your
question I want to say a few words to answer Congressman
Meadows' previous question about sovereignty and raising human
rights. You know, every time when the State Department of the
U.S. issued an annual human rights report or USCIRF, issued the
global religious persecution written report, the Chinese
Government always issued a sort of angry denouncing statement
by saying the standard is always set. This is the interference
of the internal affairs.
And the human rights and this fundamental freedom are not
internal affairs. And to abuse a fellow human being and their
dignity and depriving their basic freedoms is not internal
affairs. And the fact that the Chinese Government now starts
issuing human rights reports about the U.S. itself demonstrated
that the issue of internal affairs is fair game, so they are
interfering with the U.S. internal affairs to say the least.
I think China is a signatory country for various
international human rights covenants and the Chinese
Constitution, for instance, Article 36 says for the citizens,
basic freedom of religious belief should be guaranteed and
China also signed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
I think the fellow Members of Congress, when you expressed the
disapproval of the human rights abuses in China, it is not
interference of internal affairs, but actually you want to help
China to improve its international standing.
So then I think to answer the first question about the
appeasement charge, the appeasement diplomacy, I think the
danger actually is when the brutal dictators start treating
this as internal affairs by arbitrarily putting its citizens
into detention center, imprisonment, without any due process,
and when western democractic countries treat that as internal
affairs, and when our own Secretary of State says that as human
rights should not interfere with others so-called priority
items, the security, the economic items, that sends a very----
Mr. Smith. On that point, when Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton, en route to Beijing, said that she would not allow
human rights to interfere with global climate change and
selling U.S. debt, is that you were referring to?
Mr. Fu. Yes, that is what I refer to. I think that the
leaders of democratic countries, when we made that kind of
remarks, it is not only hurtful to those human rights
campaigners, like those fathers of the five daughters, but also
it really emboldens the dictators and the persecutors, and they
take that as a green light to continue and increasing the
persecution. It sends the wrong signal to the persecutors, that
the democratic countries will not care as long as the trade
continues, as long as the economic relationship is
strengthened.
In terms of religious freedom issues, certainly they have
been worsening. I remembered it took more than a year for the
current administration to even nominate the Ambassador-at-Large
for the International Religious Freedom Office in the State
Department. And unfortunately, after the current Ambassador-at-
Large, Ambassador Suzan Johnson Cook resigned the office, the
position is still not filled up until today. So I think
President Clinton would not do that, and President Jimmy Carter
would not do that. Certainly President Bush, the two Bushes
would not do that. I think this is very unfortunate. This is
certainly sending the wrong signal at this critical time when
the Chinese human rights and religious freedom reached its
worst in 20 some years.
Mr. Smith. Mr. Chen.
[The following testimony was delivered through an
interpreter.]
Mr. Chen. Mr. Smith, regarding the question you just raised
before with whether Ambassador Gary Locke raised the issue to
local authorities, the answer is no. Regarding whether he has
raised the issue of persecution of our family to local
authorities, I am not aware of that.
Mr. Smith. We will reiterate our request that he do so. We
will write him today and write the Secretary of State, John
Kerry, as well, asking them and conveying to them, not only
your testimony, but all the testimonies. In my opinion, based
on what occurred during the Chen Guangcheng process, when he
was in-country still and then when he came here, those promises
have gone unfulfilled. And so we will follow up on that, I can
assure you.
Pastor Fu?
Mr. Fu. Yes, related to that, I have one final comment,
actually. I remember last August, Mr. Chairman, yourself and
Congressman Wolf and several other committee chairmen, as well
as Speaker Boehner and Minority Leader Pelosi issued a joint
letter to the Chinese President, Hu Jintao, then President, and
the Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabao, to ask them to follow through
what they promised to Mr. Chen Guangcheng and you actually also
wrote a letter, along with Speaker Boehner and Leader Pelosi,
to President Obama or Secretary John Kerry this year, to ask
them to meet with Mr. Chen Guangcheng and other family members
of those human rights campaigners in China such as Gao
Zhisheng.
I don't know. So far as far as I know, there is no positive
response and even I think the leader of Freedon Now, Attorney
Jared Genser, made a direct appeal to both the White House and
through Washington Post opinion piece just last month to make
that point that the quiet, so-called under the table diplomacy
has failed, and failed miserably. And so it is time for the
leader of our country, the President himself, to speak up to
show that he is personally engaging by meeting, listening, and
hearing directly from these daughters and the family members.
Mr. Smith. Thank you. Is there anything else any of you
would like to say before we conclude? Again, I want to thank
you for your testimony, for your leadership. It is
extraordinary and since the five daughters are still here,
thank them again profusely for the love and devotion they have
shown toward their fathers, their families, and for being
willing to come here and share that with us on this
subcommittee. The hearing is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 2:24 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
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