Posted on 04/20/2006 4:43:09 PM PDT by Aussie Dasher
A HECKLER from the Falun Gong spiritual movement, who entered White House grounds as a reporter, interrupted a formal arrival ceremony for Chinese President Hu Jintao today, prompting President George W. Bush to apologise to his guest.
After being welcomed by Mr Bush, the Chinese president was just beginning his response when a woman, who had been allowed into the press section, started shouting.
She was escorted away by a uniformed US guard.
"President Hu, your days are numbered. President Bush, make him stop persecuting Falun Gong," the woman yelled.
US officials later identified her as Wang Wenyi, 47, a reporter with The Epoch Times, an English-language publication strongly supportive of the meditation movement that is banned in China.
"This was unfortunate and I'm sorry this happened," Mr Bush told Mr Hu, according to Dennis Wilder, a senior official with the National Security Council.
The Secret Service charged Ms Wang with disorderly conduct under local statutes.
The US Attorney's office was weighing federal charges of "willing intimidation or disruption of a foreign official", said Secret Service spokesman Eric Zahren.
Outside the White House, hundreds of yellow-clad Falun Gong disciples, Taiwanese nationalists, and Tibetan youth group members demonstrated against Mr Hu and his government.
The protesters denounced China's human rights record, its missile build-up near Taiwan and its 55-year-long rule over the Himalayan Buddhist region of Tibet.
"Communist Party = Tyranny + Lies", read a yellow banner, carried by one female member of Falun Gong, which China outlawed and brutally crushed in 1999.
"Taiwan is not a part of China," read a placard hoisted by one of around 300 Taiwan activists, who reject China's claim of sovereignty over the island. Tibetans, mostly US-based students, called for independence for their homeland.
A US official said Mr Hu's team was probably offended by the incident.
"The hardliners on Hu's team are going to ask, why did it take so long for us to pick her up. It is not a good thing," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Mr Zahren of the Secret Service said the woman had passed through "all appropriate levels of security", including a metal detector. She was allowed into the event under a temporary press pass.
Falun Gong, which thrives overseas despite being largely stamped out in China, alleges that government persecution of the group includes a vast system of concentration camps, where doctors harvest inmates' organs for transplants.
China has vehemently denied this, but a UN investigator is examining the allegation.
In remarks at Mr Hu's arrival ceremony, Mr Bush did not mention Falun Gong, but he said he would discuss human rights.
He urged Mr Hu to allow "the Chinese people the freedom to assemble, to speak freely and to worship".
If you consider this brave woman a "dingbat", I'd hate to know what you called Rosa Parks.
http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/nj04_smith/prChinaHearing.html
For Immediate Release: April 19, 2006
Contact: Brad Dayspring (202) 225-3765
Smith Hearing Examines Human Rights in China on Eve of President Hu’s Arrival in Washington
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Chris Smith, Chairman of the House subcommittee that oversees Global Human Rights, led a hearing earlier today that examined China’s human rights record – including areas such as China’s compliance with international labor standards, censorship of the internet, implementation of the right of Chinese citizens to worship freely, and the destructive effects on Chinese society of its government’s coercive one-child policy.
"I have eternal hope that President Bush will raise these fundamental human rights concerns in his meetings with President Hu," said Smith. "The Chinese government simply cannot let their population increasingly experience the freedom to buy, sell and produce while denying them the right to assemble, speak and worship as they choose."
"Over the years, I have held 25 hearings on human rights abuses in China, and while China’s economy has improved somewhat, the human rights situation remains abysmal. So-called economic reform has utterly failed to result in the protection of freedom of speech, expression, or assembly," said Smith.
"It is important to note that the freedoms that we enjoy in America allow individuals to publish information and news on the Web unfiltered – even from within the walls of Congress," Smith said. "Those freedoms do not exist in China and individuals who attempt to speak freely are imprisoned and even tortured, and US corporations should not be aiding in that process."
BACKGROUND: The visit of President Hu Jintao of China to the United States provides the Congress an opportunity to review human rights conditions in China.
In previous years before high profile visits, the PRC government has released from prison political dissidents such as Uighur businesswoman Rebiya Kadeer, sentenced to eight years prison in 2000 for sending press cuttings overseas and "endangering national security" and who was released March 14, 2005 before the Beijing visit of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
(BE SURE TO READ TESTIMONY FROM REBIYA KADEER, FOLLOW THE LINKS FOR THIS PRESS RELEASE AND THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS.)
State Department human rights reports and other NGOs indicate that Chinese government repression of its citizens continues.
Beijing has increasingly viewed the information available on the internet as a potential threat to the central government's ability to control the population and has created one of the most internet restrictive countries in the world, where cyber-dissidents like Shi Tao are arrested and imprisoned.
China’s continued repression of religion is among the most despotic in the world. In February, the BBC reported that China had warned Hong Kong's newly-appointed Cardinal, Joseph Zen, a well-known critic of China's suppression of religious freedoms, to remain quiet on political issues.
Citizens practicing a faith other than officially sanctioned religions are often subject to torture, imprisonment, and death, at which time prisoner organs are frequently harvested to meet demand.
Those that dare to question China’s forced abortions and sterilizations face beatings and imprisonment, such as Chen Guangcheng, a blind lawyer who has publicly opposed China’s coercive one-child policies.
Finally, there is no recourse for millions of Chinese laborers trapped in poor working conditions, as those who protest unjust wage and labor practices outside of the government-sponsored labor union are arrested and imprisoned.
WITNESSES:
Ms. Thea Lee, Assistant Director of Public Policy, AFL-CIO
Steven Mosher, Ph.D., President, Population Research Institute
Mr. Ethan Gutmann, Author, Losing the New China: a Story of American Commerce, Desire and Betrayal,
Mr. Harry Wu, Executive Director, Laogai Research Foundation
Mr. Lu Decheng, 1989 Tiananmen Square Protestor
Mr. Joseph Kung, Director, Cardinal Kung Foundation
Ms. Rebiya Kadeer, President, International Uyghur Human Rights and Democracy Foundation
Click for Testimony from the witnesses above
Click for Rep. Smith’s Opening Statement
###
For Immediate Release: April 19, 2006
Contact: Brad Dayspring (202) 225-3765
Quite a stretch to draw an equivalence.
Let's all remember this when Vicente Fox comes to visit and chew us out for not giving his citizens everything they want. No complaining now.
I expect McStain to introduce a bill to extend this to U.S. pols any day now.
I personally can understand why she was willing to speak up as you can see from my previous posts.
I understand that and agree.
"The communists in China have not been criticized properly nor do we play hardball with them."
Ever since we granted them permanent normal trading relations we haven't played tough with China.
So, we shouldn't have met one on one with any Soviet Leaders? How would Reagan have made progress had he not?
Quite a stretch to draw an equivalence.
They were both brave women who broke the law to protest morally retched policy. I understand that you are a fan of President Bush and good arguments can be made for his apology on diplomatic grounds, but to call this woman names is very uncalled for IMO.
First of all, welcome to FR. (I really enjoy getting to say that since I'm still a rookie myself. LOL)
In any case, I think there is a time and place for everything. We play softball and hardball with the Chinese at different times.
But it seems to me that right now, while we are reducing the likely support they would receive from the ME by cleaning out the corners...we have to let that particular issue simmer for a bit.
We can not go all out all the time. We have to pace ourselves and deal with the biggest current (and easiest to fix) threats first.
JMO, of course.
If I have a guest in my home, and you come barging in the door and start yelling at my guest, I will call you a name too.
Ok...now you two can go back to discussing. ; ).
I suppose you were not a Goldwater fan?
Nobody here hates Chinese people. We do, however, hate the mass-murdering scumbags in power over there. The fact that you do not speaks volumes.
Also, the tactic of accusing people of racism simply for bashing Hu Jintao is pathetic and weak.
Somebody who bans the Roman Catholic Church is not a tyrant in your book?
Also, I'd rather be poor and have Hillary as my president and still be able to practice my religion than to be wealthy in China but not free.
Well actually it is a trait or variant of Marxism. Silencing the message by accusing one of being racist, phobic, etc. Quite effective actually and it's taught at most major schools and universities. I'll ping you to a very good thread that exposes and explains it.
It will bring attention to the atrocities here in the US. God bless that woman.
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