Xu Wenli meets with Pelosi and State Dept.

U.S. State Department and
House Speaker Pelosi host
Xu Wenli of the Chinese
Democratic Party

Xu Wenli is preparing memorable news to be made at
this year's 18th anniversary of Tiananmen's crackdown, June 4

Xu Wenli in Washington DC meetings of 4/20/2007

April 22, 2007 (CSN) -- Xu Wenli, a veteran Chinese dissident now living in exile in Rhode Island, has been responsible for the Chinese Democratic Party (also known as the China Democracy Party, or CDP) since its founding in Mainland China in 1998. He is the most high profile and senior CDP leader among dissidents in exile. Hence, it was politically significant that the U.S. State Department, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, recently hosted meetings with him last Friday in Washington DC.

At the U.S. State Department, his meeting was at the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. There, officials including Jonathan D. Farrar, Paula J. Dobriansky, and Barry F. Lowenkron received him and discussed human rights conditions in China, the U.S.-China human rights dialogue, and upcoming activism for a free China.

According to CDP, State Department officials affirmed "the United States’ continuous commitment to push for democratic reforms in China." A CDP statement characterized the discussions, on a series of issues, as "productive and constructive," adding that the meeting concluded on a note of genuine hope for future cooperation.

Mr. Xu proceeded onwards to Capitol Hill, where he was received by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). It was not their first meeting; Speaker Pelosi is believed to be enamoured of Xu as "China's Hero." The two sides discussed more specific issues related to human rights and democracy in China.

These meetings come during a preparatory time. Xu's China Democracy Party United Headquarters - Overseas Division will host its first Party Congress in June of this year to coincide with the 18th anniversary of the bloody Tiananmen Square crackdown, an occasion when ordinary Chinese people led by pro-democracy college students had taken over Tiananmen Square -- and then, on June 4, 1989, Communist China sent in 300,000 army troops, clearing the Square with live ammunition at a cost of some 3,000 innocent civilian lives.

Not long ago, CSN published an article, 'Is the Chinese Democratic Party ready to come of age?'. The party congress comes with timing that seems almost to be in answer to the questions raised in that earlier article. As it becomes ever more prepared for its role in China's future, the CDP is the strongest potential challenger for Chinese leadership, with a growing, nationwide presence in Mainland China.

The 18th anniversary of Tiananmen Square's massacre will have a different character this year. In addition to observances in Washington, Hong Kong, and at Chinese embassies and consulates around the world, there will also be the CDP Congress to occur in Providence, Rhode Island, where Xu Wenli has been a professor at Brown University.

History may remember June 4, 2007 as the occasion where a Congress passes the Declaration of China's Third Republic, a tract that is now circulated by the CDP. As for establishing a democratic republic in China, CSN will hope that the "third time is a charm." * *

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* [Note 1 -- The China Support Network has been sitting with word of the upcoming Congress, and about its proposed "Declaration of China's Third Republic," a tract that has circulated since April 15. We were honoring a "news embargo" in which Xu's materials specified that public release would be on May 2. However, CDP itself released the news on April 21 within the news about Xu Wenli's meetings in Washington DC.

Their statement about the April 20 meetings, including reference to "hosting of the First Party Congress of the China Democracy Party this June and his vision of establishing China’s Third Republic," arrived at CSN in Chinese on April 21, and in English on April 22. A check at the CDP web site shows that this news is already public, allowing journalists to say, "So much for a poorly-kept news embargo."

It seems evident that the U.S. State Department and Nancy Pelosi were clued in about the upcoming activity on Friday, and now CSN readers, subscribers, and members can likewise be informed.]

* * [Note 2. China scholars are aware that a 1911 revolution led to "Asia's First Republic" in China. A post-World War II conference in 1946 led to a Second Republic -- the Island of Taiwan is still governed by the Constitution of the ROC that was negotiated there in 1946. Only later, in 1949, did the Communist Party take power in China.]

* * * [Note 3. News outlets should daybook June 4 & 5 to be the CDP's Party Congress. Who: CDP; What: Party Congress; Where: Brown Univ., Providence RI (two venues); When: June 4 & 5 full days; Contact: Xu Wenli 401-863-9768 or mailto:ccc3@hotmail.com]