Announcements

CSN announces six rallies,
reacts to new outrage by Chinese government,
upgrades web site, releases new rock song

March 27, 2008 (CSN) -- The China Support Network (CSN) and partners in the Freedom First, Olympics Second Coalition (FFOSC) are planning to co-sponsor six rallies in the northeast U.S. within the next month. These rallies center around the Human Rights Torch Relay (HRTR), a project of the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (CIPFG).

"Everyone is piling on against the Olympics. The Human Rights Torch Relay is a counterpoint to the Olympic torch relay. The upcoming tour can be an excellent awareness-building measure," said John Kusumi, Director Emeritus of the China Support Network. The series of rallies will hear from leading Chinese dissidents and from a new rock band, Light Club, as well as from CSN's own Mr. Kusumi. The cities and dates are as follows:

• March 30, Boston MA includes speeches by John Kusumi and Yang Jianli, music by Light Club
  
• April 5, Providence RI includes speeches by John Kusumi and Xu Wenli
  
• April 12, Portsmouth NH includes speech by John Kusumi
  
• April 13, Manhattan NYC includes speech by John Kusumi, music by Light Club
  
• April 19, Portland ME includes speech by John Kusumi
  
• April 26 New Haven CT includes speech by John Kusumi, music by Light Club
  

The kickoff event will be this Sunday in Boston, Massachusetts. A marathon of runners will carry the torch to the Boston Common, arriving at midday. Then a march and a torch lighting ceremony will be followed by a rally (likely at 2p.m.) with speeches and music. The debut appearance of Light Club will include the first live performance of the new song, 'Freedom First (Olympics Second).'

Light Club is a new act assembled by Tim Britt, a songwriter and guitarist formerly with NoManZero. His new band will also play 'Remember Tiananmen Square,' the theme song of the China Support Network. 'Freedom First' will become the theme song of the Freedom First, Olympics Second Coalition.

New Outrage by Chinese Government

At Students for a Free Tibet, their blog is now reporting that Tibetan monks in beseiged monasteries are facing a new peril: death by starvation. Chinese troops have reportedly cut off water supplies to monasteries they surround, and are not allowing food to be brought to the monks.

The China Support Network suggests that everyone should hit the panic button. "If monks have gone two weeks without food, then they now have a humanitarian emergency and a serious threat to their health. The siege of the monasteries will be recorded as another crime against humanity, hopefully the last of the Chinese Communist Party dictatorship," said CSN's John Kusumi. The China Support Network calls upon all Western governments to use their influence to lift the siege of the monasteries. And directly to the Chinese government, CSN calls for a lifting of the siege and for supplies, humanitarian relief workers, journalists, and international monitors to be allowed access to the monks.

"In the latest Tibet crackdown, Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao are scaling the heights of evil, while also missing their last, best chance to have Tibet in a confederacy with China. If they don't talk to the Dalai Lama, history will record theirs as a missed opportunity," added Kusumi, who in the next speech (Sunday) will call for Communist China to negotiate with the Dalai Lama.

Briefly

• The web site at www.chinasupport.net has been upgraded. The "splash page" is now a quick read of the latest news, and has more introductory material forming an overview of China-related issues as seen from here. A new CSN podcast and YouTube videos mean that text, audio, and video are all available from the front page at chinasupport.net.
   
  
• The rock band Light Club has made its song 'Freedom First (Olympics Second)' freely available as an .MP3 file at www.lightclub.us. The first performance won't happen until Sunday, but you can hear the song now! Visit www.lightclub.us.

IFCSS issues statement on Tibet

Statement by the Independent Federation of Chinese Students and Scholars (IFCSS) on the Tibet Issue

March 17, 2008

Since mid March, there has been a peaceful petition and demonstration by the monks and people of Tibet, which evolved into a bloody conflict between the Chinese Communist government and the Tibetans.

The IFCSS believes that

1. The Tibetan Buddhism is a treasure of human culture;
   
2. Tibetans have their rights to choose their religious beliefs and life style;
   
3. Tibetans should enjoy a high degree of autonomy;
   
4. The Tibetans' religious beliefs and culture rights should receive respect and protection;
   
5. When the Tibetans' rights of a high degree of autonomy and religious and cultural freedom are not respected and protected, they have the right to choose demonstrations to express their dissatisfaction.
   

The IFCSS strongly condemns the Chinese Communist government's indifference toward the Tibetans' request, and expresses its strongest protest over the Chinese government's violent suppression that followed. We ask the Chinese government to release those who have been detained; to open the foreign media to Tibet to report and interview, as well as permit international society to have an independent and fair investigation over this incident. Only an open China with human rights has the right to hold the Olympics.

Human rights has a universal value. The IFCSS feels what the Tibetans feel. We solidly support Tibetans' long-time struggle by means of peace and non-violence. We wish that democracy and freedom shall be realized in China, including Tibet.

-- The Independent Federation of Chinese Students and Scholars (IFCSS)

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Editor's note: At the time of Tiananmen Square's massacre in 1989, America was educating about 40,000 students from China at U.S. universities. China's uprising had pitted Chinese college students againt the administration of Red China. In exile after the massacre, democracy-minded college students needed a student association to be independent of the Chinese regime. Thus the IFCSS was formed with the blessing of leading Chinese dissidents, who assigned it to represent those 40,000 Mainland students in the United States. In addition to fielding political issues as seen above, the IFCSS sponsors the yearly candle light vigil opposite Washington's Chinese embassy for every annivesary of Tiananmen Square's "June 4" massacre.

Three stories today

CSN Condemns Rising Tibetan Death Toll;
HRW Raises Fears of Detainee Torture;
JPK Calls Again for Condoleeza Rice to Resign


1. CSN Condemns Rising Tibetan Death Toll and Lies of China's Regime

Protests have wracked the Himalayan region of Tibet, beginning on March 10, 2008 which was the 49th anniversary of Tibetan National Uprising Day -- an occasion in 1959 when Chinese troops cracked down on a Tibetan uprising, and forced the Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual and temporal leader, to flee into exile. Prior to the rise of communism in China, Tibet was historically a theocracy of Tibetan Buddhism. As the head of Tibetan Buddhism, the Dalai Lama was or is the "god-king." With no separation of church and state, he was or is the head of church and the head of state for Tibet.

On March 14, protests turned violent, and Chinese "People's Armed Police" killed an estimated 80 Tibetans while putting down protests in Lhasa. Sympathy protests have recently spread to other parts of China, and the death toll has risen. The China Support Network (CSN) is a group established in the United States in 1989, and supports freedom for all regions afflicted by the dictatorship of the Chinese Communist Party. Stated another way, we are anti-communist and we support the Tibetans as well as all of the religious denominations and ethnic groups who are persecuted by Beijing.

At this time, CSN estimates the death toll in a range from 110-117. The number of deaths will inevitably be matched by a number of wounded with injuries. A realistic number to match the death toll suggests 400-500 wounded. Arrests could be in the thousands. Further, this incident is not over and done with. There is every chance that another week brings another tragedy in the ongoing saga of China's brutal occupation and cultural genocide in Tibet. It is understandable that Tibetans are angry. They are dealing with a case of "Grand theft, country."

Even one death -- untimely and needless, by gratuitous government fiat -- is too many. From 1950 to the present, Communist China has killed over a million Tibetans, and destroyed some 6,200 monasteries. The Communist Premier, Wen Jiabao, held a press conference on March 18 and became the regime's point man for demonizing the Dalai Lama, whom he blamed for the violence. A Connecticut newspaper, the Hartford Courant, directly rebutted Wen's charge, saying "No, it was incited by unacceptable Chinese repression of Tibetan religious and cultural practices and aggravated by Chinese security forces too eager to attack."

On March 14, the dissident-controlled China Interim Government urged Tibetans to "drive out the CCP's representative in Tibet – Zhang Qingli, acting Party Secretary of the Tibetan Autonomous Region." On March 19, Zhang Qingli, said in a published editorial, "The Dalai Lama is a wolf wrapped in a robe, a monster with human face and animal's heart." The China Support Network denounces the statements by Wen Jiabao and Zhang Qingli. "History will remember the CCP as the epitome of evil. Civilian Tibetans would be unarmed, but for stones or homemade implements. The bullet holes can only come from triggermen on the side of the CCP. When evil people do evil things, it is not a valid excuse to say 'The Dalai Lama made me do it,'" observed John Kusumi at the China Support Network.

Kusumi underscored, "The killings are acts of commission, and the Communist Party is guilty. As for another regime lie, I would ask Wen Jiabao, 'If, as your propaganda says, Tibet was always a part of China historically, then why was there a need for Chinese troops to invade in 1950? Indeed, there are eleven earlier generations of Dalai Lama. It was they, not China, who ruled Tibet. Your propaganda is flat wrong -- and around the world, Tibetan Buddhism is known as a religion of non-violence. It reveals a political tin ear to be demonizing a man who holds a Nobel Peace Prize.'" The China Support Network condemns inaccurate propaganda which perpetuates the in-house myths of the Communist Party.


2. HRW Raises Fears of Detainee Torture, Calls for International Monitor Access

The Chinese government should immediately permit independent monitors to have access to the large number of Tibetans detained in Tibet and adjoining provinces in the aftermath of public protests, Human Rights Watch said today. The government should publish the names of all individuals detained and their places of detention.

Unconfirmed reports suggest that hundreds have been arrested. Chinese authorities have not specified the number of detainees. Human Rights Watch and others have previously documented torture and ill-treatment of detainees in Tibet, especially those accused by the Chinese authorities of “separatist” activities.

“Given the long and well-documented history of torture of political activists by China’s security forces there is every reason to fear for the safety of those recently detained,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Only by giving access to independent monitors can China give the world some confidence that detainees are not being tortured or mistreated.”

Chinese officials announced that those who had been involved in the protests must “surrender” to police by midnight on March 16 and that they would be shown leniency if they did so. The officials insisted that the detention of protesters was necessary to ensure public security.

The Chinese government has virtually sealed off Tibet, expelling or turning away foreign journalists and tourists. The Chinese government has long banned independent human rights observers from Tibet and punishes Tibetans who send information out of the country regarding the human rights situation.

“The exclusion of independent monitors and expulsion of foreign media from Tibet only suggest that China wants to retaliate against these protesters unfettered by global scrutiny,” said Adams. “China is in direct violation of its commitment to the International Olympic Committee to allow foreign journalists free access to the whole country, a point the IOC should be making publicly if it is to retain any credibility.”


3. JPK Again Calls for Condoleeza Rice to Resign

by John Kusumi

I've previously called for U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice, to resign. The first time in late 2006, I said that it was "ludicrous, unwarranted and disconnected from reality" when the State Department removed Vietnam from its Countries of Particular Concern list in the area of religious persecution. Vietnam remains a regime with deadly religious persecution. To remove that designation was a display of incompetence, or of mere pandering to communists, dictators, tyrants and thugs, with whom the U.S. Government should not be smitten.

Now a more recent outrage prompts me once again to call for Rice to resign. The matter was well stated in an editorial by the Hartford Courant. "The United States, regrettably, has recently removed China from its list of the 10 worst human rights violators. China should go back on the list." My thanks to the Hartford Courant because they said it -- China should go back on the list. And, just as with Vietnam, this maneuver was ludicrous, unwarranted, disconnected from reality, and revealing of incompetence or pandering.

The fresh slaughter of Tibetans has made the case already, to support the return of China to the list. Indeed, the fresh slaughter of Tibetans is also making the case that the Summer Olympic Games and their advertisers should be boycotted, if the games will be under this same Beijing regime. On March 19, Wei Jingsheng published an op-ed in the Washington Post. It was aptly titled, "China's True Face: The Host of the Olympics or the Thug of Tibet?" Wei correctly excoriates the President of the International Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge.

Within his piece, Wei Jingsheng says, "The old lies and propaganda don't work anymore." That is an excellent point that is lost on out-of-touch world leaders, and even some newsrooms. Hooray for Wei Jingsheng! And boo hiss for Wen Jiabao, Zhang Qingli, and Condoleeza Rice!

China Interim Government responds to Tibet crisis

The following is a public statement issued March 14, 2008, by the China Interim Government (CIG). CIG was created late in 2007 and opened this year by Chinese dissidents. Its senior leadership includes Wu Fan, Jia Jia, Yuan Hongbing, and Tang Baiqiao.

It very much sounds like the China Interim Government agrees with any Tibetans whose goal is to chase the Communists out of Tibet!

---=====---

We are shocked to learn of the recent replay of the 1989 bloody suppression of Tibetan citizens in Lhasa. The regime has once again carried out a bloody massacre of Tibetan citizens. The China Interim Government strongly censures such evil crimes committed by the CCP and expresses deep respect for the courage displayed by the Tibetans in their protest against the Communist regime.

In the process of disintegrating the CCP, courage and sagacity are the basis for Chinese citizens to break free from the regime's slavery and become a dignified nation. The entire Chinese nation should follow the example of the Tibetans and continue to strengthen ourselves mentally.

Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, has stated publicly on many occasions that they are not asking for Tibet's independence but are only seeking self rule and human rights. However, the CCP continues to twist the facts and initiated bloody suppressions against Tibetan citizens in 1956 and 1989 under the charge of "Tibetan independence." Still today, tens of thousands of Tibetan citizens continue to drift [homeless] from place to place. Needless to say, there is no guarantee of their rights. Half a century has gone by, not only is there no improvement in the human rights condition of Tibetan citizens, it is continuously deteriorating. Yet today, they are once again under brutal suppression by the violent Communist regime.

These crimes committed by the CCP have infuriated man and God. Hu Jintao being the leader of the Communist regime cannot be absolved of the crimes committed by the CCP. The China Interim Government insists that Hu Jintao end the massacre of Tibetan citizens immediately.

The suppression of Tibetan citizens is just the tip of the crimes committed by the CCP. The regime has suppressed the Tibetans' request for human rights in the name of "Tibetan independence," suppressed the request of Uighurs in Xinjiang for human rights in the name of "Xinjiang independence," threatened the citizens in Taiwan in the name an "independent Taiwan," and suppressed citizens in Mainland China seeking human rights in the name of "quelling unrest." This is the true face of the CCP. Furthermore, since the CCP gained power, it has massacred landlords, capitalists, intellectuals, Falun Gong practitioners, etc., one after another in the name of reforms and revolution. The regime has committed countless bloody crimes. Its brutal acts have sealed its fate — disintegration.

Only by disintegrating the CCP can the brutal crimes against humanity be stopped. Hence we hope that the mass of Tibetan citizens will make this their first goal, gather their power to drive out the CCP's representative in Tibet – Zhang Qingli, acting Party Secretary of the Tibetan Autonomous Region and break free from the slavery of the CCP as soon as possible.

The China Interim Government calls upon all Chinese citizens to support Tibetan citizens to stop the brutal massacre by the CCP. Use this battle for one's rights to initiate a new movement to disintegrate the CCP in 2008 and finally arrive at the strategic goal of ending the Communist Party rule in 2008.

China Interim Government Spokesman Tang Baiqiao will accept interviews from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. U.S. Eastern Standard Time on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

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Spokesman Tang Baiqaio, usually based in New York City.




Flag of the China Interim Government.

Overseas Chinese Democracy Coalition Expresses Its Support to the Tibetans' Freedom Fight

March 14, 2008

We have closely watched the events evolving in the last a few days related to the Tibetans' freedom fight all over the world, especially in Lhasa, Capital of Tibet. Exactly 49 years after the brutal military crackdown and massacre of the Tibetans by the Chinese Communists' army, once again the brave Tibetan people, asking for freedom, especially freedom of religion, are staging a massive protest and demonstrations.

These demonstrations do not come as a surprise. Led by his holiness the Dalai Lama, the patient efforts of the Tibetans to seek freedom and true autonomy have continuously failed due to lack of sincerity from the Chinese Communist government. Once again, the calls for freedom and demonstrations in Tibet have been met with military force and bloodshed. This reaction by the Chinese Communists in Lhasa is similar to what happened in 1989 in Lhasa prior to the June 4 massacre in Beijing in front of the eyes of the whole international society, under the same leadership of Hu Jintao. As now the international society is eyeing the upcoming 2008 Olympics, the Chinese Communist government has once again chosen its iron fist as the way to answer a call of freedom and peace.

Here, we want to emphasize what Mr. Wei Jingsheng has repeated in the last several years:

1. The suffering of the Han Chinese and Tibetans are the same.

2. In 1959, the protests of the Tibetans were crudely suppressed by the Chinese Communist Party. The massacre lasted for more than one year, while almost one million Tibetans lost their lives. Meanwhile, the Han Chinese were also under the political persecution of the Chinese Communist Party, and several tens of millions lives were lost due to political persecution and starvation.

3. In 1989, it was the current Chinese Party leader HU Jintao who led the army to kill the Tibetans on the streets of Lhasa. Meanwhile, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and DENG Xiaoping massacred hundreds and thousands of people on the streets of Beijing.

4. In the last several decades, suppressed people are all against the Chinese Communist Party's tyranny. We must mutually support, mutually help each other. In the past, due to the lies and propaganda of the CCP, many Han Chinese did not know the suffering of the Tibetans, did not understand that the Tibetans' struggle against tyranny is the same goal as the Chinese. Now, more and more Han Chinese has learned of the suffering of the Tibetans, and are in agreement and support of the Tibetans' goal.

5. Due to the struggle and the pressure of the Tibetan people and international society, the CCP expressed that they are willing to solve the Tibetan issue via negotiation. However, just like before, they have no sincerity for negotiation, but play with international public opinion, in an effort to dissolve the determination of Tibetans' struggle. Thus, we must keep the successful approaches of the struggle from the past few decades, and maintain the pressure on the CCP both internally and internationally so we could get some real solid results from the negotiation. In dealing with reasonable parties, we could use reasonable manners for negotiation. However, in dealing with a hooligan government like the CCP, it is impossible to get some serious negotiation if there is not enough pressure.

Hereby, with all the freedom and democracy loving people of the world we want to express solidarity with the Tibetans' freedom fighters and ask the international society to not only put its attention but add more pressure on the Chinese government. We express outrage at the IOC chairman Mr. Jacques Rogge's disregard of the Olympic spirit and refusal to give a comment or stand on Tibetans' outcry, not to mention of express any will of effort to stop this tragic development. Nevertheless, we believe in and are thankful to the majority of the righteous-minded people on this world who support the freedom and human rights of the Tibetans.

The freedom and human rights of the Tibetans is the freedom and human rights of all the people.

-- Overseas Chinese Democracy Coalition

Wei Jingsheng decries US' PNTR trade treatment for Communist China

February, 2008


I am grateful to the two candidates of the Democratic Party of the USA. Finally, you have included the important issues of millions of American workers' jobs in your campaign agenda.


Seven years ago, during the hot debate over whether to give China Permanent Normal Trade Relationship (PNTR) or not, it was the then US representatives David Bonior (D, MI), Nancy Pelosi (D, CA), Marcy Kaptur (D, OH), Sherrod Brown (D, OH), Frank Wolf (R, VA) and Chris Smith (R, NJ) who stood on the frontline against offering the dictatorial Communist China PNTR and entrance into the World Trade Organizations (WTO). They were defending human rights, as well as protecting American workers' interests and Chinese workers' rights. Most of democratic politicians were on their side, but the majority of American politicians stood on the side of the dictatorial Chinese government. We failed in this battle.


The result of this failure is that not only did Chinese workers lose their opportunity of striving for their legitimate rights and reasonable treatment, but also millions of Americans lost their job opportunities and their fight for reasonable treatment as well. Eight years ago, we had already warned Americans that giving PNTR to the Chinese Communists would damage the rights and interests of the American workers and the Chinese workers, as well as damage the interests of the small and middle sized business enterprises in America, further damaging America's market and America's national interest. At that time, 70% of Americans already realized this problem, but less than half of American politicians admitted this problem.


For 7 years now, this problem has rapidly developed in the form of economic recession and the way that millions lost their jobs. If we include Europe and Japan, it is an unemployment of tens of millions of people and global economic recession. From an international political view, it is the global recession of human rights and democratic politics, and the new rise of an "evil axis". While American soldiers are risking their lives for democracy and human rights, American politicians and big business enterprises are raising money to help the evil axis that has the behind-the-scenes backing of the Chinese Communist government. This irrational state has come to the point that it must be corrected.


I am grateful to the candidates of the Democratic Party who raised this grave problem to a point of urgency. On the most important timetable for the US president to work, this problem is the one that should have the first priority. It is the root problem behind all the other important problems. Regardless of who will be elected for the next term as the US president, if he/she is sincere in defending the interests of the Americans, as well as the free and democratic countries, he/she must solve this problem first, to correct the root mistakes that the past American government had made.


WEI Jingsheng
Overseas Chinese Democracy Coalition

Statement from Wang Dan

Wang Dan discusses China
at DC's National Press Club

Transcript of his prepared remarks follows.

November 29, 2007 in Washington, D.C.:

Carrie Conko: Good morning, and welcome to the Morning Newsmakers at the National Press Club. My name is Carrie Conko, and I'm a member of the Newsmakers Committee here at the National Press Club. I'd like to welcome club members and our guests here this morning as well as those of you watching on C-Span and other networks. This morning's speaker is Wang Dan, one of the most prominent advocates for Chinese democracy. At the age of 20, Wang Dan gained notoriety in China and across the world, as one of the undergraduate student organizers of the pro-democracy protests that culminated in the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. Following these protests, Wang Dan was arrested and sentenced to prison twice: once in 1989, and once in 1995. He ultimately served seven years in prison for conspiring to overthrow the Communist Party of China. In 1998, under intense international political pressure, Wang Dan was released from prison and exiled to the United States. Here, he completed his Masters in East Asian History at Harvard University, where he's pursuing his PhD. He's speaking with us today about his life in China, the country's histroic economic and social reforms, and the Chinese policies that continue to pose challenges to the country's growth and development. The talk will be followed by a Q&A with members of the media. I should note that Wang Dan will be reading his speech in English. However, when we go to the Q&A, he'll be aided by the assistance of an interpreter. She'll be interpreting his responses. He's able to understand the questions that are being asked. So, please be patient. Thank you. [New information comes in.] --We're doing the whole thing in Chinese with the aid of the interpreter.

Wang Dan: Well, first of all, I'd like to thank [inaudible] Center as well as NPC [National Press Club] for giving me this opportunity to meet with all of you.

The emergence of China is now an issue that is drawing a lot of attention, especially in the West. However, I think when the West is looking at China's emergence, you are looking at it from two perspectives, which I think are myths or mythified perspectives. A lot of the reports from the West these days about China are looking at China's economy, and I also think that a lot of the way the West is looking at China depends a lot on the conclusions of the pundits. And therefore, I think because of these two myths -- so when we look at the economic development of China today, we have ignored the two very important characteristics.

- First of all even though China's economic development is growing at a very rapid pace, however we have to recognize that it is a very unbalanced development.

- And also we need to recognize that this kind of growth is actually bulit on a very unequal, unfair fundamentals in the society.

And therefore, I think if we overlook these two important characteristics, then our judgment or our conclusion on China's economic development would be inaccurate. So, what we think today is that despite it's rapid economic development, China is also experiencing very dramatic or sharp social conflict. I think that the West should not look at only China's economic development and ignore China's social conflict.

Now what is the primary conflict? --As China develops economically, we see a kind of division in the society. First of all you see one group which is the interest group, or what we call vested interest group, or the elite group. On the other side, you see another group who has lost their rights during this process of reform, and we call them the vulnerable group. And the conflict between these two groups will bring a lot of problems to China. Although this kind of conflict is not quite obvious yet, but we cannot conclude that it wouldn't happen just because we are oblivious to it for now.

And I think the solution, the only solution to avoid this kind of social conflict is to bring democracy to China. Because now, there are many interest groups in China that are dividing the national assets. So, we need to impose some kind of checks and balances through bringing democracy to China. And we also believe that China's economic development will eventually lead to privatization. However, this kind of privatization will be extremely unfair if it is not supported by democracy.

A while ago the director of the Asian deparatment of the Rand Corporation mentioned that there is now political reform in China, which I think is actually a misunderstanding on his part. I don't see any realistic or real political reform in China today. We can use four criteria to judge or conclude whether there is political reform in China.

- First of all we need to look at the elections of the officials. Because we don't see any real election for officials who are above the county level.

- And secondly, we know that the military or the armed forces is still under the leadership of the party -- not under the leadership of the country.

- And, you don't see any real judicial independence in China yet.

- And, you can see that the government is still very much in control of the media and other propaganda organs.

And therefore, if we don't see any changes in what I just mentioned--the four issues above--then we cannot conclude that there is true or genuine political reform in China. Maybe some people argue that, "Well, we do enjoy more freedom in China now than we did compared to ten years or twenty years ago." --But, I have to point out very clearly that this so-called "freedom" is one that is not safe guarded or protected by a certain institution. This is a kind of freedom that is really shaky; that the government can terminate at any time. So, we say that this kind -- this is just an illusion, it's not true freedom. And, like all the other members of the world community we do look forward to China's prosperity and stability. But, I believe that the prosperity and stability in China will not be sustainable if there's a lack of freedom, and true freedom and true equality.

Finally, I would like the media to think about this one question: What is China going to look like in ten years? Now, think about China in ten years if it has finally become a military and an economic superpower, but without real democracy --what is it going to look like? Now are we willing -- the Western world in particular -- are we willing to face another Cold War? And therefore, I believe that bringing democracy to China is not something that concerns [just] China, but all of us in the international community who are stakeholders in that.

I would also like to take this opportunity to raise an issue that I think that everyone cares about and which is the human rights issue in China. Many Chinese have exiled to the United States since 1989, and many of them are still not allowed to return to China. It is really unfair not to let them return to the motherland after 20 years. Many of them have grown older and it's really -- they do need to go back.

We are very happy to see that the Olympics Games is going to be held in China next year. And therefore, we hope that these Olympics Games is going to give the Chinese government an opportunity to become more liberal and open and also to allow the exiles to return home. And we hope that this is an issue that the entire world will pay attention to.

--And next, you can ask questions and I will respond to your questions....