Both Hong Kong and mainland dissident groups held protests against the
mass arrests of China Democratic Party by the Chinese government. The
Chinese government said the Beijing dissident Xu Wen-li is arrested
because of engaging in activities endangering the national security and
maintained the arrest is the internal matter of China. US government
expressed concern over the arrest of Xu.
Three Hong Kong political groups, namely, April 5th Action Group, China
Liberal Democratic Party, and Never Forget June 4th, held a protest
against the arrests of the China Democratic Party members before the New
China News Agency office at 2:00 pm December 2, 1998. Spokesman of
the demonstration Leung Kwok-hung said the arrests are apparently meant
to be a blow on the newly formed political party, which has set up branches
in many provinces on the mainland. He pointed out the constitution of the
PRC has provided the right to association for the Chinese citizens, and so it
is perfectly legal for them to form political party. Leung added that the
arrests were done on the eve of the 50th anniversary of Human Rights
Declaration, two covenants, namely International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights and International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights, of which were already signed by the Chinese government
this year. The groups called for the immediate release of Xu Wen-li, Qin
Yong-min, Wang You-cai, and other members of China Democratic Party.
191 mainland dissidents signed an urgent statement demanding the Chinese
government to release Xu, Qin, and Wang, according to the Hong
Kong-based Information Centre of Human Rights and Democratic
Movement in China. The signature drive was initiated by Wang Ze-chen,
who noted that China has not improved its human rights record after signing
the two covenants. On the contrary, the Chinese government is increasing
its oppression of the dissidents. Mainland dissidents are of the opinion that
the Chinese government has no intention of abiding by them and the signing
was just a cosmetic exercise.
According to another report of the Information Centre, Chen Zhong and
Xiao Shi-chang, two China Democratic Party members arrested on
November 30, were released on the morning of December 2. The police
interrogated them about the information of the China Democratic Party.
There are reports that the telephone lines of Xu Wen-li and Qin Yong-min's
homes are cut by police.
Meanwhile, the hunger-strike protest held by former student leaders against
the arrests is still continuing, and Wang Zheng-yun is the one who is
hunger-striking now.
|
