A group of Hong Kong citizens hold a 24-hour strike outside Hong Kong
Xinhua office on January 8, 1998 to show their support for the arrested
mainland dissidents such as Xu Wen-li, Wang You-cai, and Qin Yong-min,
and Zhang Shan-guang. They will continue to hold a 1-hour sit-in outside
Xinhua on the second Saturday of every month until all the dissidents are
released.
The hunger-strike protest participants include Leung Kwok-hung (April 5th
Action Group), Lau Tze-lim (April 5th Action Group), Lau San-ching
(Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic and Democratic Movement in
China), Fung Chi-wood (Hong Kong Democratic Party), and Chris Ng
Kung-siu (Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic and Democratic
Movement). Former legislator Tsang Kin-shing and Hong Kong Alliance
standing committee member Leung Kwok-wah joined the sit-in.
The hunger-strikers said their act is to show their support of the present
marathon 24-hour hunger-strike on mainland China by 213 dissidents. The
right of freedom of association and setting up trade unions is the inalienable
rights of the Chinese people protected by both the Chinese constitution and
the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Dissidents such Xu
Wen-li are only exercising their rights in forming the Chinese Democratic
Party and should not be persecuted for these activities. On the other hand,
labour activist Zhang Shan-guang, who attempted to set up the Association
to Protect the Laid-off Workers' Rights, was only trying protect the
workers' right of survival, which has often claimed by the Chinese
government as "major accomplishment" in China's human rights record. The
conviction of Zhang therefore exposed the hypocrisy of the Chinese
government.
The hunger-strike statement said the persecution represents the Chinese
government's plan to annihilate the two generations of democratic and
human rights activists, the 1979 Democracy Wall group and the 1989
Democratic Movement group. The 1998 suppression is very similar to that
of 1981, when there was a massive arrest of dissidents and undergroup
magazine editors.
The statement also calls for the international community's attention to the
present plight of democratic and human rights activists in China and
pressuing of the Chinese government for the early of the convicted
dissidents.
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