Open letter to Mr Hu Jintao and to Mr Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 

You will have both immediately noticed that this letter does not address Mr Hu Jintao as ‘President of the People’s Republic of China’. This is because the term “People’s Republic of China” contains three falsehoods: “People’s” – it cannot be the people’s when the people’s wishes are deliberately twisted and soiled. “Republic” – it cannot be a republic if democratic elections continue to be refused by a dictatorial and totalitarian regime. And it cannot be “China” while the communist mainland continues to threaten the culturally Chinese democratic Taiwan with armed aggression. Mr Hu, you are not, therefore, the leader of China; rather, your ‘authority’ is derived from your position as Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which has become a violent, corrupt and morally bankrupt cabal.

Mr Blair, you are included as a recipient of this letter because in your position as a democratically elected leader of a country with an established tradition of rule of law, you should be aware that the CCP sends thugs to assault its opponents on British soil. A Falun Gong practitioner who sat opposite the Chinese embassy in London in peaceful protest against the Chinese government’s persecution of Falun Gong, was physically attacked by a person who emerged from the embassy. We implore you to bear this in mind – this propensity to resort to thuggish brutality, the CCP’s assumed right to employ the foulest means – when you meet with Mr Hu. 

The communism of the Cold War continues to poison and sully China. The original violation of all things human in China was the opening salvo against traditional concepts of property and society; the rulers monopolised power and wealth in the name of ‘public ownership’, and tens of millions of lives were lost and destroyed along the war-path to the ultimate victim – Chinese culture itself. 

Mao Zedong’s beloved Cultural Revolution was about finding the most elegant style with which to bludgeon his way to absolute power. The Tiananmen Massacre was Deng Xiaoping ignoring communism’s collapse the world over; China was beaten and dragged in the opposite direction to the history of humanity. In the age of Jiang Zemin, power and money colluded to turn all of China into the world’s largest National Museum of Communism, exhibiting “the worst of socialism and the worst of capitalism”. 

Jiang Zemin outlawed Falun Gong and initiated the horrifically cruel treatment of its practitioners, but in doing so he conversely reawakened an interest in traditional Chinese culture – the exact opposite of his intention. 

Practitioners of Falun Gong believe in truth, benevolence and forbearance, and strive for freedom of belief through peaceful protest. Falun Gong have already become an important and durable component of China’s democratic forces, and they are earning the admiration and support of people the world over – more so for contrasting so sharply with the barbarity of the CCP. 

Indeed anyone with a penchant for truth in the China you sustain is unsafe. Communist propaganda units under your leadership, Mr Hu – like a Ministry of Punishments – sanction any part of the media even vaguely attempting to give voice to the people. Harbouring or expressing thoughts at even the slightest variance from the “correct requirements” are targeted for prohibition, with the obvious intention of obliterating independent thought and voices in China. 

Southern Metropolitan News was closed, the editor sentenced to six years in prison, the deputy editor sentenced to eight years and the editor in chief detained for more than a year. The reason? They reported to China and the rest of the world the outbreak of SARS while your ‘government’ tried to hide it. 

The editor of Southern Weekend was transferred, the deputy editors removed from the office, and the journalists were dismissed. The reason? Southern Weekend’s reports of a bank raid and the spread of HIV/AIDS were a ‘black mark’ against the local CCP and ‘government’. 

On 24 January 2006 (the same day that the Falun Gong protestor was assaulted in London), the weekly Freezing Point – the ‘last remaining voice’ – was closed and the editor Li Datong was dismissed. Freezing Point had been a vocal critic of your ‘government’ and the effects of its policies. 

As leader of an organization with one of the most sophisticated public surveillance systems in the world, you are no doubt aware of Shi Tao, the poet and editor sentenced to 10 years in prison having sent e-mails about CCP meetings to overseas Chinese democracy activists? 

And in case you’d forgotten, the Singapore-based journalist Ching Cheong is now being detained illegally under China’s own laws – he should have been either tried or released by 16 February. Your ‘government’ have effectively kidnapped him because he was trying to research the writings of one of your predecessors, Zhao Ziyang. 

And now western media companies like Google and Yahoo! have abandoned any principles they ever had to join your game of double standards; they have established a system of checking, forbidding and extirpating information not conducive to your totalitarianism. 

The grubbiest scene so far in the twenty-first century’s intellectual history is thousands upon thousands of Internet pages of independent thought being blocked by this political firewall, built, to their eternal shame, by western companies. 

And as you face Chinese society, with its mounting problems and contradictions, rather than address or reform its twisted socio-economic structures, you instead pursue a small group of brave lawyers who dare to defend the rights of the weak, as though in the enforced silence your lies and lullabies will plaster over the growing cracks. 

These lawyers, who have dared to take you at your word when you talk about the need for rule of law in China, have been harassed, beaten or detained for attempting to use the law to defend the rights of people abused by the CCP. 

Gao Zhicheng and Guo Feixiong are representative of this breed of lawyers. Both are involved in attempting to represent and defend villagers in Guangdong Province, victims of a “mini-Tiananmen” when security forces opened fire on unarmed demonstrators in December last year. 

They and many more lawyers like them continue to fight for what is obviously right by any standard of humanity and conscience; yet they are up against a system dominated by the CCP which has absolutely no vested interest in recognising and respecting the human rights of the Chinese people. 

The plight of Gao, Guo and lawyers like them has given rise to hunger strikes being staged throughout the world to declare support for all human rights defenders in China, and to condemn the brutality of the CCP.

Mr Hu, your ‘government’ is actually increasing control and repression of independent thought; after 30 years of reforms, the human rights situation in China is ranked 177th in the world. And it must be clearly understood that improvements in the lives of Chinese people have not been because of the generosity or benevolence of the ‘government’ you represent. Instead, improvements have been the result of grudging concessions made by the CCP in the face of demands from the people and the international community – improvements despite, not because of, the CCP. 

Yet we are still disposed to offer you a friendly reminder, Mr Hu: there are secret agents amongst your evil doers. Soldiers who shoot over the heads people protesting their loss of rights are secret agents; a lawyer living in safety while defending protestors’ rights is also a secret agent; a journalist with the sense of justice to express the outrage of the Chinese nation with every ounce of his being is yet another secret agent. 

And it is through these agents that the world is judging you, Mr Hu, and not the impression you hope you make when you attend G8 or come to the United Kingdom. 

What is the value of high GDP and enormous foreign exchange reserves when they’ve been acquired by a money-grubbing, power-corrupted, justice-perverting clique of gangsters under your command? And what is the point of ever-higher sky-scrapers for your rich and famous lackeys to name in honour of themselves, when the souls of the Chinese people have been so thoroughly polluted?

We beseech you, Mr Hu, to ponder long and hard upon these questions: why is it that lawyers are taking risks and why are the people they defend still protesting? Why are journalists braving such extreme personal danger to work for the rule of law in China? Why is it that so many people in China and elsewhere – known and unknown – are writing reproving letters to you, and even going on hunger strike as a token of their determination? Could it be that spiritually and in truth, “the Chinese people have stood up”? Could it be that an ancient culture has found its way to modernity? Can we now start to discard of the stinking, rotting baggage that has been grafted onto “China” by dint of the CCP’s continued existence? 

It does not matter that you hold the most powerful position in China – you are still just a person, Mr Hu. You too, therefore, need to consider how history will judge you. 

And even as you consider yourself, don’t forget those secret agents!

Mr Tony Blair, you can see from the above that clearly, the human rights situation in China is not improving; indeed, it is becoming critical. 

It must be realised that while the CCP finds ever more ways to pervert human rights standards while lulling the world with promises of riches, those who oppose the CCP’s brutality are living some of the most precarious and dangerous existences in China. 

Western governments’ duties to protect these people are part and parcel of the same duties these governments have to protect their long-term national interests; and therefore the extreme danger of being bewitched by the ‘Chinese Economic Miracle’ must be realised. As western companies troop to China in search of cheap labour and western workers are laid off, people are asking why is Chinese labour so cheap? It’s not because China’s population is so big; more, it’s because independent trade unions are illegal, Chinese workers are not given medical insurance, there is no national minimum wage, nor is there a pension fund. Labour could be cheaper still if a company moved to North Korea! 

Helping Chinese workers defend their rights today is to help establish a fairer, more competitive global business environment, which in turn is to help workers in the west regain their own employment rights. 

We should in fact be genuinely grateful to the people who are standing on the front line of political opposition to the CCP. 

If the west is submitting to the lure of the order book and unilaterally abandoning principles of democracy and human rights – to the extent that it is shoring up the CCP’s ‘stability’ to protect huge investments in China – then principles about the value of humanity are being dangerously eroded. Surely that is too high and too terrifying a price to pay. 

The sages of western culture would be deeply pained by this; the ideals and sacrifices of generations of Chinese people are being ridiculed and belittled. Was the whole struggle really for no more than a homogenous, indifferent and sneering world? 

This is your secret agent, Mr Blair. The ‘China Question’ is not unfolding in some faraway place; it is here beneath the feet of you and your government, and is a large part of the reality of western governance. 

Hollow platitudes and appeals for human rights and democracy are nothing compared to standing and facing challenges with determination and clarity. 

The world is patiently watching and waiting to see which choice you make. 

We implore you to think long and hard on this crucial issue. 

Yang Lian, Poet

Lady Kina Avebury

Cai Chu Writer and Director of the Independent Chinese Writers' Association

Chen Maiping Writer and International Secretary of the Independent Chinese Writers' Association

Chen Kuide, Writer and Director of the Independent Chinese Writers' Association

Brian Coleman,Member of the London Assembly

Antony Dunn Writer and poet

Leonardo Felli Academic, London School of Economics and Political Science

Carola Frege Academic, London School of Economics and Political Science

Dr William N. Herbert Poet and Senior Lecturer, Newcastle University

Peter Jauhal President of the European Falun Dafa Association and the British Falun Gong Association

Professor John Keane, University of Westminster, UK; Institute of Social Sciences, Berlin, Germany

Dr. Li Guihua Head of the Grand Alliance to Bid Farewell to the Chinese Communist Party (UK)

Liang Zhen, General Manager, Voice of Hope International Radio Europe

Liao Tianqi Writer, Editor of the China Information Centre website Observation, Director of the Independent Chinese Writers PEN

Dr William Liu Editor-in-Chief of The Epoch Times (UK)

Liu Xiaobo Writer, President of the Independent Chinese Writers' Association

Ma Jian Writer

Tinch Minter Writer

Jonathan Mirsky, journalist and author

Qiu Xiangzhong Former Editor-in-Chief of Hong Kong Economic Journal

Shao Jiang Exiled dissident

Lord Francis Thurlow, former Deputy Under Secretary of State, British Foreign Office

Wang Lingsong Head of New Tang Dynasty Television UK

Xia Ze Head of Friends of Tiananmen Mothers UK

Dr Xu Yi, academic, University of London

Xu Bei Bei Labour rights activist

Caroline Brossi Yates Scientist and Director of the Centre for the Future of Science and Culture

You You Writer

Dr. Zou Xiang Researcher, University of Cambridge

Date: 25 February 2006

------Chinese version----

致胡锦涛先生、大不列颠联合王国首相布莱尔先生的公开信

一

你们应该已经注意到，在这封公开信的开始，我们没有称呼胡锦涛先生为“中华人民共和国主席”。因为“中华人民共和国”一词，至少包含着三个谎言：“中华” ——还是坚持武力威胁同为中华文化传人的台湾的共产党大陆？“人民”——还是被逆反和强奸的民意？“共和国”——还是拒绝民主选举的独裁专制体系？因此，这封信的第一收信人，不是中国的领导人，而是一个欠下累累血债的非法集团的头领。

这封信的第二收信人，是大不列颠联合王国的民选首相。把布莱尔先生并列为收信人，有以下事实为理由：在伦敦中国大使馆对面静坐抗议中国政治迫害的法论功成员，公然遭到从大使馆出来的人当街殴打。中共把黑手党式的横行霸道，从自己的领土扩展到了民主制度的发源地脚下。这是对全世界人性和良知的公然侮辱。我们要求布莱尔先生特别关注此类事件。

冷战记忆并不遥远。共产主义意识形态的邪恶逻辑很清晰：以空洞的理想主义为号召，以“经济决定”、“历史进化”为血腥逻辑，煽动暴力砸碎传统的财产私有制，毁坏人们的社会常识，最终，借伪公有制的名义实现统治者思想、权力和物质利益的独占。这个过程的完成，就是人性之“恶”集大成的过程。

中国共产党正是这场二十世纪人性大倒退的“革命”产物，只不过，用西方说辞装饰的东方专制可以更肆无忌惮、更彻底“暴君化”，直至通过毁灭几千万人的生命，把中国文化本身变成了最惨痛的受害者。毛泽东的口号“打土豪，分田地”，把中国人集体教唆成了土匪；他热衷的文化大革命，则是如何以非法手段劫夺绝对权利的最佳范本。邓小平的“六四”血案，无视共产主义全球崩溃的事实，暴力裹挟中国与人类的历史背道而驰。江泽民时代，权钱勾结，“最坏的社会主义加最坏的资本主义”，中国作为世界最大的“共产党国家博物馆”，更是人性道德败坏的标本。江泽民镇压法轮功，弄巧成拙地激起了传统中国文化的直接反抗。

法轮功坚持真善忍，为争取精神自由进行非暴力反抗，已成为中国民主力量中最坚实有力的部分，他们博得了世界的敬佩，并加倍反衬出共产党迫害的邪恶和丑陋。

胡锦涛先生，不知您对这样的“党史教育”作何感想？当你几年前开始全面接掌党、政、军权力时，人们曾善意而不无怀疑地对你寄托过期待，但是，我们看到的现实什么呢？

二

我们看到了，你在加紧镇压言论自由，迫害维权律师。

你领导下的中共宣传—制裁部门，蓄意迫害在极权专制下努力为民众发出微弱呼声的媒体。仅仅因为这些媒体发表的作品与政府正统“口径”有出入，就是说，查禁的目的，清清楚楚是为了灭绝中国的独立思想和声音：

２０００年１月至 ２００１ 年５月，被中国传媒视为“第一周报”的《南方周末》被整顿，主编调离，副主编撤职，主要记者被开除。原因：《南方周末》报道银行抢劫、艾滋病蔓延时，给当地党和政府“抹黑”。

２００３年，《南方都市报》被查封，主编被判徒刑６年，副主编被判徒刑８年，总编辑拘押一年多。原因：该报突破官方禁区，向中国和世界率先报道了萨斯病毒的传播。

２００５年 ４月３０ 日，湖南长沙《当代商报》前编辑部主任、诗人师涛，因为“非法向境外提供国家机密罪”经秘密审判被判１０年徒刑，真实原因是他将政府秘密传达的文件笔记:“将严惩闯关海外民运人士”传递到海外。

２００５年５月，香港《文汇报》前副总编辑程翔以间谍罪在中国被捕，至今关在狱中。
２００５年１２月 ２９ 日，中国大陆因其敢于批评社会问题而深受欢迎的《新京报》被改组，总编杨斌被撤职。

２００６年１月，《百姓》杂志元月号被清查，敢于批评思考的栏目被取消，杂志网站被查封。

２００６年１月２４日，“最后一个声音”《冰点》周刊被查封，主编李大同等被撤职。网络上所有和《冰点》有关的字词，同步遭到删除屏蔽。

２００５年特别是进入２００６年以来，你们大规模地使中国网络警察超级现代化，同时以利益为诱饵、以关闭市场为要挟，压迫Google、Yahoo等西方传媒公司放弃原则，加入你们的双重标准游戏，建立自动查禁系统，阻止对专制不利的信息。今天，西方公司屈辱建立的高科技政治“防火墙”和成千上万中国网站上对独立言论的警告“相映生辉”，构成了二十一世纪人类思想领域最肮脏的风景。

在今天的中国，“维权”是一个新词，它的产生完全基于中共对亿万弱势民众权利的剥夺。你面对日渐激化的中国社会矛盾，不去正视和改变极度扭曲的政治—经济结构，反而迫害少数敢于维护弱势民众权利的律师，用强迫的沉默粉饰虚假的太平。仅以近期恶性迫害事件为例：

２００３年１０月，郑恩宠律师帮助上海被迫拆迁户维权，被判刑３年。

２００５年５月，朱久虎律师帮助陕北民营石油企业投资者维权，入狱。

２００５年９月艾晓明教授、唐荆陵律师、郭燕律师等为前往支持广东省太石村民自发维权选举，罢免贪污的“村领导”，而被暴徒追逐殴打，人大代表吕邦列被打至失去知觉。２００６年２月，为报复帮助以上律师等进入太石村，村民吴耀球被暴徒刀砍右手和后背，两根手指被砍断。

２００５年１０月，许志永律师、李方平律师为帮助山东省临沂市沂南县失明维权人士陈光诚被殴打。

２００５年１２月，律师里刘如平因为发表要求停止迫害法轮功的文章，被判劳动教养１年３个月。

２００５年至今，律师郭飞雄因为支持太石村民维权，不停遭到便衣警察的跟踪、拘留、恐吓，入狱两次，生命安全随时受到威胁。

２００５年至今，律师高智晟为法轮功受迫害者维权辩护，被没收律师执照，遭到多起车祸威胁。

２００６年１月至今，律师高智晟、郭飞雄为被称为“小天安门”的广东军队数次开枪屠杀平民血案组成“民间调查真相委员会”，呼吁军队国家化，而招致政府对他们的全方位监控，生命受到严重威胁。此举引发了全球性绝食，声援维权律师，抗议中共迫害。

三


胡锦涛先生：

你有全球最精良的对内监控系统，当然知道以上列举的只是中国政府反人权、反文明事实中的一小部分。我们给你写这封公开信，并非出于对你的幻想。你的从政治辅导员到最高权力者的履历，是一个人被共产党洗脑机器扭曲的过程。你既是这个制度的受益者，更是它的受害者。受害的程度，恰恰表现在你对“颜色革命”的恐惧和防堵上，在进入二十一世纪中国政府反而加剧对独立思想的控制打压上，在改革三十年后的中国人权状况排名世界第一百七十七位上。在这里，我们要讲清楚，文革以来中国的变化，并非中共官方的施舍，而是你们在中国民众的生存要求和国际环境的互动压力下，被迫作出的让步。这个让步还得继续下去，直到共产主义意识形态被自己的倒行逆施所毁灭。

我们仍然想对你善意提醒：即使作恶也有底线。在今天，不动用军队朝维权民众开枪就是底线，保障维权律师的生命安全就是底线，不刻意压制有良心的传媒工作者表达中华民族一息残存的正义感就是底线。世界以这些底线审视你，而没人在乎你出席西方G8会议或联合国大会时脸上的一本正经。

中国先哲说“知耻近乎勇”，“知耻”的要求太高，但“无耻”的程度是一种选择。和你手下权钱勾结贪赃枉法的黑手党集团相比，一纸空文的国民总产值、外汇高储备有什么意义？和被彻底污染了的中国人心比，让“大富豪俱乐部”的招牌越挂越高的摩天楼有什么意义？

请你深夜扪心自问，维权律师们冒险与弄权者抗争，传媒工作者顶着高压呼吁法制，龙应台等海内外知名或不知名的人们苦口婆心给你写信甚至绝食抗议，究竟为了什么？难道不是一心盼望中华民族真正能在精神上“站起来”？能以一个成功现代化了的古老文化挺立于世？能终于抛掉和“中国”连体婴儿似的贬语恶评？

即使你无意学习西方，中共党内的老一辈“理想主义”者如胡耀邦、赵紫阳、胡绩伟、李锐等，也足够做你的人生表率了，他们之能载入史册，仅在于对自我持一个 “诚”字，对祖国持一个“爱”字。而他们之不见容于你的利益集团，也把你置于了真诚和爱国的对立面。所以，不管作为中国权力的首席执掌者，还是一个普通人，你都要掂量将来历史的评判。即使出于一己私心，也别忘了那些底线吧！


大不列颠联合王国首相布莱尔先生：

你从以上列举的事实，应当已经很清楚中国的人权状况并非在改善，而是在急剧恶化中。这封信开始已经提到中国大使馆内出来的人踢打法轮功静坐抗议人员的事件，此事发生的时间是２００６年１月２４日晚，被打的法轮功女学员高郁冬，坚持和平论争，直到在现场的英国警察拘押了打人者。我们要问的是，为什么甚至在法制完备的西方，这些中共支持者也敢如此公然无法无天？这与中共的谎言煽动固然相关，但是否就与西方政客对精神原则的忽略无关？出于选票的自私，英国政府最近对待中共的态度，已经超出了“示好”，而达到了“纵容”。

现成的例子，英国内政部为解决棘手的难民问题，近日曾试图把申请政治避难二次复审的法轮功成员杨先生也遣送回中国。谁不知道等在那里的后果将会是什么？这种可怕的违反常识，是英国政府在帮助中共羞辱自己，同时羞辱人类的良知。

对待以上的两件事，英国政府应当原则清晰、态度鲜明：一，对当街打人者依法起诉，如果构成犯罪，就该绳之以法。二，对待申请政治避难者，根据他所作所为带来的政治危险，依国际政治难民保护公约行事。

我们认为，以中共今天逆反人权标准、凭藉金钱要挟世界的做法，那些反对中共暴政者，属于最危险处境中的人们之一。西方政府有责任保护他们，因为那其实正是保护西方自己。

我们应当认识到，沉迷于被刻意制造的“中国经济神话”非常危险。当西方大公司为寻求廉价劳工纷纷迁移中国，当西方工人面对失业困境重重，人们应该问：中国劳工为什么廉价？那不仅因为中国人口众多，更重要的是，因为那里没有独立工会、没有医疗保险、没有最低工资保证、没有个人退休金储备。如果公司迁到北朝鲜，劳工一定更廉价！所以，今天帮助中国劳动者维权，就是帮助世界建立更公平的竞争体系，就是帮助西方劳动者重新找回自己的就业机会。

对那些冒着风险站在第一线对抗中共暴政的人，我们都应该真诚地感谢！布莱尔先生，西方当然应该继续与中国进行经济文化交流，但交流的前提是对当今中国现实的认知。你通过交流想推动什么？改变什么？抑或在交流中被改变？如果是西方屈服于订单的诱惑，而单方面放弃人权和民主的精神原则，甚或不惜借助共党专制下的“稳定”，来保护其在华巨额投资，那动摇的根本就是人类良知的基本价值，这个代价太大太可怕了！西方文化的先哲要为此哀痛，中国几代人的理想和牺牲将遭到耻笑，难道全部奋斗只为了一种世界通用的自私、冷漠、玩世不恭？布莱尔先生，这就是你的底线。“中国问题”并不在遥远的地方，它就在这里，在你和你的政府的脚下，是西方政治现实的一部分。与其空洞地呼吁人权和民主，不如坚定清晰地面对眼前每个挑战。世界冷静地看着你们的选择。

兹事体大，请你们深思。