Thank You, Secretary Clinton…

I am so pleased to see this statement released from the State Department today. With the State Department speaking out publicly, Liu Xiabo now has a chance to perhaps escape a cruel and unjust fate at the hands of China’s ridiculous “justice” system:

Message on the Indictment of Chinese Activist Liu Xiaobo

The United States was deeply concerned by the formal indictment on charges of “inciting subversion” of the well-known Chinese democracy activist Liu Xiaobo on December 10, International Human Rights Day. According to all publicly available evidence, the basis for his prosecution is that he has signed and supported Charter ’08, which calls for respect for universal human rights and democratic reform.

Mr. Liu has already spent a year in detention while authorities carried out the investigation of his case. We call on the Government of China to release him immediately and to respect the rights of all Chinese citizens to peacefully express their political views and desires for universally recognized fundamental freedoms.

This sends a message of hope not only to Liu Xiaobo and his family but to the thousands of other democracy and human rights activists in China.

I have a hard time believing that China’s timing (handing down the indictment on International Human Rights Day) was just a coincidence- ever since the global financial meltdown China has been more brazen in its violation of its citizens rights. Clearly, China was under the impression that the U.S.’ economic vulnerability meant that it would turn a blind eye to China’s disregard for international law and basic human dignity. Hopefully the statement from the State Dept. above signals to China that the U.S. can walk and chew gum at the same time- we can focus on both human rights and the economy, particularly given the two issues overlap.

Naturally, China has responded to the U.S. (and the rest of the world) call for his release with their usual, tired mantra of “we do not accept you meddling in our internal affairs.” *Yawn* Same old, same old. Of course, China has no problem meddling in everyone else’s internal affairs by issuing thinly-veiled threats to world leaders who express an interest in meeting with the Dalai Lama. And while China may dig in its heels now, shining a light on China’s abuses could force their hand down the road because they HATE the bad PR that results when the international community finally stands up to them (think the Genocide Olympics campaign).

Here is some background information on his case. This article is from December 2008:

A leading dissident who organised a charter signed by hundreds of Chinese thinkers, academics and writers calling for dramatic political and legal reforms was under arrest yesterday.

Liu Xiaobo, a literary critic first jailed for his role in the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations, was taken from his home in Beijing late on Monday by a dozen police officers and was asked to sign a document acknowledging his detention. They searched his flat and took away three computers, mobile phones and documents, friends told The Times.

His arrest came hours before the release on the internet of the “08 Charter”, a rare, outspoken document challenging the ruling Communist Party to grant greater freedom of expression and to hold free elections. Its publication was timed to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights today.

A total of 303 people — from a prominent Tibetan blogger to lawyers and a disgraced former senior Communist Party official — braved possible arrest and jail to put their names to the document.

[snip]

Another organiser of the document, the activist Zhang Zuhua, was detained on Monday night, his computers confiscated and his savings removed from his bank accounts. He remained defiant after being released yesterday. He said: “It was a very constructive document. We asked them which clauses were miswritten and they didn’t say.”

However, there was no word from the Ministry of Public Security as to the fate of Mr Liu, 53. An academic who first came to prominence in the mid-1980s as a literary critic, Mr Liu is no stranger to China’s prisons. He has been arrested repeatedly since he spent 20 months in detention after the 1989 protests. He was jailed for three years in the 1990s but remains among the most outspoken and irrepressible critics of the system.

…

And regarding China’s legal system:

China’s courts are under the total control of the party, so it is almost certain that Liu Xiaobo will be convicted.

When President Obama visited China last month, he took a soft approach to human rights.

But he did present China with a list of cases that the US was concerned about, it is thought that Mr Liu’s name was on it.

But China ignored Mr Obama, and less than a month later, the state pushed ahead with its prosecution of Mr Liu.

Before, when US presidents and other world leaders visited, China would often release a dissident.
Police detain a Chinese petitioner outside Beijing’s foreign ministry in Beijing, 10 December 2008
Protests are not uncommon in China

Around the time of President Bush’s visit in 2005, Wang Wanxing was released from 13 years detention.

When President Clinton visited, Wang Dan, one of the Tiananmen protesters, was set free.

But now, China no longer needs to worry about what the West thinks.

[snip]

It was thought the Olympics would make things better, prosperity would make things better, and leaving China to move at its own pace would make things better.

But human rights and legal reforms are moving backwards, not forward.

China is a country ruled by law, the government likes to claim. Except, it is not.

Wang Shengjun is the chief justice, but he has never been to law school.

However, he does have excellent contacts within the Communist Party.

And he has been a very loyal cadre, halting years of legal reform by telling China’s judiciary to reject the concept of independent courts.

[snip]

What does it mean to live in a country without law?

It means that the parents of the schoolchildren who died in the Sichuan earthquake will never get their day in court.

It means that people poisoned by China’s filthy factories have never been able to sue.

That farmers robbed of their land by corrupted officials are left destitute.

And it means living in fear, which drives people to desperation.

In Chengdu, Sichuan, 47-year-old Tang Fuzhen tried to stop the local government from demolishing her home.

But the bulldozers and demolition crews arrived early one morning.

She could take no more, so she covered herself in petrol and set herself alight. She later died in hospital.

Eight of her family members, including her husband and son were then detained for “disrupting government work”.

Across China, those who are frustrated by corruption or injustice are taking to the streets.

They did so on the island of Xiamen to stop a chemical plant being built near their homes; in Shanghai it was the threat of a new railway line; in Guangdong, to protest a planned waste incinerator.

And in each case it was the middle class, the newly rich, those who had benefited from the party’s rule, who took to the streets.