Medical Parole Exile for Wang Dan
I feel that my country now stands at a crossroads: will it move toward democracy and prosperity, or go stumbling toward chaos and collapse?The duty to answer this question, I feel, rests with every Chinese person...
- Wang Dan, April 23, 1998, New York City, New York U.S.A.
It's like deja-vu all over again. Wang Dan has been released from prison by the Beijing authorities and put on a plane to Detroit. He is free but is an exile.
Wang is 29 years old and was one of the leaders of the 1989 movement for an uncorrupt government. The movement culminated in the army shooting thousands in the streets of Beijing in the early morning night of June 4th, 1989. This event is most commonly called the Tiananmen massacre and is also called the Beijing massacre.
Wang was released from a second jail sentence yesterday where he was "convicted" of trying to overthrow the government. Evidence consisted of his writing articles in US or Hong Kong newspapers and taking a correspondence course from a US university.
Tiananmen Square, Spring 89
For more background and a larger picture of the image above (Wang Dan in Tiananmen square during the 1989 activities) see the The Human Rights in China page on Wang Dan
4-19-98
Peace out, Dude
Like Wei Jingsheng before him (see Wei Jingsheng Free in US), Wang Dan was released from prison in mainland China and sent on the dissident special, a Northwest airlines direct flight to Detroit. Wang then also recuperated in Detroit's Henry Ford Hospital. Let's hope this feeling of deja vu occurs again for others incarcerated for their political beliefs.
The sense of deja vu included his New York press conference sponsored by Human Rights in China. You can see Xiao Qiang, their Executive Director in the background of the pictures. He is the famous "long haired guy". I say to Human Rights in China:
Wang's arrival at the press conference looked more like the arrival of a Rock Star. From prison to this, inside of one week. See here for his press conference statment.
His statement included the opening quote on this page about his country being at a crossroads, and also sought to bring attention to the many others still in prison for their beliefs. He said:
Today, as I speak at this spot in one of the freest cities on earth, I feel a special duty to speak for the courageous people who remain trapped inside some of the least free of spots in the whole world -- the cells of the Chinese prison system. It would be wrong if the world's concern for me and for a few famous dissidents were to draw attention away from the legion of less known Chinese political prisoners.A recent report saying at least 3000 people were still in prison due to the Spring 89 movement can be read here.
Later, in another deja vu experience he went to Washington. He accepted an award he'd been given earlier, the National Endowment for Democracy Democracy Award but couldn't accept because he was in prison at the time.
Wang also met with Wei Jingsheng. Wang Dan and Wei Jingsheng had met before in 1993/4 when they were both free from jail during the time that the PRC was bidding for the chance to host the Olympics. They met again, as exiles.
Wei and Wang are the two most famous "dissidents". They talked about how to keep the overseas movement going, how to influence their country from so far away and bring some cohesiveness to the so-called dissident community in the US. I like what Wei has said about Who are the real dissidents.
Most of the Chinese people want democracy. The people who really differ on this question are actually a little group of ruling elites at the top of the Chinese Communist Party, so they are really the dissidents-Wei Jingsheng
I keep in touch with an old friend who lives in Michigan. Around the time of Wang's release I wrote a little about his and Wei's release. He's what I'd call an average American. In general I don't think he has any special interest in Chinese affairs. Our correspondence shaped up in an interesting way. It let me answer some interesting questions about China and the "dissidents" like Wei and Wang Dan.
Here's what I wrote, and his questions:
I've followed the release and exile of Wei Jingsheng and Wang Dan. Did you follow this at all? Both of them were let out of prison in China (ostensibly for medical reasons--ie a medical parole) and sent to Henry Ford hospital in Detroit. Since that is at least a little bit in your neck of the woods (I know, you're upstate) I was wondering if maybe there is a little bit more news coverage of them there. They let Wei out last November and Wang was released a week or so ago. They are the two most famous advocates of freedom and democracy for China.
Wei was jailed in 1979 and stayed there until 1993 for putting up hand-written articles on the wall calling for democracy. His most famous wall poster was called The Fifth Modernization. He and his associates also started a magazine so he was thrown in jail for 15 years. They let him out in 93 (six months shy of the full 15 year sentence) but in less than a year they put him back in jail for 15 more years. He is 47 years old now.
Wang Dan is only 29. He was a student at Beijing University in 1989 when they had the massive democracy movement. He was one of the student leaders when he was 20. You remember the army eventually went in and shot and killed 100's maybe thousands (the number is unknown because it is illegal for people to try and find out exactly how many were killed or jailed). Wang was number one on the most wanted list. He was arrested and sentenced to a number of years and was let out around the same time as Wei. That was not a coincidence as at the same time, the government was trying to get the Olympics for China. They thought letting out prominent "dissidents" would make them look better and give them a better chance to get the Olympics. But the Olympic committee chose Sydney Australia anyhow. So soon after, Wang, like Wei, was thrown in jail again. Neither of them would shut up so once again they were locked up.
Now they've both been exiled to the US. That's the Chinese communist's new tactic: get rid of them; kill two birds with one stone; make it look good that they set them free, but get them outside the country so they can't make trouble with their talk about freedom and democracy.
This also sloughs over to Taiwan as Taiwan is a free and democratic country (and much wealthier than mainland China) yet these same communists claim that Taiwan is part of their country and threaten to attack whenever they want. Both Wei and Wang, and just about anyone who believes in a modern and free China, recognize Taiwan as an example and inspiration for the mainland. They've shown what a Chinese nation can do--how successful on all fronts, economic, socially and political, a they can be. This also makes the communists nervous because it is self evident how poorly they have fared as the government of the last 50 years.
Bringing this back home to US politics, Clinton has decided to side with the communists. I think that the allegations of Chinese influence are true. I don't know how much you followed the so-called campaign finance hearings, but I think it is clear Clinton was bought off--by business interests. I think it hurts the US to have an administration sell out the country's principles for a bowl of oatmeal today. It will hurt us in the long run. It saddens me to see that our country will not allow the democratically elected officials of a free country come here, but Clinton will hobnob with petty despots.
[And my buddy replied]
On to Chinese politics. Wang Dan's story did capture some attention around here, he made the national as well as local news headlines. (FYI, Grand Rapids is on the western side of Michigan, and is kind of the counter-metropolis-in-the-making re: Detroit.) Of course the minute I heard about him I thought of you, and figured that this was a pretty significant event in the Chinese political scene, though I am curious as to how the Chinese gov't relays such info to its people, if at all. So my main question on all this is Wang Dan going to stay in the U.S. for the foreseeable future? I heard the term "medical parole" used, so does he have any obligation to return to China or any reason that he'd want to? In short, is this imposed exile something he's welcoming, tolerating or regretting? And if he does stay in the U.S., what's he going to do? Any chance that he'll become a sort of Chinese Solzhenitsyn? This could be interesting, as your assertion that Clinton has sold out the free and prosperous Taiwanese in favor of the potentially more lucrative but also undeniably more repressive mainland regime seems obviously well-founded. I think the general public (myself included) is sadly unaware of the complexities and prospective implications surrounding the relationship between our nation and the Chinese (this statement could be applied to an endless number of "important" topics.) Unfortunately it seems that in order to get the public's attention on an issue, (thereby turning popular opinion into palpable political force and hopefully smart legislation and foreign policy) we require some sort of a celebrity to personify the issue. So the Wang Dan's "charisma" appeal becomes a factor. If he is willing to learn how our media system works and gets into speaking on behalf of dissidents or activists, it could affect things. Otherwise, I think Clinton and his successors will probably continue on the course that seems to have been laid out so far
[Here were my answers]
1) How is info relayed to people? It's not. They did produce a paragraph article saying that he was released on medical parole in their English language news service.
2) Will he stay in the US for the foreseable future? Yes He was called a common criminal earlier this month by their foreign minister--equivalent of the US Secretary of State. He and Albright had a joint press conference while she was in Beijing working out what they'll do for Clinton's visit there in June.
3) Medical parole and obligation to return? Medical parole is an excuse they give to release them. In truth they could probably get whatever medical treatment they might need in mainland China. This medical parole is the excuse they use to send them to exile.
4) Tolerating or regretting this exile? Both, I'd say. I don't remember exactly how long his sentence would have been. I think about ten years more. That's a long time for anyone, especially for a 29 year old who'd already spent four years in jail in his early twenties. Wang Dan could have escaped into exile back in 1989 as many of the other leaders of the Spring 89 movement did--but he wanted to stay in China. After his second arrest he continued to say he would not leave, even for medical parole. But he did change his mind obviously. In his first statement he made at the press conference he made these mixed feelings clear:
But
on the other hand, I feel disturbed at having been forced to leave my own country, to live
separately from my family, relatives, and friends, and all of my compatriots, without knowing
when, if ever, I will be allowed to see them again.
My feelings right now are mixed. On the one hand I am naturally delighted to
breathe free again, especially since I can now live and study in a free country like America.
5) What will he do? He has said he will continue to work for Chinese democracy. In terms of his personal life and immediate plans he will attend college. He was a history student at Beijing University back in 1989 when the events of that spring began. Needless to say he did not finish his degree. His father was a teacher there and his mother also graduated from there and he has said education is very important to him and his family. One thing he said in an interview when asked about what his dream was, he answered he'd like to be president of Beijing University. He has not decided on a university in the US yet, but one he is considering is UC Berkeley. [Note: Since I wrote this Wang Dan has said he will attend Harvard] One of the things he was jailed for the second time around was that he was taking a correspondence course with Berkeley. He and others of his friends were, of course, expelled from the university before they were jailed and after they were released they were not allowed back in. So he and his friends decided to take correspondence courses and set up self study groups. Doing so was called part of his conspiracy to overthrow the government and used as evidence to jail him the second time. He also will be a commentator on Radio Free Asia. That is a radio station funded by the US to broadcast alternative points of view into countries with free speech restrictions. He has done his first one already.
6) Chinese Solzhenitsyn? Maybe not because the analogy may not be apt. In some ways Wei Jingsheng would more fit that bill and he has all ready had a book published of letters he wrote in prison. Wei is older and was jailed in a more harsh climate and was treated much harsher than Wang Dan. If a historical anaolgy is indeed in order, perhaps Wang Dan could become the modern Sun Yat-sen--the leader, literally and symbolically, of the Chinese democracy movement (see Mayday! Mayday! Calling Dr. Sun).
An interview with Wang Dan on the PBS News Hour can be read here
An English translation of an interview with Beijing Spring can be read here. The Great News Site Inside China did the translation.
And here is the english translation of Wang Dan's first commentary on Radio Free Asia. (Also from the fantastic Inside China site.
Wang Dan has chosen to attend Harvard next fall. He is a smart fellow, but it will probably be difficult for him as I don't know how well he speaks and understands english yet. But he will learn. When Wang was at Beijing University he started up a Democracy Salon, an open group that would discuss matter of democracy and freedom for their country. Perhaps Wang Dan will be able to continue this at Harvard.
We wish Wang Dan success in his studies and in his life.
