Press release (ICPC-4-ENG005)
13 November 2009
A Joint Statement on President Obama’s Visit to China
(13 November 2009 Stockholm) 63 PEN Centers and 11 organizations worldwide has issued today a joint statement calling on U.S. President Barack Obama whilevisiting China to demand the Chinese Government to release all prisoners of conscience, including PEN members Dr. Liu Xiaobo,Shi Tao,Yang Tongyan and other imprisoned writers and human rights defenders.
The statement are also co-signed by several leading officers of the Internatinal PEN, the former and current International Presidents Jirí Grusa and John Ralston Saul, Vice-president Gloria Guardia International Secretary Eugene Schoulgin, former and current chairpersons of Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC) Karin Clark and Marian Botsford Fraser, and WiPC member Edwood Kovac. With a list of several typical cases, its main content is given below.
Dr. Liu Xiaobo, prominent Beijing writer and honorary president of the Independent Chinese PEN Centre, has been formally arrested for four months. He has been detained for eleven months and accused of inciting subversion of state power simply because in December last year he took part in drafting Charter 08, which demands that the Chinese government improve its political system and human rights situation, and because he penned several articles critical of
government officials. He is one of many writers and human rights defenders to be imprisoned and prosecuted for this offence. US President Obama received this year’s Nobel Peace Prize on 9 October. He will visit Beijing and Shanghai on 15-18 November to meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao. The US House of Representatives had already passed resolutions to demand for the immediate release of Liu Xiaobo and Sichuan human rights defenders Tan Zuoran and Huang Qi who investigated the Sichuan earthquake last year. The House of Representatives also demanded that President Obama discuss the cases of Tan and Huang during his visit to China. Again, we call on President Obama to live up to the objective of the Nobel Peace Prize and the duties it entails. When he meets with Chinese leaders, he should ask the Chinese government to release all prisoners of conscience, including Liu Xiaobo, Tan Zuoren, Huang Qi, Guo Quan, Xie
Changfa, Gao Zhisheng, Hu Jia, Shi Tao, Chen Guangcheng, Guo Feixiong, Jin Haike, Lu Gengsong, Yang Tongyan and Zheng Yichun.
We, therefore, demand that President Obama:
1) Realize the mission of the Nobel Peace Prize and demand the Chinese Government release all imprisoned writers and prisoners of conscience
2) Respond to the resolutions passed by the US House of Representatives demanding the immediate release of Liu Xiaobo, Tan Zuoren and Huang Qi
We also call on all other heads of state to use their influence to persuade the Chinese government to release Liu Xiaobo and all imprisoned writers and prisoners of conscience.
Co-signed by:
Independent Chinese PEN Centre
Jirí Grusa former international president of the International PEN
John Ralston Saul, current international president of the
International PEN
Gloria Guardia vice-president of the International PEN
Eugene Schoulgin, international secretary of the International PEN
Karin Clark, former chairperson of Writers-in-Prison Committee of the
International PEN
Marian Botsford Fraser, current chairperson of Writers-in-Prison
Committee of the International PEN
Edwood Kovac, Committee member of Writers-in-Prison Committee of the
International PEN
PEN American Center
Austrian PEN
PEN Canada
German PEN
French PEN
Justice and Peace Commission of the Hong Kong Catholic Diocese
China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group
Scottish PEN
German Writers Abroad PEN
Pakistani PEN
Serbian PEN
Slovenian PEN
Russian PEN
Vietnamese Writers Abroad PEN
Uighur PEN
Tartar PEN
Hungarian PENTaipei Chinese PEN
Swiss Romand PEN
Tibetan Writers Abroad PEN
Zambian PEN
Basque PEN
Dutch PEN
Turkish PEN
Mongolian PEN
Swiss Italian PEN
Italian Trieste PEN
Swiss German PEN
Swedish PEN
Polish PEN
Portuguese PEN
Slovakian PEN
New Zealand PEN
Norwegian PEN
Kurdish PEN
Kazakh PEN
Egyptian PEN
Moroccan PEN
Japanese PEN
Korean PEN
Belarus PEN
Haitian PEN
Galician PEN
Italian PEN
Lithuanian PEN
Belgian PEN
Algerian PEN
Croatian PEN
Sierra Leone PEN
Danish PEN
Czech PEN
Nepal PEN
Sydney PEN
Melbourne PEN
Bulgarian PEN
Colombian PEN
Cuban PEN
English PEN
Iran PEN
Malawi PEN
Palestinian PEN
South African PEN
Finlish PEN
Icelandic PEN
Hong Kong Journalist Association
Hong Kong Christian Institute
Beijing Spring
Qi’s Cultural Foundation
Princeton China Initiative
Christians For Hong Kong Society
Hong Kong Christian Industrial Committee
Laogai Research Foundation
Deng Liberty Foundation
Taipei Society
———————–
International PEN is the oldest human rights organization and international literary organization. The Independent Chinese PEN Center is among its 145 member centers and aims to protect Chinese writers’ freedom of expression and freedom to write worldwide and advocates for the rights of Chinese writers and journalists who are imprisoned, threatened, persecuted or harassed.
For more information, contact
Dr. Yu Zhang
Executive Secretary and WiPC Coordinator
Independent Chinese PEN Center (ICPC)
Tel: +46-8-50022792
Email: [email protected],[email protected]