Dear
Mr. Dennis Hastert, Dr. Gao Zhan, a scholar at
American University in Washington, D.C., her husband, Xue Donghua, and
their five-year-old son Andrew were detained at the airport in Beijing as
they prepared to return to their home in the United States, after visiting
relatives in China. They were separated and held for twenty-six days at an
unknown location. Andrew was not allowed any contact with his parents or
grandparents throughout this period. On March 8, Xue Donghua and his son
were released and left China. There has been no word on Dr. Gao’s
whereabouts or condition. Chinese officials neglected to
inform the American Embassy that they were holding an American citizen, as
required by law. Andrew is a citizen and his parents are awaiting
naturalization. They also failed to inform their families or their
employers as to their whereabouts. On February 11, Dr. Gao, her
husband Xue Donghua, and their five-year-old son Andrew were stopped by
Chinese authorities at the Beijing airport on their way home to the United
States after a visit to their families. After a 90-minute search, which
yielded nothing, the three were separated from each other and detained
separately. After 26 days of questioning, Xue Donghua was released and
reunited with his son. During his detention, Xue
repeatedly asked that his son be permitted to stay either with himself or
his wife or with his grandparents. His requests were denied, as were his
requests for legal representation. Their families and employers were not
informed as to their whereabouts, nor was the American Embassy in Beijing.
During his detention Xue was interrogated about his wife, Dr. Gao’s
research, publications,and about her previous group visits to Taiwan. Dr. Gao, her husband, Xue Donghua,
and their son Andrew have committed no crime. They have been unjustly and
arbitrarily detained in flagrant violation of China’s own laws, and
international human rights standards. Dr. Gao remains in detention. This is not the first time that a
US-based Chinese scholar has been detained. In 1999, Song Yongyi a
historian from Farleigh Dickinson University was detained for more than
six months while in China to visit family, attend conferences and to
follow up on his research on the Cultural Revolution. He was released as a
result of aggressive public campaigns on his behalf. What’s Zhan Gao’s husband said that … On January 19, I visited China
with my wife, Dr. Zhan GAO and my five years old son Andrew Xue. My son is
an American citizen, and both my wife and I are U.S. permanent residents
and are waiting for the sworn ceremony for citizenship. On February 11, we were
unexpectedly detained by Chinese national security agents at the Beijing
airport on the way back to the United States. At first, they thoroughly
searched every piece of our luggage for about one hour and half, and ended
up with finding nothing they wanted. However, they still forcefully took
us to some unknown place two hours driving distance away from the Beijing
airport without any explanations. Three of us were separated in different
places without any communications among each other for 26 days until my
son and I were released on March 8. Since
February 11, I haven’t seen my wife and I don’t know what has happened
to her. During the 26 days of detention,
the security agents kept asking me several questions again and again for
the first week, then disregarded me in the remaining days. I was kept in a
single room, without freedoms of reading, watching TV, listening to radio,
telephone calling, etc. The questions they kept asking are the
details of my wife’s publications and her two Taiwan trips in 1995 and
1999, including what she has written (She received a Ph. D in Social
Sciences from Syracuse University in 1997) and what are her sources of
research, who organized and sponsored the two Taiwan trips, who she has
met in Taiwan. I can imagine my wife has been asked with the same
questions again and again until now. I really can not figure out what is
wrong with her open publications and group-visiting Taiwan, since so many
overseas Chinese and mainlanders have visited Taiwan in the past,
including high-ranking officials in China. When we were detained separately,
I was told my son was kept in a kindergarten. I formally requested them to
let my son to stay with either of us, or at least send him to stay with my
parents or my parents-in-law because my son knows them. But they denied my
repeated requests. They told me that the only way I could see my son
was that I told them more stories opposing my wife. In fact, they were
using my son as a hostage to push me to say something against my wife. However,
I never believe my wife has done anything wrong against the Chinese
government, and I have the full confidence on my wife’s innocence. My other formal request for
finding a lawyer was also denied by the security agents. They told me that
they just wanted to talk to me, and it was not time for me to have a
lawyer. But the fact is they just talked with me in the first several days
during the long period. Moreover, the security agency did
not inform our families in China, my employers Electronic Data Systems
(EDS), and my wife’s employer American University here in the United
States after we were detained. Our families and employers did not know
what happened to us for at least a couple weeks, because I was supposed to
call my family in China when we arrive home and report to work on February
12, the second day of my detention. Thus, our families in China and
employers here in the United States all believed we were kidnapped and
even expected that we might have been killed by the kidnappers. EDS
established a special legal counsel committee to search for us throughout
China for several weeks. Our church lost hope of finding us alive and was
even preparing to have a memorial service for our family, including the
five years old poor boy, of course. Around the end of February, EDS
finally found out the real story through American embassy in Beijing.
Thanks to the efforts of EDS and American embassy, I and my son were
released on March 8. The security agents just told me the “talk”
session had ended and that I got to leave China as soon as possible.
Instead of apologizing for what they had done to me and my son, they
forced me to sign a written pledge, promising not to tell anybody anything
about what had happened during my 26 days detention period. They
threatened me if I said anything about what they had done, it would have
serious negative impact on my wife, who is under detention. I asked
to see my wife before I left China, at lease let my poor son to see his
mother for a moment. But they inhumanly rejected my humble request. To make the long story short,
allow me to highlight the following points: ·My wife has been detained simply because of her academic research activities. She has been detained for more than one month and is still under detention without any explanations. ·I was detained for no reason. As a senior computer system analyst in EDS, I have not been able to work since February 11. It is a great loss to both my job career and my employer EDS, a leading IT company ranking among the top 50 companies in the world. ·My little son, an
American citizen, was detained for the reason no body can understand,
except for the group of inhuman Chinese security agents. He was seriously
hurt psychologically. ·The behavior of
the security agents not only violated the international norms on human
rights, but also violated the Chinese laws. ·According to the
current Chinese laws, the security agents are required to inform the
detainees’ families or relatives right after they detain anyone. The
detention period can not exceed 15 days. ·According to the
international treaty, the American embassy in China must be informed if
American citizen is detained by the Chinese government. I reminded
the security agents to report to the American embassy about my son’s
situation the first day I was detained, they said it was not my business.
However, they told the American embassy when my son was released that they
did not realize my son is an American citizen in the very beginning. I believe it is in the U.S. interests to concern about human rights in China. In our case, they are related particularly to freedom of travel, academic research and exchange, and publication. What we want is freedoms of travel
and academic research, and due process legalized by the Chinese laws. In our viewpoints, as
always, China’s human rights show was a low-cost, high-return venture.
Beijing can create a hostage incident at whim, create a lot of domestic
uproar over “spies” and “provocateurs” and then bargain hard for
political or economic benefits with the countries seeking the release of
their nations or other detainees. It’s hard to see any difference
between Beijing’s thuggish round-ups and a common kidnapping – except
in China the kidnappers are the police or security agents. Beijing’s release of a few
scholars is simply a diversion – and it’s important not to be
distracted by it. China’s human rights problems go far beyond the
detention of these academics. The persecution of Falun Gong practitioners
and Christians, the iron-fisted rule over Tibet and suppression of the
pro-democracy movement, are just a few examples of China’s serious human
rights violations. Unfortunately, China has gotten away for far too long
with sweeping these problems under the carpet of “internal affairs.” Any
country trying to talk to Beijing about such matters is accused of trying
to interfere in domestic affairs and threatened with the loss of access to
China’s fabled – and fairytale – market. The release of Gao, Li and the
others is certainly a relief. But any country that attaches any importance
to the universal values of human rights should keep a close eye on China,
and be willing to speak up whenever Beijing’s words differ from its
actions. In its attempt to intimidate
Taiwan and destablize the election, China has conducted numerous missile
tests and military exercises since June, 1995. China has long regarded
Taiwan as a "renegade province" since its Nationalist
(Kuomintang) rival fled to Taiwan in 1949, while actually Taiwan has never
been governed by People's Republic of China. With the development of democracy,
along with its mixed cultures of natives and early/late Chinese
immigrants, Taiwan has become significantly different from China. While
few denies the past ethnic, linguistic, and historical ties often
(over-simplified) argued by China, the totalitarian country and its people
keep missing the points of the overwhelming needs for democracy and
freedom by people in Taiwan. Taiwan has departed from 1949 long
ago, but China seems not. The belligerent act again reminds us that China
has yet to learn the art of negotiation and the value of peace. It is time
to educate Chinese democracy and humanity, by standing up to them. Which country is the most powerful in Asia? China apparently thinks it is, given its imperious attitude and actions recently. During a meeting with his Japanese counterpart Makiko Tanaka in Hanoi on July 23, 2001, Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan used an imperative sentence -- in Japanese -- to "order" Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi not to go to worship at the Yasukuni shrine -- a Shinto temple dedicated to dead soldiers -- including some condemned as war criminals after World War II. The Chinese say such visits lay
the groundwork for a revival of Japanese militarism. "No opposition
can stop me from visiting the shrine in a prime minister's capacity,"
was Koizumi's response. Taiwan was a victim of World War
II and many of its people find the Yasukuni shrine repulsive. However, Tang's
overbearing behavior -- ignoring all diplomatic etiquette and making a
rude demand of the Japanese prime minister -- is no less repulsive. It was
exactly the same kind of hegemonic attitude held by Japan before World War
II -- an attitude that led Tokyo to invade its Asian neighbors. In hosting the Bo'ao Forum for
Asia and organizing the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Beijing
has demonstrated an ambition to expand its influence into Southeast and
Central Asia. China also recently signed a friendship treaty with
Russia. Beijing's hegemonic tentacles are inching their way across Asia. China
also has more than 1,000 missiles aimed at Taiwan, Northeast Asia
and Southeast Asia -- putting much of Asia under a Chinese military
shroud. Not surprisingly, the "China threat" has evolved from an
academic debate topic into a potential crisis that countries and military
institutions around the world are working hard to prevent. However, the US cannot possibly
shoulder the burden of Asia's security alone. Japan, South Korea, Taiwan
and the Philippines are among the frontline countries facing the China
threat. That's why President Chen Shui-bian has championed US-Japan-Taiwan
military cooperation, especially participation in the US missile defense
system. Taiwan's security cannot be separated from the US and Japan. Without Taiwan, a US-Japan-South Korea security system will have a gaping hole at a strategic point. Letting Taiwan into the missile defense system is necessary for the system's success -- and inevitable. John Bolton, the US undersecretary of state for arms control and international security affairs, has said that the US would not rule out discussing the possibility of cooperation with Taiwan's authorities. Beijing's claim that Taiwan's
participation in a missile defense system will trigger an arms race is
simply more of the illogical posturing that passes for thinking in China. Chinese
hegemonism and its missile threat are driving other countries into a
collective defense. Before wagging a finger at Japan and ordering
Kiozumi not to revive Japanese militarism, Tang and other Beijing leaders
would do well to engage in some soul-searching about the rise of Chinese
militarism, which is today's real threat to international security. Taiwan always needs your support.
Yours Sincerely,
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