劉曉波

On December 15, 2009, the US States Department spokesman Ian Kelly made the following announcement:
"The United States was deeply concerned by the formal indictment on charges of “inciting subversion” of the well-known Chinese democracy activist Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波) 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."
A few days ago I noted in newspaper and in TV that Gregory May, a political officer with the US embassy in Beijing read out a statement outside the court where Liu was being tried. He called on China to respect the rights of all its citizens and release Liu.
Recently, I read about some Chinese history that happened about 80 years ago. In Asia in early 1930s it was obvious that Japan was implementing an expansion policy in Manchuria. The United States, with the purpose of checking Japanese advancement and helping China, began to adopt a policy of non-recognition of territorial changes achieved by military invasion. In those days, China was a feeble republic while Japan was fully modernized. This policy of non-recognition was made known to Japan on January 7, 1932, four months after Japan occupied Manchuria by force.1 The American reaffirmed its sympathy with Chinese nationalism, and used the Nine-Power Treaty signed in February 1922 as the basis in making their diplomatic decisions. US Secretary of State Stimson stated that "this Treaty represents . . . international policy intended, on the one hand, to assure to all of the contracting parties their rights and interest in and with regard to China, and on the other hand, to assure to the people of China fullest opportunity to develop without molestation their sovereignty and independence according to the modern and enlightened standards believed to maintain among the peoples of this earth. At the time this Treaty was signed, it was known that China was engaged in an attempt to develop the free institutions of a self-governing republic after her recent revolution from an autocratic form of government, that would require many years of both economic and political effort to that end; and that her progress would necessarily be slow."2
In view of the above, I begin to wonder that while the present day China, through economic reforms, had already secured its "sovereignty and independence according to the modern and enlightened standards believed to maintain among the peoples of this earth", yet an autocratic form of government still exist in China. Some of the predictions made by the US 80 years ago still hold: it would require many years of political effort for China to develop free institutions, and the progress would necessarily be slow. I hope that more Chinese people could have the wisdom and courage to contribute to that political effort.
Notes:
1.United States, Department of State. The China White Paper-August 1949. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1967, page 13.
2. Ibid., page 14