06/05/2002
EDITORIAL NUMBER=0-09926

TRAGIC ANNIVERSARY IN CHINA

This week marks a tragic anniversary for the Chinese people. In the spring of 1989, Chinese students, workers, and others began a series of peaceful pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing that soon spread throughout the country. For several weeks, much of the world’s attention was focused on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, which was filled with tens of thousands of Chinese citizens.

Early on June 4^th, 1989, Chinese government forces moved to crush the pro-democracy demonstrations. It is estimated that hundreds of unarmed Chinese citizens were killed. Thousands were detained and punished for their political views.

Much has happened in China over the past thirteen years. In many ways, China has continued to open up to the rest of the world. Moves toward freer trade and freer markets have brought many benefits to the Chinese people.

But in terms of political change and respect for basic human rights, the situation in China is still bleak. A few years ago, a debate began in China on the issue of political reform. But when Chinese citizens moved from words to action by trying to organize a political party under Chinese law, the government cracked down. Leaders of the China Democracy Party were arrested and sentenced to long prison terms or forced into exile. On May 30^th in Chengdu [chung-doo], two more democracy party leaders were sentenced. Hu Mingjun [ming-jen] reportedly was given eleven years in prison, and Wang Sen, ten years.

While most Chinese political prisoners are held in jails or forced-labor camps, some have been put in mental hospitals. One of the longest-serving is Wang Wanxing [wahn-shing], who was arrested in June 1992 when he unfurled a protest banner at Tiananmen Square.

Freedom of religion is another basic right that is violated in China. Crackdowns continue against groups that refuse to submit to government control, including many Protestants, Roman Catholics, and Tibetan Buddhists. Thousands of adherents of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement have been jailed, and some two-hundred have reportedly died in custody.

On his visit to China in February, President George W. Bush called for an end to persecution, "so that all in China are free to gather and worship as they wish." As President Bush said, respect for religious freedom and other rights "will lead to a stronger, more confident China -- a China that can astonish and enrich the world."