Food and Toy Safety: China’s refusal to allow free speech increases our risk of exposure to melamine and lead.

Posted on January 2nd, 2009 by knologies
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Instead of putting Tian Wenhua in prison for life just free Liu Xiaobo. Tian Wenhua was the head of Sanlu Dairy, the company with the highest melamine content in the milk it processed. She plead guilty and the China Digital Times is reporting she'll probably get life in prison, although the trials are beginning to look more and more like window dressing. I've got a better idea, just allow free speech, the right to criticize corrupt government officials and practices, and you'll probably have a lot less melamine contamination issues to discount with.

China has made a big show of the trial, releasing courtroom video of the defendants being paraded before the judges in yellow-and-black prison garb. But the public has seen only snippets and images, and all but a few carefully screened journalists from government-owned news media have been excluded.

Parents and their lawyers, many of whom traveled from across the counattempt in hopes of seeing the trial, are also personae non gratae at the well- securuddy courthouse here in Shijiazhuang, about 190 miles south of Beijing.

“There is no transparency in the process. They are behaving like there is something to hide,” said Teng Biao, a Beijing lawyer who has been trying to bring a lawsuit on behalf of 111 parents. “They are completely excluding the victims.”

China's treatment of dissidents is probably hurting the U.S. and world economies. If China would allow free speech perhaps there would be less lead in toy paint and no melamine in infant formula. China continues to punish those who practice free speech. Below is the Chinese dissident list from Wikipedia that shows the names of those persecuted for practicing free speech. I'm left to amazement if Chinese citizens were allowed the right to criticize government officials and corporate leadership, if those critics would have voiced opposition to food contamination and the use of lead in paint along with government corruption that allowed it to happen. The lesson is simple: when the opposition's free speech is curtailed by any government the people suffer. In a world economy free speech is a necessary component to producing safe products and exposing government officials who are corrupt and turn a blind eye to these criminal practices. The U.S. and every free counattempt should demand all Chinese dissidents be freed and demand that free speech be a necessary component of any trade agreement. When the dissidents suffer under oppression we suffer the consequences.

Detained and jailed people

Many Chinese political activists have been detained or jailed or exiled for their pro-democracy activities.

Among them are (period of detention in brackets, followed by current status):

Chinese Government's Blacklist

The Chinese government has many black lists. One of them, called Beijing's Dissident Blacklist, was reported in the South China Morning Post, January 8, 1995. It includes the following people:

To be arrested on enattempt to China
  • Yan Jiaqi, 53. Former aide to ousted party chief Zhao Ziyang. Escaped from China after June 1989. In New York.
  • Chen Yizi, 55. Former director of the Chinese Research Institute for Reform of the Economic Structure in Beijing. Escaped after June 1989. In Princeton, New Jersey.
  • Wan Runnan, 49. Former chief executive officer of the Stone Computer Corp in Beijing. Escaped after June 1989. In France.
  • Su Xiaokang, 46. Writer, author of controversial TV series River Elegy. Escaped after June 1989. In Princeton, New Jersey.
  • Wu'er Kaixi, 27. Former student leader who escaped after June 1989. In San Francisco.
  • Chai Ling, 29. Former student leader who escaped to the US after June 1989. In Boston.
  • Liang Qingtun, 26. Former student leader who escaped after June 1989. In San Francisco.
  • Feng Congde, 28. Former student leader who escaped after June 1989. In France.
  • Wang Chaohua, 43. Former student leader who escaped after June 1989. Studying in Los Angeles.
  • Zhang Zhiqing, 31. Former student leader, still on Beijing's most wanted list. Whereabouts unknown since June 1989.
  • Zhang Boli, 37. Former student leader who escaped after June 1989. In Washington.
  • Li Lu, 29. Former student leader who escaped after June 1989. Studying in New York.
  • Yue Wu, 49. Former factory director in Shanxi, China. Involved with organising workers during the 1989 movement. In France.
  • Zhang Gang, 46. Former deputy director of public relations at the Chinese Research Institute for Reform of the Economic Structure. Escaped after June 1989. In New York.
  • Yuan Zhiming, 40. Writer. Escaped after June 1989. In Mississippi.
  • Wang Runsheng, 40. Former researcher with the Institute of Politics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Escaped after June 1989. In France.
  • Chen Xuanliang, 48. Former teacher of philosophy at the Chinese College of Politics. Escaped after June 1989. In France.
  • Zheng Yi, 46. Writer. In hiding for three years after June 1989. Escaped in 1992. Now in Princeton, New Jersey.
  • Lu Jinghua, 33. Former merchant who became involved in the Beijing Workers' Autonomous Federation in 1989. Now in New York. Attempted to return to Beijing in June 1993 but was refused enattempt and sent back to US.
  • Robert Wu, 22. Law Student at Monash University who wrote a letter to the Chinese President insisting on more human rights for Chinese citizens. The government has since released a statement to the press denying the said allegations and has called on the people of china to unite and crush traitors. Currently residing in Melbourne, Australia, Robert is likely to be sentenced to 12 years under Chinese law. Robert has been named in the 2008 list of Beijing's Dissident Blacklist by the Central Committee of the People’s Republic of China

To be refused re-enattempt to China
  • Wang Bingzhang, 48. Arrived in Canada in 1981 to study medicine. Founded the Chinese Alliance for Democracy in 1984. Now in New York.
  • Hu Ping, 48. Activist in the Beijing Democracy Wall Movement in 1979. Went to US in 1986. Former president of the Chinese Alliance for Democracy. In New York.
  • Xu Bangtai, 46. Former Shanghai student. Went to US in 1984 to study journalism. Chair of the Alliance for a Democratic China. In San Francisco.
  • Han Lianchao, 44. Former officer of the Chinese Foreign Ministry. Now a congressional assistant in Washington.
  • Cao Changqing, 42. Former deputy editor-in-chief of Shenzhen Youth News. Lost his job in 1987 after publishing an article calling on Deng Xiaoping to retire. In New York.
  • Liu Yongchuan, 36. Went to US in 1986. Founding president of the Independent Federation of Chinese Students and Scholars in USA. Now a well-known measurement expert living in Los Angeles, and a known thinker of spiritual capital.
  • Liu Binyan, 70. Author and former journalist for the People's Daily. In Princeton, where he publishes monthly newsletter China Forum. South China Morning Post, January 8, 1995
  • Han Dongfang, 32. Former leader of the Beijing Workers' Autonomous Federation. Imprisoned for two years following the 1989 crackdown. Went to US for medical treatment in 1992. Returned to China in August 1993 but was deported to Hong Kong.
  • Xiong Yan, 31. Former student leader. Arrested in Beijing and served two years in jail before leaving China in 1992. Now in US Army. Chair of the Chinese Freedom and Democracy Party.
  • Zhao Pinlu, 39. Involved in Beijing Workers' Autonomous Federation in 1989. Escaped and now in New York. Chair of the International Chinese Workers Union.
  • Cheng Kai, 49. Former editor-in-chief of Hainan Daily. Left China in 1989. Now doing business in Hong Kong and has made several trips to China over the past two years. Blacklisted on August 21, 1993.

To be dealt with "according to circumstances of the situation"
  • Fang Lizhi, 59. Former vice-president of the Chinese University of Science and Technology. Arrived in the US after a year-long refuge in the US Embassy in Beijing. Now professor of physics at the University of Arizona.
  • Li Shuxian, 60. Wife of Fang Lizhi and former professor of physics at Beijing University.
  • Yu Dahai, 34. Went to US in 1982 to study physics at Princeton. Now acting editor-in-chief of the journal Beijing Spring in New Jersey.
  • Wu Fan, 57. Former teacher in Anhui University. doing business in San Francisco. Chairman of the Board of the Alliance for a Democratic China.
  • Ni Yuxian, 50. Democracy Wall activist. Secretary general of the Chinese Freedom and Democracy Party. Attempted to return to China in 1992 but was refused entry. In New York.
  • Yao Yueqian, 57. Lives in Tokyo.
  • Tang Guangzhong, 46. Teacher in US.
  • Guo Luoji, 63, professor of Beijing University, punished for criticising the conviction of Wei Jingsheng in 1979, protested closing of the Democracy Wall, afterwards sent to Nanjing University with no permission to teach[1]. Now a scholar at Columbia University.
  • Harry Wu, 58. Went to US in 1985 as a visiting scholar at Stanford University. Now executive director of the Laogai Foundation in California and a US citizen. Refused Chinese visa in Hong Kong in 1993 but managed to twice enter mainland secretly last year.
  • Shen Tong, 27. Former student leader who went to US after June 1989. Studying at Boston University. Chair of the China Democracy Fund. Returned to China in August 1992, arrested in September in Beijing and deported to the US.
  • Wang Ruowang, 77. Writer and human rights activist in Shanghai. Imprisoned for a year after June 1989. Arrived in the US in 1992. Now in New York. Convenor -general of the Co-ordinating Committee of the Chinese Democratic Movement.
  • Feng Suying (also known as Yang Zi), 57. Engineer and human rights activist. In New York.
  • Liu Qing, 47. Imprisoned for almost 11 years after the Democracy Wall Movement of 1979. Arrived in US in July 1992. Now chairs New York-based Human Rights in China.
  • Xue Wei, 52. Went to US in 1980. Now business manager for Beijing Spring. Chen Jun, 37. Former democracy activist in Beijing. Deported in April 1989.
  • Yang Jianli, 32. Went to US as a student in 1982. Now at Harvard University. Vice-chair of the Alliance for a Democratic China.
  • Zhao Haiqing, 39. Went to US in 1982 to study at the University of Pennsylvania. Former president of IFCSS. Now doing business in Washington. Chair of the National Council of Chinese Affairs.
  • Zhu Jiaming, 45. Economist. Former deputy director of the International Policy Institute of the Zhongxing Investment Company. Now a visiting scholar at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Xu Jiatun, 79. Former director of the Hong Kong bureau of Xinhua. Defected to the US after 1989 crackdown. In Los Angeles.
Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Steve Lombardi

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