To: CHINA-NT@UGA.CC.UGA.EDU
Independent Federation for Chinese Students and Scholars, USA (IFCSS) Greater Washington Network for Democracy in China (GWNDC)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACTS: IFCSS (202) 347-0017 hq@ifcss.org
GWNDC (703) 478-0114
1. News Conference at the National Press Club
The Same Communist Regime with a Different Mask
- Why President Clinton Should Shun Tiananmen Square
Speakers: Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi
Harry Wu
Wei Jingsheng
Huang Ciping
Bangzheng Chen
Sponsors: Independent Federation of Chinese Students and Scholars, USA
Greater Washington Network for Democracy in China
The Laogai Research Foundation
The China Strategic Institute
Federation of Overseas Hong Kong Chinese - Washington, D.C.
Place: National Press Club, Holeman Lounge
14TH & F Street, NW, Washington, DC.
Time: Thursday, June 4, 1998, 2:00 p.m.
Nine years after the Tiananmen massacre, we still witness continued suppression by the same regime with a different mask.
2. CANDLELIGHT VIGIL - We Shall Never Forget
We must never forget what happened on June 4, 1989.
We have no right to forget.
Place: Tiananmen Square Park in front of the Chinese Embassy
Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington, DC
Time: Thursday, June 4, 1998, 7:00 p.m.
Sponsors: Independent Federation of Chinese Students and Scholars, USA
Greater Washington Network for Democracy in China
Amnesty International
International Campaign for Tibet
Grand Alliance for China Reunification of Washington, D.C.
Federation of Overseas Hong Kong Chinese - Washington, D.C.
Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association
The Laogai Research Foundation
AFL-CIO*
RFK Center for Human Rights*
International Committee for Freedom to Support the Nonviolent
Movement for Human rights in Vietnam
Friends of Hong Kong and Macao Association - Washington, D.C.
The China Strategic Institute
Speakers: Representative from IFCSS
Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi
Wei Jingsheng
Harry Wu, The Laogai Research Foundation
Dr. Ho-I Wu, GWNDC
Dr. Quan Nyuyen, ICF - Vietnam
Representative from AFL-CIO*
Representative from Amnesty International
Representative from RFK Center for Human Rights*
*Invited
Since the Chinese Communist Party has come to power, it has had little or no tolerance for dissent. In 1957, Harry Wu was labeled as "counterrevolutionary" and eventually spent 19 years in laogai camps. In 1979, Wei Jingsheng was sentenced to 15 years for suggesting publicly democracy for China. After 1989 Tiananmen massacre, numerous students, workers and ordinary citizens were sentenced and some even executed by this regime.
The White House said that President Clinton will not "dis" the Chinese government by shunning Tiananmen Square. We think President Clinton should not step on Tiananmen Square to "dis" the students, workers, and other Chinese citizens who were killed there. By doing that, he will also "dis" all those in China carrying on the struggle for human rights and democracy.
This news conference will provide evidence from three generations of victims, including new evidence from two council members of the Independent Federation of Chinese Students and Scholars - Ms. Huang Ciping and Mr. Chen Bangzhen. They will reveal how they were detained and harassed by the National Security Bureau while visiting their families in China last April.
The Tiananmen Massacre is one of the major crimes of our time. The Chinese people have not forgotten the horrible crime that their rulers committed on June 4, 1989. It would be shameful and disgraceful for the President of the United States to act as though the American people have forgotten.
