JOINT STATEMENT ISSUED BY 17 "BLACK LISTED" CHINESE DISSIDENTS IN PROTEST OF A BAN ON THEIR RIGHT TO RETURN TO CHINA

by Beatrice Laroche, Human Rights in China

Washington, 29th october 1997. As citizen of the People's Republic of China and residents of the United States of America, we welcome friendly cooperation and the forging of a stable relationship between the two countries. However, we are concerned with policies of both governments that threaten normal bilateral ties. Foremost is the Chinese government's refusal to protect the human rights of its citizens and the U.S. government's toleration of serious human rights violations undertaken by the Chinese government. The public in both countries is unsatisfied with such policies.

Jiang Zemin's visit to the United States this week and Clinton's trip to China next year should include serious discussions about human rights. As victims of human rights violations in China, we strongly urge immediate action.

Our names are on a "black list"of 49 Chinese citizens who are allowed to return to China. The Chinese embassy has refused to exnted our expired passports or allow us reentry into China. By denying us the right to return to our homeland, we have been stripped of our nationality and forced to become stateless international refugees. This involuntary exile not only endangers the stability of our families and livelihood, but creates immigration problems for the United States and other free-world countries that have generously provided us with sanctuary. We appeal strongly to President Jiang Zemin to remedy this situation immediately. We also sincerely appeal to President Clinton to protect the rights of U.S. residents by urging Jiang Zemin to abolish the "black list".

We were black-listed because we were active in the 1989 pro-democracy movement at Tiananmen Square in Bejing and elsewhere in China. Some of us were forced into exile by the Chinese government as token concessions to United States pressures on human rights. After arriving in the United States, we have continued to advocate human rights and democracy for China and have thus been branded "overseas enemy forces" by the Chinese government. The "black list" is clearly hostile to the interest of the Unites States and should not be ignored. President Clinton must ask the Chinese government to drop this confrontational stance and to respect the rights of legal U.S. residents to return to their homeland.

As we call for our right to return, our fellow pro-democracy activists in China have been deprived of their personal freedom. We urge President Clinton to demand that the Chinese government release Wei Jingshen, Wang Dan, and other political prisoners in China. We also call on the Chinese government to reassess and apologize for the June 4th 1989 Bejing Massacre. Jiang Zemin has said that he "hopes Sino-American relations will warm up to their pre-1989 level" but without a reappraisal of the 1989 Bejing Massacre, this will not be possible.

We stand firmly behind the demands we first made during the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations: Only political reform will wipe out corruption in the government. The most important steps of Chinese political reform should be to end the one-party dictatorship, establish the rule of law, protect human rights, and undertake steps toward democratization of the political system.