Letter from Rep. Christopher Cox and Rep. Barney Frank to Colleagues in the House of Representatives

Christopher Cox and Barney Frank

    Because you were a cosponsor of H.Res. 199, the resolution that passed the House unanimously on June 25, 2003, calling for the immediate release of Dr. Yang Jianli and expressing the sense of the House that the United States should make the immediate release of Dr. Yang Jianli by the Government of the People's Republic of China a top concern of United States foreign policy, we write to invite you to sign the enclosed letter to President Bush asking him to appeal to Chinese President Hu Jintao, when he meets with him later this month, to bring Yang Jianli's case to a resolution and allow Dr. Yang to return to his family in the United States.

    If you have any questions regarding this letter, or would like to sign on, please call or email Daniel McGlinchey (Rep. Frank, x 53548) or Muhammad Hutasuhut (Rep. Cox, x 55611). The deadline for signing the letter will be Friday, October 10. Thank you.

		REP. CHRISTOPHER COX 				REP. BARNEY FRANK

    Dear Mr. President:

    We are writing to ask for your assistance in the case of Dr. Yang Jianli, the internationally renowned scholar and pro-democracy activist who has been detained in the People's Republic of China since April 2002. We ask that you raise Dr. Yang's case directly with PRC President Hu Jintao at the APEC Summit in Bangkok later this month, and encourage President Hu to allow Dr. Yang to return to the United States as soon as possible.

    We believe that cooperation between China and the United States on a range of issues of mutual concern will be negatively impacted if this situation remains unresolved. We greatly appreciate the efforts of the State Department in pressing for Dr. Yang's release, but we fear at this point that without your direct intercession, and the great political and moral strength you can bring to this case, Dr. Yang will continue to suffer for nothing more than his love of democracy.

    As you know, both the House of Representatives and the Senate unanimously passed resolutions in recent months calling for Dr. Yang's immediate and unconditional release and expressing the view that the United States should make his release a top concern of U.S. foreign policy. In June 2003, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention -- consisting of representatives from Algeria, France, Hungary, Iran, and Paraguay -- found that Dr. Yang was being held in violation of international law.

    We recognize that Yang Jianli entered China illegally, but the length and degree of punishment inflicted on him by the PRC government has already far exceeded his transgression. Dr. Yang was held incommunicado and in solitary confinement, without access even to reading materials, for more than a year. On August 4, 2003, he was put on trial in Beijing, but despite a commitment from the PRC to issue a verdict within one month, we recently learned that the prosecutor in the case requested and was granted an extra month to try to gather additional evidence against Dr. Yang, which could delay a verdict for months.

    Dr. Yang's wife and young children are American citizens who live in Massachusetts, and his ongoing detention is a cause of great pain and anguish to his family, particularly with regard to Dr. Yang's father, who is 93-years-old and quite ill, and is not expected to live much longer.

    We urge you in the strongest possible terms to appeal to President Hu Jintao to bring this case to resolution and allow Dr. Yang to return to his life as a husband and father in the United States. Thank you for considering our request and taking the time to address this important matter.

Sincerely,

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Source: "yangjianli.com".