Yang, Jian-li

Speech I at III International Conference on Human Rights

Warsaw, Poland, October 14-16, 1998

Ladies and Gentlemen:

You have all probably noticed that the Chinese government signed the "International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights" ten days ago. Whether done willingly or under pressure, this action deserves our approval. As a member of China's human rights and pro-democracy movement, I would like to first thank all of you here and your colleagues, for without your deep concern over human rights in China and without your support over the years, no one knows how much longer we would have to wait for this day.

Because the Chinese Communist Party has not changed its tyrannical nature, being fully aware of its arbitrariness, China's pro-democracy movement holds a fairly cautious view over the near future of human rights and democratization in China even after the signing of this international covenant. History has repeatedly told us that wishful thinking about an autocratic government will often end up in disappointment. The issue we need to seriously consider today is how to make the Chinese government give up those laws and practices that are against the universal human rights values embodied by the Covenant, on the premise that the Chinese Communist Party does not have the sincerity to fully abide by the articles of the Covenant. Nevertheless, the signing of the "International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights" has undoubtedly opened up a new prospect for China's human rights and pro-democracy movement, just as fundamental changes took place in the human rights and democracy movements in the former Soviet Union and its satellite states after the Soviet Union signed the “Helsinki Agreements” . The development in China's human rights and pro-democracy movement after the Chinese government signed the

"International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights" at end of last year provides a newest and nearest example. Now, let me brief you on the new development in China's pro-democracy movement during that period. I will also discuss our objectives and their prospect in the next phase of the movement.

At the beginning of this year, the free labor movement suddenly flourished in China. This movement occurred right after the Chinese government signed the "International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights." Acting upon the spirit of article 8 in the treaty —— "the right of everyone to form trade unions and join the trade union of his choice," a group of pro-democracy activists initiated and promoted the movement. That was the first time in recent years the pro-democracy movement associated itself with the economic welfare of the ordinary people. In other words, free labor movement in fact provided a mechanism with which the right to survive, which the Chinese government took pains to emphasize with, can actually be addressed. As a matter of fact, the communist government simply cannot solve the problem of the economic survival of the Chinese people. The free labor movement drew a great response. Activities occurred in Beijing, Shanghai, Jilin, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Shandong, Hubei, Canton, Anhui, and Hunan.

In June of this year, the Chinese government gave the promise that it will sign the "International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights" this Autumn. Pro-democracy activists in Zhejiang initiated a brave attempt to break the taboo of forming political parties in China, citing the right to associate as stipulated in the Chinese Constitution, and Article 22 of the “International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights”, "everyone shall have the right to freedom of association with others, including the right to form and join trade unions for the protection of his interests." They founded the Zhejiang Preparatory Committee for Chinese Democratic Party, and openly applied for registration with the Zhejiang local government. The authorities quickly arrested the key members of the preparatory committee, drawing strong and extensive responses both at home and abroad. Human rights and pro-democracy activists all over China soon set up nationwide support groups, ready to fight a legal battle with the authorities. Several dozen people even expressed their willingness to go to prison with their arrested friends. Various foreign governments and human rights organizations also pressured the Chinese government to release these people. Under pressure, the Chinese government released the members of the preparatory committee under detention one by one. After that, human rights and pro-democracy activists in Shangdong, Liaoning, Beijing, Jilin, and Hubei soon followed suit and applied for registration. At first the authorities used various legal requirements for registering social organizations as an excuse to buy time. They then arrested several activists and issued overall refusal of all the requests for registering the Chinese Democratic Party. This widespread attempt to register a political party is the first extensive activity under the Chinese Communist rule to openly form a political party. It was an unprecedented event.

Before telling you more about the development of China's human rights and pro-democracy movements, let me introduce you to China's laws onassociation and the practices of the Chinese communists to control the freedom of association, in order for you to better understand the significance of the activities I just mentioned. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the Chinese government rapidly nationalized, or eliminated all independent organizations, including religious groups delivering social welfare services or running institutions like orphanages and hospitals, along with all professional associations, research institutions, labor unions and so on. Periodic crackdowns on what are labeled “illegal organizations” have occurred throughout CCP’s rule, and have sometimes been a top political priority. In the early years of the Cultural Revolution period, a multitude of rebel groups sprung up. Although they were independent of the local party organs, they generally proclaimed allegiance to Mao. Mao exterminated them once they fulfilled his political purpose. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, during what became known as the Democracy Wall movement, a number of autonomous organizations were formed, in the first widespread, spontaneous popular push for democratization seen since 1949. Following the 1976 fall of the “Gang of Four” that brought the Cultural Revolution to an end, a relative relaxation in the political atmosphere combined with power struggles at the top combined to create unprecedented space for all kinds of independent groups, ranging from literary societies to human rights groups. However, as soon as Deng Xiaoping had consolidated his power over his rivals for top leadership, the Party quickly ordered a crackdown to suppress all “illegal organizations and publications”. This restrictive attitude towards autonomous organizations was reflected in the Preamble to the 1982 Constitution, which provides that all Chinese citizens and their activities must adhere to the “Four Basic Principles” that include keeping to the socialist road, upholding CCP leadership, following Maxism-Leninism- Mao Zedong Thought and submitting to the people’s democratic dictatorship. The current major regulation governing association were enacted in October 1989, in the wake of Tiananmen Massacre. It was clearly seen as part of a broader effort to reassert control, which also extended to universities, news organizations, and work places. Article 9 of that Regulation provides that the government preapproval is mandatory before any registration may be processed. It is this regulation that the Chinese authorities are using to ban the forming of the Chinese Democratic Party and to crackdown is activities and activists. From such a background, we can see clearly the pioneering significance of these activities in China's history since the start of the Communist rule, and appreciate the difficulties those activists had to face.

Earlier this year, the intellectual community in China experience a relaxed atmosphere, known as the so-called "Beijing spring." Some relatively free-thinking, but also "historical-problem-free" intellectuals were allowed to discuss political and theoretical issues with certain freedom within the academic domain. Recently, they even made attempts to jointly discuss political issues with some moderate dissidents. I refer to these intellectuals as “Beijing Spring” intellectuals.

At the same time, a group of influential dissidents continued the tradition of being the conscience of the society. In 1994, they issued "An Appeal for Human Rights," asking the authorities to stop controlling free speech. In 1995, which was the United Nations Year of Tolerance, they issued "An Appeal for Tolerance," appealing to both the government and civilians to follow the principle of tolerance in handling political and social problems and conflicts. In 1996, they issued "Speaking for the Poor," appealing to the society to pay attention to the problem of social justice. At the end of last month, they issued "Declaration on Civil Rights and Freedom" and "Declaration on Civil Rights and Social Justice", which are even more extensive and profound than previous appeals. These two declarations parallel the "International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights" and "International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights." A movement of conscientious intellectuals similar to the "Charter77" movement in Czechoslovakia has begun to take shape. This movement will certainly produce profound influences upon the overall reform of the Chinese society in the future. These intellectuals are referred to as “social conscience” intellectuals.

According to China's election laws, local people's representatives will be re-elected in this and next year’s election. Some of the pro-democracy activists have openly organized campaign groups and are preparing to run for people's representatives at the county and district level. Article 34, Chapter 2 of the Chinese Constitution stipulates that "any citizen over the age of 18, regardless of ethnicity, race, gender, occupation, family background, religious belief, education, property, and time of residence, has the right to vote and to be elected, with the exception that those who are legally deprived of their political rights do not have such right." In reality, China's current "Election Laws" give people only the right to vote for people's representative at the county level. There are over three million such representatives, and they have no real influence on any level of the government. In practice, even the election of the people's representatives at this level is tightly controlled by Communist Party organizations. Furthermore, candidates are not allowed to freely express their political opinions. In 1980, there were campaigns in many university campuses running for this level of people's representatives. These campaigns left profound influences precisely because many campus candidates were not appointed by the Communist Party, and some of them freely expressed influential libertarian ideology. Those elections were therefore relatively open and fair. However, many independent candidates were soon harassed by the Communist authorities. In a sense, the election campaign activities that are starting in Beijing right now are a resurrection of the election movement of 1980. Naturally, the authorities are already trying to control them using subpoena, threats, intimidation, and harassment.

Now that these two important international covenants has been signed, the Chinese government can no longer deny the universality of human rights. The signing of these covenants also indicates that the government is willing to at least superficially begin dialogue with the international community using the same standard. Therefore, the next objective of China's human rights and pro-democracy movement is to work closely with the international human rights and democratic forces to change China's political and social environment, and in so doing, to force the Chinese communist authorities to begin dialogue with its own people using the same standard.

China is a late-comer in democratization. Therefore, it can draw upon the experience of any other country's successful democratization. You have seen from what I just discussed that human rights and pro-democracy activists in China have learned from many such successful examples: the Solidarity movement in Poland, Russia's Saharov, the "Charter 77" movement in Czechoslovakia, the forming and growth of the opposition parties in South Korea and Taiwan, and the Taiwanese opposition movement's gradual increasing of their participation in the political process through local elections. However, few of the democracy forerunners in these countries had to face an opponent as brutal and cunning as the Chinese Communist Party. Therefore, we need to accurately assess the situation, and employ wise tactics. First of all, none of us should act only as an individual or a faction in the human rights and pro-democracy movement, and be divided and defeated one by one by the communist authorities. Only when we become an organized force can we influence or even lead the social reforms. Therefore, the movement to form political parties, the free trade union movement, the "social conscience" intellectuals, and the "Beijing spring" intellectuals should collaborate with one another. Collaboration does not mean that all have to work in the same organization. Rather, they should work in concert, and try to protect each other. From a political ecological point of view, the party formation movement and free trade union movement provide a political shield for the "social conscience" and "Beijing spring" intellectuals, who in turn provide theoretical and moral resources for the party formation and free labor union movement, and create a ideological and cultural premise for future democratization. For our friends who are trying to form political parties, as political forces directly involved in China's democratization, they need to solve the problem of how to align themselves to the interests of the ordinary people. One of the best ways to do that is to run for the people's representatives, thus relating to the interests of the people through representing their will. After that, they can try to gradually increase the scope of the freedom of election. Any political party, unless it is a revolutionary party relying solely on force, can only survive, grow and flourish through election campaigns. This is also an inevitable step in any country's democratization process.

As a late comer in democratization, China, a country with one fourth of the world's population, has drawn the concern and support of the international community more than any other country. This is probably one of the only few advantages China has gained after going through so much suffering. In the last few thousand years, China has been walking in a long dark tunnel, full of boulders and stumps that can trip you any time. To make things worse, the tunnel may even collapse at any time. Today, we have just seen the light at the end of the tunnel. The "International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights," "International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights," "Declaration on Civil Rights and Freedom," and "Declaration on Civil Rights and Social Justice," and examples of other advanced democratic countries, are like lights casting into the opening of the tunnel, illuminating our way out. The awakening of the Chinese people, the persistent efforts of China's human rights and pro-democracy forces and international support are like the pillars supporting the fragile tunnel so that it will not collapse at the last moment. The process will be surely shortened, sufferings reduced and cost minimized if the CCP is to begin to stand on the right side of the history.

Dear friends, hope is right in front of us. Let us unite and strive to the end.

Finally, I would like to appeal, and invite all of you to appeal with me, to the Chinese government:

Whereas those who participate in China's human rights and pro-democracy movement are still being arbitrarily arrested, imprisoned, subpoenaed, and constantly harassed, 

Whereas thousand of prisoners of conscience are still being locked up in China's prisons and labor farms,

Whereas governmental corruption is causing severe imbalance in economical distribution and depriving many ordinary people of their right to survival,

Whereas the government has set its human rights standard far below those stipulated in the two aforementioned international covenants,

We urge that the Chinese government,

1. Ratify as soon as possible and without any reservation the "International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights" and the "International Covenants on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights";

2. Amend as soon as possible all the articles in the Chinese constitution that are in violation of the spirit of these two international covenants, starting with deleting the "Four Basic Principles” from the preamble of the Constitution;

3. Amend as soon as possible all the laws and regulations that are in violation of the spirit of those two international covenants, especially the "Regulations for the Registration and Management of Social Organizations" which severely limits the freedom of association;

4. Lift all restrictions on scientific research in social and humane studies;

5. Allow freedom of speech and freedom of press;

6. Allow workers and farmers to organize themselves to protect their own legal rights and interest;

7. Release all prisoners of conscience and stop incriminating people for their thoughts, speech, and religious beliefs;

8. Open free election, starting with realizing the amount of freedom already allowed in the current election laws.

Thank you for your attention.