MAINLAND "HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS" GATHER IN HONG

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 HONG KONG 004884

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/29/2031
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR PREL HK CH
SUBJECT: MAINLAND "HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS" GATHER IN HONG
KONG TO NETWORK AND SHARE EXPERIENCES

REF: BEIJING 24124

Classified By: Acting E/P Chief Craig Reilly. Reasons: 1.4 (b,d)


1. (C) Summary: Nine mainland activists gathered in Hong Kong
to network and share experiences regarding their weiquan
("rights protection") activities during a two-day conference.
Amnesty's original intent in bringing these activists to
Hong Kong was to provide them with a safe place outside of
mainland China to meet and exchange ideas; Hong Kong-based
NGOs and diplomatic officials from various consulates,
including the U.S. Consulate, were also invited to meet with
the activists. While some of the activists already
communicated with each other online or knew each other
through the Independent Chinese Pen Center, many had never
met face-to-face before. Most did not tell PRC officials
about the weiquan conference in Hong Kong; one activist even
told her minders that she was going to visit Disneyland. One
week after the conference, Amnesty reported that all nine of
the mainland activists had returned home without incident.
End Summary.

Mainland Activists Meet In Hong Kong
--------------


2. (C) Nine mainland activists gathered in Hong Kong at the
invitation of Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific Regional
Office and in coordination with a mainland-based website,
Chinese Rights Defenders network (www.crd-net.org/) to
network and share experiences regarding their weiquan
activities (roughly translated as "rights protection" or
"human rights defense") during a two-day conference, which
began on December 13. While some of the activists had
communicated with each other on the Chinese Rights Defenders
(CRD) network or knew each other through the Independent
Chinese Pen Center, many had never met face-to-face before.
According to Amnesty conference organizer Iris Cheng, most of
the participants assumed that their online communications on
the CRD network were monitored, so they were looking forward
to the opportunity to speak freely with their weiquan
colleagues in Hong Kong. The CRD network, which is one of
several mainland-based websites dedicated to weiquan
activities, was represented at the conference by Li Xiaorong,
a research scholar who is currently on sabbatical from the
University of Maryland.


3. (C) Amnesty's original intent in bringing these activists
to Hong Kong was to host a low-key, private conference and
provide them with a safe place outside of mainland China to
meet and exchange ideas, according to Mark Allison, a Hong
Kong-based researcher on Amnesty's East Asia Team. After
their arrival, however, the activists told Amnesty staff that
they wanted to meet with Hong Kong-based NGOs working on
mainland issues (such as China Labour Bulletin) as well as
staff from various Consulates. On short notice, Amnesty
arranged for diplomatic officials from the U.S., Australia,
United Kingdom, Finland, etc., to attend the conference,
separately, for designated half-hour segments and to listen
to brief presentations by each of the participants. (See
paragraph 5 for more information on each activist and their
presentations.)


4. (C) Cheng told us that the event had been planned as a
"platform for human rights defenders" and Amnesty wanted to
help these activists understand what international resources
might be available to them and their organizations. For many
of the activists, this was their first trip to Hong Kong.
Cheng added that most did not reveal the purpose of their
travel plans to PRC officials. One activist told her minder
that she wanted to visit Disneyland, while another promised
to make a full report after he returned home. One week after
the conference, all nine of the activists had returned home
without incident, reported Cheng.

Human Rights Defenders
--------------


5. (C) During the conference, several of the activists
appealed to the various Hong Kong-based NGO representatives
and Consuls invited to the conference to pay attention to
China's human rights record. The activists all agreed that
the situation had deteriorated in recent years. Unprompted,
several of the conference participants also urged Consulate
officials to "care about Hong Kong's effort to implement
democracy." Poloffs heard presentations by six of the nine
activists, which are summarized below.


HONG KONG 00004884 002 OF 003


a) Li Jianqiang, weiquan lawyer: Human rights defenders have
two primary goals: justice for individuals and the
establishment of a system that allows human rights defenders
to protect people's rights, said Li. With the recent
detention of several weiquan lawyers, however, the movement
now faced a temporary setback. Nevertheless, Li saw three
successes on the human rights front: 1) ordinary citizens had
become more aware of their civil rights; 2) civil society was
booming; and 3) the weiquan network had grown. The biggest
problem is not the law per se, said Li, but the lack of
government implementation of its own laws. Li opined that
"if we follow the law, we should be able to protect people's
rights." China's constitutional, civil, and criminal laws
could serve as instruments to protect the work of weiquan
activists, but China's administrative laws needs improvement.


b) Wan Yanhai, AIDS activist: Wan is the director of the
Beijing AIDS Information and Action Consultation Center
(formerly known as the Beijing Action Project),where he
works on the rights of AIDS patients and workers, as well as
on gay rights. The Center helps AIDS and hepatitis patients
access treatment and assists patients who seek reparations
for having contracted AIDS through tainted blood
transfusions, said Wan. He also works to amend laws to fight
discrimination in hiring and school attendance practices.
Wan said that he targets non-mainstream groups, such as gay
men and drug users in Xinjiang Province for AIDS prevention
education, and distributes condoms to migrant populations in
over 20 cities. (Note: Per reftel, Wan was released on
November 27 after being held for questioning for three days
in Beijing. End Note.)

c) Liu Feiyue, school teacher: Liu is a school teacher from
Suizhou City, Hubei Province who became involved in
supporting the rights of various groups, including retired
teachers. Liu explained that in the 1950's and 1960's, many
teachers were sent to the rural areas and worked there for
over twenty years. Upon forced retirement, many of these
teachers were offered insufficient compensation and no
pension benefits or medical insurance. Liu said that after
he highlighted the plight of these teachers, the Suizhou
government finally began to pay attention to this problem.
Separately, Liu sent a letter to the National People's
Congress (NPC) in January 2003 to complain that the local
government had forced people to purchase the Communist Party
newspaper and had deducted the subscription cost directly
from people's paycheck without their knowledge or
authorization -- a violation of the people's rights in his
opinion. Liu had hoped that his letter might generate
national interest and subsequent official intervention in the
issue. Two years after his letter was sent to the NPC, local
officials refunded the subscription cost and agreed to no
longer make these deductions from worker's salaries.

d) Zeng Jinyan, wife of AIDS activist Hu Jia: According to
Zeng, her husband remains under "soft arrest"; she noted as
well that Hu had been under house arrest for 150 days and had
been "kidnapped" for 41 days, this past year. Zeng explained
that her own involvement in weiquan issues began with her
AIDS prevention and education work. Unfortunately, local
authorities have been harassing her since July 20 and she
recently decided to leave the AIDS organization she helped
found. She cited pressure on other colleagues and volunteers
as factors leading to her resignation from the organization's
board. Zeng said she will continue to work on AIDS issues,
but also plans to focus on helping the families of human
rights defenders who face harassment by authorities; she
wants to help provide family members with assistance,
support, and possibly even therapy. She encouraged the other
conference activists to continue sharing their experiences
online in blogs and hopes Reporters Without Borders will
continue to support and promote the work of human rights
defenders. When asked whether she experienced difficulty in
getting permission to travel to Hong Kong, Zeng said that she
convinced officials that she was planning to visit
Disneyland.

e) Zhao Dagong, member of the Independent Chinese Pen Center:
According to Zhao, the writings of the 60-70 Independent
Chinese Pen Center members, as well as statements and reports
from NGOs (Amnesty International and Reporters Without
Borders) put pressure on the central government to support
press freedom and freedom of expression. He tried to be
"moderate" when dealing with the police, in order to preserve
his "work freedom," said Zhao. It had not been difficult
getting permission to travel to Hong Kong, said Zhao.

HONG KONG 00004884 003 OF 003


Shenzen authorities told him that he was free to travelto
Hong Kong as long as he did not write pieces hat might e
considered unflattering about Shenzhn or its officials.

f) Wen Kejian, Internet actvist: Wen set up over 10
websites in the past sveral years, but most were short-lived
with somelasting only a few hours before being shut down.
According to Wen, human rights defenders initially met and
networked only online, but this changed when they began to
meet in person in 2003. Since 2005, Wen has been harassed by
local authorities and now spends less time on public advocacy
work. For the past two years, Wen has edited an e-newsletter
titled, "Choice Weekly" which is emailed to over 20,000
recipients.


6. (C) Poloffs were not present for presentations from the
other three activists. Dr. Ai Xiaoming, a Professor of the
Chinese Literature Department at the Sun Yat-sen University
in Guangzhou, produces human rights documentaries. Dr. Li
Baiguang, Director of Qimin Research Center in Beijing and a
Senior Advisor for Beijing Anping Law Firm, is a founding
member of the Association of Human Rights Attorneys for
Chinese Christians. And Qin Geng is a member of the
Independent Chinese Pen Center who was jailed after the 1989
Tiananmen Square Incident.
Sakaue