Rights Protection Conferences are Useful, but

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 GUANGZHOU 000174

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/07/32
TAGS: PHUM PGOV CH
SUBJECT: Rights Protection Conferences are Useful, but
Harassment Continues

Ref: A) 06 Hong Kong 04884; B) 06 Guangzhou 32369


1. (U) Classified by Consul General Robert Goldberg.
Reason 1.4 (d).


2. (C) SUMMARY: South China participants at the December
Amnesty International-organized conference for rights
activists (held in Hong Kong) called the event useful, but
too brief and disorganized. None of the activists thought
the meeting would have a significant effect on the rights
protection movement. Government harassment against
activists continues, with two South China activists not
being allowed to attend the Amnesty conference. In
February, two of the participants from the Amnesty-
conference were not permitted to attend the International
PEN regional conference in Hong Kong. One activist said he
was prevented in October from campaigning as an independent
candidate in Hainan province. END SUMMARY.

Background
--------------


3. (C) Nine mainland activists gathered in Hong Kong on
December 13-15, for a conference hosted by Amnesty
International and the mainland-based website, Chinese
Rights Defenders network (ref A). Three of the
participants were from provinces in the Consulate's
district: two from Guangdong (Zhao Dagong, from Shenzhen;
Ai Xiaoming, from Guangzhou) and one from Hainan Island
(Qin Geng, from Haikou). Zhao, Qin and Ai separately
discussed with Congenoff their views about the conference
and offered suggestions for improvement. Congenoff was
informed that two other South China activists, Fujian's Lin
Xinyu and Guangzhou's Wu Wei (better known as "Ye Du"),had
been invited by Amnesty to attended, but were barred from
traveling outside of the Mainland. On February 6, the
South China Morning Post reported that Qin and Zhao were
themselves prevented from attending the PEN Asia and
Pacific regional conference in Hong Kong. Qin had his Hong
Kong travel document rescinded and Zhao was blocked at the
border by mainland authorities.

Conference's Utility
--------------


4. (C) All of the rights protection activists (weiquan)
had very positive comments about the conference, saying it
was important for meeting others and learning about other
possible avenues of protest and activism. However, they
all also said the conference was too short. Qin said that
many of the Hong Kong-based diplomats who came spent most
of their time asking "where are you from" and "what do you
do," rather than discussing more concrete means of reform.
Besides the benefits of meeting other activists, Zhao said
they also appreciated the opportunity to meet people from
China Labor Bulletin, Aids and gay groups, Hong Kong
Legislator Albert Ho and an underground internet radio
station. There did not seem to be any firm conclusions or
plans reached from the meeting.

Zhao Dagong
--------------


5. (C) Zhao is a Shenzhen-based secretary of the Chinese
Independent PEN Center (CIPC). The CIPC has nine
secretaries, five in China and four abroad (three in
Washington D.C.). According to Zhao, the National
Endowment for Democracy (NED) provides funding to CIPC,
whose goal is to protect dissident writers in China. Zhao
had previously worked in Shenzhen for the New York-based
China Labor Watch (CLW) and recruited well-known legal
activist Tang Jingling to join CLW. Zhao writes articles
for New Century News, Chinese Rights Defenders Network,
Democratic China (Minzhu Zhongguo) and Boxun.com.


6. (C) Zhao concluded from the Amnesty conference that
activists avoid overly controversial methods of protest.
He cited as a positive example the study groups (dushu hui)
that intellectuals such as Zhongshan University's Ai
Xiaoming have initiated to discuss current events. Zhao
believes the rights protection movement should have three
"nots": activists should not criticize the local
government; he promised he would not criticize the Shenzhen
government and was thus allowed to travel to Hong Kong;
should not unite together in a well-organized group or

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political party; and should not work too closely with the
Falun Gong. Zhao also stressed the role of foreign
governments, praising German Chancellor Angela Maerkel for
meeting many important Chinese dissidents during her tour
of China.

Qin Geng and Wu Wei - Government Pressure
--------------


7. (C) Congenoff met with two other secretaries from the
ICPC, Haikou-based Qin Geng and Guangzhou-based Wu Wei.
Qin recommended the United States and other countries
should try to include immediate family members in visitor
programs, so they could become more knowledgeable about the
activist's work.


8. (C) Qin described his harassment because of his
independent candidacy for October, 2006 district elections
in Longhua district, Haikou city. Qin said that the
Communist Party "planted" candidates on the ballot list who
then mysteriously withdrew their candidacy a few days
before the election. (Note: A legitimate election,
according to the PRC, requires at least three candidates.
End note.). Additionally, many of Longhua's 10,000 voters
were told by government officials to abstain from voting.
According to Qin, Longhua was the only district in Hainan
that did not allow elections. Qin decided not to alert the
media about his case because he did not want his ICPC work
to be affected. Qin also mentioned government pressure
against Wuhan-based activist and fellow independent
candidate Wen Yan. According to Radio Free Asia, Wen was
threatened by state security officials not to run an
election campaign. He refused and on September 12, he and
his mother were attacked by thugs.


9. (C) ICPC Secretary Wu said that, from 2004 till early
2006, he had been forced by Guangzhou Public Security
Bureau (PSB) officials to live outside of Guangzhou. Wu,
who is webmaster for ICPC's website, showed Congenoff a
2004 Washington Post article noting that the group's
website has been shutdown 49 different times.

Ai Xiaoming
--------------


10. (C) Zhongshan University professor and documentary
filmmaker Ai Xiaoming said the conference, while certainly
useful, would not lead to any great change. She also does
not think that the trials of activists such as Gao Zhisheng
and Guo Feixiong will affect the rights protection movement.
She believes the movement does not need a single leader or
unified group; instead, she said, an on-line community is
more effective since the government cannot shutdown the
network as easily.


11. (C) Ai proudly noted that she has raised around USD
3,000 for Aids prevention from people who have donated 1
RMB (USD 0.13) after watching her documentary on the Henan
aids scandal (ref B). Ai has previously received funding
from Oxfam in Hong Kong for a women studies program (money
which she used for him film projects) and is seeking a
grant from NED to improve Chinese people's knowledge of the
United Nations, particularly its history and basic human
rights principles.

Comment: Finding Political Substitutes
--------------


12. (C) Without periodic interaction, activists are forced
to find substitutes and create a virtual community. Since
the Chinese government does not permit reform or open
debate, except that controlled by party or government
offices, activists have focused on international
organizations, such as Amnesty International or the United
Nations, as channels for protest. Because of China's
engagement in the UN (in part, wanting to strengthen its
Security Council position),activists focus on UN
principles of human rights and democracy as a backdoor to
Chinese reform.

GOLDBERG