Stop Repression and Free Kwon Pyong and Other Kidnapped Chinese Citizens
Anthony Shu-jen Chang Brisbane, QLD, Australia
Open Letter: Overseas Students Urge Xi Jinping to Stop Repression and Free Kwon Pyong and Other Kidnapped Citizens
Xi Jinping:
We are a group of overseas Chinese students who are urging you to halt the brutal suppression of Chinese people and immediately release Kwon Pyong, a student who was kidnapped by secret police two months ago, as well as other detained citizens, including Xie Yang, Zhou Shifeng, Jiang Tianyong, Huang Qi, and Zhang Haitao. You should free them not only for the welfare of more than a billion people, but also for your own future.
Kwon Pyong graduated from Iowa State University in 2012. He has previously spoken out on Tiananmen and Wukan and sent postcards to jailed human rights lawyers. In exchange for his sense of justice and strong conscience, Kwon Pyong was kidnapped by police in Yanbian, Jilin Province on the eve of the 67th anniversary of your political party’s conquer of China. As Kwon Pyong’s peers, we were deeply shocked and angered by this.
Before being detained, Kwon Pyong was preparing to wear a T-shirt on the street which satirized your kleptocratic policies: repressing Chinese domestically and buying influence internationally. According to Article 35 of the CCP-written constitution, as well as in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights signed by the CCP, Kwon Pyong’s plan was legal. He wanted to utilize his free speech as a citizen to advocate for liberty for the countless people whose well-being, time, and lives your regime has stolen. But he was kidnapped in the middle of the night, tortured, and held in secret custody up until today. Your Gestapo has not only repeatedly denied evil doing but also threatened Kwon Pyong’s family.
Xi Jinping, as the self-proclaimed core of the totalitarian system, it is difficult for you to escape culpability for persecuting Kwon Pyong. Whether it was to vent your personal resentment toward being satirized by a citizen or to maintain the stabilization of the party-state, and whether it was you that directly orchestrated or just permitted it, you are responsible for this. Your father once supported freedom of speech, advocating for a law which would protect different viewpoints. Your persecution of dissidents disgraces him.
You have expanded and intensified the suppression of Chinese citizens. During the 709 Crackdown, you jailed and tortured lawyers who dared to speak the truth, including Zhou Shifeng, Xie Yang, and many others. You have even refused to leave their underage children alone. You recently kidnapped Jiang Tianyong and Huang Qi, who have spent years working to defend the rights of land confiscation victims, followers of unsanctioned religious groups, and dissidents. For simply speaking about your repression of Uyghers, your courts sentenced Professor Ilham Tohti to life in prison and Zhang Haitao to 19 years. Against nationwide disapproval, you stubbornly executed Jia Jinglong, who killed a tyrannical village chief after he was denied all legal remedy to justice. These crimes are indisputable acts of state terrorism, which qualifies you to be “Xitler,” as Kwon Pyong said.
You have squandered the wealth stolen from taxpayers to buy off foreign governments and export political repression. You bribe European and American media, and you use Confucius Institutes to interfere with academic freedom in foreign universities. You hired thugs and manipulated gangster-like police to attack student protesters in the streets of Hong Kong, students who had nothing but umbrellas to face off against fists and tear gas. You disappeared the owners and staff of the Causeway Bay Bookstore because they were going to expose your unspeakable scandals. Peng Ming, a pro-democracy activist who you kidnapped on the Thailand-Burma border, mysteriously died in prison over recent days. After one author of this open letter protested the kidnapping of Kwon Pyong at the Chinese Consulate, you actually tried to use that student’s school and local police to threaten him. Your global bribery and export of repression make you fit for the name on Kwon Pyong’s shirt: “Big Spender”.
Xi Jinping, we are writing this letter as another year comes to pass. While you and your family enjoy officials-only air that is unpolluted and wine that is not adulterated, prisoners of conscience endure beating, torture, and sleep deprivation, isolated in cages far from their loved ones. You are not responsible for all of the crimes of the totalitarian system, but as the totalitarian system’s head and its commander-in-chief of repression, you must take responsibility for the blood and tears which now flow.
Repression that intensifies each day is a clear indication of your panic. You have already realized that totalitarianism has no future. History has shown that terror and butcher cannot not secure the future of dictatorship and authoritarianism. Along with your colleagues, you have been preparing for a future in which you withdraw from China, a possibility secured by off-shore funds and family members’ green cards. But those Chinese who have failed to escape you, who have been trampled and drained, will face a future full of despair.
Xi Jinping, 67 years have passed since your forebears used rubles and guns to steal China. Even with nukes and the Gulag, Soviet Russia only made it 74 years. Freedom approached in a sudden yet irresistible way. In the next spring of China’s new Jasmine Revolution, who will drive your tanks to crush us, the new generation of students after 1989? Do you expect the sons of the veterans of Tiananmen–some recently having protested at your Schutzstaffel headquarters?
You previously lamented that in Moscow during the collapse of the Iron Curtain “there were no real men”. Do you mean a real man like Nicolae Ceauşescu, who fired on his own people and set off a backlash which devoured the murderer himself? He was not the first and will not be the last despot to cast his own fate.
We, the people to whom you are indebted, demand that you stop the ongoing fascist persecution, release Kwon Pyong and all the other kidnapped citizens, and apologize to those tormented and killed by your regime. Prisoners of conscience hold their heads high when entering your courts to be persecuted. In the court of history, will you even be able to enter without assistance? We are determined as citizens to recapture our future. We hope you will not draw for yourself a despot’s future.
38位海外留学生敦促习近平停止镇压并释放权平等被绑架公民的公开信
习近平：
我们是一群在读和毕业不久的中国留学生。我们敦促你停止对中国民众的残忍镇压，并立即释放两个月前被你的秘密警察绑架的权平同学以及谢阳、周世锋、江天勇、黄琦、伊力哈木和张海涛等公民。这不仅是为了十几亿人的福祉，也是为了你个人的未来。
权平于2012年毕业于爱荷华州立大学，曾为天安门和乌坎仗义直言，用明信片向被囚禁的维权律师送去关怀。然而，这位富有正义感和良知的年轻人却在你的政党征服中国67周年的前夜被吉林省延边警方绑架。作为他的同龄人，我们深感震惊和愤慨。
权平被捕前，正准备穿着文化衫走上街头，讽刺你对内镇压、对外收买的窃盗政策。在中共自己制定的宪法第三十五条、以及中共所承认的世界人权宣言第十九条下，他的计划都是合法的。他作为公民通过行使自己的言论自由，为无数被你的政权抢去面包、岁月甚至生命的人呼吁自由。然而，他被秘密警察深夜绑架、酷刑折磨、秘囚至今。盖世太保们不但多次否认作恶，并且威胁权平家人。
习近平，无论是为了发泄被公民讽刺的私怨，还是出于维稳党国江山的公愤；无论是亲自授意、还是仅仅纵容，作为极权体制自封的核心，你难逃迫害权平的责任。你的父亲曾赞成言论自由，提倡制定不同意见保护法。你对批评者的不容忍，让你父亲的名字蒙羞。
你扩大和加剧了对中国公民的镇压。在去年的七零九之夜，你把周世锋、谢阳和其他许多敢说真话的律师送入牢狱施加酷刑，甚至不放过他们未成年的孩子。你刚刚绑架了江天勇和黄琦，他们多年来致力于维护强拆受害者、非官方教团信仰者和异议人士的权利。你的法院判处伊力哈木老师终身监禁、张海涛十九年重刑，他们只是公开反对你镇压维吾尔人。你一意孤行处决走投无怒斩杀恶霸村官的贾敬龙。这些恶行是不折不扣的国家恐怖主义，你当得起权平所说的“习特勒”之名。
你挥霍你从纳税人手里掠夺来的财富，向境外输出政治镇压。你收买欧美媒体，通过孔子学院干涉海外学术自由。你雇佣黑社会并操纵黑社会化的警察当街殴打凌虐香港同学——在你们的拳头和催泪弹下，他们除了雨伞一无所有。你绑架了铜锣湾书店的股东和员工——只为他们揭露了你不可告人的丑闻。被中共从泰缅边境绑架的彭明刚刚神秘死于狱中。这封公开信的作者之一曾抗议权平被绑架，中共外交官竟然试图通过当地警方和学校对他进行威胁。你当得起权平所说的“大撒币”之名。
习近平，我们写这封信的时候又是一个新年。你和家人们将呼吸着没有雾霾的特供空气、享用着不掺水的特供美酒庆祝过去一年的亮剑，良心犯们却远离亲人在牢笼经受老虎凳、睡眠剥夺、蒙头殴打等酷刑。极权体制的全部罪行不应由你一人承担，但作为政权的首脑和镇压的总司令，你必须为正在流淌的鲜血和泪水负责。
日益严厉的镇压清晰的表明你的恐慌。你已经意识到极权主义缺乏未来，然而历史表明恐怖和杀戮并不能为独裁者和专制政权带来未来。你和同事们已经在准备自己在撤离中国之后的未来——被揭露的离岸资金和家人绿卡或许可以保证这种未来。然而，无法逃离你们的中国人却必须面对被践踏和被榨干后充满绝望的未来。
习近平，你的父辈们拿着卢布和枪杆子窃取中国距今已经六十七年，而拥有核武器和古拉格的苏俄只存在了七十四年，自由的降临突如其然又不可阻挡。当茉莉花开遍中国的时候，你还能指望谁来驾驶坦克碾压我们——八九的下一代学生呢？是那些刚刚包围了党卫军司令部的天安门老兵的孩子们吗？
你曾感叹在铁幕崩溃时的莫斯科“竟无一人是男儿”。你说的是齐奥塞斯库那样的男儿吗？他的确向人民扣动了扳机，但子弹拐了弯吞没了谋杀犯自己。暴君亲手铸就了自己的毁灭，他不是第一个，恐怕也不是最后一个。
我们，作为被你亏欠的人民，要求你停止法西斯式的迫害，释放权平以及所有其他被你绑架的公民，并向那些被虐待者和被杀戮者谢罪。良心犯们昂首挺胸地走上你的法庭，你将来能不能不需搀扶地走上历史的法庭？我们矢志夺回自己作为公民的未来，也希望你不要谱写你自己作为暴君的未来。
发起人：(Initiated by)
Anthony Shu-jen Chang 张树人，anthony.s.chang@uq.net.au
Yi Gu 古懿，slmngy@uga.edu
Songnan Yi 易松楠， songnan.yi@connect.qut.edu.au
签名人： (Signed by)
Andrew Cai (University of California, Berkeley, USA)
Cary Cai (Newcomers High School, USA)
Anthony Shu-jen Chang 张树人 (University of Queensland, Australia)
Bingjie Chen 陈炳杰 (California State University, Chico, USA)
Bingxu Chen 陈炳旭 (Missouri State University, USA)
Chuangchuang Chen 陈闯创 (Columbia University, USA)
Xuerui Dong 董雪睿 (Central Technical School, Toronto, Canada)
Yusuf Feng (University of Central Lancashire, UK)
Yi Gu 古懿 (University of Georgia, USA)
Terry He (University of Rochester, USA)
Kuo Jia 贾阔 (Massey University, New Zealand)
Jiaji Jiang 蒋佳冀 (Thomas L. Kennedy Secondary School, Canada)
Deyi Kong 孔德祎 (Queensland University of Technology, Australia)
Geng Li 李赓 (Oxford College of Sydney, Australia)
Meng Li 李萌 (St. John’s University, USA)
Qianyi Li 李谦宜 (University of Melbourne, Australia)
Yatian Li 李亚恬 (Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences, Lithuania)
Zhengzhi Lin 林正治 (Meiji University, Japan)
Yan Lu 卢炎 (University at Albany, SUNY, USA)
Jerry Shi (Newcomers High School, USA)
Xiaowei Song 宋潇伟 (Ohlone College, USA)
Yao Song 宋窈 (University of Tasmania, Australia)
Chengyu Sun 孙承宇 (Francis Lewis High School, USA)
Guangwei Sun 孙广伟 (Weill Cornell Medicine College, USA)
Yu Sun 孙钰 （City University of New York, USA）
Alisa Wang (State University of New York, USA)
Tian’an Wang 王天安 (McGill University, Canada)
Warren Wang (Macquarie University, Australia)
Zhiyi Wang 王芷怡 (South Lakes High School, Virginia, USA)
Zhuo Wang 王卓 (Università di Bologna, Italy)
Lebao Wu 吴乐宝 (Australian National University, Australia)
Wen Xu 徐闻 (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA)
Yingyu Xu 许英玉 (San Francisco State University, USA)
Qianyi Yang 杨倩怡 (South Lakes High School, Virginia, USA)
Ronghao Yang 杨荣浩 (University of Alberta, Canada)
Sara Yang 杨天娇 （University of Texas at Austin, USA）
Songnan Yi 易松楠 (Queensland University of Technology, Australia)
Angelina Zheng (Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand)
Jenny Zhu (University of Minnesota, USA)
此信和首签者名单已寄往中南海（追踪）
This letter with name list of initial signers has already been mailed to Zhongnanhai, which is the President House of People’s Republic of China (tracking)
