In China, a Nobel Peace Prize
winner remains behind bars
Latest award ceremony a reminder
of a chair that sat empty 6 years ago
KENJI KAWASE, Nikkei deputy
editor
Hong Kong Alliance Chairman
Albert Ho Chun-yan, right, and board member Andrew Wan Siu-kin seek the support
of citizens in downtown Hong Kong on Dec. 10. (Photo by Kenji Kawase)
HONG KONG -- Colombian President
Juan Manuel Santos on Saturday received his Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts
to end a civil war that had raged for more than half a century. The medal and
honor was conferred to him in person from the chairperson of the Norwegian
Nobel Committee, in the presence of King Harald V of Norway, in Oslo City Hall.
Six years ago on this day, Liu
Xiaobo, a Chinese literary critic and poet, was awarded the same prize.
However, he and his wife, Liu Xia, were not allowed to leave the country to
attend the ceremony. Liu Xiaobo was and remains locked up in a prison cell in
northeastern China. In Beijing, Liu Xia stays under house arrest.
Not since 1936 had imprisonment
kept the prize's winner from showing up in Oslo. Back then, it was Carl von
Ossietzky who was paying the price for speaking up. He had been selected for
the award a year earlier.
Ossietzky was a German journalist
and one of the Nazis' foremost critics.
Liu Xiaobo was among the authors
of a manifesto known as "Charter 08," issued on this day in 2008 to
mark the 60th anniversary of the promulgation of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights. The charter calls for the rule of law, respect for human rights
and an end to one-party rule.
Right before the charter was made
public, Liu Xiaobo was detained. On Christmas day in 2009, after two trials, he
was sentenced to 11 years in prison for "inciting subversion to state
power."
Since then, Beijing seems to have
made every effort to eradicate Liu Xiaobo from the country's collective memory.
In Hong Kong, though, reminders
of Liu's contribution to society still flow.
On a main shopping street here in
Causeway Bay, the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic
Movements in China, or the Hong Kong Alliance, on Saturday was asking people to
sign Christmas cards to be sent to Liu and to indicate their support for
"Charter 08."
Andrew Wan Siu-kin, a board
member of the group and a Democratic Party legislator, told the Nikkei Asian
Review that this annual drive in support of political prisoners in China,
including Liu, is to "keep the spotlight on these people and to provide
indirect protection for them."
He fears that once attention
dissipates, even more harm could be done to those who have spoken up for rights
in China. "So, we keep shouting," he said. "And we want to draw
international support not to forget these people."
The U.S.-based Human Rights Watch
is also not letting go of the issue.
"Although he never should
have been in prison in the first place," said Sophie Richardson, the
group's director for China, "we need to remind Beijing that he's going to
come out from prison."
Richardson was in Hong Kong to
present the latest investigative report on the extralegal detention system,
known as shuanggui, that President Xi Jinping uses in his war on corruption.
She worries that as people's memories wane, Beijing could sweep matters under
the rug.
"My fear," she said,
"is that if people don't make very clear [their expectations of Liu Xiaobo
being released after his term], it's much easier for them to hang on to him
longer."
Richardson, who represented her
organization in Oslo six years ago, wishes for people across China to continue
recognizing and keeping in mind Liu's "incredible victory."
China's record on human rights
has been underwhelming at best. The Network of Chinese Human Rights Defenders,
or CHRD, with peer organizations in mainland China, last month issued a report.
It indicates "large discrepancies between the [Chinese] government's
promises and its actions related to protecting and promoting human
rights," said Renee Xia, the CHRD's international director. China's
"overall human rights situation has worsened over the past three
years."
The period more or less coincides
with Xi's rise to power, which began in the fall of 2012.
The report also says Beijing's
responses to questions on human rights claims lack sincerity.
The U.N.'s Working Group on
Arbitrary Detention and its Special Rapporteur on Torture in 2013 sent a joint
urgent action to Beijing that raised concern on Liu Xia: She seemed to be under
house arrest for no reason other than being married to Liu Xiaobo. Beijing's
response was that Liu Xia is a "woman of 53 years of age ... originally
comes from Beijing [and is in] fairly good" health. It went on to say that
no Chinese public security body has "adopted any legal or compulsory measures
with regard to her."
The CHRD report notes that this
kind of response is "typical [and] illustrates China's lack of
constructive cooperation."
Frances Eve, a CHRD researcher
based in Hong Kong, spoke to the NAR about the matter. "Though the Chinese
government tries to portray itself as a responsible member of the international
community," she said, "it remains the only country in the world
imprisoning a Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
"Actions speak louder than
words, and China should release Liu Xiaobo and his wife, Liu Xia, from
arbitrary detention and show it's willing to respect fundamental human
rights."
Liu Xiaobo's arrest is not only a
breach of international agreements Beijing has signed but illegal under its own
constitution. Article 35 spells out that Chinese citizens "enjoy freedom
of speech, of the press, of assembly, of association, of procession and of
demonstration."
In addition, Article 41 states
that citizens of China "have the right to criticize and make suggestions
to any state organ or functionary."
As the Norwegian Nobel Committee
pointed out when awarding the peace prize to Liu Xiaobo, "[I]n practice,
these freedoms have proved to be distinctly curtailed for China's
citizens."
Six years on, and matters seem to
have only deteriorated. Yet Albert Ho Chun-yan, chairman of the Hong Kong
Alliance, has a different view. The more the Xi government clamps down on
freedom, Ho said, the more it shows that it is growing paranoid.
"If they are confident of
their strength and trust their own people," he said, Chinese leaders would
"not have to be so afraid of their people and [would] not have to exercise
[such a] tight grip over the whole country, including control [of] popular
opinion."