From maverick to committed democrat, how Tiananmen Square changed the heart and life of one of China’s leading advocates for democracy, Chin Jin, now living in Australia, and the subject of today’s interview. Not necessarily espousing western values, or democracy by rote, Chin Jin does not spare either the U.S. or Asia in what he considers their soft approach to the Chinese government, motivated, not by human rights, but by economic ties. He uses the vision of Liu Xiaobo, 2010 Nobel Prize winner and martyr, as the foundation for his ideals, but is now taking them a step forward, questioning the efficacy of non-violence against an entrenched foe like the CCP. This interview will give you a feel for his passion and drive against injustice, As “Dissident-in-Exile”, he speaks his mind on the plight of Taiwan and Hong Kong, and how they may be the spark that proves explosive for the movement toward democratization. In an interview for ABC News in 2014, Chin Jin summed up his views on hope, maintaining memories, and his personal vision in a quote from Robert Kennedy, “Each time an individual stands up for an idea, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, they send forth a tiny ripple of hope. From a million different centers of energy and daring, those individual ripples build a current that can sweep away the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.” We are honored to offer his words to our readers.

Interviewer: Hanako Cho

 

Federation for a Democratic China

Interviewer: Could you give me your explanation about what the Federation for a Democratic China is?

Chin Jin: Our organization is called Federation for a Democratic China, which was set up in the wake of Tiananmen Square. In late September, 1989, many fled China because of the Tiananmen Square incident. Lots of people just fled overseas. They gathered together in Paris, France to form this organization in Paris. And that organization has spread all over the world. I joined this organization in late 1989 in Sydney, Australia.

Interviewer: So, you were a member from the beginning?

Chin Jin: Almost the beginning. I have always been very committed to this movement. I think my mission is to bring democracy back to China. And I would like to follow the example of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, who successfully overthrew the Qing Dynasty in 1911, I think in 1911. Okay? 1911. So I think I would like to follow his footstep to achieve that. So, I left China for Australia in 1988, and started looking for organizations, organizations who are determined to fight against the Chinese communist regime. So, I found it. That was the organization called the Chinese Alliance for Democracy. That organization was set up in 1982 in New York, USA. I joined this organization in early 1989, in early 1989. So, I was so moved to see Chinese people, Chinese young people, starting to gather in Tiananmen Square, demanding for democracy, demanding for the freedom of expression, and the freedom of association. But that movement was brutally cracked down on the 4th of June. So that was the cause of so many people being killed, and many people were forced to flee overseas, and more people were detained and punished inside China. So, the new organization, Federation for a Democratic China, was formed in September 1989 in Paris, France. So, I shifted from my previous organization, Chinese Alliance for Democracy to the Federation for a Democratic of China. But these two organizations are quite identical, and share the same political ideal
So, the major Chinese democracy organizations are the Chinese Alliance for Democracy and the Federation for a Democratic China. These two are quite identical. So, still, people are campaigning for democracy, for the democracy of China.

 

A Personal Assessment of the Devastation of the Tiananmen Square Massacre

Interviewer: For you, what was the Tiananmen Massacre? Because younger generations don’t know much about that massacre and that the number of causalities is still not clear.

Chin Jin: The casualty or the numbers who lost their lives in Tiananmen Square is still unclear because the Chinese government wouldn’t allow this figure to be released to the public. And Chinese government said there were only about 23 people killed, 23 people killed in Tiananmen Square.

That number was provided by the spokesman for the Chinese government just a few days after Tiananmen Square. But, I think the western democracies knows more about that. Usually, we say the casualty might be around a few hundred or a few thousand. But last year, I saw material or saw a document released by the U.S. government, maybe by the CIA, saying that the casualties might be over, might be over 10,000. I think then US government deliberately concealed this secret, deliberately hide this secret. So that’s why I feel very, very sad, I feel very, very sad that the US government in 1989 helped the Chinese government, helped Deng Xiaoping to turn the corner or to get over this difficulty because of international isolation.

 

Did the US Government Withhold information With Regard to Tiananmen Square?

Interviewer: You mean that CIA had been withholding this information from the public for a long time?

Chin Jin: I think the US government — I don’t think the Bush administration just at that time understood the figures, did not know the figures. I think they know that, but at that time I think George Bush had a very close personal relationship with the Chinese top leader, Deng Xiaoping. So even though he criticized the barbaric activity of the Chinese government, and offered the condemnation of the Chinese government, at the same time he sent two emissaries of his government to meet Chinese leader, Deng Xiaoping sending a wrong message. So, I think at that time, China received unwitting help and support from the United States, under the Bush administration.

 

Why Information Was Withheld and Only Recently Disclosed

Interviewer: Why do you think the U.S. government revealed this secret information last year?

Chin Jin: I don’t know. I don’t know why they just revealed that. To be honest, I want to say this document is 100% correct. But I think it is quite possible the killing was so huge, the killing was so huge. But then, US President George Bush, had sympathy towards Chinese top leader, Deng Xiaoping, and that was a huge mistake of the western democracies. It started the appeasement policy toward China. So that caused China, and caused the problem, the huge problem now in the global political landscape. So, we noticed a recent nuclear test in North Korea. The funny thing is the Six Parties Talk started more than 10 years ago. After 10 years, nothing had been done, only the successful nuclear test in North Korea. That caused a huge problem for the future of world. So, this is another thing [laughter]. If I’m talking, we can talk later.

 

Pro-Democracy Movement Coming Back & the Errors of the West

Chin Jin: I went to Oslo in 2010 to attend the award ceremony of Liu Xiaobo’s Nobel Peace Prize. At that time, Liu Xiaobo was the president of the Chinese independence organization PEN, Chinese PEN. So, before he was jailed – that was in 2006 – I asked my friend to send my regards to Liu Xiaobo and also offer him some gifts to demonstrate my respect to him. So, in 2010 I attended the Oslo ceremony, I attended, and that was a big event because I liked to witness the biggest event showing that the Chinese democracy movement could be back onto the world stage. I noticed for a long time that the Chinese Democracy movement had been abandoned or discarded in the world political arena. Nobody pays attention to the Chinese democracy movement. That must be a very sad thing, very, very sad. So, I don’t know who else would like to pay attention to us. Because the western democracies would like to keep a good relationship with China and also for trade, for economic gains. They do not think of the barbaric or evil of the Chinese government. The leaders of the western democracies are so shortsighted, narrow-minded. That’s my view. After Ronald Reagan, there are no political statements around the world, only politicians. The U.S. had been long in the wrong to deal with China, offering gracious help to authoritarian China to incur the stupid self-destruction. First, the Truman Administration helped Communist Mao to defeat Nationalist Chiang Kai-shek, the war-time ally of the U.S., that engulfed mainland China to be ruled under barbaric communism, and instigating Stalin-Kim Il-sung- Mao Zedong to the military adventure of the Korean War.

Gutless Senior Bush tolerated the 1989 Beijing massacre, failing to capitalize on the U.S. superiority in the wake of the end of the Cold War, continued the China policy set up by Kissinger, naively believing that authoritarian China would become a democracy when its economy well develops. Now China is an all the more formidable challenger to the U.S. I am really and deeply worrying about the current world situation — while the number one superpower, the US, is at a loss because the US has no visionary political statesman to put his hand on the helm to steer the voyage of this world.

 

Japan’s Past Failure in Stopping the Abuses of the CCP & the Empowerment of North Korea

Interviewer: Maybe including Japan, right?

Chin Jin: Of course. I would say Japan acted very badly in 1989. Japan was the first member of the G7 to normalize relationships with China and offer economic aid. I don’t know why Japan did that, but I checked. At that time, the prime minister of Japan was so weak. He stayed there only for about two months. He was so weak he took over the position on the 4th of June, 1989, just the same day as the Tiananmen Massacre. And I think he did not know how to handle that, and then Japanese politicians acted badly to offer support to the evil. Now the evil could create another evil: China giving support to North Korea. Now North Korea has nuclear weapons.

 

Liu Xiaobo and the Spirit of Revolution

Interviewer: Our teacher, Ryuho Okawa, recorded a spiritual message of Liu Xiaobo the other day and he, the spirit of Liu, said in that spiritual message that, “I didn’t think that I could cause a revolution by myself.” But he said that, “He could be a kernel of wheat falls into the ground and dies, but soon, that abandoning his light there will be a new sprout.” How do you feel about his spirit of revolution?

Chin Jin: I will say Liu Xiaobo, he was being persecuted to death. That was clearly revealed after Liu Xiaobo’s concept of achieving democracy in China via peaceful, rational, and a nonviolent method has come to its end.

 

Peaceful Revolution of Taking to the Streets

Interviewer: You called him “Mr. Nonviolence”.

Chin Jin: No enemy. Yeah. That’s called rational, peaceful, and nonviolence. The nonviolent method has come to its end because the Chinese government did not understand this kind of language. And for the past nearly 30 years, 28 years after the Tiananmen Square Massacre, the whole world still cherishes the hope that China may change. So, I think that might be the reason the U.S. and the West naively believe that China will get into democracy when its economy develops. I think that’s totally wrong, that’s totally wrong. I think the Chinese government will not budge an inch to the historical tide to reform. The only way to realize democracy in China is to cause a democracy revolution. That means the Chinese people who live under the misery of the Chinese Communist Party must wake up and bravely fight for their own rights. This is my understanding of the spirit of revolution. Not necessarily to bring up arms, to take to arms, to take the weapons, but the whole nation having the guts, having the braveness to take to the streets. That’s the best way. The best new example is the Arab Spring. Arab Spring started from early 2011.

 

Was Liu Xiaobo’s Approach to Revolution Effective? Is Non-Violence Passé?

Interviewer: Do you think that Liu Xiaobo’s approach to revolution, his nonviolent approach to democracy was effective?

Chin Jin: No. For the past 20 years, the reality told us it will get the Chinese people nowhere because the Chinese government, the Communist Party does not accept any political reform. They just want to stay in power forever. They just enslave their people. There’s no way to use a rational, peaceful, and nonviolent method. This method used to be used. In fact, take the good result– we achieved a good was in these three places I can mention to you: India, that was in 1940s.

Interviewer: Gandhi, right?

Chin Jin: Mahatma Gandhi. His movement was peaceful. But his rivalry was British. And also, Nelson Mandela in South Africa. His enemy or rivalry was the South African white apartheid regime. And also, what is his name? Let me think. Martin Luther King in the early 60s. His enemy, his target, was the US government. So that’s totally different. This method could only be used in an open society, not in a closed society.

China is totally closed society. I don’t think that he (Xiaobo) was just died naturally. I think he suffered persecution deliberately to be killed through illness. So, I believe Liu Xiaobo’s way has come to its end. What the Chinese people need is a political opportunity to turn up something all of a sudden to happen out of the blue. That could truly get a huge change. So, I think that Liu Xiaobo’s spirit, Liu Xiaobo’s spirit, could remind us to keep on, keep on with fighting and campaigning, but his was no longer necessarily a good way. I remind you of one thing. Just recently in Mainland China, more than a thousand Muslim fought in Tianjin in defiance of authority. They demolished a toll-collecting station.

Interviewer: You mean recently?

Chin Jin: Just a few days ago, they requested or demanded the police kneel down. Very, very harsh. It is effective. It is effective. This is the language the Chinese government listening to.

ABC Interview & Jin’s Forecast for the Future

Interviewer: So that’s why you said that democracy movement might be coming in the ABC interview?

Chin Jin: That’s my view. This interview was done just before, or maybe just after, the passing away of Liu Xiaobo, but at that time, I was not aware of Liu’s passing. After the interview, I noticed that Liu Xiaobo had passed away just a few hours before. But in this interview, I had already envisioned the future, I think. I think with China, Liu Xiaobo’s way has reached its end. The next stage: democratic revolution. The great crowd of people fighting against the regime, demanding for change. That’s the democratic revolution.

Even Liu Xiaobo’s spirit said that, “What the Chinese government is most afraid of is to occur the movement such as don’t let Liu Xiaobo’s death go to waste.” Do you think this kind of movement would happen in somewhere in Hong Kong, or U.S., or Australia, or somewhere else to pressure Chinese government?

Chin Jin: I think the Chinese government, the Chinese government actually is actually not comfortable to have Liu Xiaobo in people’s mind. That’s why they just scattered his ashes to the sea. They do not want to leave a place for people to mourn him. So, Liu Xiaobo’s spirit is still living in the minds of people, but Liu Xiaobo’s advocating, his advocating he said, “I have no enemy.” Yeah. I think he has a very gracious, a very big heart. He has no enemy. But the enemy was actually there, and his enemy persecuted him to death. So that’s very sad. I think the Chinese government just tried to wipe him out, wipe him totally. Shocked, I mean, they’re scared about Liu Xiaobo spirit, Liu Xiaobo determination for his ideal.

Interviewer: Why do you think Chinese government is so afraid of the influence of Liu Xiaobo?

Chin Jin: Because Liu Xiaobo’s spirit, the influence of Liu Xiaobo could inspire ordinary Chinese people to think deeply for themselves, for their future, for the change of a political system. The Chinese government just want to keep the current status quo. They don’t want to change the political system. They just want to keep power in their hands forever.

Interviewer: But now the Chinese people even don’t know the fact that Liu Xiaobo has passed away.

Chin Jin: I think the majority of the Chinese people know nothing about it. To be honest, that’s very sad. The majority of the Chinese people are so busy working with their own lives for their daily bread and butter, they could not think too much because they have been brainwashed by the Chinese government. Past 70 years, especially after Tiananmen Square, the Chinese government did make good use of its educational system to brainwash the young people. I think the majority of the Chinese people had known nothing. They just obediently accept what happened to them. They can’t use their brains to think freely because they have been brainwashed.

Interviewer: They don’t even know Liu Xiaobo received Nobel Prize in 2010?

Chin Jin: I think the majority of the Chinese even would have no clue. They don’t know. And they don’t care. So, the first thing Chinese government is just closed windows and doors, do not let any free speech, any free ideas to get into China. The bad thing is the west democracy help the Chinese government to build up this golden shield to fend off the freedom and the liberty that should be introduced into China. I think the U.S. corporations like Microsoft, Google and so forth did a very, very, good job for helping China. So, did the U.S. and Japanese government in providing economic aid to the Chinese government.

 

China and North Korea

Interviewer: Yeah. It’s very shameful. But right now, the U.S. government is pressuring the Chinese government to sanction North Korea. It’s a secondary sanction. What do you think of this move by the US government?

Chin Jin: I think the US government is cornered. I think the U.S. government has been cornered. They find it very difficult to make good a correct response to that. So, I wrote a letter to my friend yesterday. I said to him — let me just read that to you. I said, “I think the whole world would be trembling that mad Kim Jong-un possesses weapons of mass destruction. One stitch in time saves nine. The US missed the eight stitches all ready. Right? The former U.S. president, Obama, cowardly offered a leeway to North Korea, and the current U.S. president talks too much without firm and decisive action to prevent a probable tragedy from taking place. So, I don’t think it is too late now to launch preemptive military action to prevent disaster triggered by North Korea.” I don’t know if it’s too late now. Because I understand if they take any action — just say 10 years ago, U.S. launched 2 wars, 2 battle fields in the Middle East, in Afghanistan and also in Iraq. But these crises are different, because they do not hold weapons of mass destruction, they don’t have nuclear weapons. But for the past 10 years, the funny thing is North Korea has just been openly nuclearizing under the bright, broad daylight of the world. I think that Chinese government offered that opportunity. To be honest, the Chinese government doesn’t want North Korea to have this weapon, but the Chinese government doesn’t want Kim’s North Korean regime to be demolished.

Interviewer: Do you mean a denuclearized country?

Chin Jin: Yeah. So now both China and the United States will be in very difficult position to help that.

 

The Push to Asia: A Democratic Movement in Transition

Interviewer: So maybe that’s why you are considering moving your Chinese democratic movement from western countries to Hong Kong or Taiwan and Japan? I think you are proposing to move your central activity from western countries to Asia. Is this correct?

Chin Jin: Democratic Taiwan should be the most effective footing of support for overseas Chinese democracy nowadays, to its west is Hong Kong, to its north is Japan. These localities share the same or similar culture and language that can be directly radiating to China. Taiwan is already a democracy and Beijing a natural enemy of Taiwan, so the both are facing a common political rivalry. This idea was formed about ten years ago and now I am doing it in the hope to shift the target of strategic gravity of overseas Chinese democracy movement.

Hong Kong is fighting for democracy, so Hong Kong is also the natural ally of the Chinese democracy movement. Hong Kong people must realize now that they are waiting for the Chinese government to follow and abide by the agreement of 1984. That was a joint declaration of Sino and British. They just wait for the Chinese government to order the commitment to give them the full democracy by 2017 and 2020. But the Chinese government is not going to honor its commitment. Hong Kong people have to fight for their rights. The Hong Kong social movement demanding full democracy could be a tipping point to trigger a chain reaction for the eventual collapse of Beijing. I think Beijing would be very cautious to send troops to suppress Hong Kong people by force.

 

Increasing Pressure in Hong Kong

Interviewer: Hong Kong court sentenced Joshua Wong for six months in jail in order to deprive him of candidacy in the next election. So, I think the pressure from the Chinese government is increasing in Hong Kong. Do you think the Hong Kong people will hang on?

Chin Jin: I noticed that. And these types of people will be put in jail for months, for six to eight months, and this has already angered Hong Kong people. So more than 100,000 people have already taken to the streets to demand their freedom. I wish Hong Kong people should keep on that, and I think if they keep on, they have the chance to make change. When I was in Tokyo, I talked to one of the initiators for the Occupy Central in Hong Kong, whose name is Professor Benny Tai.

Interviewer: Benny Tai. Oh, okay. I interviewed him before.

Chin Jin: I said to him, “If you can call on Hong Kong people once again to make a come-back to the Occupy Central Movement, and people take to the streets, that may help Hong Kong to achieve democracy and freedom”. That would be a great help to the three young student leaders to be jailed.

 

Benny Tai

Interviewer: But you know, one of the lawmakers proposed that Benny Tai should resign recently, so I’m not sure whether he could survive in the near future.

Chin Jin: This is political pressure from the Hong Kong government. And the Hong Kong government is just like a puppet dog, like a running dog who listens to Beijing. They can do whatever they are asked. So, I understand. Benny Tai is in a difficult position. All democrats should work together. At least we have to give him the moral support, at least. As the president of a federation for a democratic China and a co-chairman of the Chinese Democracy Forum, I would like to give him the full support.

Interviewer: In what way?

Chin Jin: To speak up on his behalf. So, some Hong Kong people asked me if it would be possible if I could help them make a plea to the Australian government. I said, “I’m happy to help the Hong Kong people to do that. This is what I’m going to do for them.”

Interviewer: Right. So, in the speech or message to Liu Xiaobo, he said that, “We stand at the crossroad that will define the next 10 years.” What kind of activities are you planning to initiate through the Federation for a Democratic China?

Chin Jin: Okay. For me, I will say that I wouldn’t have a 10-years plan because I have been deeply involved in this movement for nearly 3 decades. If the fate intervenes, that powerful supernatural forces come down from somewhere, and may God help us. These are all Chinese people in the foreseeable near future and at the same time I would like to be looking for the young people to carry on. If not, I will still keep to this commitment all my life, but not necessarily as an active democracy campaigner or quitting the position I am now holding for the FDC.

 

The Passion for Freedom

Interviewer: Where does your passion come from? I’m always wondering [laughter].

Chin Jin: I think I was born with that. I started to think quite differently than other Chinese fellows, my fellow students. I was very, very young at that time. I think as early as 1969 when I was only 13.

Interviewer: So, you were born to be a democracy activist [laughter].

Chin Jin: I think so. I was born with that. I think maybe that’s the mission that the Heavenly Father, or God, the supernatural put in my body.

Interviewer: It’s a gift to you.

Chin Jin: It’s a gift to me, yes.

The Role of Religion in the Democratization of China

Interviewer: I’m wondering whether you have some idea about the role of religion to democratize China?

Chin Jin: I acknowledge the strength of religion. The great strength of Christianity that Pope John Paul II employed to comfort the Solidarity Polish trade union fighting against the Polish communist regime which triggered a domino effect to pour down the Eastern European Bloc and dissolution of Soviet Union. Iranian Islamic leader Khomeini also made good use of the strength of religion to topple the Shah of Iran, a secular regime. The Chinese people have been historically in favor of Buddhism. But since the inception of communism in 1949, all religions in China became relegated to the control of the government, so the religions in people’s minds have been demolished. At the moment, ordinary Chinese people are not so religion-obsessed, they have been funneled to be money-oriented.

 

The Dissolution of the Falun Gong Religion

We should understand Chinese people seek religion only for the comfort of their soul, comfort of their life, not for the change of the system. They don’t have this kind of thinking. And I will say, in 1999, Falun Gong was outlawed. I think the whole world noticed that. The Falun Gong people, they just followed their teacher. That make the Chinese government so uncomfortable. It was history. In Chinese history, I will say there were two dynasties for religion. The first one was about 184 A.D., the Han Dynasty, wherein the group of people of the Yellow Scarves Rebellion just used their religion for an uprising against the Han court, that greatly crippled the Han court. Very soon, the Han Dynasty was dissolved into Three States. That’s a historical lesson the Chinese government must take.

Another instance is the founding of the Ming Dynasty. The Mongolians occupied China. Mongolia controlled China. Mongolia controlled China for about 90 years, and its people. The Ming religion, also known as Mani, Manichaeism, was used by the first emperor of Ming Dynasty to overthrow the Mongolian Conquer (1271 – 1368) of China. So that’s why the Ming Dynasty was set up under the name of it. That’s why I think that’s a very interesting historical lesson that China’s government had taken. That’s why they outlawed Falun Gong. Because Falun Gong leaders boasted they had more than 100 million followers. To my view, it’s an exaggeration. But still, it’s a force out of the establishment. It’s a social force that made the Chinese government feel very, very uncomfortable.

Interviewer: Many followers of Falun Gong, supposedly had their organs transplanted to someone else while still they are alive. Do you think this is true?

Chin Jin: A few days ago, a fleeing Chinese businessman, Guo Wengui, revealed that the Chinese government made some capital punishment for the harvester of personal organs for the Chinese leaders or their relatives, family members.

Interviewer: Followers of Falun Gong?

Chin Jin: Not necessarily Falun Gong — what Guo mentioned was only young and healthy people were killed for their organs to be implanted in relatives of Chinese high ranking officials. This is really horrifying to learn of this skeleton in the closet. So that story demonstrates the truthfulness of Falun Gong’s claim, their practitioners were killed for organ harvests, this is from another angle to prove Falun Gong’s claim.

 

The Ideal of Sun Yat-Sen

Interviewer: At the beginning, you said that your model is Sun Yat-sen. Why did you find him an ideal model in this activity?

Chin Jin: he was liberator and then he encouraged the public in China to change the 2,000 years of the authoritarian, imperial system. He did that after nearly two decades of campaigning and armed struggles. Very luckily, the revolution of 1911 was successful, and he was the father of this movement. So, his political action inspired me. The Sun Yat-sen revolution received support from his Japanese friends. So, I cherish a hope that the Chinese democracy should be able to find in Japan current Souten Miyazaki, Shu Hirayama, Tsuyoshi Inukai, I would like to meet these new Japanese friends to give our movement support.

 

The Evil of Mao

When I was young, when I was a pupil, in primary school, when I was only about 9 or 10, I would like to read the stories of Dr. Sun Yat-sen and Mao Zedong. I liked these stories. And then, when I grew up I noticed that Mao Zedong was just a monster. He’s just an evil man. I could see he’s an evil man, is not a good guy, but the Chinese people, the majority of the Chinese people had been brainwashed to believe he was a hero that saved China.

 

Dr. Wang Bingzhang

When I, nearly in my late 20s, I started thinking of going abroad to follow his way. Then I tried to find the organization doing the same work Dr. Sun Yat-sen did. I learned that man was Dr. Wang Bingzhang, who was the founding father of the overseas Chinese democracy movement. He set up the Chinese Alliance for Democracy (CAD). Unfortunately, he was kidnapped on the border of China and Vietnam. And he is now serving his life imprisonment in China. Now I’m so worried, I’m so, so, worried he might be the next target of the Chinese government to be killed in prison.

He is the real hero. He is the real hero of the Chinese democracy movement. I think that he can be compared with Nelson Mandela and Liu Xiaobo. He’s no short of comparing with these people. I wish people can pay more attention to him. He’s now under the severe, harsh punishment by Chinese government ever since he was jailed.

Interviewer: Is there any possibility that he will be coming out of jail?

Chin Jin: No. I don’t think so.

The U.S. government would not offer support to him. That’s U.S. I don’t think the UN– Japanese government offered support. That’s why, let me tell you. Chinese democracy movement is in a difficult situation with very few people who have to work so hard without weapons and ammunition to fight against well-armed, well-trained troops.

 

The Future of Democracy in China

Interviewer: In the spiritual messages, Liu Xiaobo said, “I want to offer some kind of encouragement, however little, to the comrades I have left behind, and to help those who will come after me, as much as I can. What and how do you see as the steps to fulfill his will to democratize China?

Chin Jin: Keep working hard and wait for an historical political opportunity. Chinese communists were nearly wiped out in 1936, when General Zhang’s detention of Chiang Kai-shek saved the Chinese Communist Party and its weak troops. Then the CCP plotted the 7 July 1937 Marco Polo Bridge incident to drag Japan and China into the next 8 year full-out war, which severely crippled Chiang Kai-shek KMT, and in capitalizing the full support from Russian and unwitting aid from the Truman Administration to win the civil war, sweeping over mainland China in 1949. I quote history to remind all Chinese democracy activists to be patient to wait for the moment to democratize China.

 

The Need for Accountability

Interviewer: What actions should the U.S. and Japan take to advance the cause of these prisoners and hold China accountable for civil rights abuse?

Chin Jin: Japan behaved very badly in the wake of the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989. Japan was the first member of the G7 to give economic aid and restore high level relations with China very shortly after the incident. Appeasement displays the cowardliness image of a responsible nation. In the event of the Tiananmen Square Incident, both the US President George Bush and the Japanese government did so badly. It is my wish that Japan should have the guts and courage to stand still and speak up for any wrong doings of human rights violations by the Chinese government. I do not know if the Japanese government did anything to press Xi Jinping to release Liu Xiaobo for receiving medical treatment overseas, but I doubt the Japanese political leader did anything. Political leaders of responsible nations should bear these things in mind so as to influence the world: justice, morality, and caring about the helpless people under the misrule of a barbaric regime like the authoritarian China.