JR’s Sunday Sermon: Scrooge’s Transformation

Scrooge's Transformation: Redressing the Evils of the Past (1978)

During British prime minister David Cameron‘s trip to China in November, John Humphrys, host of the BBC‘s Today program, asked Wu Jianmin (吴建民), former president of the China Foreign Affairs University, a rather simple question about Liu Xiaobo:

What did he do? What did that Nobel Peace Prize winner do ?

Wu Jianmin’s reply:

I’m not a jurist. I don’t know – maybe you can talk to some Chinese who are informed about that. I’m not informed about his case. I didn’t look at his case.

At first glance, Wu looks ill-prepared for the question. If a former China Foreign Affairs University president isn’t informed about a case which creates a lot of international (and not only ‘”Western”) attention, what is he informed about at all? At what of kinds of cases would he look at in his spare time?

But the fact is that Wu didn’t need to look for a better answer to questions like Humprhys’. In cases that involve “national security”, no Chinese jurist needs to look for better answers either, unless he’s a defender. And even if a defender does have better answers, it won’t matter, if the CCP wants to see a defendant in jail.

National security was reportedly cited as a reason to bar Mo Shaoping (莫少平), Liu Xiaobo’s defender before he was reportedly disqualified, from travelling to Britain in November, apparently on the day or one day after Wu Jianmin referred the BBC to more informed Chinese sources than himself. The Telegraph:

The heavy-handed response confirmed the worst fears of diplomats that the prime minister’s trade visit to China would be derailed by concerns over China’s human rights record.
Some delegates [there were 43 business leaders travelling with Cameron, according to the BBC] have privately voiced their fears that the visit, which is the first by a Western leader since Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel prize in October, could end in disaster at a time when the British government is desperately trying to improve trade relations with China.

There was no reason to worry. Business comes first.

The BBC’s interview with Wu centered around business conflicts, and business conflicts only. You’ll need to listen to “communists” these days – outside China – to be provided with a different view.

While South Africa’s governing ANC emphasizes the need for good relations with Beijing, the Congress of South African Trade Unions’ (COSATU) take is that an injury to one is an injury to all.

Scrooge's Transformation: How Breeding Companies Help Improve Broiler Industry Efficiency (2010)

Business is legitimate – but there needs to be the primacy of politics when dealing with other countries which put politics first themselves. If  you want  real win-win situations, don’t rely on business people from your country.

Too many of them only become principled about judicial miscarriages when they affect them, rather than Chinese people.

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Related
Business Dispute: Just a little Bit Longer, June 16, 2010
The Primacy of Politics, June 13, 2010
German Presidency: Politician wanted, May 31, 2010
“Reluctant to Face a Stronger China”, July 29, 2009

Too Correct to be Turned Back

Feng Zhenghu (冯正虎) was born in 1954, July 1, in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province. He is reportedly one of the signatories to the Charter 08 (零八宪章). In June 2009, after a stay in Japan for medical treatment, he was refused re-entry into China and lived at Narita International Airport, Chibu, Japan from November until yesterday or today, camping out there in protest. He survived on food and drinks provided by supporters passing through immigration and used a laptop and mobile phone to make his situation public via social networking sites.

Feng’s lawyer, Mo Shaoping, said last year that Feng had filed a lawsuit against the border control authorities in Shanghai’s Pudong airport, according to Radio Free Asia (RFA). “I know people in the past suing the government for not allowing them to go abroad, but never heard of any lawsuit for the right to return. As far as I know, no such case has been filed before”, Mo said. RFA also quotes other dissidents saying that they had been turned back last year.

Feng reportedly made eight attempts to get back into China. It was after his eighth attempt that he decided to stay in the airport’s no man’s land, without legally re-entering Japan.

In an interview on February 1 (published on Febr 2), he told the Voice of Germany (Deutsche Welle) in a telephone interview that the week before, staff from the Chinese embassy in Tokyo had come to see him at the airport three times. As the Chinese government didn’t say that he couldn’t return to China, he guessed from those events that he wouldn’t be barred again.

At the first visit, he was told that the embassy employees came on the behalf of the Chinese government and came to care about his health and his situation. They also told him that they had come to help solving the problems in returning home.

“Actually, it’s a long way from the Chinese embassy to the airport. It’s two hourse, one-way, but they came here three times. From what was said in our conversation, I believe that my return won’t be barred this time. So I decided to go back into Japan [from the airport's no-man's-land] to get the formalities done.“

Feng arrived back in China today or yesterday.

“I only had one request – to return home, to return to my country, and nothing else,” the BBC quoted him, after his return to his people  in Beijing. “So I must thank the Chinese government for finally being able to see this matter correctly.”

If Zhenghu is the Chinese word for “Correct Tiger”, the correct tiger has returned to his native land just a few days before the new year of the tiger.

Petition for Liu Xiaobo, CCP refines Harmony Tools

Dozens of China’s most prominent writers and scholars, among them Li Datong (李大同), are calling for the release of a dissident Liu Xiaobo (刘晓波) who was arrested after co-authoring a bold manifesto urging civil rights and political reforms, Associated Press reported on Friday. Abroad, Nadine Gordimer, Salman Rushdie, and other authors, have signed an open letter to China’s chairman Hu Jintao urging Liu’s release.

Meantime, Liu Xiaobo met with a lawyer, Shang Baojun, writes Underthejacaranda. His previous lawyer, Mo Shaoping (莫少平), has been disqualified to represent his client for signing the Charter 08, which was co-authored by Liu.

Yitong, a law firm with a high profile (and apparently some success) in defending human rights activists has reportedly been shut down.

Formally, there is no crackdown; no police are swooping in to seize files or send attorneys en masse to labor camps. Instead, Beijing is simply using its administrative procedures for licensing lawyers and law firms, declining to renew the annual registrations, which expired May 31, of those it deems troublemakers,

the Washington Post reported, also on Friday.

Underthejacaranda is keeping track of news about Liu Xiaobo.

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Related: Liu Xiaobo formally arrested, June 24

Liu Xiaobo Formally Arrested

Liu Xiaobo (刘晓波) is now formally arrested, according to Xinhua, after half a year under house arrest, writes Under the Jararanda.  The post includes a translation of the Xinhua report, another from a Singapore newspaper, and some more related links.

Liu had been held incommunicado since December 8, the day before Charter 08, of which he is one of the initial signatories, was released, according to the Guardian. The paper also reports that so far, Mo Shaoping, Liu’s lawyer, has not been allowed to see his client and was unaware of the arrest until he was called by journalists for a statement.

China Law Prof Blog published an analysis of his detention in December last year and described Beijing’s toolkit of coercive measures and criminal penalties for “inciting subversion”.

Short meeting between Liu Xiaobo and his Wife

[Update begin] –>

A more conveniently readable version of what I wrote underneath…

Liu Xiaobo’s wife Liu Xia (刘霞) was granted a short visit to her husband in custody on 1 January 2009, according to Liu’s lawyer Mo Shaoping (莫少平).

Radio Free Asia’s Chinese service has a report, and Underthejacaranda translated various sections of it.

 (And it’s much shorter without the visible tagging – see underneath – too!)

<– [end of update]

Liu Xiaobo’s wife Liu Xia <!–[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-AU ZH-CN X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 <![endif]–><!–[if gte mso 9]> <![endif]–> <!–[endif]–>刘霞 was granted a short visit to her husband in custody on 1 January 2009, according to Liu’s lawyer Mo Shaoping <!–[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-AU ZH-CN X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 <![endif]–><!–[if gte mso 9]> <![endif]–> <!–[endif]–>莫少平 in an interview with Radio Free Asia.  Liu has been detained since 12 December 2008 in connection with his role in the drafting, signing and disseminating of Charter 08.

Radio Free Asia’s Chinese service has a report, and Underthejacaranda translated various sections of it.