Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 15 Feb 1996

Vol. 461 No. 6

Adjournment Debate. - Imprisonment of Chinese Dissident.

Mr. M. McDowell

The reason I raise this item on the Adjournment is that I was privileged to meet the sister of Mr. Wei Jingsheng, Ms Wei Sansan, at a meeting sponsored by the International Commission of Jurists and by Amnesty International in Ireland. Mr. Wei Jingsheng is now serving his second sentence of 14 years. Previously, he was sentenced to a period of 15 years' imprisonment, which was curtailed near its end, for placing democracy posters on Democracy Wall in Peking in the period of great unrest in the People's Republic of China in 1979. He served 13½ years of his 15 year sentence. During that period he suffered tremendous hardship and deprivation, losing many of his teeth and developing a heart condition sitting in a primitive cell in a distant part of China, simply for expressing his true conviction about the need for democracy and liberty in China.

As part of China's effort to conduct a charm offensive internationally to get the 2000 Olympic games moved to Peking he was released as a result of American pressure. Many people in his circumstances would have simply said they had played their part for liberty and democracy and fade quietly into the background. On his release he again compaigned for liberty and democracy in China. He met an American diplomat and set up a movement in China for liberty and democracy. He was arrested shortly after meeting the American diplomat and detained without a warrant for a number of months. Subsequently he was placed on trial on a charge of conspiracy to overthrow the Government of the People's Republic of China. He was indicted and convicted at a show trial and handed down a sentence of 14 years to be served in the prison from which he had been released on 13 December 1995.

His crime is simply that he supports liberty and democracy. It is probable, bearing in mind the suffering he endured on the last occasion, that he will die in prison unless international opinion is mobilised to stand by him and to vindicate, not merely his rights but the rights for which he has sacrificed so much over the last 15 or 20 years.

I am calling on this House to bear witness to his struggle and on the Government to raise the issue of how this man has been treated — he is by no means alone but he is one person of whom we have been made aware by Amnesty International and the International Commission of Jurists — and to take the opportunity of the forthcoming conference in Geneva in March to press for international condemnation of the systematic abuse of civil liberties and suppression of human rights in China by the Government of the People's Republic of China. I ask the Government to bring the matter further than it has done before and not merely to support EU resolutions in that regard but to use our position as a non-aligned country to advocate strongly to other countries, who have hesitated in the past, to take a strong stance in support civil liberties in China and not to allow this man's suffering and persecution to be in vain.

Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr. Spring)

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. It is one of importance and deserves to be raised in the House.

Wei Jingsheng is one of China's most important dissidents. He is an advocate for freedom of expression and the pursuit of democracy by peaceful means. He holds that it is not desirable, or even possible, to modernise the Chinese economy under the single-party rule of the Chinese Communist Party. Mr. Wei was awarded the 1994 Olof Palme Prize.

Wei Jingsheng was sentenced to 14 years in prison on 13 December 1995 for his alleged attempt "to subvert the government" in China. It should also be recalled that he had received an earlier sentence of 15 years before his release in September 1993 having served about 14 years and six months of that sentence. He enjoyed a period of liberty which only lasted six months in 1993-94 before being again detained until his trial in late 1995.

On 6 December 1995, the EU Troika of Heads of Mission at Beijing made a démarche in favour of Wei Jingsheng. The response from the Chinese Foreign Ministry was that the matter was purely an internal affair. On 12 December 1995, the permission of the Supreme Court of the Municipality of Beijing was requested for the EU Troika Heads of Mission to attend Mr. Wei's trial but without success. Following the draconian sentence of 14 years which was imposed on him, a European Union statement was issued on 14 December 1995 which deplored Mr. Wei's continued imprisonment and sought his unconditional release. This EU position has, of course, been conveyed subsequently to the Chinese authorities in contacts, inter alia, with the Foreign Ministry in Beijing. Recently during the course of the EU Troika/China Human Rights Dialogue meeting, with participation from Ireland, which was held in Beijing from 22 to 24 January 1996 the matter was raised with the Chinese Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs. In all these instances the rather unsatisfactory response has been that Wei Jingsheng committed a criminal offence for which he was sentenced by the Chinese courts and that the matter was an internal one and of no concern to third parties. The Government, with our EU partners, is mindful of the continuing plight of Mr. Wei and will continue to raise his case with the Chinese authorities.

The Government has consistently availed of all appropriate opportunities to raise the question of human rights abuses with the Chinese authorities. During his visit to Ireland on 6 October 1995, I raised a series of human rights issues with Chinese Vice-Premier and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Qian Qichen, and I will continue to do so as long as matters remain unresolved. The Government also supports the initiative which has brought about meetings within the framework of the EU Troika/China Human Rights Dialogue, two meetings of which have taken place within the past 13 months and are hopeful that these exchanges will eventually bear fruit.

I take it that the reference to the International Conference in Geneva to which the Deputy referred is to the 52nd Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights which will take place in Geneva from 18 March to 26 April 1996. Ireland is playing an active role at the present preparatory stage and will continue to do so at this forum. However, given that the process of widespread consultation and co-ordination is in train at present, it will be appreciated that precise information as to the full details of any draft resolutions cannot be provided at this remove of one month from the forthcoming session as they are not yet available. If it is decided to put forward a resolution at the Commission on Human Rights, the Government would support this.