Jonathan Rugman
AsianWeek
09-01-1995
Home Again.
Since his return to the Bay Area and his release by Chinese authorities, Harry Wu has kept a pace that would probably wear out many people half his 54 years. The human-rights activist believes he has a story to tell. The clock is ticking and there's little time for rest and relaxation.
From dawn to dusk, the phone at his Milpitas home has been constantly ringing. A Wu supporter picks up the receiver and politely explains, 'Harry has quite a busy schedule, and he'll try to get back to you as soon as possible.'
A satellite truck with a gigantic dish aimed at the heavens is parked outside Wu's house, ready to feed a live interview of Wu to Hong Kong. Days earlier, Wu and his wife Ching Lee prepared for a similar conversation with Ed Bradley for the CBS newsmagazine show 60 Minutes.
At noon Wu and his wife drive to City Hall. This is a very emotional moment for the cause celebre. During Wu's incarceration, townspeople had put up a yellow ribbon and vowed to win his release. On this particular day, Wu is fulfilling that promise by cutting down the ribbon.
'When I got into trouble in China, the whole city put up yellow ribbons all over the place, and students wrote letters to President Clinton,' Wu says. 'I feel so grateful.'
Wu found out about the town's support while he was still in prison. He says: 'When the American general consular first came to see me when I was incarcerated in Wuhan, I said, 'Please tell the American people that I am so honored I am one of them. I'm so grateful that I am an American citizen.' Now I realize I am so happy that I have become one of them.'
Wu is also grateful to other people, including U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who traveled with her husband to Beijing in the week prior to Wu's release to aid the negotiations for his quick release. On Wednesday, the two met face to face for the first time in Feinstein's San Francisco office.
'I appreciate that she went to Beijing and talked with [President] Jiang Zemin and urged him to release me,' Wu says. 'I definitely want to thank her for what she did. But I want to use this opportunity to tell Senator Feinstein how I feel about the situation. It's important for the U.S. not to take economic sanctions against China, because trade benefits the common Chinese people.'
Wu is hoping that through trade a 'peaceful revolution' will take place and eventually lead to the demise of communism. He says: 'Last year when I was in China I learned a very simple truth. Communism as an idea is a failure. It's dead. Nobody believes it. In 1950 I was from the bourgeois class. I wanted to give up. I wanted to reform and accept Mao Zedong's thoughts. I believed that communism is a heaven. It's a way for us Chinese to become wealthy and great in the world. After 30 or 40 years communism is a disaster. Today in China nobody believes it.'
Wu is curious over the latest developments in Sino- American relations. Since his release he has heard international experts predict that conditions are seemingly improving between the two countries. He is ready to offer advice to President Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Wu wants to tell President Clinton to beware of political traps with the Chinese, offering him a challenge: 'I really want the American president to become the first president in the world to condemn the Chinese gulag system and to also condemn the Chinese for their human-rights abuses. Mr. Clinton deleted the human-rights issue with the trade and lost the [political] leverage.'
Wu feels that both trade and political pressure on the Chinese are important to improve China's human-rights record and to the develop peaceful relations between the two countries. Trade without politics, he warns, could spell trouble.
He explains: 'I was detained in a so-called health recovery center, not a jail in Wuhan. It was at a special place. I was surrounded by about 40 to 45 military police in the complex. Most of the police had cellular phones that were made by Motorola. That sent me a message. In China the [economic] benefit to the common people is very small. Most of the profits go to the authorities. That's why they have a lot of the money to buy the high-tech [goods], to buy the equipment to support the military and the police security system. That money can make sure a regime is stable.'
'You have to look at the long-term,' Wu continues. 'China has a 1.2 billion population. They have a nuclear-weapons system. They have a missile system. They have a huge security force. This is a big resource, and this is only controlled by a small dictator. That could mean big trouble.'
With the aging Deng Xiao Peng in poor health, Wu predicts the Chinese leader's passing would produce political turmoil. He says: 'That always happens. You have to learn about Chinese communist history. Since 1921 the high-level circle is always bloody. Today they are [saying], 'We're a collective leadership system.' Can you find that in the Chinese communist history? No! They always kill each other.'
When Hillary Rodham Clinton attends the U.N. Women's Conference in Beijing this month, Wu hopes she will fire the first salvo and urge the Chinese to do something about their dismal human-rights record. 'There are many Chinese dissidents who were locked in jail and lost freedom,' Wu says. 'We don't know where they are.'
For example, in the Tiananmen massacre in 1989 there were three people who threw some paint on the chairman's portrait. One was sentenced to life, one was sentenced to 15 years, and one to 10 years,' he says. 'If I threw some paint over Clinton's picture, I would probably just pay some money for damage to public property. That's it, and never get sentenced to life. But it's happening in China.'
Wu realizes that he has both supporters and detractors. During his incarceration a number of congressional representatives signed a note supporting his consideration for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Acknowledging this compliment, Wu says, 'If there is a Nobel Peace Prize to be issued, I would suggest that it be given to [Nobel Prize nominee] Wei Jing Sheng. It's an encouragement for me to work hard, to continue to fight. I will not give up.
'When I was in China, a general said to me, 'Because you're an American, that's why we give you very special treatment. Remember, if you were not an American, your treatment would be very different.' I was so, so sad about it. Because of my American passport, I have a kind of protection. Of course, I feel grateful. But on the other side, I am crying. I remember that Wei Jing Sheng, Lieu Gong, Ding Sun Ling, and Chung Zing Ming [political prisoners] are the same as me. They are human beings. There's no difference at all. The only difference is they are Chinese citizens and I am an American citizen.'
Before his release, a Silicon Valley group calling itself Concerned Citizens for Rational Relations with China criticized Wu for attempting to sneak into China, unnecessarily straining Sino-American relations. Asked if he would consider speaking to his critics and persuade them to join his ranks, he quickly replies: 'I'm tired of them. These people make me sick. I don't want to waste my time. I want to talk to the majority.'
When Wu won his release, his captors promised to imprison him if he dares to return to China. Wu was convicted for 10 years to life for stealing state secrets and another five years for impersonating a police officer.
'I didn't say I would not come back,' Wu says. In a battle of wits, he continues: 'The police said three times, 'If you come back, we'll put you in jail.' I told them, 'This is my motherland. I'm here.' They said, 'We wait for you. We want you.' I said, 'I'm here just like the meat on your chopping board. Whatever you want to chop, it's OK.'
'And then, one of the captains said, 'You don't have to tell me whatever to chop.' I said, 'I still have the bone, right? You have to be careful, because the bone could turn the blade of the knife.''
Wu says he will continue to haunt his captors until human-rights abuses are eliminated in China.
Next week Wu leaves for Washington, D.C., to brief members of Congress about his ordeal in the People's Republic of China and to give his assessment of the situation there. There's a good chance he will recite a line from Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, which he posted in his cell during his detainment.
It reads, 'A man can be destroyed, but not defeated.'
Sam Chu Lin
Ethnic NewsWatch SoftLine Information, Inc., Stamford, CT
AsianWeek
09-01-1995
Home Again.
Since his return to the Bay Area and his release by Chinese authorities, Harry Wu has kept a pace that would probably wear out many people half his 54 years. The human-rights activist believes he has a story to tell. The clock is ticking and there's little time for rest and relaxation.
From dawn to dusk, the phone at his Milpitas home has been constantly ringing. A Wu supporter picks up the receiver and politely explains, 'Harry has quite a busy schedule, and he'll try to get back to you as soon as possible.'
A satellite truck with a gigantic dish aimed at the heavens is parked outside Wu's house, ready to feed a live interview of Wu to Hong Kong. Days earlier, Wu and his wife Ching Lee prepared for a similar conversation with Ed Bradley for the CBS newsmagazine show 60 Minutes.
At noon Wu and his wife drive to City Hall. This is a very emotional moment for the cause celebre. During Wu's incarceration, townspeople had put up a yellow ribbon and vowed to win his release. On this particular day, Wu is fulfilling that promise by cutting down the ribbon.
'When I got into trouble in China, the whole city put up yellow ribbons all over the place, and students wrote letters to President Clinton,' Wu says. 'I feel so grateful.'
Wu found out about the town's support while he was still in prison. He says: 'When the American general consular first came to see me when I was incarcerated in Wuhan, I said, 'Please tell the American people that I am so honored I am one of them. I'm so grateful that I am an American citizen.' Now I realize I am so happy that I have become one of them.'
Wu is also grateful to other people, including U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who traveled with her husband to Beijing in the week prior to Wu's release to aid the negotiations for his quick release. On Wednesday, the two met face to face for the first time in Feinstein's San Francisco office.
'I appreciate that she went to Beijing and talked with [President] Jiang Zemin and urged him to release me,' Wu says. 'I definitely want to thank her for what she did. But I want to use this opportunity to tell Senator Feinstein how I feel about the situation. It's important for the U.S. not to take economic sanctions against China, because trade benefits the common Chinese people.'
Wu is hoping that through trade a 'peaceful revolution' will take place and eventually lead to the demise of communism. He says: 'Last year when I was in China I learned a very simple truth. Communism as an idea is a failure. It's dead. Nobody believes it. In 1950 I was from the bourgeois class. I wanted to give up. I wanted to reform and accept Mao Zedong's thoughts. I believed that communism is a heaven. It's a way for us Chinese to become wealthy and great in the world. After 30 or 40 years communism is a disaster. Today in China nobody believes it.'
Wu is curious over the latest developments in Sino- American relations. Since his release he has heard international experts predict that conditions are seemingly improving between the two countries. He is ready to offer advice to President Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Wu wants to tell President Clinton to beware of political traps with the Chinese, offering him a challenge: 'I really want the American president to become the first president in the world to condemn the Chinese gulag system and to also condemn the Chinese for their human-rights abuses. Mr. Clinton deleted the human-rights issue with the trade and lost the [political] leverage.'
Wu feels that both trade and political pressure on the Chinese are important to improve China's human-rights record and to the develop peaceful relations between the two countries. Trade without politics, he warns, could spell trouble.
He explains: 'I was detained in a so-called health recovery center, not a jail in Wuhan. It was at a special place. I was surrounded by about 40 to 45 military police in the complex. Most of the police had cellular phones that were made by Motorola. That sent me a message. In China the [economic] benefit to the common people is very small. Most of the profits go to the authorities. That's why they have a lot of the money to buy the high-tech [goods], to buy the equipment to support the military and the police security system. That money can make sure a regime is stable.'
'You have to look at the long-term,' Wu continues. 'China has a 1.2 billion population. They have a nuclear-weapons system. They have a missile system. They have a huge security force. This is a big resource, and this is only controlled by a small dictator. That could mean big trouble.'
With the aging Deng Xiao Peng in poor health, Wu predicts the Chinese leader's passing would produce political turmoil. He says: 'That always happens. You have to learn about Chinese communist history. Since 1921 the high-level circle is always bloody. Today they are [saying], 'We're a collective leadership system.' Can you find that in the Chinese communist history? No! They always kill each other.'
When Hillary Rodham Clinton attends the U.N. Women's Conference in Beijing this month, Wu hopes she will fire the first salvo and urge the Chinese to do something about their dismal human-rights record. 'There are many Chinese dissidents who were locked in jail and lost freedom,' Wu says. 'We don't know where they are.'
For example, in the Tiananmen massacre in 1989 there were three people who threw some paint on the chairman's portrait. One was sentenced to life, one was sentenced to 15 years, and one to 10 years,' he says. 'If I threw some paint over Clinton's picture, I would probably just pay some money for damage to public property. That's it, and never get sentenced to life. But it's happening in China.'
Wu realizes that he has both supporters and detractors. During his incarceration a number of congressional representatives signed a note supporting his consideration for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Acknowledging this compliment, Wu says, 'If there is a Nobel Peace Prize to be issued, I would suggest that it be given to [Nobel Prize nominee] Wei Jing Sheng. It's an encouragement for me to work hard, to continue to fight. I will not give up.
'When I was in China, a general said to me, 'Because you're an American, that's why we give you very special treatment. Remember, if you were not an American, your treatment would be very different.' I was so, so sad about it. Because of my American passport, I have a kind of protection. Of course, I feel grateful. But on the other side, I am crying. I remember that Wei Jing Sheng, Lieu Gong, Ding Sun Ling, and Chung Zing Ming [political prisoners] are the same as me. They are human beings. There's no difference at all. The only difference is they are Chinese citizens and I am an American citizen.'
Before his release, a Silicon Valley group calling itself Concerned Citizens for Rational Relations with China criticized Wu for attempting to sneak into China, unnecessarily straining Sino-American relations. Asked if he would consider speaking to his critics and persuade them to join his ranks, he quickly replies: 'I'm tired of them. These people make me sick. I don't want to waste my time. I want to talk to the majority.'
When Wu won his release, his captors promised to imprison him if he dares to return to China. Wu was convicted for 10 years to life for stealing state secrets and another five years for impersonating a police officer.
'I didn't say I would not come back,' Wu says. In a battle of wits, he continues: 'The police said three times, 'If you come back, we'll put you in jail.' I told them, 'This is my motherland. I'm here.' They said, 'We wait for you. We want you.' I said, 'I'm here just like the meat on your chopping board. Whatever you want to chop, it's OK.'
'And then, one of the captains said, 'You don't have to tell me whatever to chop.' I said, 'I still have the bone, right? You have to be careful, because the bone could turn the blade of the knife.''
Wu says he will continue to haunt his captors until human-rights abuses are eliminated in China.
Next week Wu leaves for Washington, D.C., to brief members of Congress about his ordeal in the People's Republic of China and to give his assessment of the situation there. There's a good chance he will recite a line from Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, which he posted in his cell during his detainment.
It reads, 'A man can be destroyed, but not defeated.'
Sam Chu Lin
Ethnic NewsWatch SoftLine Information, Inc., Stamford, CT
