The Center for Human Rights at the Catholic University of America has recently published an op-ed by Chen Guangcheng commemorating the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. To view this article, check the link in the description or go to humanrights.catholic.edu.
Will Deatherage: Hello everyone, welcome to another episode of The Barefoot Lawyer Reports on China. This is Will Deatherage, the producer, and joining me as always is Chen Guangcheng.
Chen Guangcheng: Hello everyone, I’m glad to be here today. Thank you, Will.
W: Well, today we’re gonna talk about some pro-democracy posters that have gone up in different parts of China. Guangcheng, could you tell us about these?
G: Okay, yeah, this is a new situation. It is just happening in different provinces in mainland China. Well first is, one week ago in Hunan Province, the CCP want[ed] the farmers to grow rubber trees.
But the farmers won’t be allowed to make a profit of the trees.
W: So the money would go to the Communist Party, Guangcheng?
G: Yeah, [it would] go to the Communist Party and the Communist Party just gives them a little money.
W: Okay, so like a minuscule profit then, yeah?
G: Yeah.
W: Okay.
G: So if the government [doesn’t] buy that, you have no way to sell it, right? The rubber. So, because the farmers are growing their own trees, but the CCP is cutting them down.
W: And replacing them with rubber trees, yeah?
G: Yes, yes. And the farmers [were] very angry, and they joined hands together [to] fight them back.
W: Okay.
G: And the CCP ordered the police and the special police to try to prevent them.
W: Okay.
G: So the farmers are throwing rocks and other objects to try to stop them.
W: Okay.
G: Someone shared that video online, so a lot of China’s people share it. Yeah. Another thing is, almost the same time in mainland China in different provinces, the people are standing up to oppose CCP.
W: How are they doing that, Guangcheng?
G: Yeah. They print or write down some slogans and stick [them] on the wall, on the tree, on the bridge, on the pole; any place they can, they just stick on it to let the people know, “We need democracy! We need freedom! Xi Jinping go away!” Like that. Some people went to the police station gate and put [messages] on it there.
W: Wow.
G: So, that is not unique to just one place. Of course, the CCP still wants you – the citizen system – to control the people, right? But, more and more people will stand up to protect their rights, I think. So that is good situation.
W: And this is all happening right around the same time that President Donald Trump and Xi Jinping met, right?
G: Yeah, yeah, at that time, Xi Jinping flew to South Korea, right? And that he met Donald Trump there. Of course, a lot of people in mainland China, they are laughing about how Xi Jinping had to read his statement from a little book while President Trump could say anything he wanted.
W: Right, very different styles, right?
G: Yeah, yeah, very different, yeah. Donald Trump can give a speech anywhere. He needn’t prepare about that, right?
W: Everything has to be scripted, yeah.
G: Yeah, yeah, so…
W: So Guangcheng, what did you think of the meeting?
G: Some CCP supporters say Xi Jinping got what he wanted.
W: Okay.
G: But in fact, we can see Donald Trump just made the tariffs a little lower, from 57% lower to 47%.
W: Okay, and why do you think he did that?
G: Yeah, he did that just because the CCP tried to use rare earth metals to control the US, but now the CCP has agreed to give the US more access to rare earth metals.
W: Gotcha, okay.
G: And the CCP will buy a lot of soybeans from the US too.
W: Okay, gotcha.
G: Yeah, so rare earth metal is the only way the CCP can give the US trouble in a short time.
W: Right, right, that’s their leverage, right?
G: Yeah. I believe the US [is] prepared to push companies to try to practice how to mine the metals from different places.
W: Right, they’re all over the world, including in the United States.
G: Yes. I believe after one or two years, we will be less dependent on China for rare earth metals.
W: Right, because we’ll get them from other places, right?
G: Yes. So, the reason the CCP has so many rare earth metals is because mining them has huge impacts on the environment, but the CCP doesn’t care about the environment or the health of the citizens.
W: Gotcha, okay.
G: The rare earth metal is important for the technology, for the chips now, right? I think in the future, for example, you know, Tesla tried to use another metal to replace the rare earth metals. So it looks like [a] short-term victory for the CCP, but in the long term, they are in trouble.
W: Okay, I gotcha.
G: Yeah.
W: Well are there any other significant things that you noticed from the Trump-Xi Jinping meeting?
G: Donald Trump mentioned about Jimmy Lai.
W: Oh, yeah, he did?
G: Yeah. He asked Xi Jinping to release Jimmy Lai from Hong Kong.
W: All right.
G: That is good news too. Yeah. I remember before some people said, “This Donald Trump never cared [about] human rights,” right? But when he met Xi Jinping and asked Xi Jinping to release Jimmy Lai, I think that [was] good news.
W: That’s great news. And, you know, he’s a human rights activist, of course, Jimmy Lai.
G: If he mentions Gao Zhisheng, that will be very good too. Wonderful, right?
W: Yeah. And we’ve covered Jimmy Lai’s story several times on this podcast, especially with Father Robert Sirico, who welcomed him into the Catholic Church. You can find that on our website. But yeah, well, it’s good to hear that he mentioned Jimmy Lai according to a few sources. Right?
G: Of course. Jimmy Lai, he never [did any] wrong thing in Hong Kong. Just wanted to help Hong Kong to get freedom, the rule of law, right?
W: And he’s been in prison for how long now?
G: More than three years, I think. So, you know, he almost 80 years old, right?
W: Yeah. So all in all, Guangcheng, would you call the talks between Trump and Xi Jinping to be a success, or what do you think?
G: Usually, in my experience, the CCP will take some time, and then release Jimmy Lai.
W: You think so?
G: Yeah. And the CCP want to protect their face.
W: Right.
G: If today Donald Trump mentions about Jimmy Lai, [then] the CCP releases him tomorrow, the CCP [will] feel not good, right?
W: It may make them look bad or weak. Yeah.
G: Yeah. They will find some excuse that, “Oh, Jimmy Lai’s health [is] not good, so we released him to let him to go to some country to go to some hospital,” or like that.
W: Right. Well, we’ll keep you guys updated on the long-term effects of Trump and Xi Jinping’s meeting. Certainly we hope and pray that it will lead to the release of Jimmy Lai. That would be amazing. And we encourage you to follow our podcast on all of our platforms and you can find them at humanrights.catholic.edu. Thank you so much, Guangcheng, for all the information today.
G: Thank you, yeah.
for all the information today. Yeah. The Catholic University of America’s Center for Human Rights has published a documentary on the United Nations Universal Declaration on Human Rights. The documentary features world-class human rights experts from former state department officials to ambassadors and human rights activists. It can be found on our website at humanrights.catholic.edu.