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Will Deatherage: Hello everyone, welcome to another episode of The Barefoot Lawyer Reports on China. My name is Will Deatherage, the producer. Joining me as always is Chen Guangcheng.
Chen Guangcheng: Hello everyone. Hello, Will.
W: And today we’re reporting on a very important upcoming event that Guangcheng wants all of our listeners to follow very closely. Guangcheng, what’s happening?
G: Yeah, I think I want to remind our listeners, on September 24th, Chairman Xi will visit Washington, D.C. I think this is a very good time to stand up [for] human rights or to support the activists. Yeah. And I hope our listeners can call the congressmen or write letters to ask them to focus on Chinese human rights. For example, human rights activist Gao Zhisheng, the CCP kidnapped him more than 9 years [ago]. No one knows where he is. So we can ask the congressmen, or senators, or even White House to ask Xi Jinping where Gao Zhisheng is.
W: Right.
G: Yeah. So I think this is a very, very important time to do this. And every time the CCP’s leader visits [the] US, the CCP’s embassy will pay the people to go to the airport to welcome Xi Jinping. Yeah. I still remember in 2023 when Xi Jinping visited California, the CCP allegedly ordered more than 1,200 people there to do this. And the CCP pays everyone more than $400. And of course, at that time, more than 400 human rights activists protested there too.
W: So the people that the Communist Party allegedly paid outnumbered the protesters, right, Guangcheng?
G: Yeah.
W: You said 1,200 to 400?
G: More than 1,200.
W: Right. Wow.
G: And some of the human rights activists come from different states in the US, and the Communist Party called them and offered them money not to go.
W: Wow. Okay.
G: Yeah. Now I got information [that] the CCP’s embassy in Washington, D.C.; they are going to do that too. They try to find the people to go to the airport to welcome Xi Jinping.
W: Yeah. Guangcheng, are you aware if… are there a lot of activist groups that are going to try and protest?
G: Yes, I got some information. A lot of the human rights activists will come from different states to here to do the protest. So I think that is a very important time to encourage all the
US people: Stand up with human rights, stand with justice, to give the CCP pressure to release human rights prisoners like Gao Zhisheng, like some human rights lawyers like Xu Zhijiong and Ding Jiaxi, you know, still in prison.
W: A lot of the ones we’ve covered on our podcast, right, Guangcheng?
G: Yes, before, we talked a lot [about them], yes.
W: Guangcheng, What would you say are the most important things? Like, if you, if you were President Trump, or if you were a senator that was going to meet with Xi Jinping, what would be the most important things you would want, you know, to tell Xi Jinping, or you think they should tell Xi Jinping?
G: Release Gao Zhisheng. Or tell us, where is Gao Zhisheng, you know, the attorney Gao Zhisheng. And another thing is we should demand the CCP obey the constitution, right?
W: Their constitution, Guangcheng?
G: Yeah, China has a constitution. The CCP is above it. They never follow the constitution.
I hope the US stands with Chinese people, not just think [about] how to trade with the CCP.
W: Put people before money, right, Guangcheng?
G: Yeah, yeah.
W: And, you know, really quick before we end this podcast, why do you think it’s a bad idea to rely on China for trade and for money?
G: You know, if we just think business, you know, the CCP will have a lot of opportunity to get the benefit. For example, they can steal the technology. They can try to influence the US companies to give the US government pressure to change the law or policy about the Chinese Communist Party. So another thing is the companies, the US companies, if they have the opportunity to get money from mainland China, they will ignore human rights, they will ignore justice. And you can see [in] mainland China, a lot of cameras, a lot of technology comes from the US, but the CCP [does] not use the new technology to help Chinese people. They use the technology to do surveillance – you know, facial recognition or movement recognition – to control Chinese people.
W: Yeah, right.
G: So that is so sad, right? I believe we should remind them to [be] careful to trade with the CCP.
W: Yeah. Well, we’ll continue following this story, especially if anything comes from President Xi Jinping’s visit. Guangcheng, thank you very much for all this information.
G: Thank you, Will. Thank you, everyone.
The Center for Human Rights has published countless articles and reports on issues facing China, the U.S., and the world. In a 2023 report, Emily Burton examines the continuing influence of Confucius Institutes in American universities, exposing how many have rebranded rather than truly severing ties with the Chinese Communist Party. To read her report, go to our research and analysis page on humanrights.catholic.edu