INTERVIEW China's «barefoot lawyer,» harassed in exile, sees democratic change
By Bill Smith, dpa
http://en.europeonline-magazine.eu/interviewchinas-barefoot-lawyer-harassed-in-exile-sees-democratic-changeby-bill-smith-dpa_419030.htmlEurope22.10.2015
By our dpa-correspondent and Europe Online
Blind activist Chen Guangcheng, who left China in 2012, believes human rights have not improved under Communist Party leader Xi Jinping, but he remains optimistic about China‘s future.
London (dpa) - Chen Guangcheng suffered years of imprisonment, house arrest, harassment and other abuses in his village before he made a dramatic escape to Beijing in 2012 and sparked a diplomatic incident that ended with him leaving China for the United States.
The self-styled "barefoot lawyer," who is blind, began his activism by promoting the rights of disabled people before coming to international attention thanks to his support for victims of forced abortions and other abuses under China‘s draconian one-child family planning policy.
Chen believes Chinese authorities are still tracking him and harassing his family in the United States and other countries he visits as he works to expose China‘s ongoing human rights abuses.
His wife, Yuan Weijing, showed dpa a photograph of branded rat poison that she said was placed near flour in the kitchen of their US home while they were at a human rights conference in France last month.
The couple said they were followed and cited other evidence of harassment during recent trips, when Chen spoke at the United Nations in Geneva and the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
Despite seeing no improvement in human rights under President Xi Jinping, who has led the ruling Communist Party since 2012, Chen believes democratic change is coming, halted only by internet controls that form what he calls "China‘s Berlin Wall."
Chen, 43, spoke to dpa in London during a high-profile state visit by Xi that attracted hundreds of protesters - including Chen - who were outnumbered by thousands of supporters, apparently mobilized partly by Chinese authorities.
dpa: In your book (The Barfeoot Lawyer, published in March), you mention a British diplomat, Caroline Wilson, who was a big help to you. What do you think about the current softer approach of the British government on human rights?
Chen: I think that Britain has moved from stressing a value-based diplomacy, a rights-based diplomacy, to stressing a price-based diplomacy [and] benefit-based diplomacy. I feel very disappointed. I think rights-based diplomacy is the most important.
dpa: Did you have any contact with the Chinese students supporting Xi when you attended the London protest?
Chen: I didn‘t have any contact because I just saw them brought there by the embassy to express their welcome. I think I can‘t find any connection with them.
dpa: Is it similar in the United States when Chinese leaders visit?
Chen: In America there is also this problem, but it‘s not so severe. I think this time in London they had absorbed some experience from America and invested even more [effort].
dpa: Why do so many students come out to support Chinese leaders abroad?
Chen: I think there are two possibilities. One possibility is that they‘ve really been brainwashed. Another, bigger possibility is that they are playing a role.
They cannot not know about the human rights problems that occur in China. They live in a free country [in Britain]. They can see everything from the internet, see all the real news. So I think they know, but they say they don‘t know.
dpa: How much do ordinary Chinese understand about the Communist Party?
Chen: I think now many Chinese people understand. In their hearts, they completely don‘t believe the Communist Party but they daren‘t say so because in China, under this high pressure, if you express your true thoughts it‘s too dangerous.
dpa: Is there a difference in political consciousness between farmers and university-educated people?
Chen: You can‘t generalize because, in university, they should understand more but, because of this one-child policy, there is only one child at home, or two children at the most. They all grow up with the [over]protection of their parents. There are many things they might not know.
People who have contact with the Communist Party understand it. If they don‘t have this experience, maybe they don‘t understand as much, whether it‘s students or farmers.
dpa: Has there been any change since Xi Jinping came to power?
Chen: I think, from the human rights perspective, there is no improvement. Their methods are the same, arresting and threatening human rights lawyers, sometimes acting completely out of step with Chinese law and involving their families, their children.
This is just the same as in the time of Zhou Yongkang [the party‘s hardline security chief until 2012, who was later convicted of corruption]. And they‘ve detained a lot of people in the last three months.
dpa: How do feel about the development of democracy in China? Are you optimistic?
Chen: I‘m very optimistic. I think more and more Chinese people ... realize why Chinese society is not fair, why the things they eat contain poison, why pollution is so severe, why corruption is so serious.
It‘s because there‘s no supervision, no system of checks and balances. More and more people know this. In the future there will definitely be a transformation.
