***************************************************************** IFCSS Headquarters News Release 4073 November 27, 1992 SPEECH AT THE DINNER PARTY HONORING SENATOR GORTON ***************************************************************** Independent Federation of Chinese Students and Scholars (IFCSS) 733 15th Street, N.W., Suite 440, Washington, D.C.20005 Tel. (202)347-0017 Fax: (202)347-0018 Email: ifcss@wam.umd.edu Speech at the Dinner Party Honoring Senator Gorton Xiao Geng, President of IFCSS Nov. 24, 1992 Mr. Senator, Fellow Students, Friends: I take it a great honor to be given the opportunity to say a few words on behalf of the Chinese students currently residing in this free land. The day after tomorrow will be Thanksgiving Day, a time for Americans to get together with their families and offer thanks for God's blessings. Although the festival is not part of our tradition, we Chinese students have good reasons to be thankful at this special time. With the enactment of the Chinese Student Protection Act, we are greeting a holiday season untempered with dark shadows of reprisal and persecution. We are no longer worried that after January 1, 1994, we will fall out of legal status; we are no longer worried that our job applications will be trashed simply because we do not have green cards; and above all, we are no longer worried that the voice of democracy will be subdued by threats and intimidations. We are thankful to the American people who have provided us with spiritual as well as material support; we are thankful to President George Bush and the U.S. Congress for their concerns over China's human rights situation, but tonight, we want to give our special thanks to one man who, since day one of the 1989 Democracy Movement, has been with us in our pursuit of freedom and whose efforts have shieded us from iron claws of tyranny. His name is Slade Gorton. Thank you, Senator. When I left Washington D.C. three days ago, I read a news report about the wife and daughter of Ren Wanding, an imprisoned human rights activist. The two have been homeless since April and the little girl has been unable to attend school for one year. Driven to despair, the mother and daughter staged a protest in front of a police station in Beijing. The story brought to memory the traumatic days of 1989, when with tears in our eyes and sorrow in out hearts, we founded the Independent Federation of Chineses Students and Scholars. While we are living in spiritual freedom and material abundance, let us not forget those whose sacrifices have paved way to China's democracy and dignified the image of the Chinese nation. Ren Wanding has entered the third year of his second prison term, Wei Jingsheng has spent fourteen years in solitary confinement, and there are thousands more whose names are unknown to the outside world. For them, days are long and nights are endless. Let us pledge, in the presence of Senator Gorton and our distinguished American guests, that we will be worthy of the sacrifices of those prisoners of conscience and remain faithful to the cause glorified by their dedication. I would like to finish my speech with a line from the English poet Percy Shelley: "If winter comes, can spring be far behind?" Thank you.