Date: Sun, 5 Jul 1992 20:41:24 -0400 Reply-To: IFCSS HQ Sender: "China-Net (The Coordination Network for IFCSS)" From: IFCSS HQ Subject: IFCSS Special Report 4002 - on the Open Letter IFCSS Report, Sunday, July 5, 1992 Statement on GONG Xiaoxia Event Received Quick Response from CSS Since Yesterday's CND-US carried the IFCSS Statement (Open Letter form for signature collection), the IFCSS HQ has received quick and warm responses from the Chinese Students and Scholars community. More than twenty people have sent in their signatures through email. Many also commented and made very good suggestions. The IFCSS again call on the public to co-sign the open letter so to make the Chinese government known that, our fellow student GONG Xiaoxia in particular, every Chinese citizen in general, our basic rights as citizens have to be respected. Please send your signature to Thank you for your support ! Together, we make things change and happen ! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Attached: 1. Some comments from the co-signees; 2. CND Report on the open letter; ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Some comments from the signeers; (Note, names are withheld at this time.) IFCSS HQ, I'd like to cosign the open letter concerning Chinese Government's denial of Ms. Gong Xiaoxia's entry for home visit. I'm appalled by such crude and unreasonable act from the Chinese Government's side. This open letter response is well measured. On one hand, we should use this incident to educate people that promises are promises ONLY until they are backed up by action; on the other, we should encourage any positive developments and be prepared to take any opportunity history gives us. I support both political pressure and dialogue, whichever is appropriate, when dealing with the CG. This is why I've supported IFCSS' human rights campaigns and AEIC's academic exchange activities. In response to the new wave of reform, IFCSS should show its leadership in the overseas CSS community and take more concrete steps. For this reason, I'm looking forward to some substansive cooperation between IFCSS and AEIC (CAL). I hope the new IFCSS leadership will be more positive about cooperation. Best regards to everyone there! --- --- --- To whom it may concern: I want to co-sign the open letter to CG regarding the recent incident of Gong Xiaoxia's being denied to entry her motherland. The three requests to the CG are very reasonable and expressed our right. Thank you for your efforts! --- --- --- I would like to co-sign the letter to protest against PRC government's refusal of GONG XiaoXia's return. (A suggestion: We may put emphasis on the basic rights of a citizen to return to his/her home country. Maybe we should not mention the PRC government's promise about "without regard to political stand", because it is only about "past" political stand and never mentions the "present" political stand. Logically we cannot say that the government broke its promise, although we do not think that the policy should be restricted to "past" political stand only.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Call for Signatures: An Open Letter to Chinese Government - IFCSS Statement on GONG Xiaoxia's Being Denied Entry to China ..... 51 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Source: IFCSS 4th Congress, translated by Zuofeng Li, 7/2/1992 The following is an open letter to the Chinese government, regarding the recent incident of a Chinese student in the U.S. being denied entry into China. The letter was circulated at the IFCSS 4th Congress. The text below is translated from the original Chinese text. Please send your signature to . An Open Letter to Chinese Government In early June, Ms. Gong Xiaoxia, a Chinese student at Harvard University, was detained by the Chinese authorities upon arriving at the Guangzhou Cus- toms when she returned to China for a visit, and later deported to Hong Kong. Ms. Dai Qing, a Chinese visiting scholar at Harvard University who arrived at Hong Kong at the same time as Ms. Gong, was also refused entry into China (Ms. Dai was able to enter China after the help from many peo- ple). During the 5 hours of detention, the authorities never explained to Ms. Gong why she was being refused entry into China. Overseas Chinese students are shocked at the fact that a Chinese citizen, holding valid Chinese passport, should be deprived of the very basic civil right of returning to the homeland by the government of one's own country. After the publication of Deng Xiaoping's speeches during his trip to the Southern provinces and the No.2 Document of the CPC Central Commitee, the Chinese government time and again announced that overseas Chinese students are welcome to go back to China, free to enter and leave the country, without regard to their political stands. It is beyond our understanding why the Chinese government should break its promises. Such a behaviour will not only chill the China-loving overseas Chinese students, but also discredit the Chinese government. We hereby make the following requests to the Chinese government: (1). Immediately withdraw the erroneous decision to prohibit Ms. Gong Xiaoxia from entering China, publicly apologize to Ms. Gong, and reimburse her for all financial loss incurred; (2). Provide an explanation on this incident to overseas students; (3). Immediately adopt effective measures to fulfil the promises that the Chinese government has made to the overseas students many times, and guarantee that such incidents will not happen again. We call the Chinese students in the U.S. and all other countries to unite together and take the invasion on Ms. Gong's civil rights as that on their own. We call them to, in all possible ways, express their dissatisfaction and protest, strive for their right to visit their homeland and their dear ones, as well as the civil rights of every overseas student, the rights of every Chinese citizen, so that human rights and freedom will prevail in China.