************************************************************** IFCSS Headquarters News Release No. 5118 March 04, 1994 ************************************************************** 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 Update on the Open Letter to President Jiang Zemin ================================================== Since the release of this open letter yesterday, we have received about one hundred signatures. IFCSS wishes to express appreciation for such timely support. The detention of Wei Jingsheng and other dissidents demonstrated the urgent necessity to defuse tension between China and the United States as well as tension within the Chinese society. IFCSS again calls upon every Chinese students and scholars concerned with China's well-being to help prevent further deteriotation of the situation. Please sign this letter. Thank you for all your support P.S. You can sign the letter by sending an e-mail to this account: ifcss@wam.umd.edu with your name, address and phone #. ============================================================= An Open Letter to Mr. Jiang Zemin --------------------------------- President Jiang Zemin Beijing, China Dear Mr. President: We, a group of Chinese students and scholars studying and working overseas, are writing you to request that an amnesty be granted to all the political and religious prisoners in China. We are proud and pleased to see the marked progress in China's economic reform, particularly the big strides towards a market- oriented economy taken in the past two years. We believe that with increased liberalization of mode of production and expanded exchanges with other countries, China's economy will achieve even greater success before the end of the century. At the same time, however, we remain concerned with China's human rights situation. While we are encouraged by the early release of some well-known dissidents, we do feel that more can be done to win the support of the people and improve China's international image. The imprisonment of large numbers of political and religious prisoners simply does not conform with the moral principles of a civilized society. It is particularly unfortunate that the earliest advocates of economic reform remain in prison while many of their ideas have been adopted and implemented by the government with great benefits to the whole society. It has been nearly five years since June 4th, 1989. The memories of that traumatic day have not faded but buried deep, because many who are associated with what happened on that day are still in prison, some with a lifetime sentence. History has shown that records of similar events will be eventually rewritten, and we believe that it is to the benefit of the government as well as the people that such rewriting takes place early. We agree with the government that our country faces many other serious problems. The potential unemployment of large numbers of workers currently employed by state-owned enterprises, the increased shortage of land available for agriculture, continued population growth, environmental pollution, soaring crime rate, and many other problems are to be addressed. It is precisely these problems that give urgency to the release of political and religious prisoners. At this crucial moment, the government needs to win the support of everyone who is willing to work for the common good of the Chinese society. The history of the People's Republic of China has shown that the Chinese people are an understanding people. We strongly believe that amnesty for all political and religious prisoners will be conducive to the stability as well as prosperity of the Chinese nation. We sincerely hope that our request will be granted. Thank you. (signatures)