Document 18 of 22.
Copyright 1998 Kyodo News Service
Japan Economic Newswire
JUNE 5, 1998, FRIDAY
LENGTH: 400 words
HEADLINE: Exiled Chinese dissidents form new coalition
DATELINE: WASHINGTON, June 4 Kyodo
BODY:
A large group of exiled Chinese political prisoners and dissidents gathered in
Washington on Thursday, the ninth anniversary of the military crackdown at
Beijing's Tiananmen Square, to announce a new coalition for democracy and human
rights in
China.
More than 100 exiled Chinese
traveled from all over the United States and from abroad to participate in a
meeting where they declared the formation of the new coalition, called the
'Free
China Movement.'
Representatives of the new coalition said they want U.S. President Bill Clinton
to meet them before making a state visit to
China later this
month, and some want to accompany him to Tiananmen Square to lay a wreath there
as a memorial to those killed in the 1989 pro-democracy demonstration.
'This new coalition seeks to invite and gather together all those committed to
the cause of political freedom and democracy in China so we may build a
movement for real change,' said
Shengde Lian, chairman of the Free China Forum, a principal group organizing the
meeting, said.
Shengde Lian, who was among the Tiananmen Square leaders and was sentenced to two
years in prison, said, 'We Chinese people deserve democracy and deserve
freedom. We believe we can make this if we work together.'
He read out a message from Wang Dan, a recently released Chinese dissident
who is a symbol of the 1989 pro-democracy student movement.
In the message, Wang, who was freed in April on medical parole and exiled to
the United States, urged the Chinese government to release many other political
prisoners.
'Today, there are thousands of...prisoners of conscience. They are still in
jail even if I and several others were released,' Wang was quoted as saying.
Ye Ning, a lawyer for the Free China Forum, said he wants Clinton to urge
Chinese leaders to 'stop stabilizing the dictatorship, stop legitimizing the
dictatorship and stop subsidizing the dictatorship.'
Ye said he was tortured
more than 200 times by Chinese authorities from age 14.
Clinton will leave June 24 for China and return home July 3.
He is expected to appear in Tiananmen Square for a welcoming ceremony during
his four-day state visit to the Chinese capital from
June 26.
But domestic critics, especially Republicans, have urged Clinton, who will be
the first U.S. president to visit China since the Tiananmen Square crackdown,
to stay away from Tiananmen.
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
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