Chinese writer becomes “stateless” as regime steps up repression

Li Jian Hong demands “Let Me Return Home” in protest against illegal banishment

chinaworker.info

On Thursday 15 October Chinese writer Li Jian Hong attempted to return to her native land but was blocked by Chinese authorities and sent to Hong Kong. Li is a former leader in Shanghai of the 1989 pro-democracy movement. Her case is part of a growing pattern as the Chinese one-party state steps up its crackdown on internal dissent. The period since last summer’s Olympic Games has seen a wave of arrests and increased surveillance and harassment of bloggers, writers, labour activists and human rights campaigners. It has also seen stiff penalties meted out to protesters and those involved in so-called ‘mass incidents’, with executions of several of those involved in this year’s ethnic clashes in Xinjiang for example.

Vincent Kolo, a frequent contributor to chinaworker.info, was barred from entering China on Friday 16 October, the day after Li’s deportation. Vincent Kolo (pen name for Laurence Coates) who is active in the Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI), a socialist organisation with supporters in more than 40 countries, had his visa revoked on the grounds that he was “a potential threat to the security of the country”. The real reason for this ban is Coates/Kolo’s advocacy of independent trade unions and support for workers’ struggles against sweatshop conditions in China.

Li Jian Hong is mounting a vigorous campaign to gain re-entry to China, which she left in early 2008 to take up employment in Sweden. She is a signatory to the pro-democracy manifesto Charter 08 and has been active in calling for the release from detention of Liu Xiaobo, the charter’s organiser, who was arrested in December 2008. She has twice tried to go across the border from Hong Kong since 15 October, only to be detained for hours and then sent back to Hong Kong, where authorities have only agreed to allow her 24 hours stay. She has defied the Chinese state to put her in prison, but at least let her return to her country. The action of the Chinese regime in effectively annulling Li’s citizenship, when she has not been convicted of any crime nor even charged with one, provides a chilling glimpse into the illegal, abitrary, and vindictive methods it uses to try to silence opposition.

Hong Kong protest

Vincent Kolo accompanied Li Jian Hong to protest outside the Central (Beijing) Government Liaison Office in Hong Kong on 19 October. “Li Jian Hong is courageous and outspoken,” he said. “This is why the Chinese dictatorship fears her return. They want to silence all opposition, but they will only be met by even bigger protests in future,” said Kolo.

Li held up a placard during the protest reading: “Let Me Return Home” and “Free Liu Xiaobo, Free Political Prisoners.” Afterwards, she was seized by police – the third time in four days – and handed over to Hong Kong immigration authorities. They argued she had overstayed her visa, which was not surprising given that the Hong Kong authorities had only granted her 24 hours. With mainland China refusing to let her in, her supporters feared the Hong Kong authorities would try to force her back to Sweden. This, however, would have been unlawful and therefore eventually the Hong Kong side were compelled to grant Li a seven-day visa – a small but important victory for the protests, allowing more time to mobilise pressure in Hong Kong and expose this latest scandal.

Protest in Hong Kong 19 October: Li Jian Hong with placard “Let Me Return Home!” and Laurence Coates (who uses the pen name Vincent Kolo) with placard “Defending Workers’ Rights Is Not A Threat to National Security”.