Wei
Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A445-W247
魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号：A445-W247
Release
Date: March 19, 2009
发布日：2009年3月19日
Topic:
China's Top Dissident Breaks Silence on Freeman (Huffington Post)
标题：中国首席持不同政见者对傅立民事件不再沉默 (哈菲英顿邮报)
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Language Version: English (Chinese version at the end)
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China's
Top Dissident Breaks Silence on Freeman
By
Ashley Rindsberg of Huffington Post, March 18, 2009
Wei
Jingsheng, the leading anti-PRC dissident who spent two decades as a political
prisoner in China, recently came out to voice disapproval of the selection of
Chas Freeman for the position of National Intelligence Council chair. Mr.
Freeman withdrew from the appointment last week, in part because of criticism
he received from Chinese dissidents over his seat on the advisory board of
China's third-largest oil company and statements he made concerning the 1989
Tiananmen Square massacre and China's violent suppression of Tibetan
demonstrations in the lead-up to the Beijing Olympics last year.
In
an exclusive statement, Mr. Wei commented that "due to conflict of
interest, Mr. Freeman cannot make a normal and fair judgment on the related
major issues when it is related to China. Yet, for President Obama to nominate
this person in not just unsuitable to the Chinese, but also for the
non-Chinese. Even for a non-Chinese [perspective], it is not reasonable to name
a person who could not objectively make reasonable judgments on issues,
especially if the person is expected to assist and thus affect the President's
judgment. That could have very dangerous results."
While
Mr. Freeman withdrew from the position appointment, a controversy regarding the
circumstances of the withdrawal has erupted, especially on account of an
outgoing statement made by Mr. Freeman, published in Foreign Policy magazine,
in which Freeman assigned blame for his withdrawal on a "Lobby" of
pro-Israel activists.
Commentators
and newspaper editorials have fallen on both sides of the issue since Mr.
Freeman's exit, with the Washington Post calling Mr. Freeman's statements a
"screed", while other newspapers, including The New York Times,
seemed to vindicate Freeman's allegation that he was the victim of a political
witch hunt led by supporters of Israel.
However,
one critical issue that has been pushed out of the public discussion since Mr.
Freeman's exit is the China issue. Just weeks after Freeman's appointment was
leaked to the media, a group of 87 Chinese dissidents, including a number of
pro-democracy activists who were present at the infamous 1989 Tiananmen Square
protests where up to 3,000 demonstrators were killed by Chinese troops, wrote a
letter to President Obama protesting Mr. Freeman's appointment.
The
Washington Times reported that the group of 87 were alarmed by comments Mr.
Freeman made in the past concerning China. Specifically, Freeman asserted that
the Chinese government's brutal suppression of the 1989 Tiananmen Square
demonstrations were a "monument to overly cautious behavior on the part of
the leadership, not as an example of rash action."
Freeman
also drew fire for calling China's violent suppression of demonstrations by
Tibetan monks in advance of the Beijing Olympics a "race riot."
Freeman
also came under fire by both Chinese human rights activists and members of
congress from both parties for his paid position on the advisory board of the
Chinese oil and gas corporation CNOOC, which has ties with Iran's Islamist
regime and attempted a 2006 takeover of American oil company Unocal.
Wei
Jingsheng's statements come at a time when the debate about Freeman has turned
towards focusing on President Obama's policies on Mideast peace. Many maintain
that Freeman's "realist" worldview and experience as US ambassador to
Saudi Arabia supplied him with the analytical skills required for the crucial
national intelligence position, especially as the success of the peace process
in the Middle East has emerged as a centerpiece of the Obama administration's
foreign policy approach.
However,
Mr. Wei has expressed caution on this view, at least as far as Charles Freeman
is concerned, saying, "Mideast issues and China issues will be the major
difficult issues for Obama in dealing with foreign affairs during his
presidency. Yet, he nominated a person who could not make a good judgment exactly
on these two issues, does this means that President Obama made compromises with
someone?"
Mr.
Wei has long been identified by the West as the spearhead of contemporary
Chinese dissent. Once called "China's most prominent dissident" by
The New York Times Wei has also widely been seen as the "Chinese Nelson
Mandela." Mr. Wei was an unusually vocal and unabashed critic of the
Chinese regime, a role he took on after publicly criticizing Deng Xiaoping, the
leader of the Communist Party of China and China's main power-holder between
the late 1970s and early 1990s.
Mr.
Wei was also one of the most prominent writers on Democracy Wall, a long brick
wall in a Beijing district which democracy activists used to post "truth
to power" news and commentary on large paper sheets. Mr. Wei has held
teaching posts at Columbia University's School of International and Public
Affairs and was hailed by famed New York Times' columnist William Safire as one
of three "heroic dissidents" alongside Soviet dissidents Natan
Sharansky and Andrei Sakharov.
Wei
also spoke out against the Chinese government's treatment of Tibetan monks in
the weeks and months before the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Like
many international observers, Mr. Wei sees China and the Mideast as two hinges
for the success or failure of Mr. Obama's presidency. "If Obama makes
mistakes on Mideast and China issues in the next four years," Mr. Wei
noted, "he will basically destroy all his effort on the economic front. As
a friend to the Americans, we the Chinese democracy advocates of course are
very sensitive on these issues and thus [on] the nomination of Freeman."
Original
link of the published article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ashley-rindsberg/chinas-top-dissident-brea_b_175616.html
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中文版
Wei
Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A445-W247
魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号：A445-W247
Release
Date: March 19, 2009
发布日：2009年3月19日
Topic:
China's Top Dissident Breaks Silence on Freeman (Huffington Post)
标题：中国首席持不同政见者对傅立民事件不再沉默 (哈菲英顿邮报)
Original
Language Version: English (Chinese version at the end)
此号以英文为准（英文在前，中文在后）
如有中文乱码问题，请与我们联系或访问:
http://www.weijingsheng.org/report/report2009/report2009-03/HuffingtonPostWeiJS090319FreemanCappointmentA445-W247.htm
-----------------------------------------------------------------
中国首席持不同政见者对傅立民事件不再沉默
--哈菲英顿邮报
Ashley Rindsberg, 2009年3月18日
魏京生是反对中国政府的持不同政见者首领，曾在中国大陆作为政治犯坐牢近20年。最近他对傅立民（Charles Freeman, Jr.）被选择成为国家情报局委员会主任一事发表反对意见。上周傅立民本人撤销了这个任命，部分原因是因为中国持不同政见者们对他言论的严厉批评。这些批评包括傅立民是中国第三大石油公司的顾问，他对1989年天安门屠杀事件的声明，以及他去年北京奥运会前中国政府对西藏示威予以暴力镇压的评论。
在一个独家的声明中，魏京生先生评论道：" 由于利益的冲突，傅立民无法在与中国有关的一系列重大问题上做出一个正常和公平的判断。奥巴马总统提名的这个人不仅对中国人民是不适宜的，对非中国人也不适宜。因为即使是对其他的非中国人而言，提名一个在重大问题上不能客观地进行合乎情理的判断的人，也是不合理的。尤其是这个人将辅助并影响到总统的判断。其结果会是非常危险的。"
傅立民先生撤销任命的同时，各类议论纷扬而起，尤其是对他在《外交政策》杂志上所发表的离职声明有诸多议论，傅立民在他的声明里责备说那是以色列支持者们游说的结果。
自傅立民出局后，评论家和报纸编辑对傅立民的辞职有来自两方面的评论。华盛顿邮报说傅立民的言论“疯狂”，而其他报纸，包括纽约时报却似乎认同傅立民的说法：认为他是被以色列支持者搞政治的牺牲品。
不过，傅立民先生辞职引发的公众议论引出的一个严重问题是中国事务。在傅立民被提名的消息透露到媒体的几个星期之后，87名中国持不同政见者，其中包括很多当年参加八九天安门广场抗议的民运人士 -- 在那里有可以高达3000的中国示威者被中国军队屠杀 --
写信给奥巴马总统抗议对傅立民的任命。
华盛顿时报的报道说，87人在信中对傅立民有关中国事务的言论表示警觉。特别是，傅立民宣称中国政府对1989年天安门事件的残酷镇压是"领导层过于谨慎，而非草率鲁莽的丰碑"。傅立民还把中国对北京奥运之前西藏和尚的示威所进行的暴力镇压说成是"种族暴乱"。
不仅如此，傅立民在中国的石油和天然气公司中国海洋石油公司（中海油）的顾问委员会里领薪的职务，也受到了来自中国人权活跃家和国会两党议员的批评。这个中海油和伊朗伊斯兰政权有纽带关系，并在2006年试图收购尤尼科（Unocal）。
魏京生有关傅立民的声明正值有关傅立民的辩论使得人们开始关注奥巴马总统在中东和平的政策的时候。
许多人坚持认为由于傅立民曾任沙特大使及其对世界事务的"现实主义"观念，使得他在这个至关重要的国家情报职位上，特别是在中东和平进程已成为奥巴马政府外交政策的中心问题上，具有所需的分析能力。
然而，魏京生先生对此表达了他的担忧，至少是对傅立民的担忧。魏先生说：“中东和中国问题将是奥巴马当政时期有关外交事务的最困难问题。然而，他恰恰任命了一个正是在这两个问题上不能进行良好判断的人。这是否意味着奥巴马总统和谁达成了妥协？”
长期以来，魏京生先生被西方认为是现代中国持不同政见者的先锋。他曾被纽约时报称为"中国最杰出的持不同政见者"。魏先生还被广泛地视为"中国的曼德拉"。自从他公开地批评邓小平以来，魏先生始终是一个对中国政权予以不同寻常的响亮和无畏的批评者。邓小平曾是70年代末至90年代初中国主要的掌权者。
魏先生也曾是民主墙最重要的作者之一。民主墙是北京一个区的一堵长砖墙，在那里，民主活跃人士们用大字报形式张贴向权力讲真话的各种新闻和评论。魏先生还在哥伦比亚大学国际和公众关系学院授课，被《纽约时报》专栏作家萨费尔（William Safire）誉为三大持不同政见英雄之一。另外两个英雄是夏兰斯基和萨哈罗夫。
魏先生还抨击了中国政府在2008年北京奥林匹克运动会前，对西藏和尚们的镇压。
和许多国际观察家一样，魏先生把中国问题和中东问题看作奥巴马总统成功与否的两个重要铰链。“如果奥巴马在今后的四年中在中东和中国问题上犯了错误，那么他基本上就摧毁了他在经济方面所作的努力。作为美国人的朋友，我们中国民主运动人士当然会对这些问题、包括对傅立民的提名非常敏感。”
原文连接：
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ashley-rindsberg/chinas-top-dissident-brea_b_175616.html
(魏京生基金会首发中文稿。如采用，请注明出处：www.WeiJingSheng.org)
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