Chinese human rights activist Feng Zhenghu, who has been denied entry into his homeland eight times, continues his protest in Japan by camping out at Tokyo’s Narita International Airport. He is surviving on food donated by passengers and water from public bathrooms.
Feng has now spent more than two weeks at the airport since his last attempt to enter Shanghai on Nov. 4. At that time, upon landing in Shanghai, Chinese police promptly forced him back onto the All Nippon Airways plane, refusing to allow the Japanese plane to depart without him.
Feng says he is a Chinese citizen and, by law, the Chinese authorities cannot stop him from returning to his home country.
A spokesperson for the Narita Airport said they had tried to talk Feng into entering Japan, but would not force him to do so. He has applied to surrender his Japanese visa and continues his appeal for the right to return to Shanghai.
Speaking with a reporter from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Feng said that his health is deteriorating, and he does not sleep well at night. He expressed his appreciation to the Chinese and Japanese people who have supported him in his protest, and promised to continue fighting for human rights for the Chinese people.
'To Build a Better China'
In the interview with NTDTV, Feng said that forcing a Chinese citizen to stay in Japan is not only a Chinese domestic issue. It impacts relations between the two countries, and is a violation of the U. N. Charter and China’s Constitution. Feng told the interviewer that he feels there will be no peace in China without human rights.
“I feel that fighting for human rights in China is my responsibility,” Feng said. “I will continue to work hard with all the Chinese people to build a better China.”Feng, 54, had served as director of the China Enterprise Research Center. In 1989 he published articles criticizing Chinese authorities for their handling of the June 4 democracy movement. After that, Feng was questioned and ordered to leave the Research Center, and his name was removed from the Party’s membership list.
Since then he has been engaged in promoting human rights in Shanghai. In February of this year, the Shanghai Public Safety Bureau warned him to stay in Japan temporarily to avoid persecution on the 20th anniversary of the June 4 Tiananmen Square Massacre.
Feng had also tried to return to China on June 7. At that time, the staff at the airport inspection station kept him on the plane by saying he was a suspected carrier of bird flu.
He said that his actions since Nov. 4 have probably embarrassed Chinese officials who have visited Japan, as his appeals have received attention from many mainstream Japanese media, including Yomiuri, Sankei, Asahi, Jiji Press, NHK, and TBS.
Watch the original Chinese report
