When he was finally released from prison, the police told him mockingly that people are still “clamoring” for him despite his being locked away for many years. Gao smiled and said, “What you have been doing to me is part of it, too.”
Despite all the hardships he endured, Gao only wanted two things: He wanted to get his teeth fixed, and take a hot shower.
ChinaAid President Bob Fu feels that President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and Secretary of State John Kerry should “speak publicly and forcefully” with Chinese leader Xi Jinping when they meet in Washington, D.C., during Xi’s first formal U.S. state visit.
“Torturing, violating human rights and the rule of law cannot be tolerated by the international community, and the American people cannot tolerate what Xi Jinping is doing,” Fu continued.
“A country that treats its own citizens in an inhumane manner and in contradiction of its own laws and international norms doesn’t deserve shareholder status in the international community.”
The United States, Fu adds, cannot recognize China as a great power if Xi Jinping fails to release prisoners of conscience like veteran journalist Gao Yu, recently detained rights defense lawyers like Wang Yu and Zhang Kai, house church Christians, Uyghurs, Tibetans, Falun Gong practitioners, and others who demand basic rights.
“China has essentially become the largest jail of the whole world,” Fu said, before making a dark comparison. “The civilized world should have learned lessons from the 1930s and the case of Hitler.”
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