Su Tan and Wan Lun are junior high school students in Shandong Province, China, and members of the Pan-Blue Alliance [1]. They are being oppressed by the local National Security Office for investigating the mysterious death of 15 students during a gym class at the 15th Junior High School of Jining City, Shandong Province. The school tried to cover up the incident, which provoked a wave of protests from the parents. Su and Wan were under oppression after publishing their findings of this incident on the Internet. On May 9, 2007, their computers were confiscated by the police, and they were summoned to appear in court.
Su Tan and Wang Lun are the latest members of the Pan-Blue Alliance being persecuted by the National Security Office in Shandong. Prior to them, Zhang Yang, Gong Weiqiang, Gong Xujun, and Xu Ningkang were also summoned to court with charges of conducting illegal organization activities and were threatened with “labor education.”
An Si, Chairman of the Shandong branch of the Pan-Blue Alliance in China, said, “The way the local National Security Office has been persecuting members supporting the values of the Chinese Nationalist is totally against their political agenda of building a ‘harmonized society.’”
“Su Tan’s parents are refusing all interviews,” said Jong Buhui, another member of the Pan-Blue Alliance. “They are under tremendous pressure from the National Security and they probably signed a document of oath. The school is also responsible of their arrest. Because Su and Wan are members of the Pan-Blue Alliance, the school reported them to the National Security Office.”
Pan-Blue Alliance members have recently experienced progressively increasing oppression. Regarding this, a member of the Pan-Blue Alliance Zhang Qi said, “Pan-Blue Alliance’s policy is to be open, fair, and non-violent. We will handle all matters by following this policy.”
Zhang pointed out that Su and Wan are seventeen year-old students. From a legal perspective, they cannot be held fully accountable for their actions, and they should not be subjected to full punishment. China’s constitutions do not apply to minors under the age of 18. Zhang was very angry with the political oppression behind this incident. He said, ““From a basic human rights perspective, this is a question of whether students are entitled to a safe environment when they are in school.”
Su and Wan’s membership in the Pan-Blue Alliance puts them as the target of political oppression. Ever since Taiwan’s San Li TV broadcasted criticizing remarks of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) during a news report on China’s Taiwan Affairs Bureau, Pan-Blue Alliance has become increasingly well-known in the global scene, and the Chinese authority is concerned about potential problems that may arise. Even though there are signs of change, it appears that as the CCP approaches the crossroad of democracy, it is hesitating, feeling insecure, and even wobbling on its political stance.
“We hope to widely open up communications with the CCP in Shandong on an equal and fair basis,” said An Si. “And we are working hard to build a long-term platform for conducting conversations between the CCP officials and the people, in order to prevent future incidents that bring grief to everyone involved.”
Notes:
[1] Pan-Blue Alliance: an alliance of members of or supporting the National Party, a political party in Taiwan
