Three U.S.-based dissidents involved in 1989 pro-democracy protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square have been denied visas to discuss the demonstrations at a Hong Kong conference, an organizer said Monday.
The student protests, which the Chinese military crushed, killing at least hundreds of people, remain a taboo in mainland China, where the government still considers them a "counterrevolutionary" riot. Beijing has never given a full accounting of the military crackdown.
Wang Dan and Wang Juntao were denied visas when they applied at Chinese consular offices, Hong Kong political scientist Joseph Cheng told The Associated Press in a phone interview. A third, Yang Jianli, was denied entry when he arrived at the Hong Kong airport three weeks ago, Cheng said.
A fourth dissident, Beijing-based Chen Ziming, also said he was unable to attend the conference but it wasn't clear why, Cheng said.
Wang Dan, one of the student leaders of the 1989 protests, was jailed after the crackdown and went into exile in the U.S. in 1998. Wang Juntao and fellow scholar Chen were founders of a private think tank on social issues and advised students during the protests. Both intellectuals were sentenced to 13 years in jail and freed on medical parole in 1993. Chen was rearrested in 1995 and released in 1996.
Yang, a U.S. permanent resident, also took part in the protests and later served a five-year jail term in China on charges of spying for China's rival Taiwan and entering China illegally.
Wang Dan and Yang had previously been denied permission to visit Hong Kong, although Chen was allowed to visit in April 2007 for research.
Wang Dan said last year Chinese officials have refused to renew his Chinese passport, which expired in 2003, and has been traveling on travel documents issued by the U.S. government.
Cheng said he had invited the four dissidents to attend a panel discussion on the Tiananmen protests as part of an academic conference scheduled to be held at the City University of Hong Kong on June 2 and June 3 _ just ahead of the 20th anniversary of the military crackdown on June 4. The overall conference is about changes in China since the Tiananmen protests, Cheng said.
While the Tiananmen movement remains a sensitive topic in mainland China, it is openly discussed and commemorated in Hong Kong, a Beijing-ruled former British colony that's promised Western-style civil liberties. Tens of thousands of people usually attend an annual candlelight vigil honoring victims of the Tiananmen crackdown.
The Chinese foreign ministry didn't immediately return a reporter's call seeking comment on the visa denials. Calls and e-mails to the dissidents weren't immediately answered.
Hong Kong's Immigration Department said in statement it won't comment on Yang's case.
No comments:
Post a Comment