7 December 2011 - Washington, D.C. – On Tuesday, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China held a hearing entitled, “One Year After the Nobel Peace Prize Award to Liu Xiaobo: Conditions for Political Prisoners and Prospects for Political Reform,” which brought together a number of scholars, rights activists, and dissidents to discuss what Liu’s imprisonment means for the future of China’s democracy movement. The first panel of witnesses analyzed the domestic and international significance of how the Chinese government reacted to the prize. 

Rep. Smith, who led a group of lawmakers in nominating Liu and other Chinese dissidents for the Peace Prize, said that China felt undermined by the Nobel Prize award. This was apparent when China accused the Nobel Committee of damaging China-Norway relations in “supporting this wrong decision”. PEN International Chair Marian Botsford Fraser confirmed Smith’s assertion that in China “fear is with the government, not the people,” noting that the government’s desperation can be seen in the “surveillance state” it is creating. Chinese scholar Li Xiaorong agreed that “panic, unpreparedness, and shock” from the Nobel award are what provoked the regime’s knee-jerk self–assertiveness.

Laogai Research Foundation Executive Director Harry Wu was part of the second panel of China rights activists who exposed ongoing persecution of dissidents, lawyers, and religious groups. Lamenting that Liu Xiaobo has been in jail since winning the prize, Mr. Wu pointed out, “in 1960 I too was put in China’s Laogai prison camps because of my ideas, and I was there for 19 years. Fifty years later, China’s regime has not changed how it handles dissenting opinions.” He called attention to the fact that, thanks to the “Great Firewall” the majority of Chinese internet users could not even access the articles Liu published online, which his verdict cited as examples of “inciting subversion”.  In response to Mr. Wu’s point that this censorship was made possible by technology provided by American companies like Cisco, Congressman Smith announced that he is launching a new version of the Global Online Freedom Act. This act would ban export of internet technologies to countries that repress freedom of speech online. 

Harry Wu also announced that, in addition to the two Chinese books of Liu’s writings, LRF will soon be publishing an English compilation of his writings. Professor Perry Link spoke to the insightfulness of Liu Xiaobo’s writings on Chinese society and politics, stressing that, unlike most Chinese writers today, “he writes free from fear”. Link also urged the U.S. government to continue speaking out words of support for Liu, noting that dissidents like him are merely spokespeople who put themselves on the line to represent the interests of many, and that such actions provide encouragement inside China. 

While discussing what the U.S. can do to improve the situation in China, panelists Reggie Littlejohn, Chai Ling, and Bob Fu also expressed support for Congressman Smith’s proposed bill H.R. 2121, which would prevent Chinese officials who have been complicit in human rights abuse from obtaining U.S. visas. They emphasized that consistency is key, and that the U.S. needs to end the double-standard by which it criticizes rights abuses in some regimes while turning a blind eye to those of its key trading partner, China. Mr. Wu asked, “Why is Fidel Castro banned from the U.S. while Hu Jintao is invited to state dinners?” He argued that abuses like the brutal One Child Policy and persecution of those who practice “illegal” religions like Roman Catholicism have no equivalent in Cuba. Finally, panelists agreed that both the U.S. government and American corporations need to improve accountability in their relations with China.

While Mr. Link is hopeful that the internet will win in the end, bringing openness and freedom of ideas to the Chinese people, Mr. Wu is doubtful. He fears that with the completion of the Golden Shield Project and constant improvements to the censorship apparatus, it may already be too late for the internet to win out, and that only the fall of the Chinese Communist Party will bring true freedom to the people. 

According to Carl Gershman of the National Endowment for Democracy, such an occurrence may not be completely out of the question. He explained that if the “China model of authoritarianism” is not flexible enough to withstand this flood of social, economic, and ideological change so quickly, it could in fact shatter.