Rainbow Pie

Hello, Members of the European Parliament, good people of France, Europe and the world who are concerned about the human rights situation in China!

In 1989, Beijing citizen Wang Weilin risked losing his life to stop the advance of the tanks and university students went on a hunger strike to demand democracy; in 2022, Beijing Saitongqiao warrior Peng Zai Zhou called on Xi Jinping to step down and demanded votes, knowing he would lose his freedom.

On the 34th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, in Strasbourg, one of the capitals of Europe, I, 22 years old, a human rights defender from China, a member of the Independent Chinese PEN, ask the European Parliament to stand in solidarity with, protect, support and encourage these lovely human rights defenders for the realization of the European Union value of “Human dignity”, “Freedom”, “Democracy”, “Equality”, “Rule of law”, “Human Rights” as marked by the Lisbon Declaration.

As the youngest member of Independent Chinese PEN, I was threatened by the Chinese Communist Party in China. I was forced to go to the police station to leave a statement and my family was harassed, even though I was so young. Now I have chosen to leave my homeland alone and go into exile, become a political refugee, and apply for political asylum, wanting to cherish the hard-won right to freedom of expression granted to me by the European Union.

It is well known that the Chinese Communist Party has built the world’s largest internet blocking wall, so that Chinese internet users are not able to browse the international internet freely and are only able to be brainwashed by the Chinese Communist Party-controlled media. 2015 I was 14 years old, before Wikipedia was blocked by the Chinese Communist Party, and as a result I learned about the June 4 Incident, also known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre. I know that as a student, if I had lived in those days, I would have followed my classmates and braved the square, and I probably would have been a victim of the sword and the gun. The June Fourth Incident was therefore closely related to me and started my political life. I was in a different generation from the college students who took to the square, but I had a spiritual connection. I felt a responsibility to speak out for the souls of those who died.

In memory of Dr. Liu Xiaobo, co-founder of Independent Chinese PEN and 2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner, a voice for the Chinese people oppressed by the Communist Party of China’s dictatorship, a voice for my friends Huang Xueqin and Wang Jianbing who lost their freedom due to political persecution, a voice for the warrior Peng Zaizhou of Saitongqiao, a voice for the people of Taiwan threatened by war, and a voice for the brave people of Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong. .

Our specific demands include:
1, calling on Italy to withdraw from China’s Belt and Road strategy;
2, to close the Confucius Institutes controlled by the Chinese Communist Party and to protect the academic freedom and freedom of expression of Chinese students;
3, support the Chinese people’s free access to the international Internet and give financial support to the development of independent wall-flipping software;
4, supporting and following up on the friendly-Taiwan diplomacy of Lithuania, the Czech Republic and other EU member states, and coordinating to counteract the economic blackmail of the Chinese Communist Party;
5, criticize Macron’s remarks of friendship with China and selling Taiwan; declare that in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, Europe will firmly support Taiwan, including military assistance and intervention in Taiwan, such as Europe’s firm support for Ukraine, thus forming an effective strategic deterrent to China; because Taiwan’s security is the security of the world’s semiconductor supply chain, and Europe cannot abandon this country that shares the EU’s values of safeguarding human rights, freedom and democracy;

6. fully recognize the determination of the Chinese Communist Party to rule China permanently, differentiate between the anti-human totalitarian Chinese Communist government and the Chinese people, recognize that the Chinese people are the victims of the Chinese Communist Party’s authoritarian rule, and actively support the Chinese people’s struggle against the one-party dictatorship of the Chinese Communist Party
7. Urge the Chinese government to unconditionally release human rights defenders Huang Xueqin and Wang Jianbing, and to abolish the crime of “subversion of state power,” which is a crime of suppressing human rights defenders in the name of the rule of law.

We also call on the Chinese government to let us know if the Sithongqiao warrior Peng Zai Zhou is safe and to release him immediately to let him go free and let the brave Chinese people go free.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had an American dream that Black Life Matters; Robert Schuman, the French Foreign Minister and one of the founder of the European Union, had a European dream of making Europe integrated; I share the same Chinese dream with the late Dr. Liu Xiaobo, the author of Charter 08, and Dr. Xu Zhiyong, the author of “A Better China” and in prison: one day, the Chinese people will be able to enjoy, like the European people, the freedom from fear, to elect a ruling party and a government by one person, one vote.

I also want to tell Peng Zai Zhou that you are not alone, we will not let you be a loner, you have the support of millions of Chinese people who are pursuing democracy and freedom, and the people of Europe and the world who are concerned about the human rights situation in China.

Finally I would like to say a few words just on my own behalf. 2016 saw the UK leave the EU and Trump elected as President of the US, and as a European federalist, liberal democrat, I fell into a severe political depression. As a genderqueer, my life has been made doubly difficult by the fact that the Prime Minister of Hungary, Orban, and the Prime Minister of Italy, the country I currently live in, Meloni, are both known for being anti-LGBT. But not long ago, the European Parliament passed bills condemning Hungary and Italy for their anti-LGBT policies, which made me doubly excited. I also still believe in the power of liberal democracy, and the Biden victory in 2020 has given me confidence. This year’s victory of Elly Schelin, the secretary of the Italian Democratic Party, also gave me confidence.

The great French writer Victor Hugo, who stayed at the Pantheon, once said, “When dictatorship is a fact, revolution becomes a right.

At this moment I suddenly feel very sad because I realize that once this statement is published, I will never be able to return to my homeland. Once I call for the ouster of the Chinese Communist Party and the ouster of Xi Jinping, I will be guilty of inciting subversion of state power. This statement is evidence of my guilt. The Chinese state security police could easily arrest me.

It is not easy to say goodbye to the land where I have lived for twenty-one years. I know I am not the only exile. I wanted to be a great writer. My life coach and French literary master, Albert Camus, winner of the 1957 Nobel Prize for Literature, said in his acceptance speech that the duty of a writer is to reject lies and resist oppression. I also take this as my motto for my public writing. Because of communist persecution, my favorite Czech writer Milan Kundera went into exile in France, and Polish writer Miłosz went into exile in the United States. Because of Nazi persecution, the Jews Albert Einstein and Hannah Arendt went into exile in the United States. Zweig went into exile in Brazil and eventually committed suicide with his mistress. I was especially curious about the stories of these exiled writers because I knew I would be on the same path as these predecessors.

How many times have I asked myself if it was worth it? Betting on my own freedom, fighting against a huge authoritarian regime with my small personal power. Will I be able to keep my original heart forever and not be deceived by the bullying of the Chinese Communist Party? Yet exile was also the beginning of a new life. I slowly fell in love with the land of Europe, a land where, like China, my friends lived. I will never forget that my 22nd birthday was celebrated by a group of lovely Italian friends. I will never forget the story of my travels in European countries with sofas and the hospitality I received from everyone. I will not forget the countless friendships I have gained in the Erasmus program. I will never forget the beauty of the rainbow flags flying at the annual Pride Festival. I will also never forget the Ukrainian flag that flew on every piece of land, and the feeling that Europeans were united in support of Ukrainians against aggression made me believe that Europeans care about fairness and justice.

I have fallen in love with this land. I dread returning to China and don’t want to leave Europe. I have nostalgia, but I also have vote nostalgia. I will dream in my nightmares that the Chinese state security police will torture me and I will spend the rest of my life in prison. I also dream about the excitement of finally being able to vote in an election when I am one day a European citizen. I am 22 years old and have never voted because the Chinese Communist Party has denied the right to vote to countless Chinese people. I expect that when I turn 26, I will be able to vote in municipal elections, political elections and European elections when, according to Italian law, I can obtain Italian citizenship after I have spent five years in Italy after successfully applying for political asylum. I had a taste of not having the right to vote, so I cherished it.

Personally, I no longer hope that the Chinese Communist Party will vindicate the June Fourth Incident, as it is a matter of legitimacy, and the annual June Fourth commemoration rally in Victoria Park no longer exists after the passage of the National Security Law in Hong Kong in 2020. However, the slogans used by Hong Kong people to commemorate June 4 have always stuck in my mind. Likewise, Peng Zai Zhou’s slogans have always inspired me. Allow me to conclude today’s speech with their slogan:

“Don’t want the Cultural Revolution, want reform, don’t want lies, want dignity, don’t want leaders, want votes, don’t be a lackey, be a citizen, strike, strike and remove Xi Jinping, the dictatorial state traitor.”

“End one-party dictatorship and build a democratic China.”

Thank you all! God bless France and God bless the European Union! May freedom and democracy come to China soon! Good night!