A Joint Statement Calling for China to Allow Prominent Dissident to Visit Ill Wife in the U.S.

A Joint Statement Calling for China to Allow Prominent Dissident to Visit Ill Wife in the U.S.

January 30, 2021

Chinese dissident Guo Feixiong (郭飞雄), while trying to travel to the United States to take care of his wife Zhang Qing following her cancer surgery, was intercepted by Chinese authorities at Shanghai Pudong Airport on January 28, and denied exit on the pretext of “endangering national security.” Guo Feixiong is a free Chinese citizen, and the CCP has no reason to prevent him from going abroad to visit his family, whether from the perspective of law, human rights, or humanitarian principle. This inhumane act by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is yet another proof of the regime’s increasingly fascist stance. 

Guo Feixiong has announced the beginning of an indefinite hunger strike upon the exit ban. We call upon the outside world to follow this development and on Western countries to use diplomatic means to assist Guo Feixiong in his wish to visit his wife and take care of her in the United States. On January 27, Guo Feixiong sent an open letter to Chinese leaders Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, and Li Zhanshu about his anxiety over the critical condition of his wife: 

“My wife, Zhang Qing, moved to the United States in 2009 and now lives in Maryland. On January 9 of this year, she underwent major surgery for colon cancer with liver metastasis, and following the surgery, immediately began to undergo chemotherapy for 24 weeks. She is in extremely risky and life-threatening conditions. I must go to the U.S. immediately and do my best to care for her and help her through the most difficult time in her life. Our decade long separation has now reached a heartbreaking point, and every day of delay is mental torture for me.”

Guo Feixiong (real name Yang Maodong 杨茂东), is one of the pioneers of China’s rights defense movement. He was arrested in 2006 for his involvement in the campaign to dismiss corrupt village officials in Guangdong’s Taishi village, sentenced to five years in 2007, and released from prison on September 12, 2011. In 2009, Guo’s wife fled China with their two young children to escape persecution by the CCP. In August 2013, Guo was arrested again and sentenced to six years in prison for organizing citizen groups in solidarity with the Southern Weekend and launching campaigns in several cities to demand that China ratifies the U.N. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. He was released in 2019. In 2016, Guo went on a hunger strike for more than 100 days in protest of the torture and abuse he suffered in prison. He is the recipient of the 2015 Frontline Defenders Award from Frontline Defenders Ireland.

We ask for assistance from the international community!

(China Change Note: Guo Feixiong has been out of contact shortly after he started hunger strike on Thursday at the Pudong Airport in Shanghai. He’s likely to have been taken into custody by the Chinese authorities.)

聲援郭飛雄的共同聲明

中國異議人士郭飛雄希望赴美照顧剛剛做完癌癥手術的妻子，1月28日在上海浦東機場海關被中共當局攔截，被以“危害國家安全”的借口拒絕郭飛雄出境，對此我們表示強烈憤慨和譴責。郭飛雄是自由的中國公民，不論是從法律角度、人權角度、還是從人道主義角度，中共都沒有任何理由阻止郭飛雄出國探親。中共的這種非人性的行為，再次證明這個政權已經日益法西斯化。郭飛雄已經宣布開始無限期絕食抗議。我們呼籲外界關註這一事態的發展，呼籲西方國家通過外交方式協助郭飛雄達成來美探親的心願。

1月27日，郭飛雄向中國國家領導人習近平、李克強和栗戰書發出公開信，講述妻子張青生命危急的情況以及他本人的焦慮：“我的妻子張青2009年遷至美國，現居馬裏蘭州。今年1月9日剛剛做完結腸癌伴肝轉移開腹切除大手術，按照醫院安排，馬上需要進行持續24周的化療，風險極大，生命高危。我必須立即趕赴美國，盡全力照護，幫她渡過人生最危險、最艱難的關口。妻子的遭際令我痛徹心肺，每延遲一天於我都是精神酷刑。“

郭飛雄（真名楊茂東）是中國維權運動的先驅之一。2006年因為參與廣東太石村罷免村官事件被逮捕，2007年被判刑5年，2011年9月12日出獄。期間遭到嚴重酷刑。2009年，郭飛雄的妻子為了逃避中共迫害，帶著兩個幼子逃出中國。2013年8月，郭飛雄因為組織公民群體聲援《南方周末》、在多個城市發起要求中國確認聯合國《公民權利與政治權利公約》的活動而再次被逮捕並被判刑6年，於2019年出獄。2016年，郭飛雄因為在監獄遭受酷刑和虐待而絕食抗議一百多天。郭飛雄是愛爾蘭前線衛士組織2015年“前線衛士獎”獲獎者。

請國際社會伸出援手！

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