Chen Guangchen and further shame on the Chinese government



 In 2006, 2009 and earlier this year I posted on the courageous blind lawyer Chen Guangcheng who exposed and spoke out against the policy of forced abortion and sterilisation in the Shandong Province in China. Thanks to Batman star Christian Bale, his case has been given worldwide publicity via CNN.

LifeSite News has the story; it was also reported in the Daily Telegraph, the Sun, and many other news outlets throughout the world; though both the Telegraph and the Sun fail to mention just exactly what human rights Chen was campaigning for - namely the right of women not to be subject to forced sterilisation and the right of women and babies not to be subjected to the process of forced abortion.

John Smeaton has highlighted a campaign which originated as a gesture of support for Chen on his 40th birthday on 12 November - but I'm sure further contributions would be welcome (they do say that the campaign will only end when Chen is free.) Chen is blind and the idea is that you send in a photo of yourself wearing sunglasses. Details are at Women's Rights Without Frontiers. There are various suggestions - you can hold a banner saying "Free Chen Guangcheng" in English and Chinese (a banner is provided at the website.)

I thought it would be good to hold a picture of Our Lady of China. Our Lady's compassion and love for the Chinese people is in stark contrast to the repression and cruelty towards women and children shown by the Chinese government. (I have uploaded the graphic in full resolution so that you can use it if you want - apologies if this makes the blog load slowly.)


According to the Telegraph report, Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin, when asked if publicity has been embarrassing for the Chinese government, said he thought Christian Bale should feel embarrassed not China. This is a typical repressive government's inversion of the truth. The Chinese government should indeed feel embarrassed - by its treatment of Christian Bale, by its torture of Chen Guangcheng and his wife for expressing the legitimate views of so many of the Chinese people, and by its appalling policy of forced abortion and sterilisation.

The Chinese people are noble and upright, they can be proud of a culture that could enrich discourse in the world, they have a thriving Christian Church, and they deserve better than a government which kills babies, degrades women, and fails to show the most elementary courtesy of an apology when treating a distinguished visitor with contempt merely for trying to visit and show support to one of their most respected citizens. Their government should bow its head in shame and free Chen Guangcheng.

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