China Aid Association
(Taipei, Taiwan—Dec. 2, 2013) In a continuation of the campaign, “China 16,” which aims to free 16 prisoners of conscience, four of the prisoners’ daughters, the brother of Chen Guangcheng, and ChinaAid founder and president, Bob Fu, testified at a hearing held by the Taiwan Association for China Human Rights on Monday about the group, which has grown to be the “China 18.”
The hearing, held at 2 p.m., consisted of testimonies from Ti-Anna Wang, daughter of Wang Bingzhang; “Lisa” Jiayin (corrected Dec. 4) Peng, daughter of Peng Ming; “Grace” Ge Geng, daughter of Gao Zhisheng; “Bridgette” Qiao Chen, daughter of Liu Xianbin; “Danielle” Xiaodan Wang, daughter of Wang Zhiwen; Chen Guangfu, brother of Chen Guangcheng and father of imprisoned Chen Kegui; and Fu.
The hearing was a part of a series of hearings, which aim to secure the release of 18 Chinese dissidents. The group sent video testimonies to the European Parliament hearing, which also took place Monday, and will testify again on Thursday (corrected Dec. 3), Dec. 5, at a hearing in Washington, D.C., held by the Committee of Foreign Affairs.
ChinaAid, with a group of other NGOs, campaigned for the release of the China 16 in June (https://chinaaid.org/2013/06/major-coalition-of-ngos-calls-on-obama.html, https://chinaaid.org/2013/06/congressional-leaders-support-16.html, and https://chinaaid.org/2013/06/international-ngo-alliance-free-china.html).
The group of prisoners grew by two after the Aug. 8 arrest of prominent rights defender Guo Feixiong (https://chinaaid.org/2013/08/china-aid-association-22-2013-china-aid.html) and the addition of Tibetan filmmaker Dhondup Wangchen.
China 18 consists of Wang Bingzhang, an American citizen and Chinese pro-democracy veteran; Peng Ming, the founder of China Federal Development Committee; Gao Zhisheng, an award-winning rights defender; and Liu Xiaobo, the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner and democracy advocate.
Also included are Zhu Yufu, the founder of a major pro-democracy publication; Liu Xianbin, a longtime political dissident and organizer of the China Democratic Party; Yang Tianshui, a founder of the China Democracy Federation; and Yang Rongli, the leader of the 50,000-member Linfen house church.
The China 18 also includes Chen Kegui, the nephew of Cheng Guangcheng, detained after his uncle’s escape from house arrest; Alimujiang Yimiti, a Uyghur Christian house church leader; and Gulmira Imin, a former government employee of Uyghur descent.
The final three members of the China 18 are Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, a Tibetan monk accused of organizing a bombing in Sichuan’s provincial capital; Lobsang Tsering, accused, along with his uncle, a Tibetan monk, of intentional homicide relating to self-immolations in Tibet; and Dhondup Wangchen, a Tibetan filmmaker.
The videos below were filmed for the European Parliament hearing.
Ti-Anna Wang
“Lisa” Jiayin Peng
“Grace” Ge Geng
“Bridgette” Qiao Chen
“Danielle” Xiaodan Wang
Chen Guangfu
China Aid Contacts