In 1995, thousands marched in the streets of Hong Kong demanding Wei's release.

"We put Wei Jingsheng behind bars, didn't we? Did that damage China's reputation? We haven't released him, but China's image has not been tarnished by that. Our reputation improves day by day!" - Deng Xiaoping in private talk, 1987

Source: Los Angeles Times. July 3, 1997. Page B6.

Q: Why does America's "elite" (media, business, government) support a regime that denies its citizens the most basic human rights and punishes non-violent proponents of freedom so savagely?

A: Money. The people making a fine living from dispensing "don't worry, be happy" advice on how to handle human rights atrocities in China include: Henry Kissinger, Alexander Haig (no, this is not a flashback), Cyrus Vance, George Schultz, Dick Cheney, Brent Scowcroft, Carla Hills, Bill Brock, Howard Baker, Edmund Muskie, Warren Christoper, Leonard Woodcok, Robert Strauss, and Gary Hart. And those are just the "superstars."

The pathetic thing is that the economic potential of China as an importer of U.S. goods is largely an illusion. The U.S. is already running a multi-billion dollar trade deficit with the country. The money to buy these esteemed ladies and gentlemen comes from exporters and offshore companies that use China as a manufacturing base. China has the largest pool of slave and near-slave labor in the world. It's a "low cost" producer and there is plenty of money to be made in that.

As you read these words, Wei Jingsheng, winner of the Olof Palme Peace Prize in 1995, the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 1996, and a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize, has disappeared in the Chinese prison system.

Wei's crime? He asked for democracy in China in 1979 - and he won't change his mind.

The Courage to Stand Alone (New York: Viking, 1997) is a collection of Wei's letters from prison and other writings. Order it now to inform yourself and to demonstrate that citizens of the US and other free countries care about the human rights of the people of China.