Chinese must fight on for their right to freely enter or leave their own country
Chang Ping says submitting to officials' strong-arm tactics won't win activists any concessions
On November 14, civil society activist Xiao Liang bought a mop while in Bangkok and attached a woman's portrait to the stick. Holding it, she headed for the United Nations Conference Centre, where the "Asian and Pacific Conference on Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment: Beijing + 20 Review" was being held.
The portrait was that of Xiao Liang's friend and fellow activist, Zheng Churan. The two young women were travelling to Bangkok to attend the UN meeting when Zheng was detained at the Guangzhou checkpoint.
China's overworked border officials have been busy of late checking all travellers against a long list of names barred from entry or exit. The list includes long-time activists on human rights and ethnic minority issues. Some others were blacklisted for having attended "sensitive meetings", some because they sought to speak up for Hong Kong's protesting students. Yet others have no idea why they were barred.
Zheng was told she was being detained so she could be investigated, but no investigation has been conducted so far.
A month ago, I attended a session in Geneva of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. Aids activist Wang Qiuyun, who was due to attend the same meeting, failed to turn up after the government confiscated her passport while it was being delivered to her with a newly issued Swiss visa. Mainland police forced her to tell the UN organisers she was "too sick" to go, but she refused. Her NGO colleagues revealed this at the meeting.
When questioned at the conference about her absence, a Chinese government spokesperson claimed she might have failed to buy an air ticket.
It's terrible to be a target of police surveillance and deprived of one's freedom. That's why most people who face travel restrictions tend to keep quiet, hoping their tolerance would buy them some leeway. But Wang and her colleagues chose to fight back. They realised they were still being watched despite being careful.
Xiao Liang's rebellion was even bolder. Over the six-day meeting, she carried her friend's portrait with her everywhere she went in Bangkok - at the conference venue, in a restaurant, on a street - the poster sometimes attached to the mop stick, sometimes stuck on her rucksack. Whenever people asked her about this curious get-up, she would patiently explain. She even accepted interviews with foreign media.
On November 15, three representatives of the students' movement in Hong Kong were stopped at Hong Kong airport from boarding a plane to Beijing, where they intended to petition the central government. The students were told their travel permits had been invalidated. Later, another group of students were similarly barred from entering Shenzhen.
This is surely a "world-class scene" - border officials barring their fellow countrymen from travelling within the country. The entry denial has upset many Hongkongers, some of whom have even sworn never to visit the mainland again.
Meanwhile, according to the latest opinion poll findings, Hong Kong people's sense of Chinese identity has hit another record low.
I fully understand how Hongkongers feel, and would like to also point out that mainlanders' sense of Chinese identity is not high, either, especially among the middle and upper classes, including the rich and the senior officials who are moving their wives and children abroad. "I don't want to be Chinese in my next life" has become a catchphrase on the internet. However, none of this has stopped the government from exploiting its people.
So, unless Hong Kong people actively seek independence, their sense of Chinese identity - or the lack thereof - will not trouble Beijing.
It's more important that Hong Kong people continue to protest about any infringement of their rights based on the law. The students who were denied entry to the mainland should press the government to clarify: on what law was their visit to Beijing deemed a national security threat?
When I went to Japan for a meeting in early 2010, I brought some food for rights activist Feng Zhenghu, who had been stranded at Tokyo's Narita Airport for more than 70 days after he was denied entry into China. Under the UN Charter, no country should deny the return of its citizens, Feng said. This was why he chose not to leave the airport as a protest. Eventually, the Chinese government compromised, and allowed him to return home.
Holding the mop stick in Bangkok, Xiao Liang said: "This is a gesture. I want to tell our government that we will not stop the struggle." Women's rights activist Lu Pin, who attended the conference, wrote an essay in support of Xiao Liang. In it, she said: "Human beings can choose not to give in so easily. We can create new space, and new ways for protest."
