Blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng urges global pressure on China over human rights

Blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng, who yesterday received the Tom Lantos Human  Rights Prize in Washington, urged United States not to let business concerns prevent it from pressing China over human rights:

“We must not only remember the atrocities of the fascists, but also recognise that today authoritarianism is firmly entrenched, and that the barbarism of the authoritarian system is the greatest threat to civilized societies,” said Chen. -

“We must not only remember the atrocities of the fascists, but also recognise that today authoritarianism is firmly entrenched, and that the barbarism of the authoritarian system is the greatest threat to civilized societies,” said Chen.-

“Recently, many friends and neighbours who I have been in touch with by phone have been taken into custody by the authorities for questioning. They have been threatened and made to describe what our conversations have been about,” he said.

The United States bore a special responsibility to uphold and promote its basic founding principles, despite economic weakness that has prompted some deference to fast-growing power China over human rights in recent years, he said.

While “it is clearly difficult to shift attention away from issues of finance and the economy, remember that placing undue value on material life will cause a deficit in spiritual life,” said Chen.

“You must establish a long-term plan for human rights and not compromise on it, ever,” he added.-

“Democracy, freedom and justice don’t just happen. We must strive for them through action,” he said.

“Last year, Myanmar lifted the ban on political parties, and last Friday it abolished media censorship. What the people in Myanmar do, we can do, too,” said Chen.

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Chen's appeal is of course also directed to all other western leaders, who for years now have been kowtowing to China's corrupted communist party bosses in a vain hope of reaping economic rewards.