Subject: CSS Today No.9407 November 2, 1994
From: [email-masked] (IFCSS Headquarter)
Date: Thu, 3 Nov 1994 17:54:27 GMT
Newsgroups: soc.culture.china,talk.politics.china,alt.chinese.text

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Press Desk <[email-masked]>          November 2, 1994                No.9407
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IN THIS ISSUE:                                                    No of Lines
=============================================================================
              *** _____ Electronic Press Conference _____ ***
1. IFCSS President LUO Ning's Letter to FC Chairman ...................... 28

              *** __________ Together We Can ____________ ***
2. IFCSS HQ Resumes Work Concerning CSPA Late-Arriving Dependents ....... .59

              *** ____________ Eye on China ______________***
3. Working Report of Human Rights Committee for Release ................. 223

              *** _______ Face-To-Face Dialogue _________ ***
4. A Letters Commenting the Work on IFCSS Press Desk ..................... 32

              *** __________ In the Community  __________ ***
5. Some Concerns from CSS on Accusation of An IFCSS WC Chairman  ......... 38

              *** __________ Quote of the Issue _________ ***
6. One Item   ............................................................ 10
=============================================================================

================= <<<<< Electronic Press Conference >>>>> ===================
1. IFCSS President LUO Ning's Letter to FC Chairman ...................... 28
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
~From: IFCSS Headquarter <[email-masked]>, 10/31/94

To:   Mr. LU Wenhe, FC Chairman
~From: Dr. LUO Ning, President, IFCSS
Subj: Establishment of Fund Raising Coordinating Group
~Date: Oct. 31, 1994

Dear Mr. LU Wenhe:

It is vital for a non-profit organization to expand and diversify its
financial resources.  This is even more important this year for IFCSS due
to the financial strains resulted from the large amount of deficit of last
term's operation.

In order to strengthen the effort of fund raising and improve the coordin-
ation of various fund raising projects, I would like to establish a Fund
Raising Coordinating Group to carry out the task.

As the Chairman of the Finance Committee of the Council and a professional,
you are the best qualified person to coordinate the task.  I would
appreciate if you could take up this responsibility and form the Coordinating
Group.

Let us join force together.

Sincerely,

LUO Ning (signed)

=======================<<<<< Together We Can >>>>>===========================
2. IFCSS HQ Resumes Work Concerning CSPA Late-Arriving Dependents ....... .59
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
~From: IFCSS Headquarter <[email-masked]>, 11/1/94
~Subject: HQ Resumes Work Concerning CSPA Late-Arriving Dependents

In response to the many phone calls and e-mail messages we received with
regard to the problems that the late-arriving dependents (LAD) of CSPA
principals encountered in their application for adjustment of status, IFCSS
HQ decided to resume its contact and dialogue with the INS officers and 
immigration lawyers who have listened to our concerns in the past and have
expressed the willingness to work with us toward a satisfactory solution.    

Upon our preliminary contact with Ms. Lynda Zengerle, an immigration lawyer 
with Arent Fox, which has been instrumental in helping us with many technical
complications in the CSPA lobby and in other subsequent CSPA-related issues, 
she confirmed that for the 3rd employment-based preference categories, the 
immigrant visa current date for Chinese nationals has been pushed back to July
1, 1993, whereas for 2nd family-based preference the situation is even more 
discouraging, i.e. Oct. 15, 1991 for spouse and minor children, and Jan 15, 
1990 for adult unmarried children.  She sympathized with our concern for
those who have entered or are about to enter "voluntary departure" and who 
are therefore worried about deportation.  However as far as she knew, INS
has not taken and will not take any measure to enforce the voluntary departure
it has issued.  Thus the fear of deportation is unnecessary.  She assured us 
that if we had cases where individuals who have filed an application for
adjustment of status as "following to join" has been forced to leave this
country, she would be willing to help us take them to INS to seek an
explanation.  However at this point she said that there is nothing INS can do
for any LAD if immigrant visa is simply not available.

We wish to reiterate that voluntary departure should not be interpreted as
imminent deportation.  Last year in her answer to the question of how a LAD 
can regain appropriate legal status, Rita Boie, a senior immigration examiner
who drafted the CSPA Regulations, explained the nature of voluntary departure:

" ... Voluntary departure allows the late-arriving dependents to stay in the 
U.S. until they qualify for immigrant visas.  Then they need to go to a U.S.
embassy or consulate overseas to have their applications processed.

A person who is in the United States and is unable to maintain a legal status
may apply for voluntary departure at any time at his local INS office.  It
does not matter how long the person has been out of status.

There is not limit on the number of times voluntary departure may be extended,
nor is there a limit on the total number of years of voluntary departure which
may be granted.  A person who is under voluntary departure may request advance
parole."  (See IFCSS HQ News Release No. 5032, July 27, 1993)

We understand your anxiety over losing your legal status, being unable to 
work, continue school or remain with your family here. We will continue to
work with concerned INS officers on immigrant visas for the spouses of CSPA 
principals both in the U.S. and in China, and the unmarried children who
were under the age of 21 at the time they filed their applications but have 
passed their 21st birthday without having immigrant visas available to them.

Next week, when she is expected to be back in her office, we will contact
officer Rita Boie at the INS HQ to get an update on the prospect facing the
LAD.  Please stay tuned for further announcements. 

========================<<<<< Eye on China >>>>>=============================
3. Working Report of Human Rights Committee for Release ................. 223
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
~From: XIAO Qiang, Chairman of IFCSS Human Rights Committee
Source: Human Rights in China <[email-masked]>, 11/1/94
~Subject:  WORKING REPORT FROM HUMAN RIGHTS IN CHINA  July 1, - Sept 30, 1994
                             
STATEMENT of OBJECTIVES

- To provide information to Chinese human rights activists and others about 
the international human rights movement and to suggest tactics for defending
basic rights; 
- To provide advice and support to victims of human rights abuses, especially
to those who wish to seek redress under the legal system and to those who are
engaged in public, lawful human rights monitoring activities; 
- To develop networks among human rights activists and to act as coordinator,
facilitator, and information clearing house for those within China pressing 
for human rights.

INTRODUCTION

During this reporting period, the human rights situation in China has 
steadily deteriorated.  On the fifth anniversary of the Beijing massacre,
LI Peng signed into law the "Detailed Implementation Regulations for the
State Security Law."  These regulations effectively criminalize virtually all
of the strategies that human rights activists inside China have developed for
operating openly within the narrow confines of Chinese law.  The regulations 
provide a legal base from which the Chinese government can crackdown on human
rights activists, including cutting off their connections with outside NGOs
such as HRIC by making it an offense to receive assistance from any group 
defined as a "hostile organization."  

Despite increased difficulties, HRIC has continued to carry out its program 
as planned.  We have been providing educational information to rights 
activists in China as well as advising and supporting rights abuse victims 
and their family members.  As our network of human rights activists within 
China continues to grow, so does the amount of information on human rights 
abuses these contacts provide us with.  HRIC is obligated to step up its 
efforts to use this information in advocating to the world community on 
behalf of those detained and suppressed Chinese rights activists.  We are
doing this in corporation with several other international human rights 
groups such as Amnesty International, International Pen and especially, 
Human Rights Watch/Asia.  In addition, HRIC is focusing on the Chinese media
to get information back into China through mailings, radio broadcasts, and
most recently, Internet newsgroups reaching over 50,000 Chinese students and
scholars worldwide!
  
ACHIEVEMENTS

A. Advocacy Casework

* Communications to UN Working Groups
During this reporting period, HRIC and LIU Qing in particular, have been 
closely communicating with the families of those rights activists who were 
detained since the beginning of 1994.  We have documented over 30 cases,
including 14 cases involving involuntary disappearances.  In July 1994, HRIC
submitted detailed information about the individual is concerned:  BAO Ge,
LIU Nianchun (now released), LU Honglai, LIANG Qisheng (now released), MENG
Lang (now released), TONG Yi, WANG Fucheng (now released and in hiding),
WANG Zhongqiu, WEI Jingsheng, YUAN Hongbin, YANG Zhou, ZHOU Guoqiang, and
ZHU Fuming to the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.
The Working Group issued urgent actions on three of the cases and passed 
some of the other cases to the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.

XIAO Qiang attended the annual August meeting of the UN Sub-Commission on 
Human Rights held in Geneva and made an oral intervention under the agenda 
item addressing the independence of the judicial system and rights of the 
detainees.  XIAO also met informally with Chinese government delegates and
discussed specific cases with them. 

The most significant case is that of LIU Nianchun, who "disappeared" in May
of this year.  Despite repeated inquire for two months.  Upon receipt of
HRIC's communication, the UN Working Group took urgent action on his case.
One month later on September 7, the Chinese authorities replied to the UN 
Working Group that LIU Nianchun was under "residential surveillance" and 
"never was detained."  The UN Working Group sent their concluding report to 
HRIC and we immediately passed in their custody, but still refused to tell
her any further details on the grounds that the case was "confidential."
CHU Hailan then related to the foreign press that the Chinese government
had lied to the UN in their statement that LIU Nianchun "never was detained."
Chinese and English newspapers in Hong Kong reported this news, thereby 
increasing the pressure on CG.

* Action on 15 Detained Rights Activists.

HRIC sent letters to the governments of each G7 country just before the start
of the summit meeting in Naples on July 7.  The letters expressed concern
about the current crackdown on human rights and labor activists in China, and
requested that these countries take the lead in continuing to press China to 
improve its human rights record.  We attached a list of 15 detained 
dissidents, including the 14 listed above plus XIAO Biguang.  Sophia Woodman
also personally contacted the delegations of each of the seven countries.  

In July, the Foreign Minister of Germany passed HRIC's list of political
detainees to Premier LI Peng during his visit to Germany, and requested their
release.  In early September, LIU Qing wrote to French President Mitterand 
asking him to raise the issue of human rights and the cases of the fifteen 
detainees during his meeting with JIANG Zemin in France.  The full text of
this letter was translated and published in the French newspaper "Liberation."

* New Reports

HRIC prepared and published two major joint reports with Human Rights Watch/
Asia during the three-month reporting period.  The first, "Pressure Off, 
China Targets Activists" was published on July 29, 1994.  This 28-page report
covered the mass political trial that took place in Beijing in July, recent
detentions of dissidents, and the passage of the "Detailed Implementation
Regulations on the State Security Law."  HRIC contributed most of the infor-
mation contained in the report, co-authored the English version, produced a
version in Chinese, and promoted it in the Chinese media.  We also sent
copies to member governments of the UN Commission on Human Rights and to all
of the experts on the UN Subcommission.

In September, a member of HRIC in Beijing sent an additional list of 104
"June Fourth" prisoners, all of whom had received extremely harsh criminal 
sentences.  80 of these prisoners remain in the Beijing No. 2 Prison.  After
verifying this information, HRIC, again in conjunction with Human Rights
Watch/Asia, put out a 22-page report entitled "China: Use of Criminal Charges
Against Political Dissidents."  This report was prepared for release on the
eve of Chinese Foreign Minister QIAN Qichen's meeting with President Clinton
in Washington, DC on October 3.

* Action on FANG Zheng and YU Zhuo

FANG Zheng, a former Beijing Physical Education College student who lost both
legs after being run over by a tank on June 4, 1989, qualified to participate
in the Far East and South Pacific Games for Disabled Persons being held in
Beijing in September.  But FANG was kicked off of the Chinese national team
after completing the three-month training period, ostensibly because the
authorities discovered how FANG had lost his legs and disapproved of his
record of speaking out about the incident.  HRIC sent out a press release 
concerning FANG Zheng on August 31.  The release received good press coverage,
including an article in the New York Times.  Information on FANG Zheng's case
released on the Internet prompted the overseas Chinese student community to
undertake a letter-writing campaign on FANG Zheng's behalf. 

YU Zhuo, whose case HRIC has been working on since his arrest for putting up
June Fourth memorial posters at Wuhan University in 1992, completed his full
sentence and was to be released on September 2.  But on his final day in
prison, YU Zhuo was handcuffed to a chair for 24 hours by one of the police
officers who had originally arrested him.  It was apparently this officer's
way of expressing his dissatisfaction with the "light" sentence YU Zhuo
received despite the officer's threats that he would be sentenced to life in
prison.  Upon YU's release on September 2, YU Zhuo's family contacted HRIC
immediately and we issued a letter protesting YU Zhuo's treatment in prison
and a press release that the same day.

B. Educational Information

In addition to utilizing the Chinese media and Internet networks to promote
our reports and press releases, HRIC has continued to develop other Chinese-
language educational materials to aid in the promotion of human rights in
China. 

WANG Yu, together with HRIC board member HUANG Mab, finished the editing of
"A Collection of Essays on Chinese Human Rights from the Past Seventy Years."
This 76-page anthology contains 15 essays and biographies of Chinese
intellectuals, from mainland China and Taiwan, who have written about human
rights since the beginning of this century.  The writers include CHEN Duxiu,
HU Shi, LU Xun, WEI Jingsheng, and FANG Lizhi.  The collection was prepared
as a response to requests from human rights activists in China who do not
have access to these materials.  To date, over one-hundred copies have been
distributed within China.

HRIC published the fall issue of China Rights Forum in September.  This issue
focused on workers' rights in China.  The Chinese section also contained
several articles useful to Chinese human rights activists.  These included
an interview with a Romanian human rights activist, an analysis of the human
rights policy of the Chinese government, and an article by the former general
secretary of Amnesty International discussing the future of the international
human rights movement.  In addition to mailing this issue to over 200
embassies and foreign correspondents in Beijing, we distributed more than 300
copies to human rights activists all over China. 

ZHANG Huajie, HRIC's Communication Consultant, produced another six radio
programs (of twenty minutes each) in our human rights education series; all
of these were broadcast into China.  On September 20, XIAO Qiang participated
in a two-hour roundtable discussion on human rights in China that will be
divided into sections and broadcast into China as a Voice of America series
on human rights.  

C. Networking and Membership Development

HRIC continues to receive letters, faxes, and phone calls from old and new
contacts all over China; approximately three or four communications arrive
from China everyday.  All previous technical difficulties with our Chinese
database have been resolved so that incoming information can now be
computerized.  

Seven new people applied for HRIC membership from China, bringing our total
number of mainland members to 36.  Unfortunately, as the human rights
situation in China continues to deteriorate, we remain extremely cautious
about the safety of our members and contacts inside China.  Our members in
China receive free copies of China Rights Forum, but are not bound by any
obligations to HRIC, and may not act as representatives of HRIC without
authorization from the New York headquarters.  To date, none of our members
or contacts in China have been arrested due to their connection with HRIC.
HRIC board member, WANG Ruoshui, successfully returned to China after a year
as a visiting scholar in the United States.  

D. Humanitarian Assistance 

The list of 104 names of "June Fourth" prisoners in Beijing No. 2 Prison
that HRIC received in September came complete with family addresses.
Together with the previous list of 526 persons that HRIC published in May,
we have currently identified over 600 names and addresses of victims of the
1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.  These persons have all been added to our
Humanitarian Assistance Project recipient list.  In order to foster the
growth of an active human rights network within China, HRIC decided early
on not to simply mail money to those on the list, but to have our contacts
and members in China personally deliver each check to the recipient or their
family.  Doing this enables them to update information and develop new
contacts--some of the only activities human rights workers in China are
presently able to undertake without interference by the authorities.  During
this reporting period, checks of $100 apiece were made out to 126 people on
this list and sent to China; these are currently being distributed.  A letter
from HRIC is included with each check, and HRIC has already received two
unexpected notes of gratitude and even a phone call from relief grant
recipients.

=====================<<<<< Face-To-Face Dialogue >>>>>=======================
4. A Letter Commenting the Work on IFCSS Press Desk ...................    32
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
~From: LIU Jijie <[email-masked]>, 10/31/94

Dear IFCSS Press Desk Editors,

I think CSS Today provides a good channel for the communication between IFCSS
leadership and grassroots CSS. I highly appreciate the efforts by you and your
colleagues. 

However, I would like to point out some drawbacks.  In the most recent issue,
your journal carried a message saying that "[t]oday's IFCSS get their money
from the Chinese government..." (see attachment). Such a message carried in
such a way would be detrimental to IFCSS.

First, the message is talking about some "fact," not opinion. When carrying
message about facts, a journal should verify it in advance.  

If what described in the message is not true, the journal should, at least,
put some editorial comment about it, or carry a statement from the involved
party (in this case, IFCSS). Otherwise some readers may take it as real fact.

But this message is not qualified to be carried even with appended  comment or
statement. I noticed that the sender's email id is anonymous.  In such case,
if the involved party want to file a lawsuit of libel, the journal couldn't
even tell whom should be accused. 

I know as editor, you want to make the journal a platform for general CSS. This
is good. However, when dealing with fact, or falsified fact, one should be more
cautious about possible consequences.

Best regards!

Jijie LIU, from Texas

=======================<<<<< In the Community >>>>>==========================
4. Some Concerns From CSS on Accusation of An IFCSS WC Chairman .......... 38
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
~From: [email-masked], 10/30/94

Dear editors,

I am very upset to read the accusation that the chairperson of IFCSS Civil
Rights Committee and F-CBS committee, Mr HUANG Lin, as a RCCP spyS based
on his activities in leading the Chinese community to fight against CBS
biased report. 
 
It is sad that although Mr HUANG Lin has put so much of his own time, energy
as well as financial resources into fighting biased media slanderous reports
on Chinese nationals/immigrants, there are still some fellow Chinese who not
only do not appreciate his great contribution, but to the contrary, attacked
his personal integrity.
        
Mr HUANG Lin's, f-cbs, or IFCSS Civil Rights Committee activities have
nothing to do with pro- or anti- ccp. It is a matter of defending our basic 
rights and interests of ordinary Chinese in this country. It is a serious
matter that whether we can stand up to fight the media injustice.  I wonder
where were those RactivistsS during the hard time of earlier days of f-cbs
work.  I and my colleagues highly regard HUANG Lin's compassion and competence
and highly praise the work done by F-CBS under his leadership.
        
I want to assure that the most of us stand firmly behind justice and will
disregard those outrageous attacks with utter contempt. There are always a
handful of people, who, no matter what good you have done for them, will
always dance in the public into the music of stupidity and venom.
         __   __   __   __   __   __   __   __   __   __   __   __

~From: LEI Ting <[email-masked]>
Source: [email-masked] (IFCSS Council),J10/29/94

As a group of new immigrants (or would-be immigrants) in a country so 
divided by ethnic background, we do have a common interest in fighting 
discrimination against us, no matter what our ideological believes are.   
What CBS-IC has done was to fight the false accusation which could be 
detrimental to our livelihood, and the well-being of our children.  I 
would like to believe that most of us will support such a cause.  The 
question whether the national coordinator of CBS-IC, Mr. HUANG Lin is 
a communist, or capitalist, or whatever-ist is totally irrelevant to 
the cause CBS-IC has started.     
                                           
Best regards to CBS-IC and its national coordinator, Mr. HUANG Lin.            
                                                                               
LEI Ting

=======================<<<<< Quote of the Issue >>>>>==========================

          In regard of the CSS-Today - this email stuff has
          never been brought to the attention of the Council.
          Although we don't have to approve everything the HQ
          does, but when such thing acting as the HQ's email
          "mouth", and publishing garbege, we will and we have
          to tlak about it soon.

                            ---- Chairperson LI Jinghong on CSS Today
                                 (from [email-masked])

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