Most Ignored Story Nominee: Bush Meets with Chinese Dissidents
Talk about something that should have received more attention (link requires subscription):
The late Pope John Paul II campaigned passionately on behalf of Asia’s “silent witnesses” — the religiously persecuted — and always reserved a special mention for China’s oppressed faithful. For anyone who thinks this battle has passed along with the deceased pontiff, we’d refer you to a meeting in the personal quarters of the White House last week.
On Thursday, President George W. Bush met with three Chinese human rights campaigners. It was the first time a sitting U.S. President has met with Chinese human-rights activitists. Yet remarkably, the meeting wasn’t well-publicized; only one official photo was released. Present were author Yu Jie, a prominent campaigner for freedom of speech; Wang Ji, a pro-democracy writer and Internet blogger; and Liu Baiguang, a legal rights campaigner. All are “house” Christians who have been harassed by the Communist Party; two have been repeatedly jailed. The group talked about religious freedom, with President Bush expressing America’s support for their brave efforts.
China reportedly protested the meeting, but President Bush pressed on. That’s unsurprising, given his record. In private, Mr. Bush has frankly confronted China’s leadership over its repressive policies during his last trip to Beijing, we’re told. The President speaks out publicly, too. But most important, it’s meetings like last week’s White House gathering that show how deeply concerned the President is about religious freedom in China.
It would be even better if Mr. Bush’s administration would confront some of the members of BizzyBlog’s Internet Wall of Shame, and ask them why they are helping the Chinese government to strangle freedom of speech on the Internet, and to hunt down and jail those who dare speak their minds.
