To Whom It May Concern in the Government of China:
We are a group of scholars in China studies with longstanding interests in the progress of human rights and the rule of law in China. We write to express our deep concern with the current plight of Chinese citizens Yang Maodong (whose pseudonym is Guo Feixiong) and his wife Zhang Qing.
Zhang Qing, who has been living in the United States, was found in January 2021 to be suffering from intestinal cancer. This cancer, now in a terminal stage, has created an urgent need for her husband Guo Feixiong to travel to the U.S. to be with her. China’s Ministry of Public Security, however, has so far prevented him from leaving China on grounds that he “may endanger national security.” Zhang Qing’s condition is deteriorating quickly and the situation is now precarious.
We understand that Guo Feixiong has maintained contact with Chinese public security officials at all relevant levels and has appealed repeatedly for permission to leave China, but to no avail. We further understand that Guo Feixiong has recently been taken away by police and that his present whereabouts are unknown.
We note that Guo Feixiong, as a citizen of China, by Chinese law, enjoys personal freedom and the right to travel. The life of his wife hangs by a thread. The ways in which the relevant offices of the Chinese government have handled this matter violate not only Chinese law but basic standards of humane treatment.
We call upon the leadership of the People’s Republic of China to respect Chinese law and human dignity by immediately releasing Guo Feixiong so that he can join his wife.
Very sincerely,
Jean-Philippe Béja, Research Professor Emeritus, CNRS/CERI-Sciences-Po, Paris, France
Jerome A. Cohen, Professor at New York University School of Law
Perry Link, Chancellorial Chair Professor for Innovative Teaching Comparative Literature and Foreign Languages, University of California, Riverside
Andrew J. Nathan, Class of 1919 Professor of Political Science, Columbia University
Tomoko Ako, Professor, University of Tokyo
Carole J. Petersen, Professor of Law, William S. Richardson School of Law, University of Hawai’i at Manoa
Alison W. Conner, Professor of Law Emerita, University of Hawai’i at Manoa
Colin Hawes, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Technology Sydney
Kevin Carrico, Senior Lecturer, Chinese Studies, Monash University
Edward Friedman, Professor Emeritus, Department of Political Science, University of Wisconsin
Patricia Adams, Executive Director, Probe International
Winston Lord, Former US Ambassador to China
Mareike Ohlberg, Senior Fellow, the German Marshall Fund of the United States
Warren Sun, Adjunct Associate Professor, Chinese Studies, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
Mareike Ohlberg, Senior Fellow, the German Marshall Fund of the United States
Arthur Waldron, Lauder Professor of International Relations, The University of Pennsylvania
Josephine Chiu-Duke, The University of British Columbia
Minxin Pei, Tom and Margot Pritzker ’72 Professor of Government and George R. Roberts Fellow, Claremont McKenna College
Michael S. Duke, Professor Emeritus, Chinese and Comparative Literature, University of British Columbia
Mark Sidel, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Antonia Finnane, Honorary professorial fellow, University of Melbourne
Eva Pils, Professor of Law, Dickson Poon School of Law, King’s College, London
Harriet Evans, Emeritus Professor of Chinese Cultural Studies, University of Westminster
Lun Zhang, Professor, Université de Cergy-Pontoise
Steven I. Levine, Professor (retired), University of Montana
Tim Wright, Emeritus Professor of Chinese Studies, University of Sheffield
Eric Meyer, Journalist, corresponding member at the French Academy of Overseas Sciences (Academie des Sciences d’Outre-Mer)
Dorothy J. Solinger, Professor Emerita, Dept. of Political Science, UC Irvine
Louise Edwards, Emeritus Professor, FAHA, FASSA, FHKAH, School of Humanities and Languages, UNSW Australia
Robert A. Kapp, Independent
David Schak, Griffith University
Andrew Chubb, British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow, Lancaster University, UK
Barrett L. McCormick, Professor Emeritus, Political Science Department, Marquette University
Martin K. Whyte, John Zwaanstra Professor of International Studies and Sociology, Emeritus Department of Sociology, Harvard University
Scott Waldron, Associate Professor, School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, the University of Queensland
(The names are in the order they are received at freeguofeixiongnow@gmail.com)
Related:
A Chinese Dissident Tried to Fly to His Sick Wife in the U.S. Then He Vanished., the New York Times, Feb. 2, 2021.
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