(Read the press release here.)
April 14, 2020
An open letter to Chinese citizens and friends of China at home and abroad
给国内外中国公民和中国友人的公开信
The current global crisis has been caused by the regime so many of you have been tolerating or supporting for decades.
当前的全球危机是许多人数十年来一直容忍或支持的政权引起的。
On 2 April 2020 a group of one hundred Chinese establishment scholars wrote an open letter decrying the “many critical voices politicizing the COVID-19 pandemic”. They stated that “(at) this stage of the pandemic, the exact source and origin of COVID-19 remain undetermined, but these questions are unimportant and finger pointing is demeaning and hurtful to everyone”. They also argued against what they alleged is the politicizing of the epidemic.
2020年4月2日，一百位中国官方学者写了一封公开信。他们谴责“许多批评声音使COVID-19大流行病政治化”。 他们说：“在大流行病的这一阶段，COVID-19的确切来源仍未确定，但是这些问题并不重要，指责使所有人贬低并伤害所有人”。他们也反对所谓的流行病政治化。
The open letter exemplifies what the independent intellectual Professor Xu Zhangrun has called the “ridiculous ‘Red Culture’ and the nauseating adulation that the system heaps on itself via shameless pro-Party hacks who chirrup hosannahs at every turn.”
公开信体现了独立知识分子许章润教授所说的“（至于举国信心下跌、产权恐惧、政学愤懑、社会萎缩、文化出版萧条，惟剩狗屁红歌红剧），以及无耻文痞歌功颂德之肉麻兮兮，早成事实。”
Professor Xu—now under house arrest—has called on his compatriots to stop their uncritical support for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and instead to “rage against this injustice; let your lives burn with a flame of decency; break through the stultifying darkness and welcome the dawn.”
现在被软禁的许教授号召同胞停止对中国共产党无条件的支持。他呼吁同胞们“人人向不义咆哮，个个为正义将生命怒燃，刺破夜瘴迎接黎明，齐齐用力、用心、用命，拥抱那终将降临这片大地的自由的太阳！。”
While the exact source and spread of the virus are not clear yet the question of origin is highly important, for the people of China and for all humankind: only by understanding how this global disaster could emerge we can prevent it from happening again.
尽管我们尚不清楚该病毒的确切来源和初始传播，但起源问题仍然非常重要，对于中国人民和全人类来说：只有了解这种全球性灾难是如何发生的，我们才能防止它再次发生。
The roots of the pandemic are in a cover-up by CCP authorities in Wuhan, Hubei province. Under the influence of the CCP the World Health Organisation first downplayed the pandemic. Taiwanese health officials also allege that they ignored their alerts of human-to-human transmission in late December. Under pressure from the CCP, democratic Taiwan—which has coped with the pandemic in exemplary fashion—is excluded from the WHO.
大流行病的问题根源在于中共当局对于疫情刚在湖北省武汉市爆发时的隐瞒。 在中共的影响下，世界卫生组织（WHO）刚开始淡化了这次疫情的严重性。据台湾卫生专家的说法，WHO忽略其2019年12月底发出关于病毒人传人的预警。虽然民主台湾成功地防治病毒在台湾的传播，可是迫于中共压力，台湾被世界卫生组织排除在外。
We should never forget that China’s Chernobyl moment was a self-inflicted wound. The CCP silenced Chinese doctors who wanted to warn other health professionals during the early stage of the outbreak: Dr Ai Fen can no longer appear in public after accepting a domestic media interview; her colleague Dr Li Wenliang died while fighting the virus in Wuhan. On his deathbed Dr Li famously said that “a healthy society shouldn’t have only one voice.”
我们永远都不要忘记，中国的“切尔诺贝利时刻”是一个自我伤害的伤口。 中共压制了中国医生，他们想在疫情爆发初期警告其他卫生专业人员：艾芬医生在接受国内一家媒体的采访后就被禁声了； 她的同事李文亮医生在武汉与该病毒作斗争时死亡。 李医生在临终时曾留下广为流传的一句话：“健康的社会不应只有一种声音。”
The Chinese entrepreneur Ren Zhiqiang wrote that “without a media representing the interests of the people by publishing the actual facts, the people’s lives are being ravaged by both the virus and the major illness of the system.” He disappeared on March 12.
中国企业家任志强写道 “没有了媒体代表人民利益去公告事实的真相，剩下的就是人民的生命被病毒和体制的重病共同伤害的结果。” 他于3月12日失踪。
The courageous citizen journalists Chen Qiushi, Fang Bin and Li Zehua, who tried to report freely about the situation in Wuhan, now are also missing.
勇敢的公民记者陈秋实、方斌和李泽华因试图自由报道武汉局势至今下落不明。
Mainland China’s political malaise goes beyond the leadership failure of Xi Jinping. In a recent video message a young student called Zhang Wenbin reflected on his evolution from an uncritical CCP supporter to a critical citizen with a conscience: “Since I scaled the Great Firewall, I gradually came to the realization that the Chinese Communist Party has extended its dragon claws into every corner of the world, including collective farming [1950s], the Cultural Revolution [1966-1976], the Great Famine [1958-1961], the One-Child Policy, the Tiananmen massacre [1989], as well as the persecution of the Falun Gong [spiritual movement], and the peoples of Tibet, Hong Kong and Xinjiang…Yet everyone continues to turn a blind eye, singing the party’s praises. I just can’t bear it”. Zhang disappeared shortly after recording his message. His friends fear he will face interrogation and torture by the secret police.
中国内地的政治困境不仅仅是习近平领导的失败，而且有其他因素。 在最近的一段视频信息中，一位叫张文斌的大学生反思了他从一个非批判的中共支持者到一个有良知的具有批判性的中国公民的过程：“(自从我) 翻墙之后慢慢认清共产党邪恶的嘴脸。中国共产党从土地改革、文化大革命、三年饥荒、计划生育、六四屠杀、对法轮功的迫害、对西藏、香港和新疆人民的迫害，到今天它已经将魔爪伸向了全世界，而大家还都视而不见，甚至还在歌功颂德，我实在无法忍受。” 张先生在记录他的视频后不久就消失了。 他的朋友担心他会受到当局的讯问和酷刑。
The global pandemic forces us all to confront an inconvenient truth: by politicizing all aspects of life including people’s health, continued autocratic one-party rule in the People’s Republic of China has endangered everyone. Rather than trusting the CCP’s intentions and accepting establishment academics’ uncritical approval of the party-state’s policies, we should pay greater attention to the voices of what can be termed ‘unofficial’ China. These independent-minded academics, doctors, entrepreneurs, citizen journalists, public interest lawyers and young students no longer accept the CCP’s rule by fear. Neither should you.
全球大流行病迫使我们所有人面对一个不便的事实：中华人民共和国的一党专制统治继续包括人民健康在内的生活各个方面政治化，从而危害了所有人。 我们不应该相信中共的意图并接受官方学者对党国政策的不予批判的认可，而应该更加关注非官方中国的声音。 这些思想独立的学者、医生、企业家、公民记者、公益律师和大学生不再接受中共以恐吓为主的政治统治方式。 您也不应接受这样的恐吓。
As an international group of public figures, security policy analysts and China watchers we stand in solidarity with courageous and conscientious Chinese citizens including Xu Zhangrun, Ai Fen, Li Wenliang, Ren Zhiqiang, Chen Qiushi, Fang Bin, Li Zehua, Xu Zhiyong, and Zhang Wenbin, just to name a few of the real heroes and martyrs who risk their life and liberty for a free and open China. Their individual voices are already forming a chorus. They demand nothing less than a critical evaluation of the impact of CCP policies on the lives of Chinese citizens and citizens around the world. We urge you to join them.
作为公众人士、安全政策研究者和中国观察者国际团体的成员，我们与勇敢有良知的中国公民站在一起。在此仅列举一些英雄：许章润、艾芬、李文亮、任志强、陈秋实、方斌、李泽华、许志永和张文斌，他们为自由开放的中国冒着生命和自由的危险。 他们各自的声音已经汇成一首合唱曲。 他们呼吁重新批判性地评估中共的政策，以及这些政策对中国公民和全球各国公民所带来的影响。 我们也敦促您加入他们。
Signatories (in alphabetical order)
Judith Abitan, Executive Director of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, and a Human Rights Advocate
Michael Abramowitz, President, Freedom House
Patricia Adams, Probe International, Canada
Mantas Adomėnas MP, Parliament of Lithuania
Yoko Alender MP, Parliament of Estonia
Dean Allison, MP for Niagara West, Parliament of Canada
Lord Alton of Liverpool, House of Lords, United Kingdom
Lord Andrew Adonis, House of Lords, United Kingdom
Dibyesh Anand, University of Westminster
Matteo Angioli, Global Committee for the Rule of Law “Marco Pannella”
Swati Arun, Jawaharlal Nehru University
Nathan Attrill, Australian National University
Rt Hon Norman Baker, Former Home Affairs minister, UK government
Christopher Balding, Fulbright University Vietnam
Carol Bao, University of Sydney
Geremie R. Barmé, Historian, Professor Emeritus, The Australian National University
Michael Barrett, MP for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, Parliament of Canada
Jean-Philippe Béja, CERI-Sciences-Po Paris, CNRS, France
Bastiaan Belder, Historian, Rapporteur European Parliament on EU-China relations 2004-2019
James Bezan MP, House of Commons of Canada, Selkirk-Interlake-Eastman, Shadow Minister for National Defence, Canada
Teng Biao, Hunter College, City University of New York
Luca Biason, The Australian National University
Mattias Bjornerstedt, Swedish Tibet Committee, Sweden
Stephen Blank, Senior Fellow, FPRI.org
Harald Bockman, University of Oslo
Michel Bonnin, EHESS, Paris, France
Anne-Marie Brady, Global Fellow, Kissinger Institute on China and the US, Wilson Center, USA; Professor in Political Science and International Relations, University Canterbury, NZ
Charles Burton, Macdonald-Laurier Institute and European Values Center for Security Policy
Jean-Pierre Cabestan, Professor, Hong Kong Baptist University
William A. Callahan, Professor of International Relations, London School of Economics
Dominic Cardy, MLA for Fredericton West-Hanwell, Minister for Education and Early Childhood Development, Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick, Canada
Kevin Carrico, Monash University
Chuangchuang Chen, St John’s University School of Law, USA
Duanjie Chen, Macdonald-Laurier Institute
Alvin Y.H. Cheung, NYU School of Law
Tammy Cheung, Reality Film, Hong Kong
Josephine Chiu-Duke, University of British Columbia, Canada
Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal, Humanity Beyond Borders, Thailand
Katherine Chu, Cal Sate University Dominguez Hills
Tony Chu, Student, PR China
Donald Clarke, George Washington University
Jerome A. Cohen, Founding Director, US-Asia Law Institute, New York University
J Michael Cole, University of Nottingham and Senior fellow, Macdonald-Laurier Institute, Ottawa, Canada
Damian Collins MP, House of Commons, United Kingdom
John Conti, California State University Dominguez Hills
Sarah Cook, Senior Research Analyst for China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, Freedom House
Stéphane Corcuff, University of Lyon
David Nicholas Copeland Cortes, School of International Studies, Renmin University of China
Irwin Cotler, Chair of the Raoul Centre for Human Rights, Emeritus Professor of Law at McGill University, and former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
Halyna Coynash, Kharkiv Human Rights Group
Peter Dahlin, Director, Safeguard Defenders
Hon Michael Danby MP, Seven term MP, former Parliamentary Secretary & past Chao Australian Parliament Foreign Affairs & Defence Committee
Michael Danielsen, Taiwan Corner
David A. Dayton, Utah Valley University
Axel Dessein, King’s College London
Ying Duan, Independent activist, Australia
Michael S. Duke, University of British Columbia, Canada
Akihiro Eeanwood, Independent Human Rights Activist
Stephen Ezell, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, United States
Horst Fabian, Independent researcher and Europe – China civil society Ambassador
Hon. Ed Fast, MP for Abbotsford, Former Minister of International Trade, Canada
Willy Fautré, Human Rights Without Frontiers
Fredrik Fällman, Associate Professor of Sinology, University of Gothenburg
Antonia Finnane, University of Melbourne
Isaac Stone Fish, Senior Fellow, Asia Society
Anna Fotyga, European Parliament
Arleen Freeman, Editor, Chinascope Journal, USA
Andrew Foxall, Henry Jackson Society
Vanessa Frangville, Université Libre de Bruxelles
Aaron L. Friedberg, Princeton University
Andreas Fulda, University of Nottingham, School of Politics and International Relations
Daniel Garrett, Securing Tianxia
Garnett Genuis, MP for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, Shadow Minister for Multiculturalism & for Canada-China Relations, Canada
Henry Geraedts, Tetris Management, Adjunct Professor (Retired) University of British Columbia
Thomas Gold, University of California, Berkeley
Angela Gui, University of Cambridge
Martin Hála, Sinopsis and Charles University
Clive Hamilton, Charles Sturt University, Canberra
Laura Harth, Global Committee for the Rule of Law “Marco Pannella”
John Hemmings, Henry Jackson Society
Frank Herschel Finch III, University of New Haven
Michael Hsiao, Academia Sinica
Jonathan Huang, Independent thinker, humanitarian, USA
Ho-fung Hung, Johns Hopkins University
Susie Hughes, Executive Director, International Coalition To End Transplant Abuse In China (ETAC), Australia
Massimo Introvigne, Sociologist, editor in chief of Bitter Winter
Dolkun Isa, World Uyghur Congress
Jakub Janda, Director, European Values Center for Security Policy, Prague, Czech Republic
Chin Jin, University of Sydney, Australia
Filip Jirouš, Sinopsis
Rasa Juknevičienė, European Parliament
Ratih Kabinawa, The University of Western Australia
Thierry Kellner, Université libre de Bruxelles
Hon. Peter Kent, MP for Thornhill, Chair Parliamentary Friends of Falun Gong, Canada
Tinatin Khidasheli, Civic IDEA, Former Minister of Defence, Georgia
Hon. David Kilgour, Former Sec. State (Asia-Pacific), Parliament of Canada
Tamar Kintsurashvili, Media Development Foundation
Adéla Kleckova, German Marshall Fund, Czech Republic
Ondřej Klimeš, Researcher, Czech Academy of Sciences
Ilshat H. Kokbore, World Uyghur Congress
Marcus Kolga, Macdonald-Laurier Institute
Marko Kovic, Independent researcher and writer in Zurich, Switzerland
Andrius Kubilius, European Parliament
André Laliberté, University of Ottawa School of Political Studies, Canada
Gabrielius Landsbergis, Chairman of the Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats
Nathan Law Kwun Chung, Demosisto
Gregory Lee, University of Lyon
Eric S Li, Senior Member, Association of Computing Machinery, Canada
Anastasia Lin, Macdonald-Laurier Institute
Petra Lindberg, SHRIC -Supporting Human Rights In China
Jan Lipavský MP, House of Commons, Czech Republic
Dimon Liu, Independent human rights activist
Olga Lomová, Charles University
Edward Lucas, Author, journalist, and senior vice-president, Center for European Policy Analysis
Nicola Macbean, The Rights Practice
Hon. Michael L. MacDonald, Senator, Nova Scotia (Cape Breton), Parliament of Canada
Paul Macgregor, Historian of Chinese in Australia
Hon. Peter MacKay, former Minister for Foreign Affairs, National Defence, Justice and Attorney General, Canada
Paul Maddison, Director UNSW Research Institute, former Canadian High Commissioner to Australia, former Commander of the Royal Canadian Navy, University of New South Wales
Rahima Mahmut, Uyghur Human Rights Activiest, U.K. Project Director, World Uyghur Congress
Paul Maidowski, Fletcher School alumn
Shuvaloy Majumdar, Program Director & Munk Senior Fellow for Foreign Policy, Macdonald-Laurier Institute
Dorian Malovic, Asia Editor La Croix
Jonathan Manthorpe, International Affairs Commentator and author of “Claws of the Panda: Beijing’s Campaign of Influence and Intimidation in Canada” and “Forbidden Nation: A History of Taiwan.”
Kyle Matthews, Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies
Margaret McCuaig-Johnston, Distinguished Fellow, Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada
Stewart McDonald MP, House of Commons, United Kingdom
John Minford, Emeritus Professor of Chinese Studies, Australian National University
David Missal, Sinologist and Freelance Journalist
Alan Mendoza, The Henry Jackson Society
Juraj Mesík, Slovak Foreign Policy Association
Giorgi Moldini, Stratcom Georgia
Joseph Moschella, Attorney and Founder, Americans For Global Engagement
Enrique Miguel Sanchez Motos, Senior Civil Servant. President of Association for the Defense of Freedom of Conscience
John MacKenzie Nicolson, House of Commons, United Kingdom
Manyan Ng, International Society for Human Rights
Valérie Niquet, China and Asia specialist
Shaun O’Dwyer, Faculty of Languages and Cultures, Kyushu University
Hon. Erin O’Toole, MP for Durham, former Minister of Veterans Affairs, Canada
Mareike Ohlberg, Analyst, Mercator Institute for China Studies
Patrik Oksanen, Senior fellow, Stockholm Freeworld Forum
Kyle Olbert, Citizens of the American Republic
Jojje Olsson, Swedish journalist
Richard C Owens, Macdonald-Laurier Institute, Canada
Tsering Passang, Adviser, Tibetan Community UK
Karen Patterson, Freelance Writer – Taking on China: How I Freed My Husband From Jail (2020), Canada
Katarzyna Pejda, The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Poland
Andrew J Phelan, Med Tech Entrepreneur
Jonas Parello-Plesner, Executive Director, Alliance of Democracies Foundation
Pierre Paul-Hus, MP for Charlesbourg–Haute-Saint-Charles, Parliament of Canada
Johnathan Pollock, Editor, 9DashLine
Ivan Poon, Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Patrick Poon, PhD researcher, Université Jean Moulin (Lyon III)
Pitman B. Potter, Peter A. Allard School of Law, University of British Columbia
Katerina Prochazkova, Sinopsis
Luke de Pulford, Coalition for Genocide Response
Liwen Qin, Independent writer, Germany
Jafer Qureshi, Consultant Psychiatrist – Fellow Of the Royal College of Psychiatry. Philanthropist
Christoph Rehage, Independent Writer
Aaron Rhodes, President, Forum for Religious Freedom Europe
Pablo Rodríguez-Merino, University of Warwick
Benedict Rogers, Deputy Chair of Conservative Party Human Rights Commission & Chair of Hong Kong Watch
Wendy Rogers, International Coalition to End Transplant Abuse in China, Macquarie University, Australia
Bert-Jan Ruissen, Member of the European Parliament
Stuart Russell, Professor, Macquarie University School of Law, Sydney Australia (retired)
Nurgul Sawut, Board Director of CFU, Australia
Giulio Terzi di Sant’Agata, President of the “Global Committee for the Rule of Law- Marco Pannella”
Łukasz Sarek, Researcher, Asia Explained
Katarzyna Sarek, Jagiellonian University, Poland
David Schak, Griffith Asia Institute, Griffith University
Hon. Andrew Scheer, MP for Regina—Qu’Appelle, Leader of Canada’s Conservatives and Leader of the Official Opposition
Puma Shen, National Taipei University
Charlie Shi, Southlake Hospital, ON, Canada
Xiaoling Shi, Allegheny College, USA
Radosław Sikorski, European Parliament
Derek Sloan, MP for Hastings-Lennox & Addington, Parliament of Canada
Michaela Šojdrová, Member of European Parliament, Czech Republic
Duncan Stirling, Former participant; EU-China Managers Exchange and Training Programme. Former foreign expert; China Central Television
Mark Stokes, The Project 2049 Institute
Freeman Tang, MIT, USA
May-Britt U. Stumbaum, Freie Universität Berlin
Joshua Tang, Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Didi Kirsten Tatlow, Sinopsis
Rukiye Turdush, Uyghur Research Institute, Canada
Nury Turkel, Attorney and Board Chair of the Uyghur Human Rights Project, USA
Thierry Valle, President, Coordination des Associations et des Particuliers pour la Liberté de Conscience
Tsering Wangchuk, United Nations for Tibet
John Williamson MP for New Brunswick Southwest, Parliament of Canada
Caroline Wanjiru, African Center for Strategic Futures, Kenya
Gerrit van der Wees, George Mason University, USA
Charlie Weimers MEP, Member of the European Parliament (Sweden, ECR Group)
Kerry Wright, NSW Education, Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, Australia Tibet Council, Australian Women for Tibet, Australia
Hongming Xu, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA
Steve Xue, Boston University School of Theology
Michael B. Yahuda, Professor Emeritus, London School of Economics; Visiting Scholar, George Washington University
Lee Cheuk Yan, Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movement in China
Jianli Yang, Founder and President of Citizen Power Initiatives for China
Wu Yi, Citizen, PR China
Solomon Yue, CEO of Republicans Overseas & Republican National Committeeman for Oregon
Anna Zádrapová, Sinopsis
Paul de Zardain, Country Researcher, TI
Michal Zelcer-Lavid, Bar-Ilan University
Adrian Zenz, Senior fellow in China Studies, Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation
Xiaoshi Zhang, Cardozo School of Law
Peter Zoehrer, FOREF Europe
(This list was updated on April 17, 2020 at 9:30am ET)
Inquiries
Requests for new signatories are now closed. Thank you to everyone who expressed interest in signing onto this important letter.
Looking for more information? Please contact MLI’s Communications and Digital Media Manager, Brett Byers: brett.byers@macdonaldlaurier.ca
