Dr. Wang BingZhang’s family pen New York Times call for deeper China reform in fast-changing giant
Democracy, elections and voting at Democracy Chronicles
In a response to “China’s New Agenda”, an editorial recently published in the New York Times, Ti-Anna Wang, daughter of the founder of China’s democracy party, wrote a brief ‘letter’ to the editor “Dissident’s Daughter, on Rights and Reform in China“.
China has recently introduced economic reforms coupled with new pledges of action on human rights. Clearly lacking in the package of changes is any hint of political reform or democracy building even at local levels. For this reason, many remain skeptical of the prospects of China reform prospects and Ti-Anna has continued calling for deeper reform as you can see in her letter below. Her father has been in solitary confinement for almost a dozen years. Also see Democracy Chronicles’ archive of news about Wang BingZhang.
To the Editor:
“China’s New Agenda” (editorial, Nov. 17) highlighted several planned policy shifts by China, including important developments concerning human rights. As the daughter of a Chinese political prisoner, I welcome China’s commitment to begin reforming its abysmal rights record with much trepidation, as its continued refusal to permit fundamental freedoms of expression and dissent call into question the stability of any progress.
My father, Wang Bingzhang, was the founder of China’s overseas democracy movement. A medical doctor by education, he instead devoted his life to what he believed were basic freedoms long overdue to the Chinese people.
In 2002, my father was abducted from Vietnam, stolen away by boat to China and arrested by the Chinese police. He was subjected to a sham trial, where no evidence or witnesses were presented, and sentenced to life in prison. He has been held in solitary confinement ever since.
As your editorial pointed out, China recently committed to dialing down capital punishment, but is the torture of indefinite solitary confinement much better? The plight of activists like my father highlights the need to press further. Among all the promised reforms, nothing indicates that what happened to my father cannot and will not happen again to someone else.
TI-ANNA WANG
Montreal, Nov. 18, 2013
A version of this letter appears in print on November 21, 2013, on page A34 of the New York edition with the headline: A Dissident’s Daughter, on Rights and Reform in China.
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