Editor’s note. Upon the arrival of Chen Guangcheng Saturday at Newark, New Jersey Liberty Airport, Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) issued the following statement. Smith is chairman of the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
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Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) (R) and Chinese dissident and president of ChinaAid Bob Fu (L) listen to Chen Guangcheng on the phone during a hearing before the Global Health, and Human Rights Subcommittee of House Foreign Affairs Committee May 15, 2012
“After years of enduring physical and psychological torture, imprisonment, and hate, the man, Chen Guangcheng, who defended Chinese women from the crime of forced abortion is finally free,” Smith said. “America welcomes this extraordinary family with open arms.
“Joined by his equally heroic wife, Yuan Weijing, and their children, the Chens will finally get to rest, recuperate, and recover. His children can now begin the process of healing from emotional trauma no child should ever endure.” (Note: Chen has two children only because some disabled persons — Chen is blind — are permitted to have a second child.)
“Great human rights leaders are never separated from the noble causes they espoused. Think of Lech Walesa and Solidarity, Nelson Mandela and opposition to apartheid, Aung San Suu Chi and democracy in Burma. Chen’s cause is ending China’s One Child Policy and forced abortion.
“Not all the Chens are free and safe, however. The Chinese government must immediately end its deplorable retaliation against Chen’s family and friends who remain in China.”
At two congressional hearings chaired by Smith on May 3 and May 15, Chen testified by telephone and pleaded for the protection of his extended family — especially his mother, brother, and nephew — and friends. (To view the May 15 video, go to http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/ChineseH. To watch CSPAN video of Smith’s May 3 hearing, go to http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/ChenG.)
Smith chaired an emergency hearing on Chen on October 31, 2011, and he nominated Chen for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010.
“Over the last several days, several of Chen’s relatives and supporters have been arrested and brutally beaten as part of the Chinese government’s refocused retaliation. They can’t beat him anymore, but they are beating his relatives and friends,” Smith said today.
Smith, Chairman of the House panel on human rights, said, “Chen Guangcheng is among the bravest defenders of women’s rights in the world. He defended thousands of women from the ongoing, most egregious and systematic state-sponsored exploitation and abuse of women in human history — pervasive forced abortion and involuntary sterilization as part of China’s one child per couple policy. He suffered torture, cruel and degrading treatment, unjust incarceration, and multiple beatings as a result.”
“The sheer magnitude of this exploitation of women has been largely overlooked and trivialized — and even enabled — by many. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has for over thirty years supported, defended, and whitewashed the crimes against women and children Chen struggled to expose. That’s why President Reagan and more recently President Bush defunded the UNFPA. In an indefensible reversal, the Obama Administration has provided approximately $165 million to the UNFPA,” Smith said.