By Tendar Tsering
DHARAMSHALA, August 23: Joe Biden, the US vice president, on his last day in China, spoke out on human rights at the Sichuan University in Chengdu Sunday.
Speaking to students in Chengdu, the same province where last Monday a Tibetan monk Tsewang Norbu immolated himself in an anti-China protest, the US vice president pushed for greater freedom and more openness in China.
“I recognize that many of you in this auditorium see our advocacy of human rights as, at best, an intrusion and, at worst, an assault on your sovereignty,” Biden said. “I know that some in China believe that greater freedom could threaten economic progress by undermining social stability.”
Calling “greater openness” as a source of stability and a sign of strength in the long run the American vice president clarified, “America’s call for greater human rights in China is not a threat to China’s rapid economic growth and stability.”
Before the visit, Washington had asked Beijing to free rights activists and to restore the rights of its political dissidents.
According to US officials, Vice President Biden raised human rights issues during his meetings with top Chinese officials last week.
However, according to local sources, Chinese authorities prevented dissidents and activists from attending the US vice president’s speech at the university.
Rights activists said that Chinese authorities in the region detained or issued warning cards to all potential protesters and petitioners directing them to stay at home.
Coinciding with Vice President Biden’s visit, Huang Qi, a Chinese dissident released from jail last June after serving a three year prison term for activism expressed hope that the Chinese government would give up oppressive thinking and pay greater attention to the improvement of civil rights and peoples’ livelihoods in China.
“We hope that the American government will pay greater attention to the Chinese people’s human rights,” Qi said.
