Three US-based dissidents involved in 1989 pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square have been denied visas to attend a Hong Kong conference about China’s military crackdown on the demonstrations, an organizer said yesterday.
The Tiananmen crackdown, which killed at least hundreds of people, remains a taboo in China, where the government still considers the student protests a “counterrevolutionary” riot. Beijing has never given a full accounting of the military action.
Wang Dan (王丹) and Wang Juntao (王軍濤) were denied visas when they applied at Chinese consular offices, Hong Kong political scientist Joseph Cheng (鄭宇碩) said in a phone interview. A third, Yang Jianli (楊建利), was denied entry when he arrived at Hong Kong airport three weeks ago, Cheng said.
PHOTO: AP
A fourth dissident, Beijing-based Chen Ziming (陳子明), also said he was unable to attend the conference but it wasn’t clear why, Cheng said.
Wang Dan, one of the student leaders of the 1989 protests, was jailed after the crackdown and went into exile in the US in 1998. He is now teaching in Taiwan.
Wang Juntao and Chen were founders of a private think tank on social issues and advised students during the protests.
PHOTO: AP
Both intellectuals were sentenced to 13 years in jail and freed on medical parole in 1993. Chen was rearrested in 1995 and released in 1996.
Yang, a US permanent resident, also took part in the protests and later served a five-year jail term in China on charges of spying for Taiwan and entering China illegally.
Wang Dan and Yang had previously been denied permission to visit Hong Kong, although Chen was allowed to visit in April 2007 for research.
PHOTO: AP
Wang Dan said last year Chinese officials have refused to renew his Chinese passport, which expired in 2003, and has been traveling on travel documents issued by the US government.
Cheng said he had invited the four dissidents to attend a panel discussion on the Tiananmen protests as part of an academic conference scheduled to be held at the City University of Hong Kong next Tuesday and Wednesday, just ahead of the 20th anniversary of the military crackdown on Thursday.
The Chinese foreign ministry didn’t immediately return a reporter’s call seeking comment on the visa denials. Calls and e-mails to the dissidents weren’t immediately answered.
Hong Kong’s Immigration Department said in statement it won’t comment on Yang’s case.
In a market in the Chadian capital, N’Djamena, customers flock to Ache Moussa’s stall to have their long plaits smeared with a special paste in an age-old ritual. Each strand of hair, from the root to the end, is slathered in a traditional mixture of cherry seeds, cloves and chebe seeds, the most important ingredient of all. Users say the recipe makes their hair grow longer and more lustrous. Local and natural hair products are gaining popularity across Africa as people turn away from commercial cosmetics. Moussa applies the mixture and shapes the client’s locks into a gourone — a traditional hairstyle consisting of
The US yesterday wrapped up its first multidomain exercise with Japan and South Korea in the East China Sea, a step forward in Washington’s efforts to enhance and lock in its security partnerships with key Asian allies in the face of growing threats from North Korea and China. The three-day Freedom Edge increased the sophistication of previous exercises with simultaneous air and naval drills geared toward improving joint ballistic-missile defense, anti-submarine warfare, surveillance and other skills and capabilities. The exercise, which is expected to expand in years to come, was also intended to improve the countries’ abilities to share missile warnings —
‘ONE FELL SWOOP’: Overturning a landmark ruling that said judges should defer to experts would ‘cause a massive shock to the legal system,’ a dissenting opinion said Prosecutors overstepped in charging Jan. 6, 2021, rioters with obstruction for trying to prevent certification of the 2020 presidential election, the US Supreme Court said on Friday, throwing hundreds of cases into doubt, while another controversial ruling struck down 40 years of legal precedent on federal agencies’ ability to regulate critical issues. The matter was brought to the court through an appeal by former police officer Joseph Fischer, a supporter of former US president Donald Trump who entered the Capitol with hundreds of others in 2021. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts said prosecutors’ interpretation of the law would “criminalize
‘APOCALYPTIC : An UN official said that Lebanon was ‘the flashpoint beyond all flashpoints,’ and a conflict that involved it would draw in Syria and other nations Israel on Wednesday said that it does not want war in Lebanon, but could send its neighbor “back to the Stone Age.” The border between the two countries has seen daily exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants since the attack on Israel by Hezbollah’s ally Hamas on Oct. 7 last year, which triggered the war in Gaza. Fears those exchanges could escalate have grown in the past few weeks as cross-border attacks intensified and after Israel revealed it had approved plans for a Lebanon offensive, prompting new threats from Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah. Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant said