Appeal for International Solidarity

In the aftermath of the June 4th commemoration, the April Fifth Action, Hong
Kong, would like to make an appeal to the international community to
denounce the assaults made by the Chinese Government against political
activists, especially the workers, in China.

The activists in China have put up a heroic fight in the last couple of
months. There have been workers protests, petitions and press conferences.
These are signs that the Chinese Democracy Movement has made important
progress since the June 4th crackdown six years ago.

Because of this, the Chinese Government has stepped up its repression, for
fear that the Movement might present a serious threat when social discontent
and unrest have been building up for the last two to three years. Dozens of
organisers have already been arrested in the past few months, among whom are
Wei Jin-sang, Wong Dan, Lau Nin-chun and Chan Chi-ming, just to name a few
prominent ones.

The Chinese Government has been especially brutal to workers who organise
union activities. Three workers in ShengZeng, just across the border of Hong
Kong, were arrested last year for organising unions and distributing
handbills. Unconfirmed reports said that they were sentenced to long prison
terms.

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We appeal to you all to send protest messages to the Chinese Governmnet to
demand for the release of these activists who had done nothing but to
exercise the freedom of speech and the right to associate.

Please send protest letters or messages to the Standing Committee, National
Peoples' Congress, Beijing, China.

We would very much appreciate if you can pass the message to other labour
organisations.

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Here are some information about the 3 organizers arrested in ShengZeng:

1. Lee Man-ming and Kwong Lok-cheong, Male, Han race, both from Hunan
Province (in the middle of China, along the Yangtze River), about 27 years old.

2. Lee was trained at a Hunan technical college (not sure which department).
In his school years, he had already participated in the local student
movement. After his graduation, he was assigned to a factory to work. In
1991, he resigned and went to Shencheng and got a job as the public relation
officer of the magazine "Youth of Shengcheng". At the end of 92, he went to
Beijing University to study and associated with democracy activists there. 

3. Kwong Lok-cheong studied in the Shanghai Transport University and was
active in the student movement, bding a student leader of the university
during the 86-87 student unrest. In a meeting with the then Shanghai Mayor,
Jiang Zemin (now the President of china), Kwong critized Jiang harshly and
thus won the respect of the students. When the student unrest was over, he
was dismissed and went back to the countryside. In 1993, Lee Man-ming
invited him to go to Shengcheng to do organizing work.

4. In June, 1993, Lee and Kwong initiated a program to educate the workers
about the poor labour conditions in the numerous factories in Shengcheng. In
August, they started a Workers' Evening School, which attracted hundreds of
workers to attend the courses. Then they planned to establish an independent
trade union called the "Union of Labourers". (In China, independent trade
unions are not allowed. There is only one union-the Official Trade Union
controlled by the CCP). 

5. In September, 1993, the Shengcheng Public Security Bureau took away some
documents from their office. In October, under pressure from the PSB, they
fled to Beijing. Then at the beginning of 94, both of them came back to
start again..

6. In April, 1994, the PSB arrested them. To date, they are still detained
incommunicado, with no charges pressed against them.

7. There are about a dozen core activists involved in the project. Two of
them are Kwok Po-sing, a student of the Chinese Poeple's University
(Beijing) and Lee Ming-Ki of Beijing University. Both were dismissed for
political reasons (that means they deviated from the party line and
harboured 'libral' ideas). Kwok was arrested at the same time with Lee and
Kwong while Lee Ming-ki's whereabout has been unknown from then.


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email: tllau5@hkein.ie.cuhk.hk

April Fifth Action
Front Portion, 2nd Floor,
103, Argle Street,
Mongkok,
Hong Kong.
Tel: (852) 2397 6337
Fax: (852) 2394 4383
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