In an open letter, Wan Dang and five others in exile after the 1989 Democracy Movement appeal to the Chinese government to restore their right to return to their country and allow them to visit China. They state that they are willing to abide by the principles of openness and good faith to engage in dialogues with the relevant government departments to discuss concrete ways to solve the problem. Below is the English translation of the letter by Human Rights in China.
We Hope to Return to China to Visit:
An Open Appeal the Chinese Government
April 5, 2012
To the Relevant Chinese Government Departments:
We are a group of Chinese exiled overseas because we had participated in the 1989 Democracy Movement in China. Because of political reasons, we were denied renewal of our passports, had our passports revoked, or were denied entry into China. In short, we have been deprived of our right to return to our country.
We believe that returning to one’s motherland is an inalienable right of a citizen. As rulers, you should not deprive us of our most fundamental human right because of differences in political views between you and us. As China is now undergoing profound changes, the protection of human rights and advancement of democracy are the wishes of all Chinese people.
We therefore make our public appeal again: we hope that you will follow the currents of history, abandon the old practices of not allowing people to return to their country because of differences in political views, and [instead] use various effective means to permit us to return to China to visit. We are willing to abide by the principles of openness and good faith to engage in dialogues with the relevant government departments to discuss concrete ways to solve this problem.
Wang Dan, Hu Ping, Wang Juntao, Wuer Kaixi, Wu Renhua, Xiang Xiaoji