The Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting (CUSIB) Advisory Board member Jing Zhang published an article in National Review Online on China’s war on baby girls.
She describes reprisals by the Chinese communist authorities against a charity helping Chinese women keep and feed their infants. These reprisals have intensified after the daring escape from house arrest by the blind Chinese human rights activist Chen Guangcheng who was jailed for exposing forced sterilizations and abortions as part of China’s one-child policy.
On Thursday, Mary 3, Another CUSIB Advisory Board member Reggie Littlejohn, president of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, testified at an emergency Congressional hearing on the dangers faced by Chen Guangcheng and his family. Chen Guangcheng spoke during the hearing by phone.
In a phone call lasting about eight minutes, Chen said he would like to meet with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to “thank her face-to-face.”
“He wants to come to the U.S. for some time of rest,” said activist Bob Fu who translated Chen’s remarks during the hearing. “He has not had any rest in the past ten years already.”
Chen also said he was concerned about the safety of his family.
Both Reggie Littlejohn and Jing Zhang have been active supporters of Voice of America (VOA) radio broadcasts to China as an important uncensored news source for women and their families and for human rights activists.
Women’s Rights in China (WRIC) NGO, which Jing Zhang founded, has produced a short video showing that both very young and older persons in China continue to rely on Voice of America radio broadcasts for uncensored news and information. These comments, recorded in China, point to the censorship of the Internet by the Chinese authorities and the fact that hundreds of millions of Chinese cannot use the Internet to access VOA websites, which are being blocked in China, or can’t afford to have Internet access of any kind.
Link to the Women’s Rights in China video on the 70th anniversary of Voice of America broadcasting to China.
Jing Zhang suffered five years in prison for her belief in freedom and democracy. After leaving China, she spent 20 years building a career as a newspaper editor in Hong Kong and the United States. She founded Women’s Rights in China in 2007. She joined the Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting (CUSIB) Advisory Board in 2011.