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When on December 22, 1998, Xu Wenli was sentenced to 13 years in prison for advocating the first ever China Democracy Party, he stood up in Beijing’s No. 1 Intermediate Court, and cried out, “I protest! I protest.” This harsh sentence was followed by those of 12 and 11 years, respectively, for fellow China Democracy Party founders Qing Yongming and Wang Youcai, amid declarations by China’s President Jiang Zemin that he would “nip” such subversive activity “in the bud”. Thus began yet another chapter in the historic struggle to bring democracy to China, a movement which was established by Sun Yat-sen at the dawn of the 20th century during the First Republic.

The vision of Chinese democracy, a concept alien and perplexing to a great people who have existed for millennia under various forms of autocratic government, appears now like a rising dream in the minds of some of its brave democracy dissidents. Even after the takeover of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1949 and the stark decades of communist oppression ever since, the dissident democracy movement has moved inexorably forward, like winter into spring.

Indeed, during recent decades, the momentum has accelerated, starting with the Advice and Petition movement in 1959, followed by the April 5th movement in 1976, the Democracy Wall movement in 1978, and, of course, the heroic student protests at Tiananmen Square in 1989, which sparked the hope for the crash of communism, before General Zhang Wannian, otherwise known as one of the “butchers of Beijing”, sent his 15th Airborne Army troops into the square, killing and maiming hundreds of innocent citizens and students, who sought the end of authoritarianism through pacific means.

Now comes the rise of the China Democracy Party and the Free China Movement in 1998. The resulting Beijing crackdown has done more to invigorate the democracy movement inside and outside of China than any other event in recent years, while simultaneously making a mockery of President Clinton’s foreign policy of engagement, which appears to have been wholly undermined, resulting in the worst of all possible worlds for the U.S.: Putting us on the wrong side of history with a potentially dangerous geopolitical adversary, who demonstrates little tolerance and microscopic respect for the fundamental human rights of its own citizens, who yearn for the everyday freedoms that most people in this country (except for those living in the nation’s capital, of course) almost entirely take for granted.

Ironically, and perhaps most disturbingly, this heartless (and headless) crackdown comes on the heels of the Chinese government’s signing of the world’s leading human rights instrument, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. This covenant guarantees, among other things, the basic rights to freedom of association and expression. Its solemn provisions have been utterly disregarded in the staggering wake of brutal prison sentences meted out by Beijing courts in summary fashion to democracy dissidents. Included in that growing list of dissidents is Lin Hai, who was jailed in January for two years for “inciting the overthrow of state power” because he transferred 30,000 Chinese e-mail addresses to the Internet publication VIP Reference, which is a member of the Free China Movement.

But a visible crack is appearing in Beijing’s authoritarian wall. There is no question but that the authorities are losing the critical battle to control the dissemination of dissident information in China. This fact alone bodes well for the rising tide of the democracy movement. As important as the fax machine was to the organization and success of the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989, the Internet may prove to be of even greater consequence in 1999.

Today, information crisscrosses national borders with high velocity and instantaneous access, evading even technically sophisticated attempts on the part of Beijing to curtail it. After the government blocked dissident websites, dissidents created a 300,00 E-mail network inside China for communication. Engineers at Shenzhen University are reportedly in the throes of developing software for an “E-mail filtration system”, which will allow Chinese police to delete subversive E-mail without the consent of the recipient. However, activists have already learned to change recognizable ISP signatures to avoid detection and deletion by police. It is now a game of cat and mouse. But one thing is for certain: critical information is being relayed with currency and accuracy, serving to accelerate the growing momentum of this historic movement.

Hopefully, the victory of democracy over totalitarianism in China will be precipitated not by a violent clash of tanks, but by the countless, passive key strokes generated by dissidents who have learned that knowledge is the greatest power for peaceable, democratic change, especially inside the high, stone walls of this autocratic country.

In light of Clinton’s discredited policy of engagement on China, which has allowed the Chinese government to act with impunity on the issue of human rights, it is time for the United States to reconsider its approach to the most populous country on earth, and to do everything within its power to facilitate the transition from dictatorship to democracy, predicated on a more prudent policy which insists on international human rights compliance and significant progress toward the advancement of democratic government. Anything less undermines democratic principles and puts the U.S. on the wrong side of history. Worse, it possibly imperils peace and global stability in the 21st century.

On April 1, between 5:30 pm and 7 pm, a Democracy “Freedom Spring” World Candlelight Vigil will be held at the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., in support of democracy in China, full democracy for the people of Washington, D.C., and the end of religious persecution in Tibet. Similar democracy vigils will also be held in several key cities around the world. For further information, please call 202/244-9479.

Timothy Cooper is the International Director of the Free China Movement and the Executive Director of Human Rights America and Democracy First in Washington, D.C.

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