Wei Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A1032-W671

魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号：A1032-W671

Release Date: July 30, 2017

发布日：2017年7月30日

Topic: US Representative Christopher Smith Receives Human Rights and Freedom Defender Prize of the Wei Jingsheng Foundation (Voice of America)

标题：史密斯议员获颁魏京生基金会"人权自由卫士"奖（美国之音）

Original Language Version: Chinese (Chinese version at the end)

此号以中文为准（英文在前，中文在后）

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US Representative Christopher Smith Receives Human Rights and Freedom Defender Prize of the Wei Jingsheng Foundation

July 28, 2017

By Xiao Yu, Voice of America

Translated by Dr. Gang Li

Washington - In 1994, Mr. Wei Jingsheng, a political prisoner temporarily released by the Chinese government, and Mr. Chris Smith, a Representative of the United States, met at a small restaurant in Beijing, China for the first time.

23 years later, the Republican congressman received from Mr. Wei Jingsheng the Human Rights and Freedom Defender prize of the Wei Jingsheng Foundation in recognition of his unrelenting support to the cause of promoting freedoms and democracy in China.

On Thursday, July 27, 2017, at the Human Rights Without Borders exhibition and the award ceremony for the Human Rights and Freedom Defender prize, Mr. Wei recalled his first meeting with Congressman Smith. "Prior to that meeting," said Wei, "because I was locked up in prison and sealed off by the Chinese Communist Party, I had very little information about the outside world. Therefore in my mind, all American politicians were like Henry Kissinger. But in Congressman Smith, I found a tough-minded, blunt, and passionate statesman.

During that night, Mr. Smith discovered that the Chinese man in front of him, although had been in prison for nearly 15 years and subjected to repeated abuses and torture, showed an extraordinary resilience.

"Frankly, I was shocked by his courageousness," he recalled.

Bluntness is also Smith's first impression of Wei Jingsheng. It was Wei who caused Smith to realize that voices of the West are vital to human rights conditions in China.

"He mentioned," said Congressman Smith, "when the U.S. agreed to demands of the Chinese government-when we were weak, timid, indifferent, and kowtowing to the dictatorship-his jailers beat him and other political prisoners more. But when the U.S. took a firm and public stance, making human rights a priority, his jailers beat him and others less."

"He was also very willing to help," Wei recalled. "He said, to promote democracy and freedoms, we had to fight. We need big cannons to attack the enemies. I would be a big cannon, and you would provide us with shells. I have forgotten what we ate that night, but still remember that he would be a big cannon, and we would be his shells."

Shortly after the brief meeting, Mr. Wei was arrested again; and after 19 months of secret detention, he was sentenced again to 14 years in prison for "conspiring to subvert the government".

In the United States, Congressman Smith and his colleagues were working hard for the release of Mr. Wei Jingsheng.

Mr. Smith remembered that in 1995, at a hearing on Wei Jingsheng that he chaired, Wei's sister testified that the prison's harsh conditions made her tremble, but Wei Jingsheng still behaved cheerfully. Although he was skinny and lost most of his teeth, he was still smiling.

Since then, for 23 years, Mr. Wei Jingsheng and Congressman Chris Smith, the two men very different in ethnicity, status, and culture, have been working hand-in-hand for a common vision - to improve China's conditions of human rights and freedoms.

At the award ceremony on Thursday, Congressman Smith said he was disappointed to hear so many China experts in Europe and the US warning that an aggressive human rights agenda will infuriate Beijing and impede progress on a range of strategic interests, including on North Korea.

"I just do not buy this argument," he said. "Democratic countries should not be kowtowing to China's Communist Party."

"We all understand China's growing economic influence, but failure to defend universal values and to stand up for rights and the rule of law is shortsighted and will eventually hurt economic growth."

During a break of a congressional vote, the minority leader of the US House of Representatives, Democratic congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, stopped by the ceremony to congratulate Congressman Smith.

In her brief speech, she observed that Congressman Smith had been unswerving in advocating freedoms and human rights for the Chinese people. As a co-chairman of the Congressional Executive Committee on China, he has done all he could to gain respect to dignity and worthiness of every individual. His most recent actions included attempts to gain permission for the Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo to receive medical treatments abroad, and chairing a hearing on the next day after Liu's death that condemned the Chinese government.

Ms. Pelosi was the recipient of last year's Human Rights and Freedom Defender prize of the Wei Jingsheng Foundation.

The event was co-sponsored by the Wei Jingsheng Foundation, the European Parliament Liaison Office with the US Congress, the Freedom House, the Reporters Without Borders, the IFCSS (Independent Federation of Chinese Students and Scholars, USA), the Tianwen United Institute, and the Chinese European Post.

Link of the original report:

https://www.voachinese.com/a/human-rights-and-freedom-defender-award/3962571.html

Related photo:

http://www.weijingsheng.org/pic/newsletters/newsletters2017/newsletters2017-3/SmithCawarded170727VOAreport.jpg

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中文版

Wei Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A1032-W671

魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号：A1032-W671

Release Date: July 30, 2017

发布日：2017年7月30日

Topic: US Representative Christopher Smith Receives Human Rights and Freedom Defender Prize of the Wei Jingsheng Foundation (Voice of America)

标题：史密斯议员获颁魏京生基金会"人权自由卫士"奖（美国之音）

Original Language Version: Chinese (Chinese version at the end)

此号以中文为准（英文在前，中文在后）

如有中文乱码问题，请与我们联系或访问:

http://www.weijingsheng.org/report/report2017/report2017-07/SmithCawarded170730VOAreportA1032-W671.htm

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史密斯议员获颁魏京生基金会"人权自由卫士"奖

2017年7月28日 11:11

-- 美国之音萧雨

华盛顿 -

1994年，在北京的一个小饭馆里，魏京生和克里斯·史密斯第一次见面了，一个是被中国政府短暂释放的政治犯，一个是美国联邦众议员。

23年后，这位在美国国会效力37年的共和党籍众议员从魏京生手中接过魏京生基金会颁发的"人权自由卫士奖"，表彰他多年来对中国自由和人权事业的支持。

星期四（7月27日），在美国国会众议院雷伯恩办公大楼内举行的"人权无疆界展"暨第三届"人权自由卫士奖"颁奖仪式上，魏京生这样回忆与史密斯议员的初见：

"在那之前，因为我在监狱里受到共产党的封锁，对外界信息知道得很少，所以在我的印象里，美国的政客好像都是像基辛格那个样子。结果我发现了一个非常强硬的，非常直截了当的，非常有激情的政治家。"

那天晚上，史密斯发现，眼前的这名中国男子，这位中国民主墙运动的领军人物，尽管已经坐了近15年牢，尽管备受虐待和折磨，却表现出非凡的坚韧。

"坦率地说，我为他的勇气感到震惊，"史密斯回忆道。

直截了当也是魏京生留给史密斯的第一印象。正是魏京生让史密斯意识到，西方的声音对于中国的人权状况至关重要。

"他说，当美国同意中国政府的要求时，当我们虚弱、胆怯、无动于衷，向独裁者叩头时，他和其他异见人士在狱中就会挨更多的打；当美国立场强硬，将人权问题置于优先位置时，狱卒打他们的次数就会少些，"史密斯说。

"他也非常痛快，"魏京生这样形容史密斯，"他说，争取民主自由，那么得进行战斗。我们来对付我们的敌人得有大炮。他说，我就是大炮。你们给我们提供炮弹。结果我们那天吃的什么我都忘了，我只记住他是大炮，我们要当炮弹。"

那晚匆匆一别后，魏京生很快再度被捕，19个月的秘密拘押后，他以"阴谋颠覆政府罪"又被判刑14年。

在美国，史密斯议员和同事们为营救魏京生奔走。

史密斯记得，1995年，在他主持的一次有关魏京生的听证会上，魏京生的妹妹作证说，探监时，监狱的恶劣环境令她浑身发抖，但魏京生却表现得很乐观。尽管非常消瘦，只剩了几颗牙，他依然保持着微笑。

魏京生和史密斯，这两位族裔、身份、文化各不相同的男子却为了一个共同的愿景--改善中国的人权和自由--携手同行了23年。

在星期四的颁奖仪式上，史密斯议员说，他听过很多欧洲和美国的所谓中国专家说，激进的人权议程会让北京愤怒，对包括朝鲜在内的一系列战略性问题不利。

"我完全不同意这种观点！" 他说："民主国家不该向中国共产党叩头。"

史密斯议员说，众所周知，中国的经济影响力日渐增强，"但是不捍卫普世价值，不捍卫人权和法治，是极端短视的行为，到头来也有损经济增长。"

美国国会众议院少数党领袖、民主党籍众议员南希·佩洛西在国会表决的间隙来到颁奖仪式现场，向史密斯议员表示祝贺。

她说，史密斯议员矢志不渝地为中国的自由和人权发声。作为国会及行政当局中国委员会的共同主席，他竭尽所能，尊重每个人的尊严和价值，最近的一次行动是争取诺贝尔和平奖得主刘晓波到海外就医，和在他去世后的第二天举行听证会，谴责中国政府。

佩洛西是上一届"人权自由卫士奖"的获得者之一。

欧洲议会驻美国国会办公室、自由之家、记者无国界、天问联合学会、全美学自联及欧华导报和魏京生基金会联合举办了这次活动。

报道的原始链接：

https://www.voachinese.com/a/human-rights-and-freedom-defender-award/3962571.html