The
International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) urges the Communist Party of
China (CPC) to lift the restrictive order attempting to prevent a retired
professor from exercising his constitutional rights of freedom of speech.
Du Guang, 83,
a CPC member and retired professor of the
Central Committee of the CPC’s Party School, had intended to publish his new book ‘Getting Back to Democracy’ in Hong Kong
on March 1.
However, on the eve of publication,Chen Baosheng, the Vice Principal and Party Secretary of the Central Party School,
backed by senior Communist Party leaders, ordered that the publication be
stopped.
Bao Pu, publisher
of the book, told the IFJ that publication of the book was halted due to an
allegation contained within the book that senior party leader and member of the
CPC Politburo Standing Committee, Wu Bang Guo, had misunderstood the original ideals
of the Party. In the book, Du blames Wu for leading China towards a one-party
dictatorship rather than a democracy.
According to a
report by the Washington Post, the
book does not lampoon the CPC nor challenge its authority, but rather dissects
its policies and traces how far it has drifted from its early ideals.
“Du has
received a lot of pressure from senior members of the Party and has been warned
not to accept any interviews from the media”, Bao said, “but the book will be
published on March 15, 2012 because the CPC’s order has no authority in Hong
Kong which operates under the ‘One Country ,Two Systems’ model”.
Under Article 35 of China’s Constitution, all Chinese
citizens enjoy freedom of publication.
“By
attempting to stop publication of Du Guang’s work, it is clear that the
Communist Party of China is violating its commitments to publishing freedom
under China’s Constitution”, the IFJ Asia-Pacific
Office said.
“We remind China’s authorities of their obligations to
respect the country’s laws, as well as Hong Kong’s
autonomy under the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ model”.
The IFJ urges
China’s Vice-President and the
Principal of the Party
School, Xi Jinping, to investigate
this incident of infringement of publishing freedom and take steps to ensure
members of the CCP at all levels respect the rights enshrined in the country’s Constitution.
For further
information contact IFJ Asia-Pacific
on +61 2 9333 0950
The IFJ
represents more than 600,000 journalists in 131 countries
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