Wei was arrested twenty months ago, without warning or explanation, and held incommunicado. Then the Communist authorities conducted an investigation of Wei. Then, and only then, the Communists announced the charges against Wei and set the date for his trial. American and European diplomats' requests to monitor the trial have either been rejected or gone unanswered. And the Communist regime has refused to allow a distinguished international legal team, including former U.S. Attorneys General Nicholas DeB. Katzenbach and Richard Thornburgh, to participate in Wei's defense.
International observers believe that the verdict is entirely preordained.
Wei Jingsheng, like the heroic students of Tienanmen Square, is living proof that China's people are not indifferent to democracy and human rights, content with lawlessness, dictatorship and corruption. On December 13, Wei Jingsheng will be the defendant, but it will be China's Communist dictatorship that is on trial. U.S.-P.R.C. Relations Wei's trial is yet another direct test of the United States' resolve to work for an improved human rights situation in the People's Republic of China. This brazen assault on democracy and human rights comes at the same time that Communist China is trampling on religious freedom in Tibet by attempting to impose its own choice as Panchen Lama. The real Panchen Lama has been abducted by the Communist government, which has forced the selection of another child, Gyaincain Norbu, the son of Communist Party functionaries.