Ambassador Zhang Yesui
Embassy of the Peoples Republic of China
3505 International Place, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20008

Dear Ambassador Zhang Yesui,

This correspondence is in regard to writer and Professor Liu Xiaobo, who has been incarcerated and is presently serving an eleven-year sentence and a two-year deprivation of political rights for alleged charges of inciting subversion of state power.

Liu Xiaobo has been a tireless advocate for human rights in China from his participation in the Tiananmen Square student protests and popular movement to when he helped pen the Charter 08 manifesto. This advocacy that has been viewed by the international community as befitting of a Nobel Peace Prize has unduly been the grounds for Liu Xiaobo’s past and present detention. Such is a cognizable conflict that does not work to benefit the Chinese government or the Chinese people.

It is in the Chinese government’s best interest to resolve such a conflict, if it is sincerely seeking to be a credible participant in the international political discourse. Detention of Liu Xiaobo and others, who champion human rights, no longer can be perceived as a viable course of a government to serve any tenable purpose of silencing the freedom of speech and expression, especially when played against present technology of immediate dissemination and access to information.

Detention of one individual, such as Liu Xiaobo, has only further impressed upon the international community the Chinese government’s suppression of human rights. Nations and organizations, including influential individuals, have called for Liu Xiaobo’s release. This evidences the manifest belief of undeniable, universal fundamental rights the actions of the Chinese government diverges from.

The immediate release of Liu Xiaobo is of utmost importance in fostering a better image of the Peoples Republic of China before the international community. I hereby urge the Chinese government to immediately release Liu Xiaobo.

Sincerely,

Ann Lau,

Chair, Visual Artists Guild