Former Political Prisoner Wei Warns U.S. Business About China

Wei Jingsheng, a prominent Chinese dissident who has spent nearly two decades in Chinese prisons, is out to convince western multinationals that current conditions in China endanger their interests as well as those of workers.

"When ordinary workers' rights aren't protected, [business] rights aren't protected," Wei said, speaking to reporters Feb. 29 at the AFL-CIO. "There are no legal rights for anyone. Protection is given at the discretion of the Chinese government."

Granting free trade to China, Wei said, would sacrifice U.S. leverage to change China's human rights and trade practices—without getting anything comparable in return. "This is like dealing with a small child," he said. "When the child wakes up first thing in the morning and you give him all the candy, it's impossible to get him to behave all day."

"If you don't put pressure on [the Chinese government]," he cautioned, "they won't be inspired to do good things."

The Chinese government "says one thing and does another," and Americans should understand their stake in the current congressional debate about whether to grant China permanent Normal Trade Relations status and scrap the current system of annual reviews of China's trade and human rights behavior.

Sentenced to 15 years imprisonment in 1979 for daring to suggest that political reform respecting human rights should accompany economic reforms, Wei, a former electrician at the Beijing Zoo, was subjected to solitary confinement and physical abuse. Released in 1993 as a ploy by China to improve its chances to host the 2000 Olympic Games, Wei was sent back to jail in 1995, where he stayed until 1997 when he was released and rushed to the United States for emergency medical treatment.

Wei said that last year's protests during the Seattle meeting of the World Trade Organization changed a widely held perception of Americans as uninvolved in human rights issues. "What we saw in Seattle is that Americans are very concerned with people around the world," he said.

In 1998, the AFL-CIO presented Wei with the George Meany Human Rights Award in recognition of his courage, sacrifice and leadership.