Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


Chinese Dissident Featured at RNC Warns Against Communist Party Threat

Miao Yu

   One rainy night in 2012, he fled the ancient village of Linyi, in
   China's Shandong province, where he was under house arrest. Eight years
   later, he stood on the podium of the Republican National Convention,
   telling the world that the Communist Party of China is an enemy of
   humanity.

   Chen Guangcheng, a prominent blind rights lawyer living in exile in the
   United States, was one of the featured speakers during this week's RNC.
   Wearing his trademark sunglasses and reading Braille, he said,
   "Standing up to tyranny is not easy. I know."

   Although the speech lasted less than three minutes, it was one of the
   biggest public platforms given to a dissident from China, which Chen
   used to warn the world about human rights abuses in China and the
   danger of those who prefer "appeasing" the Chinese Communist Party.

   Chen praised U.S. President Donald Trump's leadership in the fight
   against the CCP and urged the rest of the world to join the fight.

   "The U.S. must use its values of freedom, democracy and the rule of law
   to gather a coalition of democracies to stop CCP's aggression," he
   said.

   'State terrorism' feared

   A day after he addressed the convention, Chen told VOA that he believed
   he was chosen to speak to warn about how he said the Communist Party
   threatens everyone's freedom. He also said he thought he was selected
   because the Trump administration wanted to send the message that "the
   days of appeasing China are gone."

   In an interview Friday with VOA, Chen accused China's ruling Communist
   Party of hijacking the government and the people and using high-tech
   "state terrorism" to make people too afraid to speak. Overseas, Chen
   said, China practices infiltration and bribery to undermine the world's
   liberal order and democratic values. He said the spread of the
   coronavirus pandemic is one example of how the "evil regime" of the CCP
   impacted the world.

.