Chinese police briefly detained several dissidents last Friday (November 23) after they called for a multi-party political system. Lu Gengsong says this response from authorities further indicates that the Chinese regime will not loosen its grip on power.
Lu is a member of Zhejiang-based China Democracy Party. It's not a Communist Party-sanctioned organization, and two of China's newly announced leaders, Xi Jinping and Zhang Dejiang, both suppressed the group when they were Zhejiang's provincial Party chief.
[Lu Gengsong, Member of China Democracy Party]
"After the 18th Party Congress, there've been mounting calls for political reform. These two people are now senior leaders so I wanted to make a suggestion that a multi-party political system is the way to go. Since Zhejiang has the China Democracy Party, maybe they can start the political reform here and recognize this political Party."
The Chinese regime claims it allows the existence of different political parties. In reality, the few that do exist are controlled by the Communist Party organ known as the United Front Work Department. Unsanctioned political groups are subject to suppression.
Lu says his open letter had asked for China Democracy Party members to be eligible for selection as representatives of the people's congress of Zhejiang. Together these provincial congress representatives form the National People's Congress. As China's rubber-stamp parliament dissenting voices are extremely rare in the National People's Congress and are often just token gestures at dissent. True dissent is not allowed.
So, in response to Lu's letter, Zhejiang authorities confiscated his laptops and interrogated him for several hours.
[Lu Gengsong, Member of China Democracy Party]
"They took me into the interrogation room, and put my name down as a criminal suspect. They wanted to charge me with 'inciting to subvert state power.'"
Other China Democracy Party members were also targeted as part of the raid.
[Xu Guang, Member of China Democracy Party]
"We published this letter because we care, we want the best for our country and the Chinese people. But since the regime is weak and doesn't have confidence, it doesn't dare face up to these calls of the public."
Chinese leaders have themselves been talking about the need for political reform. But during the 18th Party Congress earlier this month, former Party Chief Hu Jintao ruled out any fundamental changes, saying the Communist Party will not take the, quote "evil way" of western-style democratization.
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