中國民主運動海外聯席會議主席魏京生，一生都在與中共鬥爭，積累了豐富的經驗，他談了與劉曉波的一次相聚，討論了若西方采取「綏靖政策」，其實是慫恿專制政權，為虎作倀。
老魏說道：最近美國政府有重回綏靖政策的傾向，我發言的機會也減少了。所以感謝筆會的朋友們給我紀念劉曉波先生的機會。
劉曉波是我的好朋友，但我們只見過一次面。那是在九三年我假釋在北京的時候，在一個異議作家們的家庭聚會上，攝影師畢福劍邀請我和大家談談當時的形勢。話題很快轉到了異議人士的生存權上。劉曉波說：「我一說話就進監獄，怎麼才能既發表言論又不會進監獄呢？」我說：「那要看中共的底線在哪兒，容忍度的底線就是不進監獄又能說話的界限。」
曉波又問：「怎麼看這個底線呢？」我說：「兩個觀察點。一個是中共最高當局的地位是否穩固。穩固會增強他們的自信，容忍度就比較高，或者說要假裝開明。為了奧運會把我放出來，就說明他們現在要假裝開明，所以現在容忍度比較高。」
曉波很放鬆地「哦……」了一聲。接著我說更重要的是第二點，「美國和國際社會的壓力，特別是貿易方面的壓力大的時候，中共的容忍度會比較高。最近美國國會對貿易最惠國的討論和申請，對奧運會壓力比較大，你可以放膽說話了。」大家都鬆了一口氣，話題轉到了畢福劍的三國演義電視劇上面。
拜登政府最近有轉向綏靖政策的傾向，已經很長一段時間了。這是習近平政權大幅度收緊人權政策的原因之一。不但對異議人士和作家，甚至擴大到對所有人民的病毒清零政策，不在乎國內和國際輿論的批評。我呼籲作家和記者編輯朋友們，批評和阻止拜登政府的綏靖傾向，保護中國人民言論自由的權利和空間。
Speech on the Commemoration of the 5th Anniversary of Liu Xiaobo’s Death
— Wei Jingsheng
July 13, 2022
Thank you to my friends at PEN International for daring to invite me to speak. Thank you.
Recently, the US government has tended to return to the policy of appeasement, and I have less opportunity to speak. So I would like to thank my friends at PEN International for giving me the opportunity to commemorate Mr. Liu Xiaobo.
Liu Xiaobo was my good friend, but we only met once. It was when I was released on parole in Beijing in 1993. At a gathering at a person’s home with dissident writers, photographer Bi Fujian invited me to a conversation about the situation at that time. The conversation quickly turned to the dissidents’ right to exist. Liu Xiaobo said, “I went to jail as soon as I spoke. How can I speak yet without going to jail?” I said, “That depends on the bottom line of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The bottom line of tolerance is the limit where you can speak without going to prison.”
Xiaobo asked again how to determine that bottom line? I said, “Two points of observation. One is whether the position of the highest authority of the CCP is stable. The stability will enhance their self-confidence, and their degree of tolerance will be higher, or they will pretend to be enlightened. Letting me out to get their rights to host the Olympics (2000) means that they now want to pretend to be enlightened, so now their degree of tolerance is higher.”
Xiaobo let out a sigh of relief. Then I talked about the second point that is more important: “When there is high pressure from the United States and the international community, especially the pressure on trade, the tolerance of the CCP will be higher. The recent discussion in the US Congress on the most-favored nation trade status and the CCP’s desire to apply for the rights to hold Olympic Games is relatively high, so you can speak boldly.” Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and the topic turned to “The Romance of the Three Kingdoms” TV series that Mr. Bi Fujian was making.
The Biden administration has recently tended toward a policy of appeasement. It’s been a long time. This is one of the reasons why the Xi Jinping regime has drastically tightened its human rights policies, which is not only against dissidents and writers, but even extended to its “zero-Covid” policy for all Chinese, regardless criticism from domestic and international public opinion. I call on our friends who are writers, journalists and editors, to criticize and block the appeasement tendencies of the Biden administration, and to protect the rights and space for free speech of the Chinese people.
Thank you, my friends!
Wei Jingsheng, an honorary member of the PEN America
Washington, D.C., USA
