After Sunday's story ran regarding pleas from former Pasadenan Yaning Liu, now of Baldwin Park, to enlist aid in freeing her mother from hard labor re-education camp, Rep. Adam Schiff came through for her. Schiff's letter was sent Wednesday; not sure why that time element was removed from the lead.

Yaning shared a copy of the letter Schiff sent to Paramount Leader Hu Jintao of the People's Republic.

UPDATED: Rep. Hilda Solis, D-El Monte, tops Schiff with two letters. One to the Chinese government, one to the U.S. Dept. of State.

Schiff lobbies China to free woman
Mother held in labor camp
By Kenneth Todd Ruiz, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 12/19/2007 10:59:55 PM PST

PASADENA -- After months of pleading for help to secure her mother's release from a Chinese labor camp, a local woman's persistence has paid off.

In a letter sent to President Hu Jintao of the People's Republic of China, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, called for the release of Shuying Li, 64.

Li is being held at the Beijing Women's Labor Camp, where she was sent for practicing a spiritual tradition banned by the Communist government, according to Li's daughter, Yaning Liu of Baldwin Park.

"If the only charges against Ms. Li are based on her potential interest in Falun Gong, I urge her immediate release on humanitarian grounds," Schiff wrote in the letter.

Schiff issued a separate statement Wednesday afternoon, expanding on his letter.

"I deplore action in China and elsewhere that inhibits an individual's right to free expression, and want to encourage the Chinese leadership to release anyone being held on the basis of their religious beliefs," Schiff stated.

On Dec. 15, 2006, Beijing police arrested Li after finding literature pertaining to Falun Gong.

The mainland government banned Falun Gong for "advocating superstition and spreading fallacies, hoodwinking people, inciting and creating disturbances, and jeopardizing social stability," according to a
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July 22, 1999, report from China's state-run media.

In recent months, Liu had joined a coalition of groups protesting the inclusion of a Beijing Olympic Games float in next month's Rose Parade because of China's rights record.

That record is getting worse, according to the U.S. Department of State's most recent report on China.

In the run-up to the 2008 Olympic Games, Beijing has cracked down on dissidents, reporters and its own citizens, jailing many without trial, according to international human rights organizations.

"Keen to present its best face to the world during the prestigious sporting event, the city is racing against time to improve the behavior of local residents," according to a Wednesday report from the People's Republic of China's official press agency.

Calling it "administrative detention," Chinese authorities have sent about 250,000 Chinese into so-called "education through labor" camps without trial, according to Amnesty International.

Torture is commonly employed, according to Amnesty.

Last month, Schiff complained in writing to the Beijing Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games that China has not kept its Olympic promises.

"Despite explicit promises made by Chinese government officials in 2001, the Chinese government has not taken serious steps to expand basic rights and freedom," his letter said.

Citing Li's age, Schiff conveyed Liu's concern that her mother's "health is suffering due to the harsh conditions within the Labor Camp."

Liu said she was excited and happy Monday night when a member of Schiff's staff called with news the congressman would lend his aid.

"Among all the officials I contacted so far, Congressman Schiff is the only one who responded to my plea and offered help," she said.

Liu lived in Pasadena when she made her request and has since relocated to Baldwin Park.

Several other members of the House of Representatives and the Senate have not responded to her requests, she said, including her Baldwin Park representative, Rep Hilda Solis, D-El Monte.

"I basically begged her to help me, and I seldom beg," Liu said.

Solis' Chief of Staff Don Lyster said that request hadn't made it up to his boss and that it was now being evaluated and investigated for a pending determination.

He didn't rule out the possibility Solis would join in calling for Li's release.

Liu is optimistic public pressure will help secure her mother's release.

After all, she said, Chinese authorities recently freed an elderly couple after their daughter, Cher Fu, convinced congressional representatives from her home state of Washington to lobby on her behalf.

After initially being referred by Schiff to the U.S. Department of State, Liu said she was surprised and grateful that Pasadena Councilwoman Jacque Robinson followed up with the congressman's office.

"If it was me, I'd want help as well, no matter where it came from," Robinson said. "It's not like I had 100 people calling and coming to my office asking for help."

Robinson said the action didn't run counter to the positions of the city and the mayor, who recently declined to help Liu.

And, she said, Liu kept coming to council meetings and didn't quit,

"She was persistent," Robinson said.

todd.ruiz@sgvn.com
(626) 578-6300, Ext. 4444
www.insidesocal.com/pasadenapolitics

Solis joins call for Beijing woman's release
Kenneth Todd Ruiz, staff writer
Article Launched: 12/20/2007 02:04:08 PM PST

PASADENA -- A second member of Congress wrote a letter on behalf of a local woman whose mother is being held in a Beijing labor camp.

Rep. Hilda Solis, D-El Monta, sent letters Thursday to Chinese President Hu Jintao and Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice on behalf of Baldwin Park resident Yaning Liu urging the release of her mother Shuying Li, 64.

Li has spent the past year in a labor re-education camp after police found literature related to a spiritual practice banned by the Communist government.

"If Ms. Li has been detained solely because of her religious beliefs and her interest in the Falun Gong, I respectfully request that you release her immediately based on the humanitarian issues involved," Solis said in her letter to Jintao.

Her letters were sent one day after Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, sent a similar written request through the Chinese Embassy.

Solis asked Rice to investigate Li's detention and consider using official diplomatic channels to push for Li's release.

Posted by Todd at 11:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Nothing to do with Pasadena, but because I'm a connoisseur of fine public comment, I present this for your own enjoyment.

Posted by Todd at 10:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

As previously reported, at least one of the member organizations of the Roundtable of Southern California Chinese-American Organizations (which are paying for half of the float) was created by the Chinese Communist Government's Ministry of Information Industry (1) (2) and Mayor Bill Bogaard signed an October, 2004, Memorandum of Understanding with the Beijing government while in China committing Pasadena to the effort.

Yet we still get complaints for reporting the float's links to the Chinese government, despite that government's frequent bragging (1) (2) about "their" float.

Last night someone anonymously forwarded this e-mail to me, purportedly sent to the heads of Chinese student associations, making reference to "secret" Rose Parade meetings organized by the Chinese Consulate (bolded emphasis mine)

From: Chong Liu [mailto:dliu2008@gmail.com] Sent: Wednesday, November 14, 2007 3:52 PM Subject: Call for Waist Drum Players

Hi all Presidents,

I drafted an announcement and it is ready to go now. Please forward
it to your members immediately. Thanks.

Dahai

"Call for the Recruitment of Waist Drum Players from CSSA Members"

Dear CSSA members,

There will be a Grand Rose Float Parade in Pasadena on Jan 1st, 2008
organized by the American Chinese Cultural Association (ACCA). We
would like to invite a couple of girls from CSSA members to
participate in this parade and perform waist drum with our members. We
hope to recruit 4-8 people to join us, and we will provide costumes
and necessary trainings. If any of you are interested in, please let
me know ASAP. The invitation letter can be found at:
http://cssa.ucla.edu/archive/07-08/ACCA.doc

Best regards,

David Lin
President of ACCA
Tel: 626-446-0916
Cell: 626-354-8848
Fax: 626-446-0925
davidlinxu@gmail.com

On 11/13/07, Chong Liu wrote:
> Dear Kevin, Yizhou and Nancy,
>
> Mr. David (Xu) Lin who was with us on the last time of Rose Parade
> meeting at the Consulate asks us to offer a help. He is organizing a
> waist drum team to attend the Rose Parade on January 1st at Pasadena
> which is one of the most famous parades in the US and attracts 100
> millions of TV audience from the world. It is the great opportunity
> for CSSA members to support this event as we all agreed during our
> 'secret' meeting. After you three receives the announcement of call
> for participants from David, please post this announcement at
> CSSA-UCLA, CSSA-Caltech and CSSA-USC to encourage CSSA members to
> participate immediately. Thanks for your great support!
>
> Hi David,
>
> Kevin, Yizhou and Nancy are Presidents of UCLA, Caltech and USC,
> respectively. Please touch the base with them to get a help you need.
>
> Best,
>
> Dahai

Posted by Todd at 9:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Big news today -- perhaps historically, the Tournament of Roses, despite previous indications, is willing to allow a pre-Rose Parade human-rights march organized by Beijing 2008 Olympic float opponents, but the plan hit a snag with police. Chief Bernard Melekian rejected the plan as presented because of security concerns and offered options for a scaled-back event or to hold it on another day:

Pasadena rejects pre-parade march plans
By Kenneth Todd Ruiz, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 12/18/2007 10:14:10 PM PST

PASADENA - Citing security concerns, Police Chief Bernard Melekian on Tuesday rejected a proposal by critics of China to precede the Tournament of Roses parade with a human-rights march down Colorado Boulevard.

The decision was made during a morning meeting of Tournament officials, the chief and John Li, head of Caltech's Falun Gong club, which has opposed a float linked to the People's Republic of China's in the internationally televised Rose Parade.

"We gave him a variety of options," Melekian said. "The proposal they put forward didn't work for us. There were some significant security issues."

Li and other critics of China's human-rights record proposed allowing a 100-person marching band and a Human Rights Torch Relay about two hours before the parade.

More significantly, they said, they won the Tournament's support for what could have been the first such procession before the tradition-steeped parade.

"Everything was settled until Bill Flynn presented the timesheet to the Police Department," Li said of their detailed proposal.

Li said the proposed demonstration was supported by Tournament officials, such as President C.L. Keedy and Flynn, the organization's chief operating officer.

Tournament officials declined comment Tuesday.

Accommodating a band, a double-decker bus and other vehicles inside the security zone on Jan. 1 was unworkable, Melekian said.

Melekian said he offered three

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compromise options, including scaling the event down to one vehicle with the runner or holding the full event on Dec. 31. Li rejected those options, he said.
In October, the City Council held a meeting to address concerns of various groups objecting to China's human-rights record and that the country was using the parade to polish its image in the run-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Several groups asked the city last month for permission to host an event before the parade that would accommodate a human-rights message.

Ann Lau, who heads the Visual Artists Guild, questioned the security objections and said the decision seemed politically motivated.

"Someone told me at the start of this that they're going to string us along, through two months of commission meetings and delay," she said.

Lau accused Mayor Bill Bogaard, who supported China's float entry, of influencing the decision.

After speaking with the mayor Tuesday, Melekian said that assertion is "just flat wrong" because the human-rights march would be a separate event and increase the burden on his officers and other law enforcement.

China's float is being paid for by Avery Dennison and an association of Chinese-American organizations.

Organized as the Pasadena Coalition for Human Rights, those protesting the float have demonstrated competing philosophies.

Lau has taken more provocative action, leading a protest Sunday from City Hall to the mayor's home, shadowed by police along the way.

Li once served on Pasadena's commission for its Chinese sister city in Beijing and has had several meetings with representatives of Avery Dennison and the Tournament of Roses.

His group has spent $10,000 on the proposed demonstration and invited celebrities to participate, Li said.

Melekian said he has no information about security risks associated with China protests.

"There's no concern about violence at this time," he said. "I suspect that there may be some form of demonstration, but nothing completely out of the ordinary, as long as they don't interfere with the parade and obey all the appropriate laws."

todd.ruiz@sgvn.com

(626) 578-6300, Ext. 4444

www.insidesocal.com/pasadenapolitics

Posted by Todd at 12:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)