HRIC's Zhou Fengsuo Speaks at Liberty Con Europe
HRIC Executive Director Zhou Fengsuo spoke at Liberty Con in Tbilisi, Georgia, hosted by European student organization Students for Liberty. On the panel “1989 to ‘1984’: China’s Road to Serfdom,” Director Zhou discussed his personal experience as a student leader, his human rights work, and countermeasures that he believes should be taken against the expansion of the CCP in today's world.
Director Zhou explained that the 1989 Democracy Movement in China was part of the worldwide pro-democracy and anti-communist movement at that time, and was directly inspired by Eastern Europe. Even though it was suppressed in the end, it positively promoted the democratic process in Eastern Europe and other countries. The demand for China's democratization put forward by the 1989 Democracy Movement is a theme that China cannot avoid forever, and the international community must also make the center of its policy towards the CCP.
The June Fourth massacre eliminated the possibility of the CCP’s reform and determined the trajectory of its subsequent political regression. Xi Jinping is a natural product of this process. In the United States, both political parties—starting with President George W. Bush—quickly embraced the CCP after the Tiananmen Massacre, deliberately ignored human rights, and tried to change the CCP through trade, investment and technology. This strategy is ineffective and willfully ignores the true situation on the ground.
Over a hundred people attended the panel, and many attendees waited afterwards to speak with Director Zhou and express their support. Following the panel, Director Zhou attended a rally against Georgia’s “Foreign Agent Law,” similar to the law passed in Russia in 2012 and China in 2017, to stand in solidarity with the protestors.
