At some point during this visit, even over dinner at the White House tonight, you might privately ask the Chinese president about his feelings as the son of someone who was found to be a bad element by a previous iteration of his party. Hu’s father was denounced by the Communist Party during the Cultural Revolution.
Clearly, Hu knows that without democracy – what Lech Walesa called a government’s conversation with its people – anyone can end up on the wrong side of a political debate. Perhaps at that point you might note that Liu Xiaobo would be just the latest example of the consequences of that missing conversation. You should then ask Hu, politely but firmly, to free Liu Xiaobo and fellow political prisoners such as Gao Zhisheng, Liu Xianbin and Wang Bingzhang.
Hu is said to have a nearly photographic memory. Yet even he will not be able to recall any section of Chinese law that permits the detention of individuals without cause. You might ask why Liu Xiaobo’s wife, Liu Xia, continues to be held under house arrest by Beijing authorities even though she has not been accused of committing a crime at any time.
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