Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Liu Xiaobo and the Future of Political Reform in China
Transcript (PDF) (Text)
Last month, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to imprisoned Chinese writer and democracy advocate, Liu Xiaobo, recognizing his "long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China." Liu currently is serving an eleven-year sentence in a Chinese prison for "inciting subversion of state power," in part for his role in Charter 08, a document calling for human rights and political reform in China. What are the prospects for political reform in China today? Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao recently was quoted as saying, "if there is no guarantee of reform of the political system, then results obtained from the reform of the economic system may be lost . . .." When China's leaders make such references to "reform of the political system," what exactly do they mean? As China prepares for major leadership changes in 2012, these developments provide an opportune moment to assess debates over political reform in China, to ask what Liu Xiaobo's writings and advocacy mean for China and what impact, if any, his receiving the Nobel Peace Prize may have on democracy and human rights in China, and with what consequence for the United States?
View a recorded video of this hearing here.
Opening Statements
Senator Byron Dorgan, Chairman
Representative Sander Levin, Cochairman
Witnesses
Dr. Kwame Anthony Appiah, President, PEN American Center; Laurance S. Rockefeller University Professor of Philosophy and the University Center for Human Values, Princeton University
Dr. Bruce Gilley, Professor of Political Science, Portland State University
Dr. Elizabeth Economy, C.V. Starr Senior Fellow and Director for Asia Studies, Council on Foreign Relations
Mr. Phelim Kine, China Researcher, Human Rights Watch