http://www.rfa.org/english/news/2008/04/18/china_tibet/
Chinese Student Who Sparked Furor Says Public Apology Letter Is Fake
2008.04.18
Cantonese re****ter Ho Shan interviews
Grace Wang.
WA****NGTON=97The Chinese student who sparked outrage among Chinese
nationals who say she sided with Tibetans at a Duke University campus
protest says a public apology letter pur****tedly written by her father
is a fake.
=93That wasn=92t written by them. I have been in touch with my parents.
They told me very clearly that it wasn=92t written by them,=94 Grace Wang,
20, from Qingdao, told RFA=92s Mandarin service. =93I don=92t know who
wrote=
it.=94
=93I=92m sure. They were very clear about that. They also said they knew I
would never do anything to betray my country,=94 Wang said. =93They said
that they were just lying low, waiting in silence for the coming of
spring, as it were, until everyone had calmed down a bit and could
take a different view of the matter.=94
Wang claims that she was only trying to mediate at an April 10 campus
vigil, in which several dozen pro-Tibetan students were facing off
with several hundred Chinese students. She doesn't sup****t Tibetan
independence. But she gave up under verbal assault from the Chinese
side.
A few hours later, she published an online essay to the Duke Chinese
Students and Scholars Association forum, calling for tolerance=97and
sparking thousands of e-mails and hundreds of phone calls. Her
personal data appeared on the Internet, she received death threats,
her home in China was vandalized, and her parents are in hiding.
=93My mother told me they sup****t me,=94 Wang told RFA=92s Cantonese
service=
=93My father thinks he may have to change jobs=97but he has no regrets. I
just had a phone conversation with them. My father is firm in his
position and mom also said =91 Don=92t worry. =91=93
=93My parents just told me that someone released a statement or
something under their names. They didn=92t see it and they don=92t want to
see it. They told me if I see it to just ignore it=85They said they are
safe and I have to protect myself. Justice will prevail.=94
Phony letter
The phony apology, widely circulated on the Internet and pur****tedly
written by Wang=92s parents, said: =93On behalf of Wang Qianyuan, we beg
the forgiveness of the people of China, the forgiveness of all the
Chinese in the world. We beg the entire nation to forgive her
ignorance and give her an op****tunity to rectify her mistake.=94
=93Every morning [and evening] we exchange e-mails to say we are still
alive, and that everything is fine,=94 she said. =93They are being very
tight-lipped and not saying much about it. I think they are on the
run. I don=92t know their exact location. They aren=92t telling me. I
think that=92s because they are afraid the Chinese government will
intercept the e-mail.=94
=93I don=92t know when they moved out or where they are staying now. But
at least they seem to be all right according to their e-mails. At
least they say they=92re safe. Now it=92s got to the point where it=92s
not
a question of what I say making them worry; it=92s me who=92s worrying.=94
An official at the Qingdao police station, contacted by telephone,
acknowledged that the Wang family had been threatened and their home
vandalized. He declined to give out further information. =93We can=92t
present our information to the public,=94 the officer said.
Wang said Thursday she had stopped attending cl***** and had extra
police protection, but she said she worried mostly about her family in
China. She said she didn=92t believe her life was in danger.
A champion of free expression
=93My parents sup****t some of my views and oppose others. But I wouldn=92t
expect them to think the same as me. That would be terrifying, if
everyone thought the same way.
Asked how her fellow students were treating her, she replied: =93I was
beginning to think that the whole thing would just blow over. But
actually it=92s not going to blow over until there is some sort of
settlement, some justice. It doesn=92t really matter what they say to
me. The incident itself will probably blow over, but the problem will
remain. The truth is still out there if we want to go after it.=94
=93I think some of them sup****t me because they feel that I am a young
female student who is being bullied, but I tell them it=92s not me they
should sup****t, but the truth. I would just like them to sup****t the
right to freedom of expression.=94
=93I have had threats from a lot of people, both spoken and written. I
get a lot of e-mails, but I don=92t read them. I just delete them. I
don=92t bother trying to find out who is sending them. I believe that
everyone has the right to free speech, and also the right to say the
wrong thing sometimes and to be forgiven for it.=94
Wang doesn=92t sup****t Tibetan independence=97she sees herself as a
champion of human rights and free expression. =93I think that Tibet is
definitely a part of China. It is indivisible from China. This means
that we must deal with Tibet and Tibetans as our brothers and
compatriots,=94 she said.
=93That means that we should use other methods than those used to deal
with outsiders. You can use whatever methods you think expedient with
outsiders, even very forceful methods. But with Tibetans we are
dealing with our own relatives. There should be more reason and more
relatedness in our dealings with them.=94
Original re****ting by Shen Hua for RFA's Mandarin service and Ho Shan
and Lillian Cheung for RFA's Cantonese service. Cantonese service
director: ****ny Li. Mandarin service director: Jennifer Chou.
Translation by ****ny Li and Luisetta Mudie. Written and produced in
English by Sarah Jackson-Han.
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