On August 22, the Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a 42-page dossier (China Dossier to International Media) on Hong Kong’s “anti-extradition bill” protests to international media such as the British Broadcasting Corporation, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News, and the Japan Broadcasting Association. The dossier gave a false account of the origin, development, and status quo of the protests in Hong Kong. It cited a May 2015 report by the CCP-controlled Hong Kong Wen Wei Po, using slanderous remarks such as “riot leaders”, “anti-China”, “separatist”, “spy” to smear Citizen Power Initiatives for China (CPIFC) and its founder and president, Dr. Yang Jianli. It also calumniated the InterEthnic/InterFaith Leadership Conferences sponsored by CPIFC and the participants of the conferences from Hong Kong. CPIFC strongly protests and condemns the despicable acts of Chinese Foreign Ministry by using the government’s discourse hegemony to make unwarranted allegations and defamation to civic organizations and individuals.
CPIFC is a non-governmental organization dedicated to peacefully promoting China’s human rights progress and achieving constitutional democracy. Its founder and president, Dr. Yang Jianli, is a believer and advocate of non-violence and a practitioner of non-violent resistance strategies. All CPIFC members and our work have nothing to do with violence or riots. CPIFC advocates and practices “sunshine politics” and abandons “conspiracy and dark politics”. We never serve for any country’s intelligence systems. The series of InterEthnic/InterFaith Leadership Conferences sponsored by CPIFC was founded in 2000 by Dr. Yang Jianli, then President of Foundation for China in the 20th Century, a direct by-product of the 1989 Democracy Movement and the June 4th Massacre. Shortly after its establishment, the foundation dedicated to promoting dialogue and exchanges between Han Chinese and Tibetans and achieved many favorable results. Based on this, Dr. Yang Jianli founded the InterEthnic/InterFaith Leadership Conferences to provide a platform for dialogue and collaboration among young human rights leaders from various ethnic groups directly related to China, including Han, Tibet, Uygur and Mongolia, etc. and religious groups such as Christians and Falun Gong practitioners. The participants of the conferences come from mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, etc. The InterEthnic/InterFaith leadership conferences have been held 13 times. The training of non-violent principles and strategies is one of the main contents of the InterEthnic/InterFaith Leadership Conferences. All the groups and individuals who participated in the conferences firmly believe that the CCP’s one-party dictatorship is the common enemy of all ethnic, religious and regional groups, and we are committed to jointly promoting human rights progress and the realization of democracy and freedom in China. The InterEthnic/InterFaith Leadership Conferences are against the CCP’s authoritarian government, but we are not against China, nor do we have anything to do with “separatism.”
Facing Hong Kong’s protests for the rule of law and the “one country, two systems”, the Chinese Communist regime does not respond to the legitimate demands of Hong Kongers. Instead, it blames human rights activists and so-called hostile foreign forces, showing its extreme stubbornness, panic and weakness.
CPIFC will, as always, uphold the principles of peace, rationality and non-violence and support Hong Kongers in defending the rule of law and their rights and freedoms.
公民力量关于中国外交部抹黑污蔑公民力量及其创办人杨建利的声明
8月22日中国外交部向在华的英国广播公司、华尔街日报、彭博新闻社、日本广播协会等国际媒体机构发布一份长达40多页的有关香港“反送中”抗议活动起始、发展和现状的材料汇编，其中引述中共操纵的香港文汇报2015年5月的一篇报道，使用“暴乱领袖”、“反华”、“分裂主义”、“间谍”等抹黑字眼大肆对公民力量、其创办人杨建利博士、公民力量主办的族群青年领袖研习营以及该研习营的香港参加者进行污蔑，公民力量对中国外交部利用政府的话语霸权对公民组织和个人进行无端指控和诽谤的卑鄙行径表示强烈的抗议。
公民力量是致力于和平推动中国人权进步、实现宪政民主的非政府组织，其创办人杨建利博士是非暴力思想的信仰者和倡导者、是非暴力抗争策略的实践者，公民力量的所有成员和工作均与暴力无关、与暴乱无涉。公民力量倡导和实践阳光政治，摒弃阴谋和黑暗政治，其成员和工作不为任何国家的情报系统服务。公民力量主办的系列族群青年领袖研习营是由时任“二十世纪中国基金会”主席的杨建利博士于2000年开创，该基金会是八九六四的直接产物，成立后不久便致力于开展推动汉、藏之间的对话交流与合作，取得了可观的成果，在此基础上杨建利博士创办族群青年领袖研习营，为与中国相关的广义族群的青年人权领袖提供对话协作的平台，其中包括汉、藏、维、蒙等民族，基督教、法轮功等宗教群体，大陆、台湾、香港和澳门等地域，迄今已经举办了十三届。非暴力原则与策略的训练是族群青年领袖研习营的主要内容之一，该演习营参加团体和个人确认中共一党独裁是各族群的共同敌人，并致力于团结互助，共同推动人权进步、结束一党专政、实现民主自由。族群青年领袖研习营是反对中共专制政府的，但不是反华的，也与“分裂主义”无关。
中共政府面对着香港捍卫法治自由、捍卫“一国两制”的全民抗议行动，不去回应香港人民的正当要求，反而嫁祸于人权人士和所谓的国外敌对势力，表现了极端的顽固、慌乱和虚弱。
公民力量将一如既往地秉持和平理性非暴力的原则，支持香港人民捍卫自由法治、争取民主权利的正义行动。
2019年8月25日