Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Wang Dan Acts On His Citizenship Right

In a follow-up to their appeal for citizenship rights about a month ago, Wang Dan released a statement today on his action on the issue:
I was exiled to the United States in 1998. At the time, I held a passport of the People's Republic of China. The passport expired in 2003. I have been applying for a renewal to the Chinese Consulate at New York according to the regulations but have never received any response. It has been 5 years and I have been a person without a nation for these 5 years. But I have never applied for a US citizenship because, despite of my exile status, I still love my motherland and hope for returning to China some day, being a Chinese, and contributing to China's progress. I have also asked a return of my passport through various channels in these 5 years. But I still haven't received any constructive response.

In order to defend my rights as a citizen and the dignity of being a Chinese, I, as well as several other Chinese citizens facing the same illegal treatment by the Chinese government, decided to fight for our rights. Today, I have sent out my application for the return of my passport to the Chinese Consulate in New York via expressed mail. We have also prepared to start legal actions in China against the relevant agencies. According to the regulations, The Consulate must respond to us within 15 days of receiving our application. We hope the Consulate will respect its own law and positively respond to our appeal.

At the same time I must also declare, if the Chinese agencies continue to ignore our appeal, we have no choice but taking further actions. We will not rule out the possibility of conducting a hunger strike protest in front of the Chinese Consulate. We call on all the people to pay attention to our status, understand our will to be able to be a Chinese, and support our actions.

Unlike the previous statement cosigned by many dissidents in exile, this one is signed by Wang Dan alone.

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