The Communist Party of China is an "enemy" of humanity and is terrorising its own people, a blind Chinese human rights activist has said, urging other countries to join US President Donald Trump to stop China's "aggression".
"Standing up to tyranny is not easy. I know. When I spoke out against China's 'one child'' policy and other injustices, I was persecuted, beaten and sent to prison and put under house arrest by the Chinese Communist Party," Chen Guangcheng said in his address to the Republican National Convention on Wednesday.
Chen Guangcheng, who was brought to the United States by the Obama administration 2012, said the Chinese Communist Party is an "enemy of humanity."
"It is terrorising its own people. And it is threatening the well being of the world," he said adding that in China, expressing beliefs or ideas not approved by the CCP - religion, democracy, human rights - can lead to prison and the nation lives under mass surveillance and censorship.
He said the US must use its values of freedom, democracy, and the rule of law to "gather a coalition of other democracies to stop China's aggression."
President Trump has led on this and we need the other countries to join him in this fight. A fight for our future," Chen Guangcheng, who is blind since childhood and is self-taught in law, said. He added that he knows standing up to fight unfairness is not easy and so does Trump "but he has shown the courage to wage that fight. We need to support, vote, and fight for President Trump . . . for the sake of the world."
Chen Guangcheng spoke excerpts at the Convention from his prepared remarks. In his full remarks, released by the Trump campaign and himself, he said outside its borders, the CCP ignores international treaties and norms, whether it is violating the rights of Hong Kong, cheating on trade deals, threatening Taiwan, or exploiting the World Health Organisation.
"The coronavirus pandemic, originating in China - and covered up by the CCP - has caused mass death and social upheaval around the world. In the same way, the virus of the CCP is threatening the people of the world," Chen Guangcheng said, according to the text of his full remarks.
Chen Guangcheng said that the CCP is focused on power and control, and acts without regard to the law or to human rights. "Countless activists have disappeared or are under house arrest. Just consider the sad plight of the Uyghurs in concentration camps."
Chen Guangcheng accused the Obama-Biden administration of having a policy of appeasement.
"The policy of appeasement of former administrations - including Obama and Biden - has allowed the CCP to infiltrate and corrode different aspects of the global community," he said on the policies of the Democratic Party.
"The Chinese Communist Party goes through the dance of diplomacy... but it seeks to make the rest of the world bow to its authoritarian vision. The CCP is waiting patiently for the US and other democracies to bend to its will under fear of economic retribution," he said, according to the text of his prepared remarks.
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