19 May 2005
His Excellency Zhang Fusen
Minister of Justice
10 Chaoyangmen Nandajie
Chaoyang-qu
Beijing-shi 100020
China
Dear Minister Zhang:
The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) must express its serious concern with the arrest of Zheng Yichun, a Professor of English, and the imprisonment of journalist and poet Shi Tao. Their persecution by the Government of China is an insult to supporters of intellectual freedom everywhere. We urge you to release them.
The AAUP has been fighting on behalf of the academic freedom of faculty members since 1940. The 1940 Statement, which is the basis of American academic common law, says that “The common good depends upon the free search for truth and its free exposition.” Today the AAUP regards the “common good” as a global aspiration and recognizes that the abridgment of academic freedom anywhere is an assault on academic freedom everywhere. Academic freedom is, therefore, a universal right, a human right, and may be regarded as an extension of Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
When the Government of China interferes with the academic freedom of the university faculty and the freedom of expression of writers, it is violating those basic democratic rights that must be accorded to all writers and intellectuals. Academic freedom requires not only the freedom to teach and conduct research, but also a climate where freedom of expression is protected as a human right.
The AAUP encourages the Government of China to restore the rights of these two intellectuals.
Sincerely,
Roger W. Bowen
General Secretary