China pressures German book fair to keep dissidents away

Sep 10, 2009, 5:58 GMT

   Beijing - Organizers of the world's largest book trade fair succumbed to pressure by the Chinese government and rescinded invitations to critical writers, one of the dissidents said Thursday.

   Author Bei Ling, who lives in exile in the United States, told the German Press Agency dpa via telephone that China threatened to boycott a two-day symposium ahead of the October 14-18 Frankfurt Book Fair should he participate.

   Organizer Peter Ripken informed him about the 'very difficult situation' on Wednesday, Bei said.

   'He said please don't come,' Bei said.

   He added that organizers told him they feared a confrontation that could damage the symposium and the book fair as both officials from Beijing and prominent Chinese author Mo Yan refused to be in the same room with him.

   Bei was arrested in China in 2000 for 'illegal publications' but was released shortly afterward following US intervention.

   Organizers invited Bei instead to an event in October, he said, but cautioned that the events surrounding the symposium were not a good start for the book fair, where China is this year's guest of honour.

   'Exiled writers must be heard too,' Bei urged.

   Reports said earlier that the symposium was going ahead this weekend despite Beijing authorities also confiscating invitations sent to author Dai Qing and philosophy professor Xu Youyo.

   Dai said German organizers had booked her air ticket and hotel but she was then told not to attend.

   On Wednesday, a top German government human rights official called on the fair to stand up boldly to China.

   'They must stand up for human rights with unambiguous and unmistakeable clarity,' Guenter Nooke, commissioner for human rights issues, said in Berlin.

   Nooke said the fair organizers from the German book trade must stress that rights applied to every nation.