聖誕歸家（2025年12月9日）—「美國對話基金會主席康元（John Kamm）」著（英文在後）
聖誕歸家
（2025年12月9日）
—「美國對話基金會主席康元（John Kamm）」著
（英文在後）
https://xuwenli2018.blogspot.com/2025/12/john-kamm.html
https://duihua.org/home-for-christmas/
徐文立注：幫助我二次提前出獄的恩人（康元先生作為一位美國人，1992-3年，居然神奇地找到北京郊區、賀信彤僅僅帶學生去實習過2次的小工廠、和為增加一點收入而當業餘會計打工的某幾個企業，用電話找到了她；康元開始了代表美國民間和政治犯親屬的我們和中共政府進行了前後幾十年的智慧、曲折又空前艱難的政治談判；甚至不惜毅然決然辭去「美中商會會長」職務……；讓我徐文立得以從中共政府這獅子口中拔了「用民辦刊物在中國開創一段言論自由」「創建中國反對黨——中國民主黨」這2顆最難拔的牙，還得以全身而退、流亡至美國。艱難的程度絕不亞於近年中東「人質釋放」的談判。
嵌入自蓋蒂圖片社 (http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/2200355049)
中國異見人士暨民主運動人士徐文立準備接受記者採訪……更多內容
法新社 | 喬伊斯·納爾查揚
中國異見人士暨民主運動者徐文立於2003年1月27日在華盛頓特區記者會前準備接受記者採訪，其女徐瑾（中）與妻子賀信彤（左）隨行。照片由喬伊斯·納爾查揚/法新社透過蓋蒂圖片社提供
中國司法當局在節假日和節日之際寬大處理並不罕見。 Mark Swidan、Kai Li和John Leung於2024年感恩節獲釋。 美國公民Jude Shao在2008年美國獨立日前兩天獲釋。 在中國春節之前，政治和宗教以及其他囚犯經常受到寬大處理。大赦是為了紀念重要日子。
對我而言，最令人動容的節日釋放當屬資深維權人士徐文立獲釋之事。
在去美國的路上
2002年12月24日凌晨1點15分，我接到了一位在中國外交部（MFA）工作的官員的電話。 當時是平安夜的凌晨。 中國民主黨領袖徐文立已被釋放，正在前往美國的路上。
當時我正蜷縮在舊金山辦公室的沙發上酣睡，這通電話早在我預料之中。國務院新聞辦公室（https://duihua.org/bai-li/）希望此消息能登上美國報紙的晨間版面。此次釋放行動，連同同年稍早釋放的藏族電影製片人阿旺卓培（https://duihua.org/the-liberation-of-ngawang-choephel/）
及藏族教師塔克納·吉美桑波（Takna Jigme Sangpo）
（https://duihua.org/to-lhasa-for-jigme-sangpo/）
獲釋，皆屬中國國家主席江澤民在紐約與華盛頓遭受911襲擊後，為拉攏美國而發動的魅力攻勢。
與外交部官員的談話一結束，我便致電兩位人士：身在美國的徐文立之女徐瑾，以及駐北京美國大使館的馬克·蘭伯特。馬克當時擔任大使館人權專員，其後在拜登政府時期持續主導美國對華政策走向。
徐文立因政治活動兩度入獄。首次監禁發生於1981年4月至1993年5月間（他於5月下旬假釋出獄）；第二次監禁則發生於1998年11月至2002年12月間（他於聖誕夜因醫療假釋獲釋）。
嵌入自蓋蒂圖片社（http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/1187549251）
中國異見人士徐文立與二十歲的女兒徐瑾（右）牽手同行……更多內容
法新社 | 曼尼·塞內塔
徐文立與女兒步行返家。他於1993年5月26日獲釋，比十五年刑期提前三年。
照片由曼尼·塞內塔/法新社透過蓋蒂圖片社提供
徐與魏京生是1979年中國各大城市爆發的民主牆運動領袖。兩人自1981年起皆遭判處逾十年監禁，徐文立囚禁於北京監獄，魏京生則關押於鄰近的河北省專門監獄。本人撰寫的徐文立首次入獄經歷，可參閱《囚犯001》(https://duihua.org/special-prisoner-01-2/)。
徐與魏因相同罪名——反革命罪——於同期遭拘捕並判處逾十年徒刑。出獄後魏赴美定居至今，徐則選擇留居中國。
兩人性格迥異。魏行事張揚，熱衷聚光燈下的生活，尤其享受在國會聽證會作證時獲得的關注。魏在1990年代初期與駐北京的外籍記者關係極佳。相較之下，徐則沉靜內斂。身為嚴謹的知識分子，他著有政治學專書，從未在國會作證。憑藉其學術造詣與演說才能，徐於2002年結束第二次監禁抵達美國後，獲布朗大學邀請任教。
第二次監禁
1997年，中國全國人民代表大會修訂了《刑法》與《刑事訴訟法》。刑法中刪除了顛覆國家政權罪，新增了危害國家安全罪與利用邪教破壞法律實施罪。司法改革似乎正在推進。
1998年6月，美國總統比爾·柯林頓訪華，先後造訪北京、上海及香港。
克林頓總統與江澤民主席舉行聯合記者會時，克林頓曾對江澤民表示應與達賴喇嘛會面。他亦提及《刑法》中刪除顛覆罪之舉措，並建議釋放因該罪名服刑者——此提案實為本人於克林頓訪華前向白宮提出之建議。該聯合記者會引發西方媒體高度關注。
對改革派而言不幸的是，中國政治局保守派成員及高級軍事領導人密切關注兩國領導人的發言，並對江澤民未予反駁感到憤怒——尤其針對「江澤民將與達賴喇嘛會晤」的暗示。
克林頓離開中國處理國內問題（特別是莫妮卡·萊溫斯基醜聞）後不久，
杭州活動人士王有才（https://duihua.org/statement-on-the-medical-parole-of-wang-youcai/）試圖成立中國民主黨浙江分部。其申請雖未獲批准，但北京當局很快察覺此事。江澤民下令當局將萌芽中的民主運動扼殺於萌芽狀態。王有才於1998年11月30日遭拘留，其後以顛覆罪判處11年有期徒刑。
王有才被捕前三日，中國簽署了《聯合國公民權利和政治權利國際公約》（ICCPR）。該公約確立了組建政黨的權利。（儘管中國於1998年簽署ICCPR，但全國人民代表大會至今仍未批准該公約。）
1998年11月9日，徐文立與查建國、劉世遵、高洪明、何德普等人共同宣布成立中國民主黨北京-天津支部（https://duihua.org/unrepentant-zha-jianguo-and-the-china-democracy-party/）。三週後的11月30日，徐文立遭拘留。
同時期參與政黨登記的其他人士亦被拘捕。徐文立其後被判處十三年有期徒刑及三年剝奪政治權利，
並被押往延慶監獄服刑
北京市第一中級人民法院於1998年12月以顛覆國家政權罪判處徐有期徒刑。圖片來源：
百度百科。
正如徐先生首次入獄時那樣，旅港人權捍衛者羅賓·蒙羅鼓勵我為徐先生爭取特赦。羅先生於2021年在台辭世，生前任職於人權觀察組織香港辦事處，負責中國事務研究。早在徐先生1981年被捕前，羅先生便在北京與他相識，兩人迅速成為摯友。
與中國政府的對話
我個人工作——以及1999年後對華援助協會的工作——的獨特之處，在於能夠就人權議題及囚犯待遇問題與中國政府展開對話。這項工作既包含面對面會晤，也涉及向中國政府各部委提交名單。名單提交方式包括直接遞交及透過合作夥伴政府轉交。在徐文立第二次入獄期間，我們提交了八份名單，並獲得中國政府七次回應。
在翻閱與中方對話者的會談筆記時，我注意到中方多次提及徐的惡劣態度，以及由此導致他難以提前獲釋的結論。對方否認徐健康狀況不佳，堅稱「他相當健康」。
通常由我主動要求面談，但至少有一次官員意外地提出會面。2002年11月1日晚間，一位高階官員來到我在北京的旅館。他穿著休閒服裝，想討論房地產商機。談話最終轉向徐文立案。該官員透露，內部已同意的釋放方案遭遇阻礙，主因涉及胡錦濤接任中國共產黨總書記的國內政治考量。部分保守派施壓要求胡錦濤不得再釋放政治犯，但最終其反對意見被壓制。
與美國政府的對話
2021年1月上任的喬治·W·布希政府積極推動兩名維吾爾人權活動家的釋放事宜：企業家兼人道主義者熱比婭·卡德爾（https://duihua.org/the-persecution-of-rebiya-kadeer/）與徐文立。布希總統委派兩位美國官員協助此事——其舊友、駐華大使克拉克·「桑迪」·蘭特（https://duihua.org/olympics/）以及國務院民主、人權與勞工事務助理國務卿洛恩·克雷納。兩位官員均請求我提供協助。
駐華大使克拉克·「桑迪」·蘭特（https://duihua.org/olympics/）及國務院民主、人權與勞工事務助理國務卿洛恩·克雷納。兩位官員皆曾向我尋求協助。
與其他政府的對話
為避免遭受制裁，北京自1990年代起開始與其他政府展開人權對話。1998年徐文立與王有才被捕時，除美國外，中國正與另外七國進行人權對話。對華援助協會協助其中數國編製囚犯名單並提出討論議題，徐文立在兩項工作中均扮演重要角色。
與非政府組織的互動
總的來說，我與人權和持不同政見者社群就徐文立案的互動很好。 到目前為止，最有幫助的是Robin Munro。1990年至1999年，他主管了人權觀察在香港的辦事處。 我們的辦公室相處不到一百碼，我們經常見面。 他向我介紹了這個案子，並催促我和我的中國對話者進行干預。
雖然Munro支援我的工作，但我們在Xu案和其他許多案件上的合作激怒了人權界和商業界，其成員玩弄了譴責我的想法。 俗話說，「如果雙方都譴責你，你一定做對了！」
我與挪威政府的牢固關係加強了與大赦國際的合作。 大赦國際挪威分會在2003年發表的一篇報道中記錄了徐的案件，以及我在他第一次和第二次監禁期間協助他的作用。
媒體報導
對華援助協會於聖誕夜發布新聞聲明（https://duihua.org/statement-on-the-release-of-xu-wenli/）宣布徐文立獲釋消息。聲明發布前，協會已立即致電徐瑾及美國駐北京大使館。媒體報導相當廣泛。中國當局對中國民主黨及其領袖徐文立、王有才（https://duihua.org/statement-on-the-medical-parole-of-wang-youcai/）的打壓行動早已引發媒體高度關注，記者們因此擁有大量可供報導的素材。
徐文立2015年造訪對華的舊金山辦公室。圖片來源：對華
後續發展
獲釋後，徐文立曾三度造訪我在舊金山的辦公室。我們合影留念，共進午餐。有時他會帶著妻子賀信彤，以及王希哲、王丹等前政治犯同行。
（以上中文，機器翻譯）
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英文版本
Home for Christmas
https://duihua.org/home-for-christmas/
Chinese dissident and pro-democracy activist Xu Wenli prepares to speak to reporters before a press conference, 27 January 2003, in Washington DC, with his daughter Xu Jin (C) and Wife He Xintong (L). Photo by JOYCE NALTCHAYAN/AFP via Getty Images
It is not uncommon for China’s judicial authorities to exercise clemency on the occasion of holidays and festivals. Mark Swidan, Kai Li, and John Leung were released on Thanksgiving Day, 2024. American citizen Jude Shao was released two days before American Independence Day, 2008. Prisoners, political and religious as well as others, are often shown clemency in the run-up to China’s Spring Festival. Amnesties have been called to commemorate important dates.
For me, the most poignant holiday release was that of veteran activist Xu Wenli (徐文立).
On the way to the U.S.
At 1:15 AM on December 24, 2002, I received a phone call from an official who worked for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). It was the early hours of Christmas Eve. Xu Wenli, leader of the China Democracy Party, had been released and was on his way to the United States.
I was asleep on the couch of my office in San Francisco. I had been expecting the call. The State Council Information Office (SCIO) was hoping to make the morning editions of American newspapers. This release, together with the release of the Tibetan filmmaker Ngawang Choephel and the Tibetan teacher Takna Jigme Sangpo earlier in 2002, was part of the charm offensive launched by Chinese President Jiang Zemin to cozy up to the United States in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington.
As soon as the conversation with the MFA official ended, I called two people: Xu Wenli’s daughter in the U.S., Xu Jin, and Mark Lambert at the American Embassy in Beijing. Mark was the human rights officer at the embassy. He would go on the play a leading role in shaping U.S. policy towards China in the Biden administration.
Xu Wenli served two terms in prison for his political activism. The first imprisonment took place between April 1981 and May 1993 (he was released on parole in late May). The second jailing took place between November 1998 and December 2002 (he was released on medical parole on Christmas Eve.)
Xu’s release in 1993 was widely covered by international media.
Xu, with Wei Jingsheng, were leaders of the Democracy Wall Movement that erupted in major Chinese cities in 1979. Both men wound up serving more than 10 years in prison beginning in 1981. Xu in a Beijing prison, Wei in a specialized facility in neighboring Hebei Province. An account of Xu’s first imprisonment, written by me, can be found in “Prisoner 001.”
Xu and Wei were detained around the same time and sentenced for the same crime, counterrevolution. After their release, Wei went to the U.S., where he lives today, while Xu elected to stay in China.
The two men are very different. Wei is brash. He enjoys the limelight and especially likes the attention he gets from testifying at congressional hearings. Wei had excellent relations with Beijing-based foreign journalists in the early 1990s.
Xu, by contrast, is quiet and reserved. He is a serious intellectual who has authored books on political science. He has never testified before Congress. Reflecting his intellect and speaking abilities, Xu was invited to teach at Brown University upon his arrival in the U.S. after his second imprisonment ended in 2002.
Second Imprisonment
In 1997, China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) amended the country’s Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure Law. The crime of counterrevolution was removed from the Criminal Law and the crimes of endangering state security and using a cult to undermine implementation of the law were added. Judicial reform seemed to be underway.
In June 1998, U.S. President Bill Clinton traveled to China, visiting Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. President Clinton and President Jiang held a joint news conference in which Clinton told Jiang he should meet the Dalai Lama. He also referenced the removal of counterrevolution from the Criminal Law and recommended releasing those who were in prison serving sentences for this crime, a proposal I had put forward to the White House before his departure for China. The joint press conference received a great deal of attention from the Western media.
Unfortunately for the reform movement, conservative members of China’s Politburo as well as senior military leaders paid close attention to what was said by the two leaders and were furious that Jiang didn’t push back, especially on the suggestion that Jiang would enjoy the company of the Dalai Lama.
Right after Clinton left China to attend to domestic problems (notably the Monica Lewinsky scandal), a Hangzhou activist by the name of Wang Youcai tried to establish the Zhejiang Branch of the China Democracy Party (CDP), His application got nowhere, but Beijing soon caught wind of what was going on. Jiang Zemin ordered the authorities to nip the nascent democracy movement in the bud. Wang Youcai was detained on October 8, 1998, and subsequently sentenced to 11 years in prison for the crime of subversion.
Three days before Wang was detained, China signed the United Nations Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The convention establishes the right to form political parties. (Although it signed the ICCPR in 1998, China’s NPC has yet to ratify it.)
On November 9, 1998, Xu Wenli and fellow activists, including He Depu (何德普), Gao Hongming (高洪明), Lü Shizhun (刘世遵), and Zha Jianguo (查建国), announced the establishment of the CDP Beijing-Tianjin Branch. Three weeks later, on November 30, Xu was detained. Around the same time, the fellow activists who joined him in the attempt to register the party were also detained. Xu was subsequently sentenced to 13 years in prison and three years deprivation of political rights. He was sent to Yanqing Prison to serve his sentence.
Beijing Number One Intermediate People’s Court convicted Xu of Subversion in December 1998. Image source: Baidu Baike.
As he did during Xu’s first term in prison, Hong Kong-based human rights champion Robin Munro encouraged me to seek clemency for Xu. Munro, who passed away in Taiwan in 2021, was Human Rights Watch’s China researcher in Hong Kong. He had gotten to know Xu in Beijing well before his arrest in 1981. They became fast friends.
By the time I took up Xu’s case, for the second time, in 1998, I had been intervening on behalf of Chinese political and religious prisoners for more than eight years. I had developed a modus operandi of interactions and dialogues used to work with different parties in an intervention. In the coming years I was to deploy this M.O. in hundreds of cases.
Interactions with Family Members
Gaining the trust of the prisoner’s family is vital. The trust I gained during Xu’s first imprisonment carried over to the second imprisonment.
Especially valuable was the help I received from Xu’s daughter, Xu Jin, who had relocated to the U.S. In July 2001, Xu Jin sent me the results of her father’s medical tests. The information informed the application for Xu Wenli’s medical parole, which was eventually granted.
Dialogue with the Chinese Government
What distinguishes my work—and, after 1999, the work of Dui Hua—is the ability to engage the Chinese government in a dialogue on human rights and the treatment of prisoners. This work entails both face-to-face meetings and submission of lists to Chinese government ministries. Lists are submitted directly and through governments with whom we work. During the term of Xu’s second imprisonment, we submitted eight lists and received seven responses from the Chinese government.
In reviewing notes from my meetings with my Chinese interlocutors, I am struck by the references to Xu’s bad attitude and, resulting from that, the unlikeliness of his early release from prison. They denied that Xu was in poor health. “He’s quite healthy,” they claimed.
I usually was the one to seek in-person meetings, but on at least one occasion, an official unexpectedly asked to see me. On the evening of November 1, 2002, a senior official came to my hotel in Beijing. He was dressed casually and wanted to discuss real estate opportunities. We eventually got around to discussing Xu Wenli. He advised me that Xu’s release, already agreed to internally, had hit a roadblock, mostly for domestic political reasons having to do with the selection of Hu Jintao as Secretary General of the Chinese Communist Party. Some conservatives were pressing Hu not to release any more political prisoners. Their opposition was eventually overcome.
Dialogue with the U.S. Government
The administration of George W. Bush, who took office in January 2001, actively worked to secure the release of two activists: Uyghur entrepreneur and humanitarian Rebiya Kadeer and Xu Wenli. President Bush relied on two American officials, his old friend Ambassador to China Clark “Sandy” Randt, and Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Rights and Labor Lorne Craner. Both men asked for my assistance.
Dialogues with Other Governments
In an effort to ward off sanctions, Beijing began holding human rights dialogues with other governments in the 1990s. In addition to the U.S., China was discussing human rights with seven other countries at the time of Xu Wenli’s and Wang Youcai’s arrest in 1998. Dui Hua assisted several of these by composing prisoner lists and proposing topics for discussion. Xu figured prominently in both.
Interactions with NGOs
On the whole, my interactions on the Xu Wenli case with the human rights and dissident communities were good. By far the most helpful was Robin Munro. He headed the Human Rights Watch office in Hong Kong from 1990 to 1999. Our offices were within a hundred yards of each other, and we met frequently. He introduced me to the case, and pressed me to intervene with my Chinese interlocutors.
While Munro supported my work, our collaboration on the Xu case and many others outraged both the human rights community and the business community, members of which toyed with the idea of denouncing me. As the saying goes,”If both sides condemn you, you must be doing something right!”
Cooperation with Amnesty International was enhanced by my strong relationship with the Norwegian government. Amnesty’s Norwegian branch chronicled Xu’s case and my role in assisting him during his first and second imprisonments in an account published in 2003.
Media Coverage
Dui Hua announced Xu’s Christmas Eve release in a press statement issued immediately after calling Xu Jin and the American Embassy in Beijing. Media coverage was extensive. China’s actions against the CDP and its leaders, Xu Wenli and Wang Youcai, had garnered much media attention, so journalists had plenty of material to work with.
Xu‘s visit to Dui Hua’s San Francisco office in 2015. Image source: Dui Hua
Aftermath
After his release, Xu came to San Francisco to see me at my office. He visited three times. We posed for photographs and enjoyed lunches. Xu was accompanied, on occasion, by his wife, He Xintong, and former political prisoners including Wang Xizhe and Wang Dan.
Inscription by Xu Wenli to Kamm, in his book, “A Theoretical Inquiry into the Rational Structure of Human Society”, thanking Dui Hua’s and Kamm’s contribution to China’s democracy movement.
Now 82 years old, Xu remains active. He lives with his family in Providence, Rhode Island and is a senior research fellow emeritus at Brown University. In January 2024, he donated his papers to Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. His legacy as a champion of human rights and democracy is secure.
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Subversion, Period 2: 1990-1999, Period 3: 2000-present, Endangering State Security/Counterrevolution
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