A Chinese soldier and his dog walked past a picture of former Chinese leader Mao Zedong, right, and North Korea’s late leader Kim Il Sung, displayed on the Hekou Broken Bridge, which once connected China and North Korea before it was bombed by the U.S. during the Korean War.
Wang Xiuying
Nearly deaf and close to blind, a veteran Beijing protester who was sentenced to re-education through labor in her late 70s, Wang Xiuying, now in her 80s, seems an unlikely threat to China’s secretive bond with North Korea.
But she wants to know how much aid the Chinese government gives its neighbor, and she went to court to demand an answer.
None came.
As reported on Thursday by The Southern Metropolitan Daily, a feisty newspaper published in southern China, Ms. Wang tried to sue the Chinese Ministry of Finance to demand that it reveal to citizens how much help the government gives North Korea, which depends heavily on China for food, energy and diplomatic backing.
None came.
As reported on Thursday by The Southern Metropolitan Daily, a feisty newspaper published in southern China, Ms. Wang tried to sue the Chinese Ministry of Finance to demand that it reveal to citizens how much help the government gives North Korea, which depends heavily on China for food, energy and diplomatic backing.
Like quite a few Chinese citizens, Ms. Wang would prefer that more of the revenue being spent on foreign aid be diverted to domestic needs, including on poor people such as herself.
“They don’t take care of us hard-up folks, but they go and support North Korea,” Ms. Wang told the newspaper.
“They don’t take care of us hard-up folks, but they go and support North Korea,” Ms. Wang told the newspaper.
“Nobody knows how the ordinary folks’ money is spent,” she added.
To judge from the report, Ms. Wang is not motivated by ire over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program – the usual reasons that many foreign governments want China to distance itself from the North.
In fact, to judge from the report, Ms. Wang may not know much at all about North Korea.
“The old lady might not understand where North Korea is,” said Li Xuehui, a former neighbor who had the idea to sue the Finance Ministry.
To judge from the report, Ms. Wang is not motivated by ire over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program – the usual reasons that many foreign governments want China to distance itself from the North.
In fact, to judge from the report, Ms. Wang may not know much at all about North Korea.
“The old lady might not understand where North Korea is,” said Li Xuehui, a former neighbor who had the idea to sue the Finance Ministry.
Mr. Li also helps reporters by shouting their questions into Ms. Wang’s failing ears.
Mr. Li admitted candidly that the suit was intended to draw public attention to their demands for more compensation for their demolished homes.
Ms. Wang applied to the ministry in December to find out how much aid China gave North Korea in 2011 and 2012, Caixin business magazine reported on its Web site earlier this month.
Ms. Wang applied to the ministry in December to find out how much aid China gave North Korea in 2011 and 2012, Caixin business magazine reported on its Web site earlier this month.
The ministry replied that such information was a state secret and could not be disclosed.
Ms. Wang then took her demand to an administrative review panel and then a court.
Initially, the Beijing First Intermediate People’s Court scheduled a hearing for Oct. 8.
Initially, the Beijing First Intermediate People’s Court scheduled a hearing for Oct. 8.
But then it postponed the hearing and later told Ms. Wang that her suit would not be accepted.
Ms. Wang’s challenge was always unlikely to succeed.
Ms. Wang’s challenge was always unlikely to succeed.
Few citizens’ legal petitions for government information are heeded, and few diplomatic subjects are more sensitive to the Chinese government than its aid to North Korea.
But Ms. Wang could prove to be a persistent foe.
But Ms. Wang could prove to be a persistent foe.
Over the past dozen years, she has been forced to move on several occasions after her longtime home was demolished, and she has repeatedly protested and petitioned for more compensation and better treatment.
In 2008, she and another elderly woman were sentenced to a year of re-education through labor as a punishment for unfurling a protest banner on Tiananmen Square and setting off firecrackers near Zhongnanhai, the walled compound in central Beijing where the Communist Party has its headquarters.
In 2008, she and another elderly woman were sentenced to a year of re-education through labor as a punishment for unfurling a protest banner on Tiananmen Square and setting off firecrackers near Zhongnanhai, the walled compound in central Beijing where the Communist Party has its headquarters.
Ms. Wang was allowed to serve her sentence at home, under police guard, but the authorities rescinded the sentence after 12 days, following media reports about the case.
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