Welcome address
to the first ICFTU China Working Party meeting
by Lee Cheuk-yan, HKCTU General Secretary

International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU)
Committee on Human and Trade Union Rights China Working Party
1st Meeting, Hong Kong, 14-15 March 2002


Welcome address
by
Lee Cheuk Yan
General Secretary
Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU)

Sisters and Brothers,

On behalf of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU) and our 58 affiliates, representing 151,600 members, we would like to welcome you to Hong Kong, China.

It is a challenging time to visit Hong Kong. Only a fortnight ago the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong SAR was re-appointed for a second 5-year term by an elite, non-elected 800-member electoral committee. This is despite the widespread popular demand for universal suffrage. At the same time the Government is using the HK$67 billion (US$8.6 billion) budget deficit (claiming it is a "structural" fiscal crisis) to justify a renewed attack on the public sector, while refusing to extend any form of social protection to working people. Meanwhile, the official unemployment rate has reached 6.7% - its highest point in three decades.

So these are indeed challenging times.

We are particularly pleased to welcome you here today because it is the 1st meeting of the China Working Party, and it is very appropriate that such a meeting be held in Hong Kong. It is an important expression of symbolic solidarity to workers in mainland China, while lending recognition to the importance of the struggle for worker and trade union rights in Hong Kong as part of the larger struggle in China. As such, we are faced with an important opportunity to turn this solidarity into something more tangible, something concrete.

Before reflecting on the agenda of the 1st China Working Party meeting, I would first like to comment on the relationship between the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong (of which the independent trade union movement is an integral part) and the struggle for democracy in mainland China.

Often criticism of the human and trade union rights situation in China is interpreted as "China bashing." Even criticism of overseas trade union cooperation with the ACFTU is seen as an expression of "anti-China" sentiment or "China bashing." I would like to correct this misperception. The struggle for democracy in China is not a struggle against China. The democracy movement in Hong Kong (to which HKCTU is deeply tied), has always identified itself as a patriotic democratic movement. (In Chinese we call this oi kwok, which has a broader, more progressive meaning.) This patriotism means we are deeply committed, from the heart, to the well-being of China as a nation and its people. But neither is this "patriotism" blind. It is very important to differentiate between those who support the people of China, and those who support the Government. These are two very, very different things.

Let us be clear, then. To demand democracy in China is not to be anti-China, but to oppose the authoritarian regime. As such this is an expression of real patriotism - of our deep commitment - to the plight of the working people of China.

For us, as people committed to democracy for China, we believe that freedom of association, freedom of expression and all fundamental human and trade union rights are not merely principles, but are essential tools with which the people of China will face the tremendous social, economic and political challenges of this day.

There is no doubt that under the impact of China's entry into the WTO, with rapidly rising unemployment and massive rural displacement, there will be increased rural and industrial protest. However, we must approach issues of social unrest or concerns for "social stability" with caution. The Chinese Communist Party and its organs of control have repeatedly warned of the threat to social stability. The call to preserve "social stability" and contain "social unrest" will be the main message of the Chinese government throughout this year, and in following years. While the growth of social unrest is very real, we should focus on the factors underlying social unrest, and express support for the struggle of working people to overcome these problems. To do so requires rights. That is, and should always be, our main focus. Concern for "social stability" leads too easily to repression of the right to protest, instead of resolving the causes of people's anger and frustration.

It is precisely because of these difficult challenges that we welcome the agenda of 1st China Working Party meeting - an agenda which encourages us to think through some of the most important issues facing working people in China today.

In doing so we look forward to a frank and open exchange. While we may have different interpretations, different views, and varying approaches, I believe we share a common agenda - to support the protection and advancement of human and trade union rights in China.

We hope that through a frank and honest discussion of these different views and approaches, including different short- and medium-term tactics, we may work together to build and consolidate a common, long-term strategy most appropriate for pursuing these goals.

As we look ahead to the future and think through a long-term strategy that builds on our common agenda, we must also look to the past. This year marks the 13th anniversary of the bloody repression of the workers' and students' pro-democracy movement in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989. But it is not only the repression we will commemorate. The aspirations and demands of the independent trade unions formed in the Spring of 1989 will be remembered and honoured. To encourage this we have launched a campaign called Workers Remember!

The purpose of remembering is not only to remind ourselves of the sacrifices made by workers in June 1989. We are also reminded of how relevant their demands and aspirations are today. Even as we speak some 50,000 workers from the Daqing Oilfield in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang have been staging mass street demonstrations since March 1. Only last week they declared the founding of an independent trade union. Such events pose important questions for us - how we can best extend our solidarity, what is our role, will we face our responsibility?

In attempting to define this role and fulfill our historical responsibility we are faced an important task over the next two days, and in the future work of the China Working Party.

Thank you.

Next> Union Action, March 2002: "Whose Voices? While the Beijing elite and HK billionaires re-appoint Tung Chee Hwa, another round of attacks on the public sector begins"