魏京生受邀參加在比利時的歐洲議會大會並就經濟危機問題講話
Wei Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A430-W237
魏京生基金會新聞與文章發布號：A430-W237
Release Date: December 13, 2008
發布日：2008年12月13日
Topic: WEI Jingsheng Attends a Conference by the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) Group of the European Parliament and Gives Speech on the Economic Crisis
標題：魏京生先生受邀參加在比利時首都布魯塞爾舉行的歐洲議會自由和民主聯盟的大會並就當前的經濟危機問題講話
Original Language Version: Chinese (Chinese version at the end)
此號以中文為準（英文在前，中文在後）
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WEI Jingsheng Attends a Conference by the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) Group of the European Parliament and Gives Speech on the Economic Crisis
From December 11 to 13, 2008, both WEI Jingsheng and HUANG Ciping were invited to attend meetings in the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium. During the period, both Wei and Huang also met with various people of different ranks from dozens of countries. They were also invited to a lunch at the members' diner that was hosted by the European Parliament members Marco Cappato and Marco Pannella of the Transnational Radical Party.
On December 12, 2008, Wei Jingsheng delivered his speech at "Satyagraha for Secularism and Rule of the Law", a conference by the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) group of the European Parliament. More than 100 attended the conference. In his speech, Wei Jingsheng pointed out that the current economic crisis has its roots in China, especially due to the trade deficit. The following is excerpted from his speech.
"In the current world, everyone is talking about the economic crisis, so when we talk about human rights, people think we are not in coordination with them. In reality, these topics are closely tied. From the day I arrived in the USA a decade ago, I tried to point out that human rights in China, especially the Chinese workers' rights issue, is closely tied to the interest of the whole world. Unfortunately, while people such as those in the AFL-CIO agreed with me, they did nothing. Now, as this huge economic crisis is going on, many people have realized that this crisis has its root of the accumulated trade deficit with China year after another year. This deficit empties Western economy.
Several years ago, scholars and economists questioned as why there was this problem under "free trade". Unfortunately, that is because they were under the wrong assumption of the word "free". The relationship between the West and China was never "fair trade", under this word "free". What the West gave China is a normal open market, yet what the Chinese Communist government offered back was an abnormal and deformed market. Chinese workers have no rights to guarantee their reasonable pay. So their wages were pushed to the very minimum. Thus the West investment flew into China, while cheap goods from China flew back to the West. This kind of trade is unbalanced. This trade is unfair. This trade is exactly lacking in human rights.
Recently, I have been in Washington, in Paris, in Berlin, and we have all talked about this problem. If we do not solve this trade deficit, I am afraid that the West cannot get over this obstacle of economic crisis. Americans want to solve their economic crisis by taking so many billions dollars to save their banks, but that is not a fundamental way to solve this economic crisis. It is really taking the money out of their right pocket and putting it into their left pocket. To solve this problem in a long term, you must solve the trade imbalance problem. How to make the balance then? The trade protectionism could only achieve a short-term goal.
To solve this problem in a long term, you must expand the Chinese market. Everyone complains that the Chinese market is too small for them. How about working to increase the market? You must increase the wages for the Chinese workers so they are able to afford to buy. Half of the trade imbalance is with China, which has a lot to do with the Chinese market. Chinese workers' wages are forced so low, so the consumers market in China is expanding only very slowly.
Where does the money go from this huge trade deficit? It went to the pockets of the big business and corrupted officials of the Chinese Communists. China has received a lot of profit from this trade imbalance. Unfortunately, this huge sum of money was neither used to improve the Chinese economy, or expand the Chinese market. This is the root and long-term problem of the trade deficit.
As I was talking to people in Washington, Berlin and Paris, I felt the political circles in these places are trying to think of a way to solve the trade deficit. If we do not solve these problems, then small and medium sized business in Europe will continuously go bankrupt, and the European unemployment will keep going up, while the trade deficit will keep going up. Maybe we should take some measures to stop the Chinese government from dumping their cheap goods in Europe and America. I have noticed some actions have been taken accordingly. But there is a big resistance in Europe and America and it has produced limited effect.
On the other side, to expand the Chinese market and improve the Chinese workers' life could be the long-term solution to solve this trade deficit problem, thus the economic problem. Of course, European's problem cannot be solved solely by decisions by the government in Berlin or Rome, but it needs to be done under the frame of the European Union. So I wish when the European Union is thinking of how to solve this economic crisis, you will also think of how to improve workers' rights in China.
In the past, we have always said that there are close ties between the economy and political and human rights issues but the politicians did not like to hear it. But look now how this economic crisis exactly proves what we said was right, so we hope the politicians will listen more carefully this time. Let me repeat what I have said in the past one decade: Chinese workers' rights are closely related to Western workers' rights, so I hope that today people here will play an important role, and the Radical Party will play a leading role in Italy. This issue will be an important issue for everyone to discover. Because it seems the politicians in the West do not know how to solve this economic crisis in the best way. This could be the only way."
Related photos:
1. Wei Jingsheng Speaks at the European Parliament:
/news/data/uploadfile/200812/20081219144146721.webp
2. Member of the European Parliament Marco Cappato invited Wei and Huang for lunch (from left to right: WEI Jingsheng, HUANG Ciping, MEP Marco Cappato, Italian Senator Marco Perduca):
/news/data/uploadfile/200812/20081219144148162.webp
3. In the European Parliament:
/news/data/uploadfile/200812/20081219144149658.webp
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中文版
Wei Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A430-W237
魏京生基金會新聞與文章發布號：A430-W237
Release Date: December 13, 2008
發布日：2008年12月13日
Topic: WEI Jingsheng Attends a Conference by the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) Group of the European Parliament and Gives Speech on the Economic Crisis
標題：魏京生先生受邀參加在比利時首都布魯塞爾舉行的歐洲議會自由和民主聯盟的大會並就當前的經濟危機問題講話
Original Language Version: Chinese (Chinese version at the end)
此號以中文為準（英文在前，中文在後）
如有中文亂碼問題，請與我們聯繫或訪問:
http://www.weijingsheng.org/report/report2008/report2008-12/EuropeanParliamentALDE081213WeiJSspeechA430-W237.htm
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魏京生先生受邀參加在比利時首都布魯塞爾舉行的歐洲議會自由和民主聯盟的大會並就當前的經濟危機問題講話
2008年12月11日至13日，魏京生及黃慈萍受邀參加在比利時首都布魯塞爾舉行的歐洲議會自由和民主聯盟的大會。其間，他們與來自幾十個國家的各類人物會面並交談，並受歐洲議會議員馬寇﹒卡帕投（Marco Cappato）與馬寇﹒帕那拉（Marco Pannella）的邀請在歐洲議會的議員餐廳共進午餐。
2008年12月12日，魏京生先生在一百多人參加的歐洲議會自由和民主聯盟的大會上受邀發言。在他的講話中，魏先生指出目前的經濟危機的根源在中國，尤其嚴重的是與中國的貿易逆差。以下是他講話的大意。
「現在這個世界上大家都在談經濟危機，我們卻在談人權。這好像有點不協調。但其實這是很協調的。從十一年前我剛到美國，就開始談這個話題：就是中國人權，特別是工人的權利和言論自由的權利是和西方人的利益緊密聯繫在一起的。當時美國工會的頭頭們說，這樣說也對，但他們卻什麼也沒做。現在發生了嚴重經濟危機。在觀察這場經濟危機時，很多人開始發現，其實多年積累的貿易逆差，才是經濟危機的根本原因。為什麼有這樣嚴重的危機？許多人搞不清這樣的問題。這是因為貿易逆差在逐步地抽空西方的經濟。
好幾年以前，西方的政治家和學者都說：我們是在自由公平的貿易中，為什麼還出現這樣的問題？我認為這整個設計就是錯誤的，它的前提就是錯誤的。因為美國及歐洲與中國的關係並非公平貿易的關係。在這個「自由貿易」中，西方給中國的是一個正常的、自由的市場，而中共給西方的是一個不正常的、畸形的市場。中國的工人沒有權利來保障他們的工資，他們的工資被壓得非常低。所以西方的資本大量流入中國，而中國的廉價商品大量流往西方。因此，這樣的貿易是不平衡的貿易，這樣的貿易也不可能平衡。它的不平衡，恰恰是因為人權的不平衡。
最近我在華盛頓、巴黎、柏林和政治家談話的時候，大家都看到了這樣的一個問題。這個問題不解決，西方的經濟危機很難繞過去。美國人想的辦法，用多少多少錢來救銀行，這個辦法解決不了問題。這其實是從這個口袋裡拿出錢，裝到另一個口袋裡。從長期的觀點來看，要解決貿易的問題，就得先達到貿易的平衡。怎樣達到貿易平衡？靠貿易保護主義，只能達到短期的作用，卻起不到根本的作用。
要想長期解決這個問題，就必須擴大中國市場。所有的商人都抱怨，中國的市場太小。那麼如何擴大中國的市場？首先就應當保護中國工人的權利，提高他們的工資。因為這個貿易不平衡的一半問題出在中國，那是由中國的市場所決定的。中國工人的工資被壓得很低，因而其消費市場擴大的很慢。
那麼和西方貿易逆差的巨額利潤到了誰的口袋裡？到了西方的大企業和中國的大官僚的手裡。中國從對西方的貿易里獲得巨額利潤十幾年，但這個利潤並沒有用來擴大中國的市場，也沒有用來改進中國的經濟。這正是現在貿易逆差的根本和長期的問題。
我覺得目前的華盛頓、柏林和巴黎等首都都在考慮同一個問題：怎樣能改變這個貿易不平衡的狀況。如果不解決這個問題，那麼歐洲的中小型企業會繼續破產，失業會繼續增加。也許我們應當採取一些防治中國傾銷的政策，我注意到歐洲與美國已經在採取一些措施了。但這些做法阻力很大，收效甚小，也無助於改變目前歐洲的失業狀況。
我想從另一個方面，擴大中國的市場，保護中國工人的權益可能是比較長久的方式。當然歐洲的問題不可能在羅馬或柏林單獨解決，而需要在歐盟的框架中解決。所以我希望大家在考慮歐洲採取貿易平衡政策之時，也能充分考慮到中國工人的權利。
過去我們總在講，人權和經濟，和政治有緊密的關係，那些政治家總不愛聽。但現在的這個經濟危機恰恰證明我們是對的，所以我們應當提醒政治家們注意這些問題。我還要重複我十年前說過的話：中國工人的權利是和西方工人的利益聯繫在一起的。我今天來這裡，就是希望大家走在各國工人的最前列。因為這個問題很快就會成為大家共同關注的問題，政治家們也實在想不出什麼有效的辦法，這可能是唯一的辦法。」
相關照片：
1. 魏京生在歐洲議會裡演講：
/news/data/uploadfile/200812/20081219144146721.webp
2. 歐洲議會議員馬寇﹒卡帕投（Marco Cappato）邀請魏京生和黃慈萍在歐洲議會的議員餐廳共進午餐（從左至右：魏京生，黃慈萍，卡帕投議員，義大利參議員帕杜卡）:
/news/data/uploadfile/200812/20081219144148162.webp
3．歐洲議會主席台：
/news/data/uploadfile/200812/20081219144149658.webp
（魏京生基金會首發，請註明出處。）
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魏京生基金會及中國民主運動海外聯席會議以推動中國的人權與民主為己任。
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