Beijing - China's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday defended its refusal to allow author Liao Yiwu to travel to German for the Cologne literature festival, saying it was only applying national law. Asked why the ministry rejected Liao's application, spokesman Qin Gang said, "Chinese relevant departments censor the Chinese citizens' applications of entering and leaving the territory according to the exit and entry laws of the People's Republic of China."
The comments came one day after German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle criticized the refusal to let Liao travel. Chinese authorities gave no further explanation for the decision.
Qin stressed that Chinese citizens enjoyed freedom to travel.
"We hope that relevant countries respect China's acting according to its laws," he said.
Liao was on his way to the festival, set to run from March 10 to 20, when he was removed from the plane before takeoff in the south-western town of Chengdu on Monday. He is reportedly under house arrest.
Last autumn, he was refused permission to travel to the Frankfurt book fair, at which China was guest of honor.
His book The Corpse Walker: Real Life Stories: China From the Bottom Up was published in the West last year after being banned in China. He wrote it from interviews with toilet cleaners, prostitutes, older monks, political prisoners and street artists.
The writer was imprisoned for four years beginning in 1990 after he published the poem Massacre in 1989 about the bloody crackdown that year on pro-democracy demonstrations, which were centered in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.
Since then, Liao has been on a blacklist and not allowed to publish in China.
Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/312074,china-defends-ban-of-authors-trip-to-german-literature-festival.html.
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