{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://web.archive.org/web/20131123005243/http://wolf.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=34&itemid=2324", "Wolf Renews Call For Secretary Kerry To Meet With Wife Of Chinese Dissident Gao Zhisheng", "2013-10-30", "2013", "2013-10", "Republican", "House", "VA", "Frank Wolf", "W000672", "web.archive.org", null, null, "legacy", "Contact: Jill Shatzen  \n\t(202) 225-5136\n\n\tWOLF RENEWS CALL FOR SECRETARY KERRY\n\tTO MEET WITH THE WIFE OF CHINESE DISSIDENT GAO ZHISHENG\n\tUrges an Elevation of Human Rights, Religious Freedom in Bilateral Relations with China\n\n\tWashington, D.C. (October 30, 2013) \u2013 Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), co-chairman of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, yesterday renewed his call for Secretary of State John Kerry to meet with the wife of imprisoned Chinese dissident Gao Zhisheng, a respected human rights lawyer.\n\n\tIn a letter to Kerry, Wolf, who last year \u201cadopted\u201d Gao as part of the Defending Freedoms Project, an initiative launched by the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission in conjunction with Amnesty International and the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom,pointed to a recent piece in the Washington Post that similarly calls for high-ranking U.S. officialsto meet with Chinese dissidents and their families who \u201ccan speak with unique authority about the persecution they continue to face in China.\u201d\n\n\tThe opinion piece, written by Jared Genser, whose Freedom Now legal advocacy organization provides pro bono representation to several Chinese dissidents in their families, including Chen Guangcheng, Gao Zhisheng and Liu Xiaobo, argues that a meeting with Kerry and President Obama would \u201cin particular, make clear that the United States views human rights as a central component to its foreign policy.\u201d\n\n\tWolf renewed his call for a meeting with Gao\u2019s wife as well as Chen Guangcheng and other prominent dissidents and their families \u201cthereby elevating human rights and religious freedom in our bilateral relations with China, and restoring hope to the thousands who suffer daily under house arrest and unjust imprisonment.\u201d\n\n\tWolf previously wrote Kerry last February urging that he meet with Gao\u2019s wife, and then later joined with several House members, including House Speaker John Boehner and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, in writing a separate letter in May about Chen Guangcheng\u2019s case, which echoed a similar request for a meeting.\u00a0\n\n\tTo read more about Wolf\u2019s work on this topic, click here.\n\n\tThe full text of the letter is below.\n\n\tThe Honorable John Kerry\n\tSecretary of State\n\t2201 C St NW Ste 7276\n\tWashington DC 20520\n\n\tDear Secretary Kerry:\n\n\tI again write to you regarding the case of imprisoned Chinese dissident Gao Zhisheng, who I \u201cadopted\u201d last December as part of the Defending Freedoms Project, an initiative launched by the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission in conjunction with Amnesty International and the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.\n\n\tOn February 15, 2013, I sent you a letter urging you to \u201cpublicly and privately raise the case of Gao Zhisheng \u2013 a man who has suffered greatly at the hands of his own government solely for proclaiming his Christian faith and defending the persecuted.\u201d\u00a0 I also encouraged you to meet with Gao\u2019s wife, Geng He, \u201cwho now resides in the U.S., to hear first-hand the suffering that her husband and family have endured over several years.\u201d\u00a0 I concluded, \u201cIt is painfully clear that our current approach to China is not working.\u00a0 Quiet diplomacy, whereby grave human rights and religious freedom abuses are reportedly discussed in private meetings but rarely, if ever, raised publicly, has not yielded results and has in fact emboldened the oppressors.\u201d\u00a0 This remains true today.\n\n\tJared Genser, founder of Freedom Now, which provides pro bono counsel to the families of several prominent Chinese dissidents, including Gao, authored a piece in the Washington Post on October 27 which plainly states that Beijing feels comfortable \u201cflouting its legal obligations to its own people\u201d and \u201clying to the international community.\u201d Genser concluded, and I couldn\u2019t agree more, that \u201c\u2026continued inattention only breeds more persecution, a new strategy is desperately needed.\u201d\u00a0 The complete op-ed is enclosed, but among the recommendations that Genser makes is for \u201c\u2026the U.S. administration to meet with Chinese dissidents and their families who can speak with unique authority about the persecution they continue to face in China. Meetings with President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry, in particular, make clear that the United States views human rights as a central component of its foreign policy.\u201d\n\n\tTo my knowledge, more than eight months after my initial correspondence, you have failed to meet with Geng He.\u00a0 In a separate letter in May I joined with several other Members of the House, including Speaker John Boehner and Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, in urging you to meetwith Chen Guangcheng and his wife, Yuan Weijing.\u00a0 This request too fell on deaf ears.\u00a0 As such, I renew this call in the hopes that such a meeting with prominent dissidents and their family members would take place in the very near future, thereby elevating human rights and religious freedom in our bilateral relations with China, and restoring hope to the thousands who suffer daily under house arrest and unjust imprisonment. Such a meeting would be especially timely given China\u2019s pursuit of a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council this November \u2013 yet another mockery of the council\u2019s stated mission.\n\n\tBest wishes.\n\n\t\u00a0\n\n\t\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sincerely,\n\n\t\u00a0\n\n\t\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\n\n\t\u00a0\n\n\t\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Frank R. Wolf\n\n\t\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Member of Congress", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://web.archive.org/web/20131123005243/http://wolf.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=34&itemid=2324"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.786317978054285, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}