August 27, 2020
A blind Chinese dissident, Chen Guangcheng officially endorsed President Trump for reelection and condemned the “tyranny” of the Chinese Communist Party during his speech on the third night of the Republican National Convention.
“Standing up to tyranny is not easy. I Know. When I spoke out against China’s one-child policy and other injustices, I was persecuted, beaten, and put under house arrest by the government,” Chen spoke.
“The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is an enemy of humanity. It is terrorizing its own people and it is threatening the well-being of the world,” Chen added.
Chen was a human rights activist in China who advocated for the rights of working-class women and filed a class-action lawsuit against the CCP for their one-child policy through forced late-term abortions and sterilizations back in 2005, according to The Guardian.
The human rights activist spent time in and out of prison for several years, before being forced into house arrest back in 2010. However, Chen eventually escaped house arrest in 2012 by scaling the walls and feeling his way through fields of farmland with a broken foot.
He was given refuge at the US embassy in Beijing and became the center of a diplomatic crisis between China and the US before he was eventually allowed to leave China, reported The Guardian.
“I am forever grateful to the American people for welcoming me and my family to the United States where we are now free,” Chen said on Wednesday.
“The US must use its values of freedom, democracy, and the rule of law, to gather a coalition of other democracies to stop China’s aggression,” Chen continued. “President Trump has led on this and we need the other countries to join him in this fight.”
The Obama administration’s weak stance on China has allowed it to rise to power at an astronomical rate during his presidency.
According to Forbes, Joe Biden promises he would end all tariffs on imports from China. Further detailing on what Biden meant, his aide later asserted to Forbes the former-vice president “would reevaluate the tariffs upon taking office.”
Feature Image via 2020 Republican National Convention