China Stir Ahead of Frankfurt Book Fair

First, the environmental activist Dai Qing and poet Bei Ling had been invited to attend the symposium ahead of the Frankfurt Book Fair. But then Beijing complained and threatened to withdraw its official delegation. So, the two dissidents were “uninvited”.

However, this provoked outrage in Germany. Writers and politicians alike said the organisers were succumbing to Chinese government censorship.

In the end, the writers’ association PEN Germany said it would pay for Dai Qing’s trip to Frankfurt. Bei Ling decided to foot his own bill.

Both were picked up at the airport as official guests.

“Freedom of the word”

The festival director Jürgen Boos insisted that China was an important partner but that dialogue was necessary. “The contents of the Frankfurt Book Fair cannot be controlled. The fair’s credo is ‘freedom of the word.’”

The symposium opened on Saturday and the delegation listened quietly as Jürgen Boos outlined what had happened over the previous few days. He admitted mistakes had been made.

Communication with Dai Qing and Bei Ling as well as with the writer’s association PEN Germany had been wanting, he said.

He was succeeded on stage by Frankfurt’s mayor Petra Roth, who welcomed the dissidents in an impassioned appeal for the freedom of speech.

Chinese delegation walks out

This is when the situation turned. The Chinese delegation stood up and left the room when it heard that Dai Qing and Bei Ling would now be given the chance to present their statements.

This was not part of the official schedule. There was a moment of suspense, some hectic behind-the-scenes negotiations.

Eventually, Jürgen Boos appeared on stage and apologised: “I understand that our partner and co-organiser was annoyed that we changed the programme without consulting him,” he said.

“I explained that the public in Germany has a right to be informed about the discussion that has taken place this week and the mistakes we have perhaps made. Mr Wiesner from PEN Germany and I changed the schedule earlier. But we did this without talking to our partner because there was no time. So, I have to apologise to my partner that I didn’t speak to him.”

Times for lessons in democracy are over

His partner, Mei Zhaorong, the head of the Chinese delegation and the former ambassador to Germany returned to the room with his colleagues. But he was angry. He said that they had not come for a lesson in democracy and those times were over.

“The Chinese delegation left the room in protest because we felt as if we had been treated very unfairly. We were invited to this symposium to hold an equal dialogue so that mutual understanding between the two sides can be improved and, as it says in the brochure, to overcome misunderstandings and one-sided prejudices,” he said.

Moreover, he added that the dissidents did not represent the views of the 1.3 billion Chinese.

The dissidents, who did not pretend to represent the views of all their fellow citizens, argued simply that everybody should have the right to free expression. They were angry with the delegation for leaving the room.

After all the palaver, the symposium continued on a reasonably peaceful note. The members of the delegation spoke with the dissidents. The official delegation thus showed itself to be willing to sit in the same room as its critics.

Observers think that this dialogue is a good sign ahead of the book fair that opens one month from now.

Author: Anne Thomas
Editor: Thomas Bärthlein