Historical recovery status: Verified Mirror Recovery. Originally dated June 19, 1998. Restored to the FreeChina.live historical web archive on September 12, 2026.
Historical source: A surviving FreeChina.net-era mirror preserves a Free China Movement statement dated June 19, 1998.
Recovered historical record
The statement supported an appeal signed by 56 dissidents in China asking President Bill Clinton to meet Xu Wenli during his China visit. It described the signatories as including former political and religious prisoners and framed the appeal as a major open dissident action since the 1989 crackdown.
The statement warned against further persecution of peaceful dissidents and called on Clinton to meet representatives of the Chinese democratic opposition. Shengde Lian, Wang Xizhe, and Joel Segal were identified as Free China Movement spokespeople.
Provenance
- Original date: June 19, 1998
- Mirror URL: https://chinadp.tripod.com/pr/pr619.html
- Historical domain shown by source: http://www.freechina.net/
- Recovery classification: Verified Mirror Recovery
- Recovery date: September 12, 2026
Archival note: This reconstruction preserves the historical claims and context of the original release while distinguishing them from present-day reporting.