Slovakian Politician’s Gift Book Offends Chinese Embassy

Ondrej Dostal, a member of the National Council of Slovakia, caused a stir at the anniversary celebration of the CCP’s founding of the People’s Republic of China at Hotel Borik in Bratislava, Slovakia, on Sept. 28.

Dostal, who is also the vice president of the Human Rights Committee of the Slovak National Council, got thrown out by security after trying to hand the Chinese ambassador a book he didn’t want: “A China More Just,” by disappeared human rights attorney Gao Zhisheng.

At the embassy function, Dostal walked up to Chinese Ambassador Gu Ziping during the reception and tried to hand him the book, along with a letter. In the letter, Dostal asks the ambassador to help work to free Gao Zhisheng.

The prominent human rights attorney has been severely persecuted by the communist regime in China for his human rights work and criticism of the regime’s human right’s abuses, and his whereabouts is currently unknown.

“I join my voice to the voices of world’s democratic public who requests the release of Gao Zhisheng to freedom,” the letter says.

“At the same time I would like to personally ask you about the information on the whereabouts of Gao Zhisheng, because from April 2010 neither his relatives nor friends know. I believe that you as a representative of the Chinese government will be more successful in identifying information about where Gao Zhisheng is than they have been.”

It also asks the Chinese ambassador to help Dostal appeal to Chinese officials to release all prisoners of conscience and stop persecuting Chinese citizens because of their political or religious beliefs.

The ambassador did not take kindly to Dostal’s appeal, however. After realizing who the author of the book was, he refused to accept it. After Dostal had tried to give it to other embassy personnel, he was escorted off the premises by the diplomatic security police.

The incident has drawn significant attention in Slovakia.

Secretary of Interior Daniel Lipsic, later commented on the matter in a statement, saying that Slovakia has freedom of speech and that foreign diplomats should respect this.

“If an invited guest, no matter if he is a member of parliament or not, is not guilty of any violations, there is no need for intervention,” he said, and added that the matter will be investigated.

The Chinese Embassy, however, retorted in a statement that Dostal had come to the embassy function with “ulterior motives” and that he had “seriously damaged the friendship between the two countries and intervened in China’s internal affairs” by trying to hand the ambassador a book.

One might be excused for thinking that it was an honest mistake on the part of the Chinese Embassy in Bratislava to invite Dostal, since he has a history of confronting Chinese officials with unpleasant information.

Two years ago, when he was not yet a member of parliament, Dostal was detained by Slovak police while trying to petition CCP supreme leader Hu Jintao during his visit to the country, together with members of the Falun Gong spiritual practice, which is persecuted by the regime in China since 1999.

Dostal admitted in an interview with the newspaper SME that he was surprised to get the invitation as vice president of the Committee on Human Rights and Minorities, but that he took it as an opportunity to raise the issue of human rights abuses in China.

He had tried before to deliver letters of protest to the embassy together with members of NGO’s, he said, but: “We never managed to do that, because no employee from the embassy would come to the door, so we had to put it in the mailbox. And now the ambassador invites me to a reception, so I went there with a little present for him.”