Wu Jianmin (; born 1963) is a Chinese dissident and democracy activist from

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its ca ...

. He studied at Jiangsu Institute of Commercial Management Cadres and is one of the main leaders at the Nanjing Students' Autonomous Federation.

Political activism

From 1982 to 1986, Wu Jianmin served in the People's Liberation Army Navy. He began studying at the Jiangsu Institute of Commercial Management Cadres in 1987. In 1989, Wu participated in the student patriotic democratic movement and was elected as the student leader. He organized and led the June 4th Movement at many Nanjing universities. On the morning of June 1, Wu led a student procession of about 10,000 people from Gulou square in Nanjing to support the

Tiananmen Square protests The Tiananmen Square protests, known in Chinese as the June Fourth Incident (), were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square, Beijing during 1989. In what is known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, or in Chinese the June Fourth ...

. On June 4, the student procession led by Wu went to a small town called Zhang Baling in Chuzhou in

Anhui Province Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze River ...

. He was sent back to Nanjing by the

Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil ...

. After the June 4th movement, he formed a political party called the China Democracy Front, and served as the chairman. In the summer of 1990, when the first issue of the China Democracy Front magazine was published, he was found by the Nanjing

Public Security Bureau A Public Security Bureau (PSB) () of a city or county, or Public Security Department (PSD) () of a province or autonomous region, in the People's Republic of China refers to a government office essentially acting as a police station or a local ...

Imprisonment

Wu Jianmin is a member of a democratic movement which was suppressed by the

. In 1990, Wu was arrested by the

Ministry of State Security of the People's Republic of China Ministry may refer to: Government * Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister * Ministry (government department), a department of a government Religion * Christian mi ...

. In July 1991, he was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment for being "the arch-criminal of organizing and leading a counter-revolutionary group". He is listed as

political prisoner A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although n ...

No. 001 of arrest by the Ministry of State Security in Nanjing and secretly detained in the military prison. On November 17, 1991,

US Secretary of State The United States secretary of state is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The office holder is one of the highest ranking members of the president's Ca ...

James Baker James Addison Baker III (born April 28, 1930) is an American attorney, diplomat and statesman. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 10th White House Chief of Staff and 67th United States Secretary of the Treasury under President ...

visited China and requested for the

Chinese government The Government of the People's Republic of China () is an authoritarian political system in the People's Republic of China under the exclusive political leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It consists of legislative, executive, m ...

to release political prisoners, including Wu Jianmin. However, Chinese Foreign Minister

Qian Qichen Qian Qichen (; 5 January 1928 – 9 May 2017) was a Chinese diplomat and politician. He served as Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Politburo member from 1992 to 2002, China's Foreign Minister from April 1988 to March 1998, and as Vice Premier f ...

used the director of the Information Department of the

Chinese Foreign Ministry The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China () is the first-ranked executive department of the State Council of the Chinese government, responsible for the foreign relations of the People's Republic of China. It is led ...

, whose name was also Wu Jianmin, to confuse the public and deceive Baker. The Chinese government did not release the detained student leader Wu Jianmin.

After release

Wu Jianmin was early released from prison in 1997 after American government's negotiation. In 2008, Wu led the people to defend their rights to SOHO International developers on housing issues. This lasted for 100 days and Wu won. Due to persecution by the Chinese Communist Party, Wu was forced to go into exile in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

in 2015. In 2017, he founded the channel ''Jianmin On Overthrowing Autocracy'' on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

. In the fall of 2018, Wu Jianmin made a special visit to James Baker, former Secretary of State of the United States, at

Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a private research university in Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranked among the top universities ...

's Baker Institute in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. Wu was invited to attend the June 4th Movement commemorative activities and delivered speeches in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, New Yorkas well as in other places.

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the state-owned news network and international radio broadcaster of the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest U.S.-funded international broadcaster. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content ...

and Radio Free Asia often invite Wu as a guest to comment on current affairs.

References

External links

Radio Free Asia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wu, Jianmin 1963 births Living people Chinese democracy activists Chinese dissidents Chinese human rights activists Prisoners and detainees of the People's Republic of China 1989 Tiananmen Square protesters Chinese political prisoners