China refuses visa for Robert Dessaix
Melbourne PEN declares its concern that Robert Dessaix, an acclaimed writer funded to attend the Shanghai International Literary Festival as one of a delegation of Australian writers, has been refused a Chinese visa. The grounds are said to be his HIV-positive status, frankly declared on the understanding that there was not an objection.
However, it is highly likely that the refusal relates to Australian protests against the jailing of the Chinese writer Liu Xiaobo, a Charter 08 campaigner against China’s strict censorship. Robert Dessaix was nominated to attend the Festival as a replacement for Frank Moorhouse, who had withdrawn in protest against the censorship and imprisonment of Liu Xiaobo.
Melbourne PEN deplores China’s use of the visa application to deny passage to an ambassador of literature. This denial is a rebuff contrary to the declared relationship between our nations and a contravention of the free access to literature which PEN members are pledged to support.