Aerial Protest Above APEC Demands Freedom for China

Chinese pro-democracy activists stand at the send-off event at Livermore Airport, Calif., on Nov. 14, 2023 to show their support for a pro-China freedom banner flight over San Francisco. Nathan Su/The Epoch Times

As Chinese leader Xi Jinping flew to attend the APEC summit being held in San Francisco, a small plane flew above the Californian city with a large banner that read: “End CCP, Free China, Free HK [Hong Kong], Free Tibet, Free Uyghur.”

The banner flight on Tuesday was organized by Chinese pro-democracy activists belonging to three organizations: Human Rights in China, Humanitarian China, and the Liberty Sculpture Park (LSP).

“China wants human rights, China wants freedom,” yelled Chen Weiming and a few supporters at the send-off event before the plane took off.

They gathered at a small airport in Livermore and held banners, signs, and pictures advocating for freedom and democracy in China.

“This [plane] banner represents our hunger for freedom, and freedom has no borders,” said Mr. Chen as the plane took off.

Mr. Chen is the lead sculptor from the LSP, a park in Yermo, Southern California, which he founded in 2016.

The park displays gigantic sculptures that inform visitors about historical events and important figures from the Chinese people’s fight for democracy and freedom.

The park has also experienced pressure and intimidation, with agents working on behalf of Beijing allegedly burning down a sculpture named “CCP Virus” on July 24, 2021.

The front portion of the sculpture consisted of half of the communist leader Xi’s face, while the other half was the face of an evil-looking skeleton. Pins depicting COVID-19 spike proteins were on top of the sculpture’s head.

The FBI later arrested and pressed charges against five suspects in the arson case.

The 'CCP Virus' sculpture in the Liberty Sculpture Park, the Mojave Desert in San Bernardino County, Calif., which was burned down by an arson attack in July 2021. Courtesy of Jonas Yuan

The remains of the "CCP virus" sculpture by Chen Weiming after it was set alight at Liberty Square Park in Yermo, Calif., on July 24, 2021. Courtesy of Chen Weiming

Mr. Chen’s supporters at the airport event also held several other signs, including “Looking for Gao Zhisheng”, “Salute to Peng Lifa”, and the “Story of the Chained Woman”.

Gao Zhisheng is a Chinese human rights attorney and political dissident known for defending religious minorities in China. Mr. Gao has been arrested many times in China and has reportedly been disappeared since Sep. 2017.

A statue of a “Democracy Goddess”  created in the size of a real person was also presented at the event.

The original Democracy Goddess statue was first erected in Beijing during the 1989 student pro-democracy movement before the Tiananmen Square Massacre. The communist regime burned down the statue on June 4, 1989. Mr. Chen rebuilt the Democracy Goddess based on images of the original.

The pro-democracy banner in the sky is dragged by a plane that just took off at Livermore Airport on Nov. 14, 2023. Nathan Su/The Epoch Times

Mr. Peng is a democracy activist in China who posted a pro-democracy banner on Beijing’s Sitong Bridge on Oct. 13, 2022.

“We want a vote, not a leader. We want to be citizens, not slaves,” the banner said. Chinese police quickly arrested Mr. Peng, who has been detained in an unknown location in China ever since.

The “Chained Woman” was a mother of eight children who lived near Xuzhou City in China. She was unlawfully imprisoned after being sold to a village by human traffickers and has lived under constant sexual assault.

Her case was exposed to the public in January 2022, and the Chinese communist authorities have censored information related to her case. Her current whereabouts are unknown.