Plan for Chinese Pro-Democracy Radio Ship Collapses in Anger, Debt

Born in idealism and romanticism, the Goddess of Democracy radio ship project collapsed Friday in anger and debt.

The ship had been blocked from leaving Taiwan with the transmitters needed for the broadcasts and was unwelcome elsewhere in Asia.

So, organizers gave up their plan to beam pro-democracy messages into China from their ship by the June 4 anniversary of the suppression of Beijing’s democracy movement. They said they will sell the ship to help cover costs.

“This boat is now the victim of Beijing, who forced all Asian governments to stop us,” Christophe Nick, a French journalist and organizer, said in Taipei.

China repeatedly warned the region’s governments not to assist the boat and did not rule out the use of force to stop the broadcasts.

The 1,200-ton ship, named after a statue erected by Chinese students last spring in Tian An Men Square, was sponsored by France’s Actuel magazine and other European publishing organizations. It left France on March 17.

After being refused permission to enter Hong Kong, it arrived May 13 in Keelung harbor in northern Taiwan to take on supplies, including a crucial transmitter sent from France.

However, Taiwanese customs authorities refused to release the transmitter on the grounds that unauthorized radio broadcasts from the high seas would violate international agreements.

Organizers then said they would sail to Japan to obtain the transmitter, but Tokyo refused to allow the ship to dock.

Pascal Dupont, another project organizer, said in Tokyo that tapes of the planned pro-democracy broadcasts, which contain statements by Chinese dissidents, would be offered to radio stations around the world for broadcast.