王丹當時是扮演關鍵角色的學生，他從未停止為中國人民的自由而奮戰。王先生，能否請您起立讓大家看看您？（掌聲）今天在場的還有中國民主運動之父魏京生，他為了自己的主張，在中國勞改營裡待了數十年。魏先生，能否請您站起來？（掌聲）
I grew up and served my time in the Army during the Cold War. And if there is one thing I learned, communists almost always lie. The biggest lie that they tell is to think that they speak for 1.4 billion people who are surveilled, oppressed, and scared to speak out. Quite the contrary. The CCP fears the Chinese people’s honest opinions more than any foe, and save for losing their own grip on power, they have reason – no reason to.
我在冷戰時期長大、服兵役。如果要說我學到了什麼，那就是共產黨人幾乎總是在撒謊。他們最大的謊言就是自認可以代表被監視、被壓迫、不敢發聲的14億人民發言。事實正好相反：比起任何敵人，中共更害怕的是中國人民真實看法。他們沒有理由害怕人民的聲音，唯一害怕的理由就是害怕失去政權。
Just think how much better off the world would be – not to mention the people inside of China – if we had been able to hear from the doctors in Wuhan and they’d been allowed to raise the alarm about the outbreak of a new and novel virus. For too many decades, our leaders have ignored, downplayed the words of brave Chinese dissidents who warned us about the nature of the regime we’re facing. And we can’t ignore it any longer. They know as well as anyone that we can never go back to the status quo.
