Rick Allen: “I rise to note what should be a happy occasion but is instead a somber, worrisome, troubling and disconcerting…”

“I rise to note what should be a happy occasion but is instead a somber, worrisome, troubling and disconcerting situation. Today is the 39th birthday of Gao Zhan, a woman of Chinese descent who on her 38th birthday lived in Northern Virginia with her husband Dong Hua Xue and her 5-year-old son Andrew. Far from spending this 39th birthday in the day in the warm embrace of her loving family, maybe opening a present that her son Andrew made for her, or blowing out candles, she is somewhere else--enduring her 87th day of detention by the officials of the People's Republic of China, some 7,000 miles away from home in an unknown location and in unknown condition, with no contact whatsoever with her husband and her son. Gao Zhan, who has permanent resident status in the United States, is a scholar at American University studying women's and family issues, especially as they relate to China and Taiwan. She was held for 43 days before she was even charged with a crime.”