Evening | Medina, WA: State Dinner at Bill Gates's Home A formal state dinner will be held in President Hu's honor at the lakeside home of Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates. The dinner will be hosted by Washington Governor Christine Gregoire. Send letters to Bill Gates and Gov. Gregoire emphasizing that China's human rights violations must not be ignored! Use HRIC's suggested letter, or edit the text below to write a letter of your choice. Fill in your full name and e-mail address, and click the send button! The letters: Dear Mr. Gates, I am writing to you regarding your hosting of Chinese President Hu Jintao during his first visit to the United States since becoming President. President Hu's high-level visit provides an important opportunity to raise human rights issues and concerns with him, and to send a strong message on your commitment to human rights. This is also an important message to send publicly in light of recent media and U.S. legislative debates about the role of U.S. companies doing business in China and their impact on human rights. As you know, the right to free expression is seriously constrained in China, in print publications, on the Internet and in society at large. Numerous human rights defenders, including journalists, lawyers and Internet essayists have been detained simply for exercising their human right to free expression. Microsoft has an extensive business presence in China, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation carries out important philanthropic work. In the wake of recent controversies over IT companies' operational practices in China, Microsoft announced its commitment to human rights principles. To make this commitment meaningful, I urge you to take advantage of your discussions with President HU to raise key human rights concerns, and also to convey your concerns to your China operations. These essential human rights issues deeply concern me, and I sincerely hope you will exercise your leverage as one of China's important business and philanthropic partners to ensure that fundamental human rights are not undermined. Yours respectfully, Dear Governor Gregoire: I am writing to you regarding your meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao during his first visit to the United States since becoming President. President Hu's high-level visit provides an important opportunity to raise human rights issues and concerns, and to send a strong message on your commitment to human rights. China continues to face serious human rights challenges, particularly in the areas of free expression, criminal justice and harassment of defense lawyers, freedom of religion, harassment of petitioners and peaceful protesters, and arbitrary detention of political activists and rights defenders. Human rights defenders, including journalists, workers, lawyers, petitioners, religious practitioners and health activists have been imprisoned simply for exercising their human right to free expression, and many remain imprisoned in detention centers, prisons and reeducation through labor camps. These are essential human rights issues that deeply concern me; fundamental human rights are essential in promoting global peace, security, and equitable, sustainable development. I urge you to raise these concerns during your conversations with President Hu and emphasize the importance of working towards a comprehensive implementation of the Chinese government's human rights obligations. Yours respectfully, Your information: Full name: E-mail address:  Sign me up for HRIC's mailing list!	Microsoft and China In June 2005, MSN China's MSN Spaces blog component was launched the following month, and actively censored such words as "democracy" and "freedom". At the end of 2005, Microsoft deleted the blog of influential Beijing blogger Anti without any prior notification. Anti's blog had been known for its hard hitting commentary. Anti later issued an open statement saying, "We have no means in China to protect our own freedom of expression, which is precisely the fundamental rationale for why our generation must continue striving." Additional Resources Information on MSN Spaces censorship Translated Anti statement Microsoft Corp. Web site
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