HONG KONG An American academic convicted in China of spying for Taiwan returned on Monday
to Hong Kong, where he says he wants to resume his life & career teaching business. Li Shaomin's hopes to
return to Hong Kong had been watched carefully by local pro-democracy figures, who had expressed fears he
would be barred. They had said if he had not been allowed to come back, Hong Kong's autonomy, left in place
when Britain returned its former colony to China four years ago, would have been compromised.
Li had lived in Hong Kong until the Chinese authorities arrested him in the nearby mainland city of Shenzhen on
Feb. 25. Li obtained a Ph.D. in sociology from Princeton University in 1988 and became an American citizen in
1995. The Hong Kong govt said in a statement Monday night that Li arrived in Hong Kong in the afternoon and was
allowed to enter in the evening. The statement stressed that no one in Hong Kong can spy against China. Li's
employer, the City University, has been vague about how it would treat him as an employee if he came back.
The statement quoted a govt spokesman as saying there would be no comment on Li's status entering Hong Kong
because "it was not the govt's policy to comment on individual cases.''
A day earlier, Li's father had said that his son wanted to return soon to Hong Kong. Li Honglin said his son will try to
resume his work in Hong Kong for the new academic year this autumn. The elder Li, 76, a prominent liberal thinker
and an adviser to the late Communist Party reformist leader Hu Yaobang, spent 10 months in jail after the 1989
Tiananmen Square massacre for sympathizing with pro-democracy student protesters. He now lives with his son's
family in Hong Kong. Li's father said his son's contract with Hong Kong's City University has not been terminated
and believes his teaching schedule in the new academic year has been arranged.
Li Shaomin's biography remains on the City University's Internet Web page. He has been teaching marketing there
since 1996. The elder Li said his son was innocent of the spy charges. "The spy accusation was absolutely
ludicrous,'' Li's said. "He is a very introverted person, he is only a scholar.'' Li Shaomin, 44, flew to the U.S. last
week after he was deported from China following his conviction on charges he damaged Chinese national security
and spied for Taiwan. No evidence against him has been publicly released. Li's father said his son's return to Hong
Kong will be "good for China and Hong Kong, for our family and for Li Shaomin himself.''
Hong Kong's human rights activists had worried from the outset that Li would not be allowed to return here - even
though many dissidents are allowed to live in Hong Kong. Also on Monday, friends and family of a U.S.-linked
Chinese scholar freed on medical parole said he will likely leave China for the U.S. this week. Qin Guangguang,
paroled by Beijing last week following pressure from Washington, went first to visit his sick mother in the
southwestern province of Sichuan because he fears China will not allow him back once he leaves. A friend who
asked not to be identified said Qin told him he would probably leave for the U.S. this week. Qin's sister, who
answered the phone at his Beijing home, said it may be as early as Tuesday.
Qin, 45, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on spying charges with Gao Zhan, a U.S.-based Chinese sociologist
who also was freed on medical parole. Gao returned Thursday to the U.S. Qin, a Chinese citizen with permanent
U.S. residency, had taught at American universities and was working for a pharmaceutical company in Beijing
when he was detained in December.
China sentences 2 U.S. residents
7.24.01 AP
BEIJING A Beijing court on Tuesday convicted two U.S. residents of spying for Taiwan and
sentenced them to 10 years in prison, the state-run Xinhua News Agency said. Gao Zhan & Qin Guangguang
"both collected intelligence for spy agencies in Taiwan, causing a serious threat to China's national security,''
Xinhua said in the first official confirmation of their sentences. A Chinese scholar, Qu Wei, also was sentenced to
13 years in prison, Xinhua said. It said Qu was convicted of providing secrets and intelligence to Gao and Li
Shaomin, an American business professor convicted July 14 of spying for Taiwan.
U.S. says trial of scholars underway in China
7.5.01 Reuters
WASHINGTON U.S. said on Thursday it had received confirmation that China has initiated trials for
two U.S.-connected Chinese scholars and hoped they would be released soon. State Dept also told reporters that it
was "deeply disturbed by reports that China has further intensified its harsh repression of the Falun Gong," a
spiritual group that has become increasingly popular in China. "The Chinese govt has confirmed to us that the trials
for Li Shaomin and Gao Zhan are under way," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told a news briefing.
"In the case of detainees, we've consistently urged the Chinese govt to resolve these cases as soon as
possible and we will continue to urge them to do that," he said. "We have encouraged China to treat these people
fairly ... We have also urged that they be reunited with their families," he added.
Boucher said it was "an open question as to whether one will be able to say that they got a fair trial or not,
particularly given what we know about the Chinese legal system." It was not yet known if a U.S. request to have an
observer at the trials was granted, he added. China has accused Li, an American citizen, and Gao, a permanent
U.S. resident, of spying for Taiwan. Their families have denied the charges. In similar cases in the past, trials have
led to swift convictions followed by summary expulsions. Media reports have suggested the trials could be over as
early as July 9.
But Gao Zhan's husband in the U.S. was not getting his hopes up saying there was still too much
uncertainty. He told Reuters his wife's lawyer in Beijing was not even notified that the trial was in the works.
"This is a dangerous thing when you face a court without a lawyer. To me this doesn't make any sense," Xue
Donghua said. Earlier, Sec.State Powell told Reuters in an interview that President Bush talked to Chinese
President Jiang Zemin by telephone on Thursday about the cases of two U.S.-connected Chinese scholars. "I hope
that this matter too will be resolved quickly," Powell said.
assurance unlikely
Powell said he had not yet had a read-out of Bush's call but added it was "unlikely" Jiang had given actual
assurances that the scholars would be released. But the secretary said, "I hope that they will conclude their
proceedings ... in a way that hopefully will create a path that will allow these folks to return to the U.S. to
rejoin their families." Gao, a researcher at American University, has not been heard from since she was separated
from Xue and their young son at Beijing airport on Feb. 11. If it takes a conviction to win her release, Xue said, "we
don't care... My son just needs his mom to come back. They want to save their face, that's fine with us. But
obviously this is not a country ruled by law." As for the Falun Gong, Boucher said the reported deaths of at least 15
Falun Gong practitioners in the Wanjia labor camp in the city of Harbin in China's Heilongjiang province last month
was "particularly troublesome."
"There are conflicting accounts of what actually occurred in the ... labor camp, but the reports of violence and
torture against these Chinese Falun Gong practitioners at the hands of Chinese authorities are chilling," he said.
"In the past, we've conveyed our strong concern to the Chinese govt on their crackdown, and we will
continue to do so," Boucher said. He added: "We call on China to respect freedom of thought, conscience and
religion, to allow all persons to practice their religious faiths freely and to end the cycle of oppression on the Falun
Gong ... in particular, the practice of re-education through labor that's being used against the Falun Gong. We don't
believe people should be in those camps to begin with."
Falun Gong said on Wednesday at least 15 of its female followers were tortured to death at the camp on or around
June 20. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said on Thursday that three Falun Gong supporters had died
and eight had been saved in a mass suicide attempt at the camp.
China official: spy case hasn't begun
7.6.01 AP
BEIJING Hours after President Bush and Chinese leader Jiang Zemin discussed the fates of 2 U.S.-
based scholars detained in China, officials from both nations disagreed over whether their trials were underway. Li
Shaomin, who disappeared after crossing into China from Hong Kong on Feb. 25 to visit a friend, was charged in
May. The State Department said Thursday that the trials for Li and Gao Zhan, a U.S. permanent resident who also
faces spying charges, were under way. Gao, a researcher at American University in Washington D.C., was
detained Feb. 11. Both are accused of spying for Taiwan. But Chen Xiong, a spokesman for the Higher People's
Court in Beijing, told The Associated Press that Li's trial had not started. Chen said Li will be tried by the
Intermediate People's Court in Beijing, but didn't know when. Chen said Gao's case is being handled separately,
but had no details.
Thursday's disclosure by the State Department came hours
|
Panel finds CIA soft on China
7.6.01 Bill Gertz Wash.Times
Powell to raise case of jailed scholar with China
7.24.01 Reuters
HANOI Sec.State Powell will raise the case of Chinese scholar Gao Zhan, jailed for 10 years on
Tuesday, when he meets Chinese officials in Vietnam and Beijing this week, a senior state department official said.
"We are dismayed by the news," the official told reporters aboard Powell's plane en route to an Asian regional
forum in Hanoi, where Powell was due to meet Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan on Wednesday. "We had
asked to attend the trial. We were told shortly before it began that we would not be able to attend the trial," the
official added. Asked if Powell would raise Gao's case in his meetings with Chinese officials, the U.S. official
replied: "Yes." Powell is also due to meet Chinese leaders in Beijing on Saturday.
A Chinese court sentenced Gao on Tuesday to 10 years in jail for spying. She was arrested in February as she was
about to board a flight to the U.S. with her family. U.S. officials have complained for weeks on the case of Gao, a
permanent U.S. resident, and Li Shaomin, a U.S. citizen who remains in Chinese custody 10 days after the same
Beijing court convicted him of spying and ordered him deported. But they have not commented on the reliability of
the charges against the pair, saying simply they should be reunited with their families in the U.S. "We are dismayed
by the outcome. We are concerned by the lack of transparency, and we would have liked to have been able to
attend the trial," the official said on condition of anonymity.
Asked about Gao's conviction Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi told reporters in Hanoi that "the
decision of the court must be respected." "We have irrefutable evidence that Gao Zhan worked for Taiwan
espionage agencies and received funds from them. Moreover, she openly admitted her crimes," Sun said.
Powell to visit Beijing as U.S.-China ties improve
7.5.01 Reuters
WASHINGTON Sec.State Powell said on Thursday he will visit Beijing this month to prepare a U.S.-
China summit amid signs that ties between the 2 powers were entering a more productive & stable period. In
an interview with Reuters, Powell expressed hope that frictions over Beijing's detention of U.S.-connected Chinese
scholars would soon be resolved and said "the force which causes us to cooperate is more powerful than the force
that may cause us not to cooperate." Sino-American relations were plunged into crisis early in the administration of
President Bush when China detained for 11 days the crew of an American Navy surveillance plane that made an
emergency landing on Hainan Island April 1 after colliding with a Chinese fighter.
There also had been increased tensions over Bush statements and decisions viewed as drawing the U.S.
closer to Taiwan, which Beijing considers a renegade province. But in recent days China has sided with the United
States at the United Nations on Iraq sanctions, concluded a hard-fought World Trade Organization membership
agreement and returned the U.S. surveillance plane, albeit in pieces. The Bush administration angered human
rights advocates but pleased China by declining to oppose Beijing's bid for the 2008 Olympic Games.
scholars to be released?
Furthering the goodwill trend, China Thursday put on trial two U.S.-connected Chinese scholars accused of spying
for Taiwan that Bush personally asked be freed. The proceedings are widely viewed as a prelude to the scholars'
release. The trials of American citizen Li Shaomin and Gao Zhan, a U.S. permanent resident, were confirmed soon
after Bush spoke by telephone with Chinese President Jiang Zemin. A U.S. official said it is believed to be the first
telephone call from Bush to Jiang and that the gesture was "indirectly" linked to the spy plane, which arrived at a
Georgia air base to be reassembled and returned to service. "The whole (spy plane) incident is completely off the
screen now and we can focus on this important, complex relationship," the official said.
Powell doubted Jiang gave Bush any actual assurances about the scholars' fate but said: "I hope those (judicial)
proceedings will be concluded in a way that hopefully will create a path that will allow these folks to return to the
U.S. and rejoin their families." Meanwhile, a Powell aide, Policy Planning Director Richard Haass, made an
unannounced trip to Beijing this week for talks with a senior foreign ministry strategic planner. Powell, speaking
with Reuters reporters and editors at the State Department, confirmed Haass's visit and said the talks "went well."
"There was a clear indication that they're anxious to move the relationship forward in a more positive way," he said.
Haass's talks were wide-ranging, including counter narcotics efforts, Taiwan, weapons proliferation and crisis
management.
Powell will meet Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan in Hanoi later this month at the annual meeting of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations and also hold detailed talks with him in Beijing, where Bush and Jiang plan
an October summit. The secretary said he did not know if the administration's missile defense plans came up in
Haass's meetings but he intended to discuss the subject when he goes to Beijing.
missile defense
China and many experts argue that because of its relatively small size, China's nuclear arsenal is more threatened
by U.S. missile defenses than Russia, which like the U.S. possess thousands of nuclear weapons. But
Powell said: "I can demonstrate to them that they really should not see it that way. What we are going to do with
missile defense will be fairly open, obvious, transparent." "It's not intended to be a threat to their deterrence
capability and I hope we'll be able to persuade them of that over time," he added. On improving ties with Beijing,
Powell said the two countries have a "mutual interest in removing these irritants in our relationship." "We have large
areas of interest with respect to trade, economics, our views on the security situation in the region. There is every
incentive for us to remove these irritations so we can pursue these issues," he said. Powell stressed that
disagreements remain, including human rights and non-proliferation, and will be debated. One thorn is China's sale
of missiles and other technology to certain countries. Republicans repeatedly accused former President Bill Clinton
of failing to invoke U.S.-mandated sanctions for China's behavior in this sphere.
Although it has not yet done so, Powell insisted "this administration will not shrink from our responsibility to hold
people to account for the commitments they have made to us," including imposing sanctions. Also Thursday, the
State Department faulted China's handling of the Falung Gong spiritual sect, saying it was "deeply disturbed by
reports that China has further intensified its harsh repression of the Falun Gong." A spokesman cited "particularly
troublesome" reports that over a dozen Falun Gong practitioners died in a labor camp on June 20.
Bush attacks China rights records
5.4.01 AP
WASHINGTON Pres.Bush expressed concern Thu. at what he described as
growing persecution of religious followers in China, saying he viewed such govt attacks as a sign
of "weakness.'' In speech on religious freedom to American Jewish Committee, Bush lamented
"intensifying attacks'' on religious freedom in China. He cited arrests of followers of the Falun
Gong spiritual movement, destruction of churches & mosques, and widespread arrests of
worshippers and religious leaders. He singled out religious followers in Tibet as "the target of
especially harsh and unjust persecution. The Chinese govt continues to display an unreasonable
& unworthy suspicion of freedom of conscience,'' Bush said in prepared remarks. The
president praised China for "great strides toward freedom in recent decades,'' offering as
examples expanded access to information and greater liberty to travel, but he said the religious
restrictions threaten China's growth. "China aspires to national strength & greatness,'' he
said, "but these acts of persecution are acts of fear - and therefore, of weakness.''
"This persecution is unworthy of all that China has been: a civilization with a history of tolerance,''
Bush said. "And this persecution is unworthy of all that China should become, an open society that
respects the spiritual dignity of its people.'' State Dept report said China's human rights record
deteriorated last year, with intensified crackdowns on religion & political dissent. &
Pentagon said this week that Def.Sec D.Rumsfeld had suspended all contacts with the Chinese
military. The Bush administration retracted the statement, which it called a misunderstanding.
Administration officials scrambled Thu. to explain that Bush & Rumsfeld intended all elements
of the military-to-military contacts to be "reviewed & approved on a case-by-case basis.''
"What the secretary was rightly doing was saying that we're going to review all opportunities to
interface with the Chinese and if it enhances our relationship, it may make sense,'' Bush said
Thursday. "We've only been in office for 104 days. We've got to review all policy that we inherited,''
Bush said.
|
Donghua Xue, his
wife Gao Zhan and their
American-born son Andrew had been visiting relatives in China over the Chinese New Year. But
when they tried to return to the U.S., they were arrested at the Beijing airport by Chinese police
and held separately for nearly a month. Eventually, Xue and his son were freed and flew home.
But Gao, a researcher at American Univ. in Washington, is still in jail.
Andrew, a U.S. citizen, is only 5 years old. American officials are outraged that he was held
separately from his parents, and that he is now being separated from his mother. Xue says his son
doesn't understand why his mother hasn't come home. "Andrew is only 5. He misses his mother
badly. I need my wife to come home. I need my family reunited."
