Chinese Democracy Activist Wang Released (Tiananmen Square protest)

Associated Press (via Yahoo News) ^ | 4 March 2004 | Ted Anthony

[CounterCounterCulture]

Chinese Democracy Activist Wang Released

By TED ANTHONY, Associated Press Writer

BEIJING - A longtime Chinese activist who helped organize the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and later co-founded a democracy party was released from prison on Thursday and left for the United States, a human rights activist said.

The medical parole of Wang Youcai, on the heels of another prisoner release and a sentence reduction for a third activist, suggests the Chinese government is moving on cases the United States has identified as priorities.

Wang left the Zhejiang No. 1 prison in southern China early Thursday, said goodbye to his family and boarded a plane for San Francisco, according to John Kamm, executive director of the Dui Hua Foundation, a rights group.

Wang had been sentenced in 1998 to 11 years for activities related to his founding of the China Democracy Party.

He was also one of more than a dozen student leaders of the 1989 demonstrations that led to the military crackdown on Tiananmen Square democracy protesters in which hundreds, perhaps thousands, died. He served a year in prison in 1990 on charges related to those activities.

The release of Wang, 37, a physicist by profession, had been publicly advocated by U.S. Ambassador Clark T. Randt. It came one day after the U.S. House of Representatives urged the Bush administration to move more forcefully on China's human rights record.

"Clearly, I think, they have been releasing and giving sentence reductions to people who are considered priority cases by the United States," Kamm told The Associated Press. "It's part of an overall effort to get the human rights dialogue back on track."

He added: "The United States is very happy with it. They've made their message known loud and clear."

The release came days before the U.N. Human Rights Commission convenes its annual session March 15 in Geneva, where U.S. officials say they might sponsor a resolution criticizing China.

Such timing was "very cynical," said Ben Carrdus, a researcher for the human rights group Amnesty International. He noted that dozens of members of Wang's party are still detained.

"We wonder when the Chinese government will commit to their release," Carrdus said in London.

Rep. Jim Leach, R-Iowa, and Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., had also pushed for Wang's release.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry and prison officials had no immediate comment.

Wang wasn't the first leader of the party he founded to be released. Its cofounder, Xu Wenli, was freed in December 2002 and also left for exile in the United States.

Wang has been ill for years. After he entered prison in 1999 on the latest charges, he reportedly suffered from bronchial disorders and tracheitis and was recently diagnosed with myocarditis, Kamm said.

Wang's release was the latest motion in cases the U.S. government has identified as priorities.

On Wednesday, China cut one year from the eight-year prison term of Rebiya Kadeer, a Muslim businesswoman convicted of violating national security after she sent Chinese newspapers to her husband.

And last week, China released Phuntsog Nyidron, a Tibetan nun who was arrested in 1989 on charges of "counterrevolutionary propaganda and incitement" and sentenced to eight years in prison.

She was the last of the 14 Tibetan "singing nuns" who, in 1993, used a tape recorder smuggled into the prison to record songs about their love for their families and their homeland. Their sentences were extended after the tape was smuggled out of the prison.

The United States is also demanding the release of two others — one a Chinese-born American resident and the other a U.S. citizen.

Yang Jianli, a Chinese citizen who lives in suburban Boston, has been detained for 22 months. He stood trial in August on charges of spying for Taiwan. The deadline for issuing a verdict passed Dec. 18 without an announcement. Yang denies the charges.

American businessman Jude Shao was sentenced to 16 years in prison on tax-evasion charges. He has proclaimed his innocence.

Meanwhile, China said Thursday it still considered a scholar who pleaded guilty to illegally selling it military-related U.S. technology to be a spy for rival Taiwan.

Gao Zhan, a Chinese-born American resident, had been sentenced to 10 years in prison in Beijing in 2001 for spying in the mainland, five months after her arrest. She was released two days later on medical parole after intense pressure by the U.S. government.

But U.S. prosecutors said later that from 1998 to 2001, Gao helped the Chinese government obtain more than $1.5 million in sensitive items using a false name and a front company.

She pleaded guilty in November in a U.S. court to one count of unlawful export for selling 80 microprocessors. She is scheduled to be sentenced on Friday and could face up to 10 years in prison.

[sharpink]

I say this every time I see a post on China. Someday we are going to have to pay the piper for our relations with China. In twenty years when China has closed the technological gap in arms they won't be releasing dissidents. Instead we will find a totalitarian country with territorial ambition that has spent the last 30 years arming itself to the teeth.

[tallhappy]

I think it is even worse than I mention in the above post. Half the "dissidents" are ChiCom agents.

It's such a big can of worms.

[yonif]

Good news. Looks like the Chinese these past few days are trying to look more open. This is in addition to their new amendment which will recognize private property.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

"I'm here with my friend Mr. Wang...no offense."

[Humidston]

Interesting first person story about Tiananmen Square....

We know a young Chinese scientist who happened to be in college at the time of the uprising. The government questioned each student as to whether or not they'd admit participating. Of course all the kids told the government that they were studying and had not attended any of the protests.

So the government ordered EVERY student in the college to write a paper - stating they were all studying. Our friend did so. Once Chinese officials had papers from all the kids, they announced the official government statement: The Tiananmen Square uprising DID NOT HAPPEN.

(Of course I asked him if he'd been in the streets and he just smiled politely. Then he indicated that he was uncomfortable discussing it. Clearly he was still nervous about it, even though he was safe in the U.S. and working for an American corporation.)

[RockinRight]

Just his wang? What about the rest of him?