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.

[CounterCounterCulture]

Wang Youcai, a leading Chinese dissident imprisoned since 1998 has been released and allowed to seek medical attention in the United States after months of quiet diplomacy by U.S. officials, a rights group said March 4, 2004. The early medical parole of Wang, 37, who was serving an 11-year sentence for subversion after helping found the China Democracy Party, follows moves in the last week to reduce the sentence of an Uighur businesswoman in Xinjiang and the release of a Tibetan nun. Photo by Reuters REUTERS/

[cspackler]

OK, the title almost made milk come out of my nose... sory.

[CounterCounterCulture]

China released top dissident Wang Youcai after pressure from Washington and ahead of a UN Human Rights Commission meeting where the United States may sponsor a resolution condemning Beijing's human rights record.(AFP/File)

[risk]

A president who believes in freedom can make a difference!

[Lunatic Fringe]

Would you like to play with my Wang?

[keats5]

Thank God !

[Chad Fairbanks]

I know... I was initially thinking, "What about the rest of him?"...

In all seriousness, though, things like this are good to see. However, I couldn't help but notice one thing in this article that jumped out at me: Founding a party based on Democracy will get you 11 years, but Tax Evasion will get you 16 years in prison. Typical Leftists.

[ALOHA RONNIE]

NEVER FORGET


Praise GOD that...

President BUSH has promised...

During a BUSH Presidency...


Freedom's return to:

Communist Vietnam
Communist North Korea
Communist Cuba



as well as Freedom's Arrival to:



All the Countries of the Middle East


...as America's own best self-defense against future terrorist attacks here at home.


GOD is GOOD.


NEVER FORGET

[Thane_Banquo]

He's a hero. If China had more like him, the country would be free.

[dalebert]

I hope they have enough sense to thank the Bush administration.

[tallhappy]

I hope they have enough sense to thank the Bush administration.

Nonsense. They did the same thing for the Clinton administration.

These releases are meaningless and almost always indicate that the US has given the communist a big concession or favor.

[cantfindagoodscreenname]

OK, the title almost made milk come out of my nose... sory.

Has the title been fixed? If not, I don't get it. If it has been fixed, will you tell us what the original one said?

[Artist]

"These releases are meaningless and almost always indicate that the US has given the communist a big concession or favor."

Yeah. I wonder what it was this time.

[cspackler]

Just a bad spin down the indecent exposure road, nothing more... (Useless "wang" reference)

[tallhappy]

Some background on Wang Youcai and the CDP arrests here.

Wang and two other founders of the Chinese Democracy Party were sentenced to 11, 12 and 13 years respectively back in 1998.

They and others were jailed around the same time Wei Jingsheng and Wang Dan had been released from prison for their crimes of advocating freedom.

Just as now some people are trying to use this as some sort of positive indicator, they said the same thing back when Wei and Wang were released.

But the Chinese communists simply exile those they've jailed for years and arrest the current problems.

Wang Youcai was sentenced to 11 years for simply starting a political party. He served half this sentence and then is exiled forever by his jailers from his home country.

Other than the fact he is no longer in jail and subject to the horrible experience of Chinese prison this is in no way positive or progress.

The Chinese communists laugh themselves silly at our gullibility.

[cantfindagoodscreenname]

OK, lol! I guess I'm not familiar with that term....but now I am. :-)

[tallhappy]

Some background on Wang Youcai and the CDP arrests here.

Wang and two other founders of the Chinese Democracy Party were sentenced to 11, 12 and 13 years respectively back in 1998.

They and others were jailed around the same time Wei Jingsheng and Wang Dan had been released from prison for their crimes of advocating freedom.

Just as now some people are trying to use this as some sort of positive indicator, they said the same thing back when Wei and Wang were released.

But the Chinese communists simply exile those they've jailed for years and arrest the current problems.

Wang Youcai was sentenced to 11 years for simply starting a political party. He served half this sentence and then is exiled forever by his jailers from his home country.

Other than the fact he is no longer in jail and subject to the horrible experience of Chinese prison this is in no way positive or progress.

The Chinese communists laugh themselves silly at our gullibility.

[risk]

Thanks for deflating my misconceptions...

[holidayidol]

I thought this was a thread on Guns N' Roses :)