12 Congressional members letter to Ambassador Yang Jiechi

June 28, 2002

Dear Mr. Ambassador:

We appreciate your letter dated May 24, 2002 responding to a congressional letter dated May 8 concerning Dr. Yang Jianli, a legal permanent resident of the United States who was detained in China on April 26 with a false identification card. We appreciate your response and would welcome additional information about this matter.

We learned from Dr Yang's wife, Christina Fu, a U.S. citizen, that Dr. Yang's brother was notified by the local police that Dr. Yang was officially arrested on June 2, and that he is now reportedly in custody at the Qing Chen Detention Center in Beijing. However, as of the time of this letter, we understand that Dr. Yang's brother has not been able to meet with him, and we respectfully ask that the appropriate Chinese authorities inform Dr. Yang's family what they must do to meet with him on humanitarian grounds.

Further, Dr. Yang's brother and wife still do not know what the charges are against him because they have not received written notification of his arrest. We understand that not knowing the charges against him has prevented his obtaining legal counsel. This concerns us because both written notification of an arrest and access to legal counsel are provided for under the Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China.

We respectfully urge the proper authorities to provide written notification of his arrest to his wife and brother explaining the charges against him, if this has not already been done. Not knowing Dr Yang's whereabouts, the charges against him, or his general condition for so long has caused a great deal of grief to his family, and we ask that any other official notifications be provided to his wife and brother as promptly as possible.

Ms. Fu is extremely concerned about her husband's situation, as are his children. We would view it as a generous humanitarian gesture on behalf of your government if you were to allow Ms. Fu to enter your country in order to see her husband.

We appreciate your assistance in conveying our concerns to your government.

__________________________ SENATOR EDWARD M. KENNEDY	__________________________ SENATOR JOHN F. KERRY
__________________________ REP. SANDER M. LEVIN	__________________________ REP. TOM LANTOS
__________________________ REP. ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN	__________________________ REP. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH
__________________________ REP. BARNEY FRANK	__________________________ REP. FRANK R. WOLF
__________________________ REP. EDWARD J. MARKEY	__________________________ REP. JOHN OLVER
__________________________ REP. WILLIAM D. DELAHUNT	__________________________ REP. MICHAEL E. CAPUANO -------------------------- Source: "ChinaEWeekly".