Dissident´s wife, two congressmen eye visit by Jiang

Jim Geraghty

WASHINGTON - President Bush is expected to talk with President Jiang Zemin about the detention of a democracy advocate from Brookline when the Chinese leader visits Bush´s ranch in Crawford, Texas, next week.

US Representatives Barney Frank of Newton and Michael Capuano of Somerville have been assured by the State Department that the case of Yang Jianli will be on the agenda. The two Democrats are seeking assurances that Yang´s plight won´t be overshadowed by trade, a United Nations resolution against Iraq, or concern over North Korea´s nuclear program.

´´This is one of the simplest cases I´ve run across since I´ve been here,´´ Capuano said. ´´I hope the president puts this on the table and pushes it hard.´´

Yang, president of the Foundation for China in the 21st Century, has not been heard from in six months. He was arrested April 26 in Kunming, in Yunnan Province, reportedly trying to buy a plane ticket with false papers. He spoke with his wife, Christina Fu, by phone twice the next day, but the Chinese government has barred communication since.

Fu spoke with the lawmakers at a Capitol Hill briefing yesterday. She said 18 letters that the congressmen had written to Chinese authorities and US diplomats ´´have energized and sustained me during these difficult days.´´

Fu said she was concerned that human rights cases like her husband´s were being shifted to a lower priority as the US government sought allies in the war on terror.

´´Terrorism is spread where there is no respect for human rights,´´ she said. ´´If human rights are sacrificed, then terrorism will only increase.´´

For his public support of democracy, Yang was barred, along with 48 other dissidents, from entering China. He reportedly entered the country with someone else´s passport in April, seeking to meet with labor leaders. Fu said that local police called her husband´s brother by phone and said Yang is being held in Qing Chen Detention Center in Beijing. Neither Fu nor any member of Yang´s family has received written notice of the arrest or any notice of any charges against him.

Faculty members at Harvard University´s John F. Kennedy School of Government, where Yang received his doctorate, wrote to the Chinese Embassy in September urging his release.

Frank said lawmakers like himself who oppose closer trade relations with China are finding more sympathetic ears on Capitol Hill. Groups like Human Rights Watch say they have seen little improvement in the past year in that nation´s treatment of its citizens, critics of the government and prisoners.

´´They´re strengthening our cause and giving us more ammunition,´´ Frank said. ´´For those who say that closer economic ties will lead to greater democratization, that hasn´t happened. The Chinese government is undercutting the arguments that its own supporters use.´´

Published reports have indicated that China is expected to release one political prisoner before the summit next week, and another before the end of the year.

Ngawang Sangdrol, a Tibetan nun who had been imprisoned for nearly a decade for ´´counterrevolutionary incitement and propaganda,´´ was released by Chinese authorities yesterday, according to international human rights organizations. Sangdrol, who human rights advocates believe is China´s longest-held female political prisoner, had nine years remaining on her sentence.

Frank said it would take more than a few releases to convince him that China respects the human rights of its citizens. ´´One prisoner doesn´t do it,´´ Frank said.

Mike Jendrzejczyk, the Washington director of Human Rights Watch, said the release of Sangdrol and other Tibetan nuns over the past year demonstrated that pressure from US officials can be effective.

´´This morning´s release clearly shows that this kind of pressure works,´´ Jendrzejczyk said.

This story ran on page A8 of the Boston Globe on 10/18/2002.

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Source: "Boston Globe".