Yang Jianli, 39, a U.S.-based scholar and vocal critic of the Chinese government, has been held incommunicado since April 26, 2002 on the grounds that he entered China using fake travel documents. Sympathizers around the world have demanded his immediate and unconditional release, saying that Yang's arrest constitutes a serious violation of basic human rights. "As a Chinese citizen, Yang has the right to visit his homeland," said Hsu Szu-chien, an assistant research fellow at National Chengchi University, during a news conference in Taipei yesterday. "His continued detention will tarnish China's efforts to improve its human rights record and become a responsible world power." Yang, born in Shandong, a province in northeastern China, has been blacklisted for taking part in the Tiananmen Square protest of 1989 - an originally peaceful pro-democracy rally that ended in mass arrests and killings. On April 18, 2002, he returned to China using a friend's passport to study labor unrest in the country's northeastern provinces. Chinese authorities discovered Yang's real identity days later when he tried to purchase a plane ticket in Kunming, Yunnan Province "Let there be a speedy, fair and open trial if Yang has broken any laws there," pleaded Hsu, a China specialist who is also actively involved in protecting human rights. He argued that the Yang incident provides Chinese President Hu Jintao an opportunity to demonstrate to the world that the land of 1.3 billion is not hostile toward intellectuals. Yang earned doctoral degrees from the University of California at Berkeley and Harvard's Kennedy School of Government in 1991 and 2001 respectively. He has published many articles advocating non-violent democratization in China and is the chairman of the Foundation for China in the 21st Century. His wife, Christina Fu, his two children and his father have been denied any contact with Yang. During a recent interview in the U.S., Fu said Yang always wanted to reform China. "China is at a crossroads in terms of reform," Yang told his wife before his ill-fated trip. "I want to be a 'doer' instead of a 'spectator' during the transformation process." John Wei, president of the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, warned Beijing to promptly release Yang, saying his detention would deepen Taiwanese mistrust of the communist regime that has claimed sovereignty over Taiwan. "It is unrealistic for Chinese leaders to expect to improve cross-strait ties if it continues to show such disregard for human rights," Wei said. Nearly 100 local scholars, lawyers, and civic groups have signed a petition calling for Yang's freedom. Yang's friends and sympathizers are slated to hold a candlelight vigil in major cities across the United States today to mark the first anniversary of his detention. On April 11, several U.S. congressmen introduced a resolution urging Chinese authorities to free Yang and advised President George Bush to continue working on behalf of Yang for his release. U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said in a letter to Fu that "I assure you that the United States government has assigned high importance to Mr. Yang's earliest release." But a Massachusetts lawmaker has called into question the administration's sincerity. Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, whose constituency includes Brookline, where Yang and his family live, said Wednesday, "I just don't have any real sense of how seriously the administration is pressing this." Wei said the fact that Yang's name is not widely recognized and continues to maintain his Chinese citizenship has compounded difficulties in obtaining his release. "If Yang were a U.S. citizen or as famous as Chinese dissidents Wang Dan or Wei Jingsheng, the White House would probably play a more aggressive role in mediating the case," Wei said. Yang has never applied for U.S. citizenship, his wife said. By remaining Chinese, Yang feels more justified in criticizing his home country as he hopes to resettle there in the future, she explained.
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