HONG KONG An American academic convicted in China of spying for Taiwan returned on Monday
to Hong Kong, where he says he wants to resume his life & career teaching business. Li Shaomin's hopes to
return to Hong Kong had been watched carefully by local pro-democracy figures, who had expressed fears he
would be barred. They had said if he had not been allowed to come back, Hong Kong's autonomy, left in place
when Britain returned its former colony to China four years ago, would have been compromised.
Li had lived in Hong Kong until the Chinese authorities arrested him in the nearby mainland city of Shenzhen on
Feb. 25. Li obtained a Ph.D. in sociology from Princeton University in 1988 and became an American citizen in
1995. The Hong Kong govt said in a statement Monday night that Li arrived in Hong Kong in the afternoon and was
allowed to enter in the evening. The statement stressed that no one in Hong Kong can spy against China. Li's
employer, the City University, has been vague about how it would treat him as an employee if he came back.
The statement quoted a govt spokesman as saying there would be no comment on Li's status entering Hong Kong
because "it was not the govt's policy to comment on individual cases.''
A day earlier, Li's father had said that his son wanted to return soon to Hong Kong. Li Honglin said his son will try to
resume his work in Hong Kong for the new academic year this autumn. The elder Li, 76, a prominent liberal thinker
and an adviser to the late Communist Party reformist leader Hu Yaobang, spent 10 months in jail after the 1989
Tiananmen Square massacre for sympathizing with pro-democracy student protesters. He now lives with his son's
family in Hong Kong. Li's father said his son's contract with Hong Kong's City University has not been terminated
and believes his teaching schedule in the new academic year has been arranged.
Li Shaomin's biography remains on the City University's Internet Web page. He has been teaching marketing there
since 1996. The elder Li said his son was innocent of the spy charges. "The spy accusation was absolutely
ludicrous,'' Li's said. "He is a very introverted person, he is only a scholar.'' Li Shaomin, 44, flew to the U.S. last
week after he was deported from China following his conviction on charges he damaged Chinese national security
and spied for Taiwan. No evidence against him has been publicly released. Li's father said his son's return to Hong
Kong will be "good for China and Hong Kong, for our family and for Li Shaomin himself.''
Hong Kong's human rights activists had worried from the outset that Li would not be allowed to return here - even
though many dissidents are allowed to live in Hong Kong. Also on Monday, friends and family of a U.S.-linked
Chinese scholar freed on medical parole said he will likely leave China for the U.S. this week. Qin Guangguang,
paroled by Beijing last week following pressure from Washington, went first to visit his sick mother in the
southwestern province of Sichuan because he fears China will not allow him back once he leaves. A friend who
asked not to be identified said Qin told him he would probably leave for the U.S. this week. Qin's sister, who
answered the phone at his Beijing home, said it may be as early as Tuesday.
Qin, 45, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on spying charges with Gao Zhan, a U.S.-based Chinese sociologist
who also was freed on medical parole. Gao returned Thursday to the U.S. Qin, a Chinese citizen with permanent
U.S. residency, had taught at American universities and was working for a pharmaceutical company in Beijing
when he was detained in December.
BEIJING A Beijing court on Tuesday convicted two U.S. residents of spying for Taiwan and
sentenced them to 10 years in prison, the state-run Xinhua News Agency said. Gao Zhan & Qin Guangguang
"both collected intelligence for spy agencies in Taiwan, causing a serious threat to China's national security,''
Xinhua said in the first official confirmation of their sentences. A Chinese scholar, Qu Wei, also was sentenced to
13 years in prison, Xinhua said. It said Qu was convicted of providing secrets and intelligence to Gao and Li
Shaomin, an American business professor convicted July 14 of spying for Taiwan.
U.S. says trial of scholars underway in China
7.5.01 Reuters
WASHINGTON U.S. said on Thursday it had received confirmation that China has initiated trials for
two U.S.-connected Chinese scholars and hoped they would be released soon. State Dept also told reporters that it
was "deeply disturbed by reports that China has further intensified its harsh repression of the Falun Gong," a
spiritual group that has become increasingly popular in China. "The Chinese govt has confirmed to us that the trials
for Li Shaomin and Gao Zhan are under way," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told a news briefing.
"In the case of detainees, we've consistently urged the Chinese govt to resolve these cases as soon as
possible and we will continue to urge them to do that," he said. "We have encouraged China to treat these people
fairly ... We have also urged that they be reunited with their families," he added.
Boucher said it was "an open question as to whether one will be able to say that they got a fair trial or not,
particularly given what we know about the Chinese legal system." It was not yet known if a U.S. request to have an
observer at the trials was granted, he added. China has accused Li, an American citizen, and Gao, a permanent
U.S. resident, of spying for Taiwan. Their families have denied the charges. In similar cases in the past, trials have
led to swift convictions followed by summary expulsions. Media reports have suggested the trials could be over as
early as July 9.
But Gao Zhan's husband in the U.S. was not getting his hopes up saying there was still too much
uncertainty. He told Reuters his wife's lawyer in Beijing was not even notified that the trial was in the works.
"This is a dangerous thing when you face a court without a lawyer. To me this doesn't make any sense," Xue
Donghua said. Earlier, Sec.State Powell told Reuters in an interview that President Bush talked to Chinese
President Jiang Zemin by telephone on Thursday about the cases of two U.S.-connected Chinese scholars. "I hope
that this matter too will be resolved quickly," Powell said.
assurance unlikely
Powell said he had not yet had a read-out of Bush's call but added it was "unlikely" Jiang had given actual
assurances that the scholars would be released. But the secretary said, "I hope that they will conclude their
proceedings ... in a way that hopefully will create a path that will allow these folks to return to the U.S. to
rejoin their families." Gao, a researcher at American University, has not been heard from since she was separated
from Xue and their young son at Beijing airport on Feb. 11. If it takes a conviction to win her release, Xue said, "we
don't care... My son just needs his mom to come back. They want to save their face, that's fine with us. But
obviously this is not a country ruled by law." As for the Falun Gong, Boucher said the reported deaths of at least 15
Falun Gong practitioners in the Wanjia labor camp in the city of Harbin in China's Heilongjiang province last month
was "particularly troublesome."
"There are conflicting accounts of what actually occurred in the ... labor camp, but the reports of violence and
torture against these Chinese Falun Gong practitioners at the hands of Chinese authorities are chilling," he said.
"In the past, we've conveyed our strong concern to the Chinese govt on their crackdown, and we will
continue to do so," Boucher said. He added: "We call on China to respect freedom of thought, conscience and
religion, to allow all persons to practice their religious faiths freely and to end the cycle of oppression on the Falun
Gong ... in particular, the practice of re-education through labor that's being used against the Falun Gong. We don't
believe people should be in those camps to begin with."
Falun Gong said on Wednesday at least 15 of its female followers were tortured to death at the camp on or around
June 20. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said on Thursday that three Falun Gong supporters had died
and eight had been saved in a mass suicide attempt at the camp.
BEIJING Hours after President Bush and Chinese leader Jiang Zemin discussed the fates of 2 U.S.-
based scholars detained in China, officials from both nations disagreed over whether their trials were underway. Li
Shaomin, who disappeared after crossing into China from Hong Kong on Feb. 25 to visit a friend, was charged in
May. The State Department said Thursday that the trials for Li and Gao Zhan, a U.S. permanent resident who also
faces spying charges, were under way. Gao, a researcher at American University in Washington D.C., was
detained Feb. 11. Both are accused of spying for Taiwan. But Chen Xiong, a spokesman for the Higher People's
Court in Beijing, told The Associated Press that Li's trial had not started. Chen said Li will be tried by the
Intermediate People's Court in Beijing, but didn't know when. Chen said Gao's case is being handled separately,
but had no details.
Thursday's disclosure by the State Department came hours after Bush discussed the two detentions by phone with
Jiang. State Dept spokesman Richard Boucher said the
administration has pressed for their prompt release & fair treatment. He said the U.S. Embassy in Beijing
asked that a consular officer be allowed to attend Li's trial. An embassy spokesman said a consular officer visited Li
in jail on June 3, but had no information about a trial. China informed the embassy on June 21 that Li would be
allowed legal representation, said the spokesman, speaking on customary condition of anonymity. A consular
official was also allowed to visit another detained American scholar, Wu Jianmin, on June 26, said the spokesman.
Wu, a writer and U.S. citizen from New York, was detained April 8, also on suspicion of spying for Taiwan.
The consular official said Wu appeared in good health. The embassy has not been informed of any formal charges
filed against Wu, the spokesman said. On Thursday, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman reiterated China's
claims that Li and Gao have confessed to the spying charges. "There is ironclad evidence and they have admitted
to their crimes,'' Zhang Qiyue told reporters. Gao's husband, Xue Donghua, said Thursday from his home in
Virginia that he has not been told whether her trial has started. Xue and their 5-year-old son, Andrew, are U.S.
citizens.
The conflicting accounts of Li's and Gao's trials come three days after China and the U.S. removed
another irritant to ties by flying out a U.S. Navy spy plane stranded in China since colliding April 1 with a Chinese
fighter. China is also keen to avoid raising international anger just a week before the July 13 vote in Moscow to pick
the host for the 2008 Olympic Games. Beijing is widely seen as the top-runner. China could release the U.S.-based
scholars because it doesn't want their detentions overshadowing a state visit by Bush in October, said Zhang
Yebai, a U.S. expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences."The possibility entirely exists because after half a
year of turbulence, both sides now are prepared to come up with ways to improve relations,'' Zhang said.
But Mak Hoi-wah, a professor at Hong Kong's City University who has advocated the release of Li and other
detained scholars, said freeing them as a political gesture would only underscore the arbitrariness of Chinese
justice. "We hope to see Li Shaomin receive a prompt and fair trial and to be released upon the charges being
proven unfounded,'' said Mak.
U.S. calls for release of 4 academics in China
5.1.01 Muzi
WASHINGTON The U.S. on Monday urged China again to free 4 academics, incl
2 U.S. citizens, after Beijing embassy official visited one of them in detention and found him in
good health. State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said the U.S. had raised the case of the
2 U.S. citizens, Li Shaomin & Wu Jianmin, and two legal permanent U.S.
residents, Gao Zhan & Qin Guangguang, as recently
as April 26. On Monday, Li was visited by the embassy's consular officer. "We can report that Mr. Li's health is
generally good," Reeker was quoted by Reuters. "This was our third consular visit with him since
his Feb. 25 detention, the last one being April 2; we will continue to seek more consular visits with
Mr. Li and continue to press the Chinese govt about his case," he added. The spokesman
had no comment on the Chinese response to appeals about the 4 detainees, whose detentions
were linked by a U.S. academic this month to anger in Beijing at a recent book on the 1989
Tiananmen Square crackdown. "All we know is that they're still being detained, and we'd like to
see them released," Reeker said.
The detentions are among a number of recent diplomatic disputes that have soured U.S.-Sino
relations, including the 11-day standoff over a crew of a U.S. spy plane that made an emergency
landing in China after a mid-air collision with a Chinese fighter jet. The crew was allowed to return
home after the U.S. said it was "very sorry" for the loss of the Chinese pilot & his plane, and
for landing its aircraft without verbal permission, but the U.S. plane is still in China. Boston Univ.
Hot pursuit of militants after hostages die
6.9.02 Andrea Koppel, M.Ressa, M.Mount (Pentagon) CNN
MANILA, Philippines Philippine troops are "in hot pursuit" of Abu Sayyaf guerrillas 2 days
after the gunmen used their U.S. & Filipino captives as human shields in a deadly battle.
2 of 3 Philippine & American hostages held by extremist group in south for more than year were killed Fri.,
following gunbattle between Abu Sayyaf & govt troops. U.S. missionary Martin Burnham was killed while wife,
Gracia Burnham was sole surviving hostage. Philippine nurse Deborah Yap captured after the Burnhams also died.
Philippine Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said Sat. she had asked neighboring nations to be on the lookout for the
Islamic militants, whom U.S. officials linked to al Qaeda, fearing they may try to flee the country. "In the past, the
military always had to hold their fire because of the hostages. Now they can really be in hot pursuit, and they're
doing that," Arroyo said. "Pres. GWBush assured us U.S. continuing help in pushing our operations forward," she
added. "We will forge on with greater fervor & tenacity."
U.S. State Dept offered up to $5 million reward for information leading to arrest or conviction of Abu Sayyaf's top 5
leaders. More than 1,000 American troops are helping their Filipino counterparts patrol Basilan island jungles in
joint mission aimed at wiping out the Abu Sayyaf as part of the U.S.-led war on terrorism. The U.S. troops are to
leave 7.31.02
The Burnhams, from Wichita, Kansas, were kidnapped while celebrating their 18th wedding anniversary at
western Palawan province beach resort last year. Philippine Army Southern Commander Maj. Gen. Ernesto
Carolina told CNN that Filipino Rangers had been on the militants' trail for 12 days when they came upon the group
resting by a creek in heavy rain Friday. The Abu Sayyaf fighters spotted the Rangers, who suspected the 3
hostages were with the group, and the gun battle erupted. A half-hour later, the battle was over; 2 hostages and
some of the militants were dead. Gracia Burnham, who was shot in the right leg, was airlifted to a Manila hospital.
Martin Burnham's father, Paul Burnham, told CNN's Newsnight with Aaron Brown that he learned about his son's
death from the U.S. Amb. to Philippines, who called 3:15 am Fri. morning.
"I thought it would be a good call. I thought they would be released and I thought that they would be coming home
to us soon and it was quite a shock to us," he said. His daughter-in-law was looking forward to being home with her
three children, he added. "She said she wouldn't want to spend a minute longer there, she wanted to be home with
her children just as quickly as possible and she was really looking forward to them," he said. Doug Burnham, Martin
Burnham's brother told CNN the children were doing "pretty well." "They are not falling apart, obviously they are
grieving, but that's to be expected," he said.
A foreboding premonition had prompted Martin Burnham to write a good-bye letter to his 3 children just days before
his death. The letter, given to Gracia Burnham by her husband, was lost in the firefight, but soldiers found it again.
A plane bearing Martin Burnham's body arrived at USAF Kadena Air Base on Okinawa early Sat. morning.
Pentagon officials said U.S. military helped plan the operation, but U.S. troops were not involved in the mission, or
the rescue, which they said was the result of a "chance encounter." The Burnhams were taken hostage 5.27.01
along with American Guillermo Sobero & 17 Filipinos.
The remains of Sobero, Californian native, were uncovered months later by Filipino troops near the Abu Sayyaf's
jungle lair in Basilan province. He had been beheaded. The other 16 Filipinos were later released.
Panel finds CIA soft on China
7.6.01 Bill Gertz Wash.Times
Powell to raise case of jailed scholar with China
7.24.01 Reuters
HANOI Sec.State Powell will raise the case of Chinese scholar Gao Zhan, jailed for 10 years on
Tuesday, when he meets Chinese officials in Vietnam and Beijing this week, a senior state department official said.
"We are dismayed by the news," the official told reporters aboard Powell's plane en route to an Asian regional
forum in Hanoi, where Powell was due to meet Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan on Wednesday. "We had
asked to attend the trial. We were told shortly before it began that we would not be able to attend the trial," the
official added. Asked if Powell would raise Gao's case in his meetings with Chinese officials, the U.S. official
replied: "Yes." Powell is also due to meet Chinese leaders in Beijing on Saturday.
A Chinese court sentenced Gao on Tuesday to 10 years in jail for spying. She was arrested in February as she was
about to board a flight to the U.S. with her family. U.S. officials have complained for weeks on the case of Gao, a
permanent U.S. resident, and Li Shaomin, a U.S. citizen who remains in Chinese custody 10 days after the same
Beijing court convicted him of spying and ordered him deported. But they have not commented on the reliability of
the charges against the pair, saying simply they should be reunited with their families in the U.S. "We are dismayed
by the outcome. We are concerned by the lack of transparency, and we would have liked to have been able to
attend the trial," the official said on condition of anonymity.
Asked about Gao's conviction Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi told reporters in Hanoi that "the
decision of the court must be respected." "We have irrefutable evidence that Gao Zhan worked for Taiwan
espionage agencies and received funds from them. Moreover, she openly admitted her crimes," Sun said.
Powell to visit Beijing as U.S.-China ties improve
7.5.01 Reuters
WASHINGTON Sec.State Powell said on Thursday he will visit Beijing this month to prepare a U.S.-
China summit amid signs that ties between the 2 powers were entering a more productive & stable period. In
an interview with Reuters, Powell expressed hope that frictions over Beijing's detention of U.S.-connected Chinese
scholars would soon be resolved and said "the force which causes us to cooperate is more powerful than the force
that may cause us not to cooperate." Sino-American relations were plunged into crisis early in the administration of
President Bush when China detained for 11 days the crew of an American Navy surveillance plane that made an
emergency landing on Hainan Island April 1 after colliding with a Chinese fighter.
There also had been increased tensions over Bush statements and decisions viewed as drawing the U.S.
closer to Taiwan, which Beijing considers a renegade province. But in recent days China has sided with the United
States at the United Nations on Iraq sanctions, concluded a hard-fought World Trade Organization membership
agreement and returned the U.S. surveillance plane, albeit in pieces. The Bush administration angered human
rights advocates but pleased China by declining to oppose Beijing's bid for the 2008 Olympic Games.
scholars to be released?
Furthering the goodwill trend, China Thursday put on trial two U.S.-connected Chinese scholars accused of spying
for Taiwan that Bush personally asked be freed. The proceedings are widely viewed as a prelude to the scholars'
release. The trials of American citizen Li Shaomin and Gao Zhan, a U.S. permanent resident, were confirmed soon
after Bush spoke by telephone with Chinese President Jiang Zemin. A U.S. official said it is believed to be the first
telephone call from Bush to Jiang and that the gesture was "indirectly" linked to the spy plane, which arrived at a
Georgia air base to be reassembled and returned to service. "The whole (spy plane) incident is completely off the
screen now and we can focus on this important, complex relationship," the official said.
Powell doubted Jiang gave Bush any actual assurances about the scholars' fate but said: "I hope those (judicial)
proceedings will be concluded in a way that hopefully will create a path that will allow these folks to return to the
U.S. and rejoin their families." Meanwhile, a Powell aide, Policy Planning Director Richard Haass, made an
unannounced trip to Beijing this week for talks with a senior foreign ministry strategic planner. Powell, speaking
with Reuters reporters and editors at the State Department, confirmed Haass's visit and said the talks "went well."
"There was a clear indication that they're anxious to move the relationship forward in a more positive way," he said.
Haass's talks were wide-ranging, including counter narcotics efforts, Taiwan, weapons proliferation and crisis
management.
Powell will meet Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan in Hanoi later this month at the annual meeting of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations and also hold detailed talks with him in Beijing, where Bush and Jiang plan
an October summit. The secretary said he did not know if the administration's missile defense plans came up in
Haass's meetings but he intended to discuss the subject when he goes to Beijing.
missile defense
China and many experts argue that because of its relatively small size, China's nuclear arsenal is more threatened
by U.S. missile defenses than Russia, which like the U.S. possess thousands of nuclear weapons. But
Powell said: "I can demonstrate to them that they really should not see it that way. What we are going to do with
missile defense will be fairly open, obvious, transparent." "It's not intended to be a threat to their deterrence
capability and I hope we'll be able to persuade them of that over time," he added. On improving ties with Beijing,
Powell said the two countries have a "mutual interest in removing these irritants in our relationship." "We have large
areas of interest with respect to trade, economics, our views on the security situation in the region. There is every
incentive for us to remove these irritations so we can pursue these issues," he said. Powell stressed that
disagreements remain, including human rights and non-proliferation, and will be debated. One thorn is China's sale
of missiles and other technology to certain countries. Republicans repeatedly accused former President Bill Clinton
of failing to invoke U.S.-mandated sanctions for China's behavior in this sphere.
Although it has not yet done so, Powell insisted "this administration will not shrink from our responsibility to hold
people to account for the commitments they have made to us," including imposing sanctions. Also Thursday, the
State Department faulted China's handling of the Falung Gong spiritual sect, saying it was "deeply disturbed by
reports that China has further intensified its harsh repression of the Falun Gong." A spokesman cited "particularly
troublesome" reports that over a dozen Falun Gong practitioners died in a labor camp on June 20.
WASHINGTON Pres.Bush expressed concern Thu. at what he described as
growing persecution of religious followers in China, saying he viewed such govt attacks as a sign
of "weakness.'' In speech on religious freedom to American Jewish Committee, Bush lamented
"intensifying attacks'' on religious freedom in China. He cited arrests of followers of the Falun
Gong spiritual movement, destruction of churches & mosques, and widespread arrests of
worshippers and religious leaders. He singled out religious followers in Tibet as "the target of
especially harsh and unjust persecution. The Chinese govt continues to display an unreasonable
& unworthy suspicion of freedom of conscience,'' Bush said in prepared remarks. The
president praised China for "great strides toward freedom in recent decades,'' offering as
examples expanded access to information and greater liberty to travel, but he said the religious
restrictions threaten China's growth. "China aspires to national strength & greatness,'' he
said, "but these acts of persecution are acts of fear - and therefore, of weakness.''
"This persecution is unworthy of all that China has been: a civilization with a history of tolerance,''
Bush said. "And this persecution is unworthy of all that China should become, an open society that
respects the spiritual dignity of its people.'' State Dept report said China's human rights record
deteriorated last year, with intensified crackdowns on religion & political dissent. &
Pentagon said this week that Def.Sec D.Rumsfeld had suspended all contacts with the Chinese
military. The Bush administration retracted the statement, which it called a misunderstanding.
Administration officials scrambled Thu. to explain that Bush & Rumsfeld intended all elements
of the military-to-military contacts to be "reviewed & approved on a case-by-case basis.''
"What the secretary was rightly doing was saying that we're going to review all opportunities to
interface with the Chinese and if it enhances our relationship, it may make sense,'' Bush said
Thursday. "We've only been in office for 104 days. We've got to review all policy that we inherited,''
Bush said.
China specialist Merle Goldman said the arrests could be a sign Beijing suspected the academics
of links to "The Tiananmen Papers," which purported to reveal debates that led to Beijing's 1989
crackdown on protesters in which hundreds, perhaps thousands, of unarmed civilians were killed.
Wu was detained April 8 and is being held on suspicion of spying for Taiwan, the State Dept said.
But the Hong Kong based Information Ctr
for Human Rights & Democracy, said he had been seized on suspicion of passing
Tiananmen-related papers.
The other U.S. citizen, Li, was teaching business at City Univ. of Hong Kong when he was picked up on Feb. 25.
Gao, sociology researcher who has written on women's issues, was teaching at American University in
Washington. Qin, who works for a U.S. medical group, was detained in Beijing in December on suspicion of leaking
state secrets.
President Bush tapped his college buddy, Clark "Sandy" Randt, Jr.¹
to be ambassador to China, but one has to wonder who's doing whom the favor. U.S. relations
with the most populous nation on earth promise to be complicated at the very least, especially
following the collision between an American surveillance plane and a Chinese fighter jet that
resulted in China's 10-day detention of 24 American crewmen. President Clinton had a difficult
time even filling the China post. He was reportedly turned down by a handful of candidates in his
effort to find a successor to former Sen. James Sasser D -TN. Clinton finally chose retired
Navy admiral Joseph Prueher, who captured the spotlight during recent negotiations over the
American detainees and reportedly was interested in staying on the job.
Bush instead turned to Randt, a fraternity brother at Yale who came to Bush's defense during the
presidential campaign following allegations of drug use in college. Randt also has experience with
China. He is based in Hong Kong office of Shearman & Sterling law firm where he
focuses on trade issues. Randt contributed $22,000 to candidates and party committees in 1999-
2000, all to Republicans. This included a $1,000 donation to the Bush campaign. He also gave
$1,000 to the Bush-Cheney Transition Fdtn. His wife, Sarah, made a single $1,000 contribution to
Bush.
ƒ 1873, practicing in France, Germany and England, Shearman & Sterling's China group is led by
Clark Randt, combining a firm & a man with, between them, the greatest exposure to
overseas listings & capital markets transactions of any firm active in the China market at this
time. In 1999-2000, the firm represented PetroChina & China National Petroleum Corp. in the
complex and risky US$3bn dual listing of PetroChina, and acted as US counsel for the issuer in
the US$6.4bn acquisition of mobile networks in mainland China by China Telecom. …
Congress in 1999 passed a law requiring Clinton administration to identify all businesses in U.S.
connected to China's military & govt. The administration refused, claiming Beijing ordered its
military in July 1998 to divest all businesses, ranging from hotels to transnational
corporations.
U.S. intelligence officials now tell us the FBI has compiled a list of more than 3000 Chinese govt
linked businesses operating in U.S. FBI's counterspies say at least 300 of the Chinese entities not
only fund Beijing's military but are used to provide cover for intelligence officers or intelligence
gathering activities. The businesses are believed to be involved in China's massive covert &d
overt program of acquiring technology that has both commercial & military applications.
HSUS will join Burlington Coat Factory in advancing federal legislation on dog, cat fur
U.S. Humane Society to continue U.S. investigation
12.17.98 press release Humane
Society
WASHINGTON Humane Society of U.S. (HSUS) announced it would collaborate
with Burlington Coat Factory in advancing federal legislation to ban commerce in dog & cat
fur in response to release of results of 18 month intl investigation conducted by HSUS &
German journalist Manfred Karremann. … The HSUS investigation documented that upwards
of 2 millions dogs & cats are killed for fur in China and the fur is sold throughout the world.
…
I sit asleep in my cage. The noise of people walking past has ceased to annoy me. My cage is
shaken. My eyes pull themselves open. The cage of chickens above me has at last been removed.
The squawking of the unlucky chicken is brief, but unnerving. … I ran and out of the market
and found myself in an even more crowded place where people were selling inedible goods. I
found it much better. Old men were bargaining for bongs (a bamboo pipe which you smoke)
& medicines (herbal). I run free through Tai Shan.
…
China has used secret nuclear data stolen from U.S. labs in a bid to develop a mobile solid-fuel
rocket that can be easily hidden and quickly launched, a congressional report says.
…
Americans Face Ire From China. No Americans have been attacked anywhere in China, but many
have come under intense pressure amid a stream of propaganda denouncing NATO's embassy
bombing, especially in more remote areas.
Behind GWBush rumors lurks Washington gossip culture
5.14.99 Ellen J. Pollock Wall St Journallarger excerpt
… "Gossip is the currency of Washington political culture. It doesn't have to be true," says Ms.
Matalin. "Everybody is a gossip. … Clark Randt, Shearman & Sterling law firm partner, once
social chairman of fraternity that Mr. Bush led, happily confesses downing beers with the governor
during their 1960s Yale days. But when it comes to Mr. Bush's doing drugs, he says,
"heavens no." recalls Mr. Randt, who is no longer close to Mr. Bush. …
HONG KONG Document published Monday provides more evidence of rift among
Chinese Communist Party leaders before deadly 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protests.
Written 9.89 in prison by former party official Bao Tong who said he was happy to see it leaked, it
was released by unidentified source and printed full-length in respected Hong Kong Economic
Journal on Monday. Bao was adviser to ousted reformist party chief Zhao Ziyang. He became
most senior communist official imprisoned for sympathizing with student activists crushed in the
violent 6.4.89 crackdown in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. Bao spent 7 years behind bars and
another year detained in guest house for leaking state secrets.
Now lives in Beijing under intense surveillance. Zhao has also been under house arrest since
1989. Reached by telephone in Beijing on Monday, Bao said he welcomed the release of the
document although he does not know who did it. Hong Kong Economic Journal said the person
providing it intended to bolster recent book "The Tiananmen Papers,'' which described Chinese
govt inner workings ahead of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Bao said document was drawn
from a letter he wrote at behest of investigators in 1989 in which he admitted to "mistake'' of
breaking with party leaders over the decision to clear Tiananmen Square by force. Bao said he did
not keep a copy and hasn't seen the letter since then, although investigators told him it was
passed to top party officials. "This is a small cell in huge body of historical evidence,'' Bao said.
He defended his actions in 1989 as "trying to resolve contradictions, to bring events to equitable
resolution, not to make things bigger.''
The statement was described in HK EJ as Bao's official response to the party's charges against
him and contains details of top-level official meetings before China's leaders decided to let tanks
roll into Tiananmen Square, killing hundreds of students & civilian demonstrators. "The
Tiananmen Papers,'' published in U.S. in January described Chinese leaders' squabbles over
crushing of the protests. Bao's statement explained in great detail events & his own actions
before his 5.89 arrest; it provided information on great divide between reformists led by Zhao
sympathetic to the students and conservatives led by PM Li Peng, who insisted the student
demonstration must be crushed. "On May 19 & 20, the central govt announced the army
would move into Beijing and impose a curfew,'' Bao wrote. "In my heart, I thought it was a terribly
wrong move. I feared that we were riding a tiger that would be hard to get off and the situation
would get increasingly out of control.'' Bao wrote he found it "unfair'' that the govt's central
committee members had collectively criticized Zhao. He also wrote that his views led him to
commit the "grave mistake'' of not siding politically with the central govt.
But Bao's letter denied the serious charge that he had leaked the secret that a curfew would be
imposed before it happened. Bao said Zhao had not told him what the central committee's
confidential decision was. He also said he had reservations about a 4.26.89 People's Daily
editorial that condemned student protesters. Bao said the editorial was "rigid, lacking sufficient
analysis & arguments and that it prompted the students to engage in more radical actions
which led to the violent crackdown.''
China detentions may be tied to book, scholar says
4.24.01 Reuters
NEW YORK … A number of Chinese-born academics have been detained in
China on spy charges, and Beijing may have ordered its secret police to take some of them into
custody because of suspected links to "The Tiananmen Papers," … A much longer Chinese
version of the book came out in New York this month under the title "June Fourth: The True Story."
Beijing has called the collection of supposed official reports and minutes of top leaders' meetings
"a fabrication." … Last week China confirmed it was investigating a U.S. citizen of Chinese
origin suspected of espionage, and a human rights group in Hong Kong said his detention was
linked to "The Tiananmen Papers." Wu Jianmin was detained 4.8.01 in southern city of
Shenzhen and has been held in nearby Guangzhou on suspicion of spying for Taiwan, State Dept
said.
… NY based Human Rights in China exec. dir. Xiao
Qiang said he did not see any direct link between the detention of the 4 and "The Tiananmen
Papers." But he said the book's publication had caused Beijing to tighten the screws on academics
of Chinese ancestry studying the workings of govt or Taiwan-related issues. "The direct
link is speculation. The timing is not a coincidence," Xiao told Reuters. He said the book had
aroused & enraged Beijing leaders.
"The amount of publicity from the book deeply embarrassed the Chinese leadership and increased
the pressure on the security planners to step up their vigilance," he said. One of the editors of the
English-language edition, Princeton Univ. prof. Perry Link declined to comment on any possible
connection between individuals & the smuggling of Tiananmen documents out of China.
… The other editor, Andrew Nathan of Columbia University, said, "The publication of 'The
Tiananmen Papers,' along with a bunch of other events, has contributed to a siege mentality in the
state security bureau, and the security authorities have been ordered to clamp down and find
perpetrators of all sorts."
Missing His Mother American boy, 5,
& dad fly home while China detains Mom
3.22.01 Bill Redeker ABCNEWS.com
Donghua Xue, his
wife Gao Zhan and their
American-born son Andrew had been visiting relatives in China over the Chinese New Year. But
when they tried to return to the U.S., they were arrested at the Beijing airport by Chinese police
and held separately for nearly a month. Eventually, Xue and his son were freed and flew home.
But Gao, a researcher at AmericanUniv. in Washington, is still in jail.
Andrew, a U.S. citizen, is only 5 years old. American officials are outraged that he was held
separately from his parents, and that he is now being separated from his mother. Xue says his son
doesn't understand why his mother hasn't come home. "Andrew is only 5. He misses his mother
badly. I need my wife to come home. I need my family reunited."
Gao had visited Taiwan and written about the sensitive relations between Taiwan & China.
Xue says Chinese authorities tried to get him to incriminate his wife. "All her research articles,
publications, trip to Taiwan, are 100 percent academic," he says. In Beijing, the Chinese Foreign
Ministry said Gao is suspected of "activities that undermine state security." A spokesman said,
"She admits to her criminal acts." But she was defended vigorously today at American Univ. and
by U.S. Sec.State Colin Powell. "We think it is particularly outrageous that the young boy, son,
was held away from his parents, away from family members for an extended period of time,"
Powell said. Xue and his wife had planned to return to China as teachers, but Gao now says he
has changed his mind.
… This latest case is particularly troublesome, as the Chinese basically kidnapped a 5yr old
American boy. … arrested a Chinese-born mom, dad and their young American-born kid,
Andrew, at the airport, and put them all in detention for nearly a month. They wouldn't let the
father see his son (forget about mom), unless dad sold mom out to the authorities. As for the little
boy, a US citizen, the Chinese kept held him hostage for 26 days, away from his parents, in what
they called a "kindergarten" (apparently, one without doors). They wouldn't even release the child
to his Chinese grandparents. In clear violation of intl treaties, the Chinese didn't notify the US govt
that they had picked up a US citizen and quietly slipped him down the memory hole. (The father
and child have now returned to the US, the mother remains in Chinese custody.) …
Gao Zhan commits her crime of learning more truth in Taiwan
Chinese-born scholar at AU held by Beijing
Husband, child released after 26 days in custody
3.22.01 Philip P. Pan WashPost pA1
Beijing A Chinese born political scientist at American University who does
research on women's issues & China-Taiwan relations has been detained in China for more
than a month, her husband said today. The Foreign Ministry said she was suspected of "engaging
in activities damaging state security." Chinese officers detained Gao Zhan, 40, an
unpaid faculty fellow at AU's School of International Service, as well as her husband & their
5-year-old son at the Beijing airport on Feb. 11 as they prepared to return to Washington. Gao's
husband, Xue Donghua, and their child, Andrew, were released 26 days later. Xue said they were
held in separate locations and officers refused to let him, his wife or other relatives see Andrew.
Speaking by telephone from the Washington area, Xue said he was told he could see his son only
if he first incriminated his wife. He refused, he said, because "she is absolutely innocent." "My wife
has been detained for almost 40 days now. … They wouldn't even let me see her before I
left," said Xue, D.C. based manager for Electronic Data Systems Corp. "I'm very worried because
she has heart disease and other health problems."
Xue said he sought help from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing immediately, but waited to speak out
publicly because the Chinese officers warned him that doing so would make matters worse. He
said he changed his mind because "waiting hasn't worked." NY based group Human Rights in
China urged President Bush to ask for Gao's release when he meets with Vice Premier Qian
Qichen in Washington on Thursday. The group said the detentions violated Chinese &
international law. American Univ. President Benjamin Ladner said he has written letters to Bush,
Qian, U.S. Amb. Jos.W. Prueher in Beijing and Chinese Amb. Yang Jiechi in Washington urging
their intervention. "As an institution of higher learning, we are concerned if a scholar is being
detained for any reason that might be related to legitimate inquiry or research," he said in a
statement. "We ask that both govts work to provide complete information surrounding this incident
and that Dr. Gao be allowed to rejoin her family as soon as possible."
Ladner's chief of staff, David Taylor, said Gao is not a professor at the university but a research
scholar, a status "that allows her to do research & participate in the life of the university." The
appt runs from Oct. 2000 through Sept., he said. Louis W. Goodman, dean of the School of Intl
Service, said Gao is one of 8 or 9 visiting fellows attached to the school's Ctr for Asian Studies and
that she is very sociable with a strong command of English. Her topics, women's issues &
study of how Chinese educated abroad readjust when they return, are "pretty standard issues," he
added. "That was one of the things that was surprising to me," Goodman said. "There seemed to
be nothing controversial about her research topic. We do not know what she's been charged with.
We're kind of puzzled & alarmed at the circumstances."
State Dept spokesman Richard Boucher said the U.S. has asked Chinese authorities about Gao's
detention and urged them "to release her immediately." Gao & Xue are Chinese citizens who
immigrated to the U.S. in 1989. [Both now naturalized]
That was the year of the bloody crackdown against demonstrators around Beijing's Tiananmen
Square, but Xue said neither he nor his wife were part of the protests. American Univ. said the two
have applied to become U.S. citizens and their son already is a U.S. citizen. China failed to inform
the U.S. Embassy of the boy's detention as required by treaty, an embassy official said in Beijing.
China's Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying Gao is under investigation for activities
harming national security and the case will be handled according to Chinese criminal statutes. The
ministry did not say specifically what Gao did that aroused suspicions.
"It's all nonsense," Xue said. "She's just an academic, a scholar. She's not doing anything against
the Chinese govt. We wouldn't do that." Xue said he & his wife were planning to return to
China and had been looking for teaching jobs at Chinese universities in their home cities of Xian
and Nanjing after spending Chinese New Year with relatives. "We wanted to go back and do
something for the country," he said. Xue said security officers blindfolded him and drove him to a
house about 2 hours from the airport. There, he said, he was confined to a room and was not
allowed to contact relatives or a lawyer. He said the officers repeatedly questioned him about his
wife's work and 2 visits she made to Taiwan in 1995 & 1999. Both trips were academic
exchanges organized by the Assoc. of Chinese Political Studies, according to a Chinese
colleague, who asked not to be identified. He said Gao was among 15 scholars on both trips who
visited Taiwanese research organizations, universities and govt officials. Gao's research focuses
primarily on Chinese family and women's issues, Xue said, but she also has written on China's
relations with Taiwan, the island that Beijing considers part of its territory. For example, she wrote
an article last year that examined the role of women in Taiwanese politics and contrasted the high
level of political participation by women there with lower levels in China.
This is the third time in as many years that Chinese-born academics have been detained after
returning to China from the U.S.. In 1999, a librarian from Dickinson College in
Pennsylvania, Song Yongyi, was detained while doing research on the 1966-76 Cultural
Revolution. He was accused of stealing state secrets, but released 6 months later. In 1998,
Stanford Univ. researcher Hua Di was arrested during his first visit to his homeland in 11 years
and accused of leaking military secrets. A former Chinese military official & specialist on
China's nuclear & missile program, Hua was sentenced to 10 years in prison last Nov.
BEIJING China has indicted a U.S.-based scholar accused of espionage and will soon try her,
probably soon after a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, her family's lawyer said Wednesday. Gao Zhan
is expected to be tried by the same Beijing court that on Saturday convicted an American business professor, Li
Shaomin, of spying for Taiwan and ordered him deported. The 2 cases and the detentions in China of other
scholars and businesspeople with U.S. citizenship or links to the U.S. have compounded recent strains in
relations between Beijing and Washington. The arrests also have caused unease among scholars who regularly
travel to China for research. Gao's trial threatens to cast a cloud over Powell's visit, expected at the end of the
month. The visit, Powell's first to China as secretary of state, comes as Washington and Beijing are trying to patch
up ties shaken by the collision in April of an American spy plane and a Chinese fighter jet.
A three-judge panel at Beijing's No. 1 Intermediate People's Court is expected to try Gao behind closed doors. The
trial will most likely take place in the week of July 30 and "probably right after Secretary Powell's departure from
Beijing,'' said Jerome A. Cohen, a New York University law professor who is representing Gao's family in the United
States. "It will come soon,'' Cohen said in a telephone interview from New York. State Dept spokesman Phillip
Reeker said the U.S. is urging a prompt resolution to Gao's case. "Our goal is to see that she's able to be reunited
with her family, and that's what we're calling on the Chinese to do,'' Reeker said.
He would not comment on whether the State Department believed Gao to be innocent. Human Rights in China, an
organization that has been supporting Gao, said it hoped she was treated like Li. "Our hope is that if she is
convicted she will be ordered deported, as was Li Shaomin,'' said Xiao Qiang, executive director of the agency.
Gao works at American University in Washington and has permanent U.S. resident status. She was detained Feb.
11 at Beijing's airport during a family trip to China. Her detention caused a diplomatic uproar because Chinese
authorities also temporarily held her 5-year-old son, a U.S. citizen, without notifying the U.S. Embassy as required
by treaty. Gao's lawyers learned Tuesday of her indictment, although they have yet to see a copy of it, Cohen said.
But he said state security agents claim that Gao supplied secret documents to Li, the American scholar convicted
by Beijing's Intermediate Court of collecting information for a Taiwanese spy operation. Li's wife denied the
accusations.
Gao and Li first met at an academic conference, and Li helped Gao seek funding from a Taiwanese academic
foundation when she was pursuing a doctorate at Syracuse University, Cohen said. "You have a group of
academics, sociologists, who are studying these questions, who have known each other and worked together over
time,'' Cohen said. "In every field there is a lot of cooperation between people.'' State security authorities have
recommended that Gao be prosecuted under espionage clauses in China's criminal law. Conviction can bring a jail
term of three years to life imprisonment, depending on how seriously judges view the case. There was still no word
Wednesday on when China will deport Li. But the court's decision to expel rather than jail him was seen as a
possible Chinese gesture to repair ties with Washington. Gao, unlike Li, is not an American citizen so whether she
would be deported is less certain. Cohen said he hoped China would release her. "The court has many ways to
free her and if the govt wishes they can arrange for her departure,'' he said.
Public campaign for release of Chinese-American scholar Song Yongyi pays
off
2.14.00 Nicholas Berry, sr analys Asia Forum Ctr for Defense Information
For 6 months Dickinson College scholar & librarian Song Yongyi languished in a Chinese jail.
he was detained by Chinese authorities last 8.99 when researching China's Cultural Revolution.
He was formally arrested 12.99 on vague charge of stealing secret documents. What he actually
did was try to mail copies of published Chinese pamphlets & articles from 1966-76 Cultural
Revolution back to his home in Carlisle PA. Song was released in late January. His case
generated public protest over the absurdity & intellectually chilling effect of his arrest.
Dickinson College website petition attracted more than 4000 signatures. Over 150 China scholars
worldwide signed a petition that Song's detention stifles educational exchanges. U.S. Amb. Jos.
Prueher told Premier Zhu Rongji adverse effects of the case throughout Washington incl a bill
introduced by Sen. Arlen Specter R-PA making Song a U.S. citizen.
A congressional delegation led by Rep. Matt Salmon R-AZ raised Song's case with Pres. Jiang Zemin in Beijing.
Critical articles on Chinese justice system appeared widely in U.S. & abroad. Think tanks incl CDI,
joined spontaneous coalition calling for the scholar's release Why did Beijing respond positively to the outcry?
The case against Song first began to unravel in China itself. Chinese prosecutors declined to indict Song on
charges of exporting state secrets. This left the State Security ministry scrambling to think up some charge to
hold him. No specific or reasonable charge could be found.
In the face of the intl protest, with potential costs in lost prestige, dreadful media, reduced technical &
educational exchanges, and greater anti-Chinese sentiment in Congress, Beijing, after a face-saving interval, let
Song go. Undoubtedly, a critical consideration for Beijing was the then upcoming vote in Congress on the Taiwan
Security Enhancement Act which Beijing sees as the U.S. abandoning its one-China policy and pending vote on
granting China normal trade relations with U.S. that would facilitate China's entry into the WTO which Beijing
believes is essential for its status as a world power. …
3.9.96 … Harry Wu, during his 66
days of incarceration in China last year, saw first-hand how far that involvement reaches,
specifically in equipping China's party-state apparatus, the largest bureaucracy in the
history of the world, and still expanding. "All the plainclothes security people [who seized and
guarded him] carried Motorola cellular phones," Wu told a Cong. hearing in Sept.
"American products are helping make China's repressive machine more efficient"
… continued renewal of MFN for China seems assured, because U.S. business interests share richly
in those benefits. People's Republic ranks 3rd from top among nations in volume of UN sponsored
development aid it receives; its $23billion in low-interest loan commitments from the World Bank
make China the Bank's heaviest borrower. As the Wall St Journal has correctly pointed out, "these
[international] resources are funneled through China's central govt, strengthening its purse and its
power over Chinese citizens."
China is so flush with foreign funds that it can now divert some to shore up the power of kindred
govts. In Dec. Beijing's newly established Export-Import Bank, as its first project, granted
$12million in preferential loans to Sudan's military govt. As its 2nd project, it signed $520million
contract to overhaul Nigeria's railway system and provide it with new locomotives. On the day
when the People's Court sentenced Wei Jingsheng, Lagos thanked China for helping Nigeria
reach "the threshold of an economic revolution," parallel to bloody political revolution by military
dictatorship that in Nov. hanged 9 human rights activists. …
Accused spy Wang Bingzhang, who was proclaimed "missing" in some overseas media, was arrested by Chinese
police earlier this month, a spokesman for the Ministry of Public Security said Friday in Beijing. Wang, a Chinese
citizen, was accused of being engaged in espionage in China and had been tracked down by the state security
dept, said the spokesman. Wang was also wanted by the police in south China's Guangdong province since May,
1999, for alleged involvement in violent terrorist activities.
Wang & 2 others were found tied up in Bohu Temple in the suburbs of Fangchenggang city, in south China's
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, by local police on the night of 7.3.02. The three said that they were
kidnapped on June 27 in Tinh Quang Ninh, Vietnam, and were blackmailed for 10 million US dollars.
Before they were rescued by the Guangxi police, they had been blindfolded and transported from one place to
another for being unable to pay the ransom, they claimed. The kidnapping case was still under investigation, said
the spokesman. Guangxi police identified them as Wang Bingzhang, Yue Wu, and Zhang Qi (female).
The state security dept had verified that Wang, starting in the early 1980s, had struck up contact with Taiwan's
espionage organization, which paid him as he collected and stole state secrets for it. The police had confirmed that
Wang had many of his articles advocating violence & terrorism published or picked up by the Internet, in which
he claimed he had plotted, organized and committed violent terrorist activities.
Under Articles 6 & 7 of the Criminal Law, China had judicial jurisdiction over Wang who was accused of
committing crimes that endangered state and public security, said the spokesman. Wang was transferred to the
police in Guangdong and had been at home under surveillance in accordance with Articles 51 & 57 of China's
Criminal Procedure Law.
Wang was arrested by the police in Guangdong on December 5 with the approval of the prosecution service.
The case was under further investigation, said the spokesman. The spokesman said that in accordance with the
relevant Chinese laws, Wang's family members were yet to be allowed to visit him, because Wang was suspected
of committing crimes related to state secrets.
The spokesman also said that Yue Wu and Zhang Qi no longer lived at home under surveillance after the police
investigation cleared them of involvement in Wang's alleged crimes.
China sentences U.S.-based dissident to life
2.9.03 AP
Beijing A Chinese court convicted U.S.-based dissident Wang Bingzhang on spying & terrorism
charges Monday
and sentenced him to life in prison, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. Wang, 55, was arrested after police
said they found him tied up in a temple July 3. However, pro-democracy activists suggested he was abducted in
Vietnam by Chinese agents after he secretly met with Chinese labor leaders in Hanoi.
Wang was convicted by a court in the southern city of Shenzhen of "espionage organizing & leading a terrorist
group," Xinhua said in a 2 sentence report. A woman who answered the telephone at the court said no one was
available to give any more information.
China said last month that it had verified that Wang sold state secrets to a spy organization in Taiwan
beginning in the early 1980s. Police also accused Wang of publishing articles on the Internet advocating
terrorism. U.S. Embassy in Beijing and the Chinese Foreign Ministry had no immediate comment.
Wang's daughter said the family did not know what its next step would be. "I just heard the news. We don't know
what we're going to do at this point. I'm going to talk to my family," Wang Qingyan said from San Gabriel, CA.
The Free China Movement, an activist group in Washington, said Wang Bingzhang was innocent and
appealed for the U.S. govt to "exert all its influence" to win his release. "The sentence demonstrates the
barbarous character of the Chinese govt," said group's intl dir. Timothy Cooper. "We believe that he is
innocent of all charges that he's been convicted of and we believe he should be freed."
In Hong Kong, activists tried to leave a letter protesting Wang's conviction at the central Chinese govt's liaison
office, but were blocked by about 50 police surrounding the building, according to a group member. About 10
activists scuffled briefly with the police, then burned the protest letter after being blocked from delivering it, activist
Lau San-ching said.
Wang Bingzhang was visiting Hanoi with 2 other dissidents when they were reported missing in June.
Chinese authorities say they found all 3 in southern China's Guangxi region, which borders Vietnam,
while they were investigating a kidnapping case. Wang Bingzhang apparently was taken to Shenzhen,
near Hong Kong, where he was formally charged 12.5.03.
Chinese govt has said the other 2 dissidents, Yue Wu & Zhang Qi , were cleared of involvement in Wang
Bingzhang's activities. Xinhua said earlier that Wang Bingzhang's trial was closed because it involved state
secrets.
Wang Bingzhang, a Chinese citizen, has permanent residency status in U.S. He was a medical student in
China when he started speaking out against communist govt and was jailed twice. He went into exile in
Canada in 1979 and, in the 1980s, lived in New York, where he published the pro-democracy magazine
China Spring and organized the Chinese Alliance for Democracy.
Wang Bingzhang slipped into China in 1998 without permission, saying he planned to organize a Chinese
Democracy & Justice Party to press for free elections & civil liberties. He was caught &
deported.
Diana Ortiz¹²³
Nun working in Guatemalan village teaching children to read & write. For this subversive activity, she was
arrested 11.2.1989, taken to clandestine prison in Guatemala City, burned with cigarettes 111 times, gang-raped
and thrown into a pit with dead bodies & dying people. Her goal is declassification of U.S. documents
held by the CIA, Defense and State Depts concerning human rights abuses in Guatemala.
Following her 1996 demonstration outside the White House, First Lady Hillary Clinton received her
and offered her the full cooperation of the White House in releasing whatever information relative
to her case might be held in govt files. No such action has been taken. Dianna has maintained her
testimony all the while, and the OAS accepted her case and published a report. She lives in
Wash.DC & works at Guatemala HRts Commission /USA
3321 12th St NE Wash.D.C. 20017 202.529.6599
On her Guatemalan ranch, American retraces slaying
3.28.95 Sam Dillon NYTimes
… An investigating committee which incl U.S. Amb. Thos. Strook was formed. Col. Alpirez, however, refused
to cooperate with the committee. In response, the US officially suspended its $3.3 million dollar aid package to
Guatemala in December 1990. (It was later revealed that the Bush pere administration covertly funneled money to Guatemala, in spite of the official suspension of aid).
Partly because of US pressure, the Guatemalan govt tried& convicted 5 soldiers in the murder, several of
whom testified that Contreras, who was based in Flores, had ordered them go to Poptun and kill DeVine. This was done with Alpirez's apparent blessing, because the soldiers testified that they had operated out of the Alpirez's Poptun base for several days before the murder.
In 1993, Contreras was tried and convicted in the murder of DeVine, but he soon escaped. Alpirez was not
interrogated about his role.
A military court determined that sufficient evidence existed for the arrest of army Captain Hugo Contreras Alvarado who has been implicated in the murder of US businessman Michael Devine. Contreras was released last year for lack of evidence, however, widow Caroline Devine has continued to pressure officials into action.
Captain Contreras was chief of intelligence at the Peten military base when Devine was tortured & murdered in June 1990. Contreras' superiors Colonels Roberto Catalan and Guillermo Portillo who were also freed for lack of evidence remain unaffected by the new turn of events.
Colombian group says it seeking kidnapped tourists
9.19.03 Reuters
Bogota, Colombia A Colombian right-wing militia said on Friday it was helping in the search for 8
foreign tourists who were snatched near the ruins of an ancient Indian city last week. Adding its voice to those of
other outlaw groups professing their innocence, the Tayrona Counter-insurgency Bloc said it was working "day
& night" to rescue the hostages. "We are not the authors of these reprehensible acts," it said in a
statement.
Camouflaged gunmen kidnapped 4 Israelis, 2 Britons, a Spaniard and a German 9.12.03; according to witnesses, marched away into the thick jungles of the Sierra Nevada mountains. The govt & the Colombian armed forces have blamed the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, 17,000-member Marxist rebel army known by Spanish initials FARC.
But FARC Tuesday also denied any role. They suggested Colombian military intelligence was behind the
kidnapping so it could stage a fake rescue to bolster the govt's popularity. The tourists, who ignored U.S. &
foreign travel warnings, were trying to reach Colombia's "Lost City," a 2,500-year-old Indian ruin a 2 day hike from
the Caribbean coast.
Several outlaw armies have a presence in the remote, northern mountains where the tourists were kidnapped, incl smaller, Cuban-inspired National Liberation Army, known by its Spanish initials ELN. The FARC & the ELN rebel groups both regularly take hostages, usually looking for ransom money to fill war chests.
Drug smugglers are rife near the coast, and there are also common criminals looking for quick ransom money.
More than 1,000 people have been abducted so far this year in Colombia, much the most likely place to be
kidnapped on the planet. The guerrilla conflict, already in its fourth decade, claims thousands of lives every
year.
Galloway Township NJ The family of an American captive beheaded by militants in Saudi Arabia on Friday said authorities worked as hard as they could to rescue Paul Johnson Jr., and that his slaying did not
dampen their respect for his adopted country. "Paul considered Saudi Arabia his home. He loved the people and
the country", said an FBI agent speaking on behalf of Johnson's relatives. "They also know this act of
terrorism was committed by extremists and does not represent the Saudi Arabia that Paul often spoke and wrote
about to his family", said FBI's Newark office special agent in charge Joseph Billy Jr.
Johnson, 49, was kidnapped last weekend by militants who followed through on a threat to kill him by Friday if the
kingdom did not release its al-Qaida prisoners. An al-Qaida group claiming responsibility posted an Internet
message that showed photographs of a beheaded body. Hours later, Saudi security forces tracked down and killed the leader of the terrorist group, according to Saudi & U.S. officials.
Johnson's family was "going through a very difficult time but they are remarkably strong", Billy said. While Billy
spoke, Johnson's family left his niece's home in Galloway Township in 2 vans. None of the relatives spoke and it
was not clear where they were headed. Billy said the family hoped its privacy would be respected as members
"decide what steps they will take next".
Those close to Johnson's family were horrified by the slaying. "They just can't keep taking American hostages,
doing that to them, and putting it on the Internet for everybody to see", said Johnson childhood friend John Hayes.
State, national and world leaders condemned Johnson's killing. "These are barbaric people. There's no justification whatsoever for his murder. And yet they killed him in cold blood", said President GW Bush.
Gov. James E. McGreevey called his death "a horrific tragedy for all who value decency, integrity and freedom".
Johnson's employer,
Lockheed Martin, issued a statement Friday afternoon expressing the company's grief. At the time of his
abduction, Johnson was working on targeting & night vision systems for Apache helicopters.
The slaying sent shock waves through NJ communities where Johnson grew up, and in Florida, where he later
moved. At Port St. John FL, home of Johnson's son, Paul Johnson III, friends left messages, a pink teddy bear and other tokens of condolence & sympathy. Johnson III was in New Jersey with his family.
In suburban Philadelphia, the family of American businessman Nicholas Berg, who was beheaded in Iraq last
month, offered condolences to Johnson's family and others who have been killed in Iraq. On Friday, Lockheed
Martin set up the Lockheed Martin Paul Johnson Family Assistance Fund through Wachovia Bank. Checks can be mailed to the attention of Ina Simmons at 10305 Westlake Drive, Bethesda, MD 20817. Checks will also be
accepted at any Wachovia branch.
Saudis kill suspect in hostage beheading
6.19.04 John Solomon & Katherine Pfleger Shrader AP
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia An al-Qaida cell beheaded American engineer Paul M. Johnson Jr., and in a
swift retaliation, officials said Saudi security forces tracked down and killed the leader of the terrorist group in a
shoot-out Friday. Johnson, who was kidnapped last weekend, was the latest victim of an escalating campaign of
violence against Westerners that aims to drive foreign workers from the country and undermine the ruling royal
family, hated by al-Qaida.
The death hours later of Abdulaziz al-Moqrin, reputed leader of al-Qaida in the kingdom, was a coup for the Saudi govt, which has been under intense pressure to halt the wave of attacks. In a video posted on the Internet Tuesday, a hooded al-Moqrin held an assault rifle and shouted demands for the release of al-Qaida prisoners as Johnson sat blindfolded.
Saudi forces killed 4 other al-Qaida militants in Friday's shootout, which came after a witness reported the license plate number of a car from which the militants dumped Johnson's body and police then stopped the vehicle at a gas station, security officials said. But they were too late to save Johnson, whose severed head was shown on a Web site Friday. The photographs and a statement, in the name of Fallujah Brigade of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, appeared after Johnson's wife went on Arab television and tearfully pleaded for his release.
"In answer to what we promised … to kill the hostage Paul Marshall (Johnson) after the period is over …
the infidel got his fair treatment", the al-Qaida statement said. "Let him taste something of what Muslims have long tasted from Apache helicopter fire & missiles", the statement said. Johnson, 49, worked on Apache attack helicopter systems for Lockheed Martin.
Shortly after discovering Johnson's body 20 miles north of the capital, Saudi police swooped down on the al-Malz
neighborhood in central Riyadh and exchanged fire with al-Qaida suspects. Saudi officials in Washington said on
condition of anonymity that 5 Saudi security officers were killed in the gunbattle. 2 suspects escaped, said one
Saudi security official who took part in the raid.
A U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed that al-Moqrin, 31, was one of the dead. A Saudi
official said forensic tests would be conducted on the body to confirm his identity.
Saudi security officials say al-Moqrin trained with Saudi exile Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan and later fought in Bosnia & Algeria. Known as a smart & brutal tactician, al-Moqrin became the most-wanted militant in Saudi Arabia. A sr Saudi official in Washington identified the other militants killed Friday as:
Turki al-Sahaid, said to have been involved in 5.29.04 shooting and hostage-taking attack on the oil
hub of Khobar that killed 22 people, most of them foreigners;
Faisal Abdulrahman Abdullah al-Dakheel, on the govt's list of 26 most-wanted militants;
Rakan al-Sakhain, second most-wanted man and an alleged associate of the mastermind of the
bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen's port of Aden in October 2000;
and Ibrahim al-Drhaim.
His captors had threatened to kill him by Friday if the kingdom did not release its al-Qaida prisoners. The Saudi
govt rejected the demands. President Bush said the execution "shows the evil nature of the enemy we face".
"They're trying to get us to retreat from the world", Bush said. "America will not retreat. America will not be
intimidated by these kinds of extremist thugs. May God bless Paul Johnson".
Johnson's family in Galloway Township NJ said authorities worked as hard as they could to rescue him, and that
his slaying did not dampen their respect for his adopted country. …
One of the 3 photographs posted Friday on the Web site showed a man's head, face toward the camera, being
held by a hand. The two others showed a beheaded body lying prone on a bed, with the severed head placed in
the small of his back, the clothes underneath bloodied. One showed a bloody knife resting on the face.
The beheaded body was dressed in a bright orange jumpsuit, similar to one Johnson is seen wearing in earlier
videos released by the kidnappers. "To the Americans and whoever is their ally in the infidel and criminal world and their allies in the war against Islam, this action is punishment to them and a lesson for them to know that whoever steps foot in our country, this decisive action will be his fate", the al-Qaida statement said.
Johnson was seized on 6.12.04, same day Islamic militants shot & killed Kenneth Scroggs of Laconia NH, in
his garage in Riyadh. Scroggs worked for Advanced Electronics Co., Saudi firm whose Web site lists Lockheed
Martin among its customers. The office number on Johnson's business card was for Advanced Electronics.
The same week as Scroggs' death, militants shot and killed another American, Robert Jacobs, and an Irish citizen in Riyadh. It appears that Jacobs was also decapitated after being shot to death. Video shows his attackers bent over his body, making a sawing motion near the head, though there was no confirmation.
Earlier Friday, Johnson's Thai wife, Thanom, made an appearance on Al-Arabiya. "When I see his picture in TV, I
fall down", Thanom said, fighting back tears. "When I hear the name Paul Johnson, I cry a lot". But residents of 3
Islamic fundamentalist districts in Riyadh, interviewed before news broke of Johnson's killing, suggested that the
kidnappers enjoyed popular support, partly because of U.S. policy in Iraq and its perceived backing for Israel.
"How can we inform on our brothers when we see all these pictures coming from Abu Ghraib & Rafah",
Muklas Nawaf told AP as he ate meat grilled on a spit at a restaurant called Jihad, or holy war in Arabic. He was
referring to the pictures of Iraqis abused by U.S. soldiers at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad and Israeli military
incursions and killings in the Gaza refugee camp of Rafah. "This is not a little skirmish. It is a war", Nawaf said.
For Donald Vance, a 29-year-old veteran and an American citizen, the desire to play a small part in a big event would lead to the scariest experience of his life. While in Iraq, he was neither a victim of a roadside bomb nor taken prisoner by insurgents. Instead, he was held captive by the U.S. govt, detained in a secret military prison.
"It's probably the worst thing I've ever lived through," says Vance, who along with another American is now suing his own govt, which he says "treated me like a terrorist."
It all started in the summer of 2005 when Vance went to Baghdad. Born in Chicago, Vance had joined the Navy after high school and later worked in security. He took a job with an Iraqi company, Shield Group Security, or SGS, which provides protection for businesses and organizations.
Vance supervised security & logistics operations. Before long, he says he started noticing troubling things at the company, explosives and huge stockpiles of ammunition & weapons, including anti-aircraft guns. He worried they were going to militias involved in sectarian violence.
There was "more ammunition than we could ever, ever need," says Vance. "We employed somewhere between 600 and 800 Iraqis. We had thousands of rifles."
Vance became so alarmed by what he saw that when he returned to Chicago in October 2005 for his father's funeral, he called the FBI office there and volunteered his services. He says he became an informant because, "It's just the right thing to do."
Once back in Baghdad, Vance says he began almost daily secret contact with the FBI in Chicago, often through e-mails and with officials at the U.S. embassy, alleging illegal gun-running and corruption by the Iraqis who owned and ran the company.
"I really couldn't tell you how many days I thought about, 'What if I get caught?'" says Vance. In April 2006, he thought that day had come. His co-worker, Nathan Ertel, also an American, tendered his resignation. With that, Vance says, the atmosphere turned hostile.
"We were constantly watched," Vance says, "We were not allowed to go anywhere from outside the compound or with the compound under the supervision of an Iraqi, an armed Iraqi guard".
Vance says an Iraqi SGS manager then took their identification cards, which allowed them access to American facilities, such as the Green Zone. They felt trapped.
"We began making phone calls," Vance recalls. "I called the FBI. The experts over at the embassy let it be known that you're about to be kidnapped. We barricaded ourselves with as many guns as we can get our hands on. We just did an old-fashioned Alamo".
The U.S. military did come to rescue them. Vance says he then led soldiers to the secret cache of rifles, ammunition, explosives, even land mines. The two men say they and other employees who were Westerners were taken to the U.S. embassy and debriefed. But their ordeal was just beginning.
"[We saw] soldiers with shackles in their hands and goggles and zip-ties. And we just knew something was terribly wrong," says Vance.
Vance and Ertel were eventually taken to Camp Cropper, a secret U.S. military prison near the Baghdad airport. It once held Saddam Hussein and now houses some of the most dangerous insurgents in all of Iraq. Here's what Vance and Ertel say happened in that prison:
They were strip-searched and each put in solitary confinement in tiny, cold cells. They were deliberately deprived of sleep with blaring music and bright lights. They were hooded and cuffed whenever moved. And although they were never physically tortured, there was always that threat.
"The guards employ what I would like to call as verbal Kung-Fu," says Vance. "It's 'do as we say or we will use excessive violence on you'".
Their families back home had no idea what was happening. Until they were detained, Vance had called or e-mailed his fiancée, Diane Schwarz, every day while in Iraq, and now he was not allowed to do either.
"I am thinking, you know, he's dead, he's kidnapped," recalls Schwarz.
After a week of intense interrogations for hours at a time, Vance learned why he was detained. He was given a document stating the military had found large caches of weapons at Vance's company and suspected he "may be involved in the possible distribution of these weapons to insurgent/terrorist groups".
He was a security detainee, just like an insurgent. And he says he was treated that way.
"The guards peeking in my cell see a Caucasian male, instantly they think he's a foreign fighter," says Vance. He recounts guards yelling at him, "You are Taliban. You are al-Qaida".
Vance says the charges against him were false and mirror exactly the allegations he had been making against his own company to the FBI.
"I'm basically saying to them: 'What are you talking about? I've been telling you for 7 months now that this stuff is going on. You're detaining me but not the actual people that are doing it!'"
A military panel, which reviews charges against detainees, eventually questioned Vance and Ertel. Both men were given a document that said, "You do not have the right to legal counsel." The men say they could not see all the evidence used against them and did not have the legal protections typically afforded Americans.
But they were eventually allowed very infrequent phone calls, which were very frustrating for Vance and his fiancée.
"He's crying, you know, he's not getting any answers and I'm not able to help him," says Schwarz. "And he's not able to help himself".
The military cleared Ertel and released him after more than a month in prison. But Vance stayed locked up.
At that point, prohibited from keeping notes, he began secretly scribbling diary entries and storing them in his military-issued Bible, whenever he had access to a pen.
The military now acknowledges that it took 3 weeks just to contact the FBI and confirm Vance was an informant. But even after that, Vance was held for another 2 months. In all, he was imprisoned for 97 days before being cleared of any wrongdoing and released.
"I looked like hell, completely emaciated, you know. beard, shaggy, dirty," remembers Vance. "They showered me, shaved me, cleaned me up and dumped me at Baghdad International Airport like it never happened".
Throughout the ordeal, the U.S. military said it thought Vance was helping the insurgents. Wasn't that a reasonable basis to hold and interrogate him?
"They could have investigated the true facts, found out exactly what was happening," says Vance. "What doesn't need to happen is throw people in a cell, we'll figure out the answers later. That's not the way to do things".
Donald Vance and Nathan Ertel have now filed a lawsuit against the U.S. govt and Donald Rumsfeld, who was secretary of defense when they were detained. It is generally very difficult to sue the govt, but experts say this case may be different because Vance and Ertel are American citizens; they were civilians held by the U.S. military; and they were detained for such a long time.
Military officials would not comment, but a spokeswoman previously has said the men were treated fairly and humanely. The FBI also declined to comment, as did officials at SGS. The company’s name has changed, but it's still doing business in Iraq. Neither the company, nor its executives, has been charged with any wrongdoing.
Vance says he hopes the lawsuit will reveal why the military held him so long, and why he was denied the legal protections guaranteed American citizens.
"This is just another step of our Constitution slowly being whittled away," says Vance when asked why with all the tragedies and injustice in Iraq anyone should care about his story. "It's basic fundamental rights of our founding fathers".
UN The U.S., for first time since 1947, failed to win re-election Thu. to Geneva-
based HRts Commission that probes rights abuses throughout the world. Instead France, Austria
& Sweden were chosen for the 3 seats allocated to Western countries that were up for
election. The balloting was conducted among 53 nations voting in the Economic & Social
Council, umbrella group for the commission. ''Understandably, we are very disappointed,'' Jas.
Cunningham, chief U.S. representative, told reporters, declining to speculate on the reason for the
defeat. ''It was an election between a number of solid candidates,'' Cunningham said. ''We very
much wanted to serve on the committee.'' Singapore Ambassador Kishore Mahbubani called the
vote ''a stunning development. … When I heard it, I couldn't believe it.'' Some diplomats said
the Bush administration's opposition to the Kyoto climate change treaty, as well as its insistence
on a missile defense shield, contributed to the loss.
But Joanna Weschler, UN representative of NY based HRts Watch, said both Western &
developing countries bore grudges against the U.S. ''Washington should have seen it coming
because there has been a growing resentment towards the U.S. and votes on key human rights
standards, incl opposition to a treaty to abolish landmines, to the Intl Criminal Court and making
AIDS drugs available to everyone,'' she said. Other nations the U.S. has held up to the spotlight in
… We all expect that our military men & women will eventually be released unharmed by
the Chinese. However, in future legislation involving China, consider the likely effect of the
apparent attitude of Chinese officials on the implementation of that legislation. By holding our
military personnel against their will, the Chinese govt has ignored intl law & customs.
Certainly it is to the benefit of the U.S. to assist in the introduction of China to the developed world.
However, one can legitimately ask whether or not China's irrational refusal to release our service
people suggests that it will likewise fail to act responsibly & rationally in its actions under new
legislation. If trade is expanded with China, will that country live up to its end of the bargain? Can
China be trusted to do what it says it will do under new legislation? It appears that China is not
quite ready for prime time in the intl arena, and that the U.S. should proceed very carefully with
new legislation involving China until those attitudes develop for the better. …
OK, you ChiComs,
hand over the hostages,
or we're going to send in Jesse Jackson.
Smugglers working for Jesus
Quest to evangelize China for Christianity receives secret boost from American tourists
9.18.00 Hannah Beech Time
the Geneva commission, such as China or Cuba, resented U.S. actions on the committee and
''made their feelings well known in their speeches,'' she said in an interview. Weschler also said
the 53-member commission was turning into an ''abuser solidarity'' group with more
& more countries with questionable human rights records gaining election then voting as a
bloc against singling out individual nations for human rights abuses.
The U.S. came in fourth in the balloting among Western nations with 29 votes. France was high
scorer with 52 votes, followed by Austria with 41 and Sweden with 32. The commission just
completed on April 27 its annual 6 week session in Geneva to probe human rights violations
around the world. Established in 1947, the U.S., Russia and India had served on the rights body
ever since. Also elected to the 53-nation human rights commission Thu. were Bahrain, S.Korea,
Pakistan, Croatia and Armenia. Chile, Mexico, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Togo and Uganda won
uncontested seats. Countries whose candidates failed to get seats were Iran, Saudi Arabia, Latvia,
and Azerbaijan in addition to U.S.
• Mrs. Gao Zhan, a permanent resident of the U.S. &
adjunct professor at American Univ., was detained at the Beijing airport 2.11.01 with her husband
& son. She was seperated from her son & husband, prevented from meeting with legal
counsel, and later charged with espionage. Mrs. Gao Zhan is still being detained in China.
• Mr. Song Yongyi, U.S. citizen, was held in a Chinese
prison for 6 months beginning in Aug. 1999. He was not charged until Dec. 1999 and then on
vague charges of stealing state secrets. He was released after Chinese prosecutors declined to
indict Song on the Ministry of State Security charges.
• Mr. Harry Wu became a U.S. citizen after spending 19 years
in Chinese prison camps, where he was tortured, having his arm & back broken. Upon
returning to China in 1995, he was detained in horrid prison conditions for 2 months, and was only
released after he was convicted in a secret trial of spying, sentenced to 15 years in prison, and
then expelled. He had returned to China to research & expose Chinese prison labor
conditions and a practice of removing & selling the vital organs of Chinese prisoners.
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS. - Congress
(1) expresses it's sense that citizens and permanent citizens of the U.S should not have their
personal liberties, rights, freedom or life abused, obstructed or taken unfairly or extra-judiciously by
foreign nations.
(2) expresses it's sense that citizens, permanent residents and/or their surviving family members
should have the right and/or opportunity to file a lawsuit [to sue?] against foreign nations in U.S.
courts for abuse of their rights, removal of their freedoms and liberties or the taking of one's life
or health unfairly or extra-judiciously, as is permitted under the Sovereign Immunities Act only
against nation's that are on the list of Nations of Concern.
2 of 3 Philippine & American hostages held by extremist group in south for more than year were killed Fri.,
following gunbattle between Abu Sayyaf & govt troops. U.S. missionary Martin Burnham was killed while wife,
Gracia Burnham was sole surviving hostage. Philippine nurse Deborah Yap captured after the Burnhams also died.
Philippine Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said Sat. she had asked neighboring nations to be on the lookout for the
Islamic militants, whom U.S. officials linked to al Qaeda, fearing they may try to flee the country. "In the past, the
military always had to hold their fire because of the hostages. Now they can really be in hot pursuit, and they're
doing that," Arroyo said. "Pres. GWBush assured us U.S. continuing help in pushing our operations forward," she
added. "We will forge on with greater fervor & tenacity." 
