Political activist Episcopalian missing after arrest in ChinaBy NAN COBBEY October 16, 2002
CHRISTINA FU DOESN'T know if she ever will see her husband again.
He took a risky chance in April and is paying for it with his
freedom. He may pay with his life. Yang Jianli, a 38-year-old father of two and member of All Saints
Episcopal Church, Brookline, Mass., returned to his native China
in April on a "borrowed" passport. He was caught. He made one
phone call to his wife and has not been heard from since. Yang has been barred from China since the 1989 student massacre
in Tiananmen Square from which he escaped. No lawyer has been
allowed to take Yang's case because he has not been charged. He
was formally arrested June 21, according to the State Department.
He is being held in Beijing incommunicado, which, according to
Amnesty International, violates Chinese and international law.
Yang intended to enter China through Nepal or Thailand, but instead
used the passport to enter through Beijing, says his wife, Christina
Fu. He was determined to reach Northeast China, where tens of
thousands of workers have lost jobs, where manufacturing plants
are closing. Yang, who holds a doctorate in political economics,
thought his writing and research depended on what he could learn
firsthand. "I didn't have a chance to discuss with him about all the steps
-- what to do if he was in trouble," says Fu. "I was most afraid
that he would suddenly disappear and I would never hear [from]
him again." "On a Friday night, at 11 o'clock, I got a phone call. It was a terrible moment. The man didn't tell me who he was. The only thing he told me was, 'Your husband is in trouble at an airport in Kunming. He was stopped by the police.'" Later that night Later that night, Yang called her from a hotel where he was being
held. He told her about his arrest. The next morning, she reached
him at that hotel. He said: "There are two police friends that
are with me. They are very nice. I know I am not going to stay
here for long. I will be transferred to another place." Those were the last words she heard from him. Fu, a Harvard Medical School researcher, focuses her hopes on
Amnesty International, her church, political allies found through
her Harvard connections and her Massachusetts congressmen.
Yang is president of the Boston-based think tank Foundation for
China in the 21st Century. A member of the Communist Party as
an undergraduate, he became an outspoken supporter of democracy
after his exposure to Western thought at the University of California
in Berkeley. In 1989, when students in Beijing were facing their government's
wrath, Yang organized mass protests, demanded government dialogue
and raised money for the students. When the Chinese government
declared martial law in Beijing, Yang traveled to China to deliver
the money. He was in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989, and has
said that he saw more than 20 people killed that day. "That's really where he changed his mind about the Communist Party,"
Fu told the Boston Globe. Since then, Yang has helped draft a democratic, federal constitution for a free China, organized forums for Chinese scholars with the Dalai Lama, created a book series that is distributed secretly within China and initiated a short-wave, clandestine radio program that has been broadcast into China daily for 10 years. 'Pray for me every day' "When my husband left, he told me, 'Whatever happens just pray
for me every day, and -- I want our children's lives normal.'"
Fu does pray for him daily; so do friends from All Saints. Her
prayer and her confidence in her husband's strong faith keep her
centered. On Aug. 23, Amnesty International issued an "urgent action appeal"
about Yang. The report, sent worldwide, cited fears for his safety
and urged Amnesty members to send appeals immediately to Chinese
officials. The goal, says Joshua Rubenstein, Amnesty's northeast
regional director, is to make authorities aware that people around
the world are watching and waiting to learn what will happen.
Archbishop and Noble Peace Laureate Desmond M. Tutu met with Fu
in May and wrote the Chinese ambassador to plead for Yang. So
did the Massachusetts congressional delegation and Congressional
Human Rights Caucus members. Chinese activists in the United States
and elsewhere are protesting Yang's arrest and issued a joint
statement demanding his release. At All Saints, Fu's support group meets weekly. The church recently published booklets with background information and letters of support. Anticipating the Chinese president's Oct. 25 visit to the United States, supporters sent more letters, distributed buttons, conducted forums. U.S. Rep. Barney Frank held a press conference in Washington, D.C. The State Department had requested Yang be released before the visit. It didn't happen. 'My hope never dies' "A lot of people, really a lot, have helped. That is why my hope
never dies," Fu says. "I tell people, any help is big. Right now
you don't know what can trigger them to release him." Even in this time of worry and waiting, Fu lives with a sense
of peace about her husband. "I know he can deal with the interrogation
-- with the solitary confinement. He was prepared. I know, through
prayer, he can sustain there. And for me to have peace, real peace,
is just to pray for him." On the web: http://www.chinaeweekly.com/yangengReports.asp --Nan Cobbey is features editor of Episcopal Life. -------------------------- |
