U.S. Lawmakers Urge China to Release Scholar Yang

Brian Rhoads

BEIJING (Reuters) - Members of U.S. Congress have urged Chinese President Hu Jintao to parole a U.S.-based scholar jailed for entering China illegally and accused of spying.

In separate letters to Hu delivered to the Chinese embassy in Washington on Wednesday, 21 U.S. senators and 85 representatives urged Yang Jianli be paroled as soon as he becomes eligible on Oct. 26.

Yang, 40, a veteran of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, Harvard graduate and now a permanent resident of the United States, has been in custody since he was detained in April 2002.

He was sentenced in May to five years in jail.

"Your government has expressed interest in resolving differences regarding human rights matters through dialogue and consultation. This case offers one opportunity to do so," said the letter from the members of the House of Representatives.

Relations between the United States and China have been gradually improving, especially with increased economic and diplomatic cooperation, but Washington frequently criticizes Beijing for its human rights record.

China in turn accuses the United States of hypocrisy and tells it not to meddle in its internal affairs.

Yang entered China on a friend's passport and traveled for a week on a fake identify card to observe labor unrest in the country's northeastern rust belt.

His case has drawn attention from rights groups and governments who complained that he was detained without a hearing for too long, held for too long after his August 2003 trial without a verdict, and abused in jail.

The State Department has repeatedly called for his release.

China's Foreign Ministry has said that the courts handled the case properly and in accordance with the law.

Yang's wife, Christina Fu, has expressed hope that Yang will be expelled from China like U.S.-based sociologist Gao Zhan, who was deported in 2001 after a Chinese court convicted her of spying for rival Taiwan.

"We believe the time has long since come for Yang Jianli to be released," said Jered Genser, Fu's lawyer, who provided copies of the letters.

Yang's parole could help remove an irritant in relations between the United States and China.

"We believe a decision to grant Yang Jianli parole would not only show a commitment to justice within your country's legal system, but would also help strengthen the bilateral ties between our two countries," the letter from the U.S. senators said.

But other cases remain. Secretary of State Colin Powell pressed China last month over its detention of New York Times researcher Zhao Yan.

Zhao was detained in mid-September on suspicion of passing state secrets to foreigners after the Times broke the sensitive news that former president Jiang Zemin planned to resign from his post as chairman of the Central Military Commission.

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Source: "Reuters".