Yang Jianli on trial today
China flouts a full court press of international opinion to try Yang on "spy" charges

China Support Network

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 4, 2003

Yang Jianli, 40, is a U.S. permanent resident and representative of the Chinese democracy movement overseas. In 2002, he returned to China to look into workers' protests that broke out early in the year, but he was arrested by public security police in Kunming, Yunnan Province.

Yang Jianli holds doctorate degrees in mathematics, international politics, and economics. His pro-democracy credentials include an excursion to Beijing, bringing money to the students who were holding Tiananmen Square at that time in 1989. He became blacklisted and fled China in 1989. In the Boston area, Dr. Yang established and leads the Foundation for China in the 21st Century, a group which advocates democracy and the rule of law for China.

Since his April, 2002 arrest in China, supporters of Dr. Yang have lobbied diligently and vigorously, and his case has become a cause celebré. Dr. Yang was held incommunicado for over a year, and was first able to see his attorney only a month ago. The Chinese government has scheduled a trial for Dr. Yang for today, August 4, 2003.

To proceed with this trial, China's regime must flout the international community that has come to support Dr. Yang in this case. Who is being flouted today? --Both houses of the U.S. Congress. The United Nations. The State Department. National security adviser Condoleeza Rice. Leaders from the European Parliament. In short, the full weight of international opinion has lined up for Dr. Yang Jianli.

The trial is ostensibly about illegal entry -- Dr. Yang was traveling on a friend's passport -- and, China's accusation that Dr. Yang was carrying on espionage for the Taiwan Nationalist Party. Leading voices in the West believe that Dr. Yang is only being punished for his pro-democracy activities. Jared Genser is an attorney for Dr. Yang's wife, Christina Fu, and President of Freedom Now, a U.S. group that helps prisoners of conscience. Genser said, "Our understanding...is that there is no evidence that Dr. Yang was a spy for Taiwan." In the worst of cases, an espionage conviction can result in the death penalty.

The U.S. embassy in Beijing requested to attend Dr. Yang's trial today, and was denied. The Chinese government claims that the trial involves state secrets, and it typically makes those trials into 'closed door' proceedings.

In recent denunciation of Western China policy, the China Support Network stated, "We are allowing China to thumb its nose at us, daily. And, we're taking it on the chin. And they're continuing their military buildup; and they're continuing their human rights abuses; and they're continuing to oppress...." The CSN finds today's trial to be a fitting example of that pattern of behavior. "Today, China thumbs its nose. Today, we are being flouted," it notes. The lobbying efforts of Dr. Yang's supporters have made that reference into a very widely inclusive "we."

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Source: "China Support Network".