Dissident's Wife Blocked From China

 
May 23, 2002
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 10:10 a.m. ET

BEIJING (AP) -- The wife of a detained, U.S.-based Chinese dissident was blocked from entering China and then expelled after being held briefly at the Beijing airport.
Christina Fu said she came to China hoping to see her husband, Yang Jianli, and hire a lawyer for him.  Yang heads the Foundation for China in the 21st Century, a Boston-based group that advocates democracy and the rule of law in China.  He was detained April 26 during what his wife said was his first visit to his homeland in 13 years.
Fu is an American citizen, while Yang is a Chinese citizen with permanent U.S. residency.  Both were born in China.  Fu said she was traveling with her U.S. passport and a Chinese visa issued in March before her husband's detention.
Fu said immigration agents at the airport held her for two hours Wednesday, then put her on a flight to Vancouver, Canada.  They cited a rule barring entry to those who ``threaten to harm the interests of the Chinese state,'' Fu said.
``They said that I had to leave and that things would not be good for me if I resisted,'' she said by telephone from Boston, where she is a researcher at Harvard Medical School.
A spokesman for the Chinese border patrol at Beijing airport confirmed that Fu had been refused entry but said he didn't know the reason.  The spokesman, who wouldn't give his name, said she may have had ``visa problems.''
Yang, 38, was detained while trying to board an airline flight in southwestern China using a fake identification card.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said May 10 that he had been formally arrested, making it likely that he will face trial.  The government hasn't said what charges Yang will face.
Yang's foundation said he had visited cities where thousands of laid-off workers have protested for more government support, including Liaoyang and Daqing in China's northeast.
Fu said she hasn't heard from Yang since he called her right after his detention.  She said a family friend with government contacts told her that Yang is in Beijing.
Fu said she has not received formal notice of Yang's arrest, which must be presented in order for a lawyer to proceed with his case.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said Thursday that he had no knowledge of Fu's case.  Kong said investigators were still trying to verify Yang's identity.
The U.S.  Embassy in Beijing said it had no information about Fu.
An embassy statement issued May 13 said it had requested information about Yang's welfare and whereabouts from the Chinese government, but had not yet received a response.
Fu said that after she presented her documents at passport control at the Beijing airport, a border patrol officer ordered her visa canceled and escorted her to an office.
She said the airport security chief, whose badge identified him as Hou Chunying, said he did not know about Yang's case and advised her to leave.
Liu Qiang, director of the New York-based Human Rights in China, said China appeared to have decided well in advance to refuse Fu entry.
``Yang Jianli is in the clutches of the Chinese government and there is nothing anyone can do for him,'' said Liu, who first released word of Fu's expulsion.
Fu said Yang has been banned from China since 1989, when he traveled to Beijing to bring money to pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square.
The protests ended in a bloody military assault on June 4, 1989.
Yang, a mathematician and economist, entered China using a passport borrowed from a friend.
Possession of a fake identification card usually results in five days' detention and a $12 fine, Fu said.
Illegal entry into China can be punished by up to a year in prison, according to the Chinese legal code.
``We don't think this is being handled simply as a fake document case.  This has to do with (Yang's) earlier political activity,'' Fu said.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-China-US-Dissident.html?ex=1023181207&ei=1&en=a06699aecce51dac

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Source: "New York Times".