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Published
on Friday, September 27, 2002 Faculty
Support Jailed Graduate
Thirty-four professors from
the Kennedy School of Government (KSG), including Dean Joseph S. Nye,
appealed to the Chinese government last week to release Yang Jianli, a KSG
graduate who has been detained in China for five months.
We ask your
government, as a humanitarian gesture, to do everything in its power to
facilitate Dr. Yangs immediate release so he can return home to his
family in the U.S., they wrote in a letter sent Sept. 16 to the Chinese
ambassador to America. Yang, who was
banned from China following his involvement in the 1989 pro-democracy
protests in Tiananmen Square, was detained in Kunming on April 26 for
using false identification. His activities
have violated the criminal laws of China, said a staff member of the
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesmans Office who refused to provide his
name. The Beijing Public Security Organ has...according to law informed
his family members. But his family has
not received written notification of his arrest or been allowed to meet
with him, according to Yangs wife, Harvard Medical School researcher
Christina X. Fu. As a result, she said, the family has been unable to
obtain legal counsel for him. Still no word from
China after 150 days, making me very worried and distressed, Fu wrote in
an e-mail. But I remain hopeful, especially after the Harvard facultys
letter. The KSG letter was
organized by Ramsey Professor of Political Economy Richard J. Zeckhauser
62 to put pressure on China before Chinese President Jiang Zemins
upcoming visit to the U.S., which is scheduled for late October.
We think that as a
humanitarian gesture, China might contemplate releasing [Yang] in
conjunction with the upcoming visit of Jiang Zemin, Zeckhauser said.
On Sept. 19, 27
members of Congress wrote to Jiang to demand the release of Yang, who is a
permanent U.S. resident. All the members of the Massachusetts delegation
signed the letter. He is a very
capable scholar and a good citizen whose only interest is the welfare of
China, Zeckhauser said of Yang, who received a Ph.D. in political economy
and government from Harvard. He also heads the
Boston-based think tank Foundation for China in the 21st Century, which
advocates for democracy and constitutional rule of law in China.
In the letter, the
KSG professors cited the long-standing ties between Harvard and China.
We want to make
sure Dr. Yangs detention does not interfere with our strong partnership
that we hope will continue to flourish in the years to come, they wrote
in the letter. Zeckhauser said
University President Lawrence H. Summers is very well aware of this
case. Were privately
engaged on this issue in a number of ways, said Vice President for
Government, Community and Public Affairs Alan J. Stone.
Sometimes things
are best done quietly rather than noisily, Zeckhauser said. This might
be one of those cases. But Zeckhauser said
he wants the KSG letter to make clear to China that the Harvard community
is following Yangs case closely. I hope the Chinese
get the impression that we can move to the noisy strategy, he said.
Staff writer Amit R. Paley can be reached at paley@fas.harvard.edu. -------------------------- |