China jails Hong Kong-based reporter, accuses dissident
China jails Hong Kong-based reporter, accuses dissident
BEIJING (Reuter): China, taking an uncompromising line on human rights, yesterday defended police action against its best- known dissident and announced it had jailed a Hong Kong-based reporter for 12 years for spying.
The Foreign Ministry said police had a right to interrogate veteran activist Wei Jingsheng because he had not followed the rules imposed on him when he was released from nearly 15 years' imprisonment last year.
But a spokeswoman did not answer a question about Wei's whereabouts, leaving a mystery around Friday's swoop by police in seven cars on the father of the modern democracy movement.
"According to the information from the competent departments, Wei Jingsheng violated relevant regulations when he was on parole and when he was being deprived of political rights," the foreign ministry spokeswoman said.
"The Public Security Bureau has the right to interrogate him according to the law."
Separately, a spokeswoman for the Beijing Intermediate Court said Xi Yang, a China-born reporter for Hong Kong's Ming Pao daily, had been jailed for 12 years for spying and stealing state secrets.
Tian Ye, a clerk at the Central Bank who allegedly gave information on bank interest rate changes and gold policy to the reporter, was given a 15-year sentence.
The stiff term passed on Xi Yang and the accusation against Wei indicate an uncompromising attitude on human rights, the focus of a bitter row with the United States.
"It shows a hard approach," a Western diplomat said.
Several diplomats expressed shock at the severity of the jail term on the reporter. "It's clear they want to intimidate the press," one said.
China's Communist Party, which considers anything which has not been officially released to be secret, has been zealous in cracking down on leaks to the press.
Other envoys said Beijing's continued pressure on Wei would affect debate during the crucial weeks before the United States must decide on China's Most Favored Nation (MFN) trade status, worth billions of dollars to businesses in both countries.
President Bill Clinton has said he will renew MFN in early June only if Beijing makes significant progress on rights. China rejects the link between human rights and trade.
The U.S. State Department on Friday issued a statement of regret at Wei's detention. The U.S. embassy in Beijing said it was looking into the incident.
Released
The official Xinhua news agency on Saturday released a brief statement saying the dissident had left the police station immediately after an interrogation.
Family members and Wei's secretary said yesterday they still had received no word from him, however. Police spokesmen said they did not know where Wei was.
Wei was released on parole last September, six months before the end of a 15-year prison sentence. His parole period ended on March 29 but he was still subject to three years' deprivation of political rights.
This means a person cannot enjoy the constitutionally defined freedoms of speech, press, assembly, association, procession or demonstration, among other restrictions.
Police detained Wei for 30 hours in March in what became an international incident. It nearly scuttled a trip to China by U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher to press the Communist leadership for further rights improvements.
Wei infuriated China's top leaders by openly calling for democracy during the brief "Democracy Wall" period of the late 1970s. He has remained uncowed by official warnings since his parole and has written a number of uncompromising articles for Western news organizations.