The gift of diplomacy
Xu Wenli saw his release from prison and reunion with his family in the United States as a Christmas gift that President Jiang Zemin has sent his American counterpart George W Bush.
There is no question that setting free China's most well known dissident a day ahead of Christmas, an important festival in the Western world that stands for goodwill and compassion, was a calculated act. Coming as it did after a recent visit by the US Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights, Beijing clearly meant to send a signal that it wants to maintain good ties with Washington.
Hong Kong probably did not feature in Beijing's calculations. Yet, the irony should not be lost on the SAR that Xu was released on the day consultation on proposals to introduce national security laws in the SAR ended. One of the proposals involves the introduction of the offense of subversion, for which Xu was sentenced to 13 years' imprisonment in 1998.
However, it needs to be pointed out that, under "one country, two systems", subversion under mainland law has a much stricter meaning and it does not apply in Hong Kong. Xu was accused of "subverting the state power" for attempting to set up a China Democracy Party.
In the SAR, that would not constitute a crime, as the proposed definition for subversion is intimidating or overthrowing the central government by levying war, force, threat of force or other serious unlawful means.
Even so, what would constitute "serious unlawful means" was one of the bones of contention during the consultation period. SAR officials tried to calm critics' fears by citing the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) as the yardstick for measuring the proposed definition.
We do not doubt the goodwill of officials, but would like to point out that Beijing has also signed the ICCPR and that did not stop it from jailing Xu for forming a political party.
Although Xu has been released, his fellow activist friends Wang Youcai and Qin Yongmin remain in prison. We hope that they and other less well-known dissidents can be set free as well.
-- South China Morning Post, Hong Kong