Chinese lawyers blocked from meeting US reps

Posted 07 1 2008 7:21PM

BEIJING - Police blocked Chinese dissident lawyers from attending a meeting with two visiting U.S. lawmakers, the lawmakers and a human rights group said Tuesday.

Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., and New Jersey Rep. Chris Smith, a senior Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, had planned to dine with the group on Sunday night. Police either took the lawyers away or placed them under house arrest before the meeting took place, they said.

In remarks to reporters Tuesday, the congressmen said such moves underscore what many activists and monitoring groups say is a deterioration of human rights ahead of next month's Olympic Games, despite pledges by Chinese officials that holding the games would give a boost to China's rights situation.

"The reality has been numbingly disappointing," Smith said, referring to conditions for political dissidents, human rights activists, and campaigners for religious freedom.

He called on President Bush to stay away from the Aug. 8 Olympic opening ceremony unless substantial improvements are made over the next month.

"Tragically, the Olympics has triggered a massive crackdown designed to silence and put beyond reach all those whose views differ from the official 'harmonious' government line," Smith said.

When asked about the allegations, a spokesman for the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau, who refused to give his name, said, "That is top secret internal information that we cannot divulge. We have no comment on this."

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said authorities believed the pair's visit was geared toward consultations with U.S. Embassy officials.

"We hope the U.S. congressmen, while making a visit to China, while conducting relevant activities, to respect and Chinese laws and regulations and respect their commitments," Liu said at a regularly scheduled news conference.

Asked repeatedly what rules had been violated, Liu merely repeated his earlier remarks.

Smith and Wolf said they presented a list of 734 political prisoners to Li Zhaoxing, chairman of the national legislature's Foreign Affairs Committee and a former foreign minister. They asked Li to work for the prisoners' release, Smith said.

The lawmakers and Chinese Human Rights Defenders, a network of activists and rights monitoring groups, identified those barred from attending Sunday's dinner as lawyer Li Baiguang, who the network said was detained in a Beijing suburb for three days; lawyer Jiang Tianyong, who was confined to his apartment until after the meal ended; and Teng Biao, a lecturer at the China University of Political Science and Law, who was placed under house arrest.

Fan Yafeng, a legal scholar and researcher at the official Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said he had also been invited to the dinner, but decided not to attend after receiving a phone call from police warning him against going.

"This type of situation is not uncommon, we often experience similar restraints on our freedoms," Fan said.

"We are worried that human rights violations may even worsen after the Olympics are over because the world won't be watching as closely anymore," Fan said. "It's a scary thought."

While it isn't known if China made any specific commitments on human rights — its formal contract with the International Olympic Committee was never made public — officials on several occasions ahead of the vote on host cities in 2001 said hosting the Games would give a lift to human rights.

Also Tuesday, a reporter for an overseas news Web site was sentenced to four years in prison after being convicted on charges of illegal weapons possession and public disorder.

Sun Lin was arrested May 30, 2007, after authorities in the eastern city of Nanjing reportedly warned him to stop reporting on sensitive social and political issues for the U.S.-based Boxun Web site.

Sun's lawyer, Mo Shaoping, said his client denied the charges and would likely appeal.

The Web site Boxun, to which Sun was a regular contributor, claimed the arrest was orchestrated by officials seeking to silence their reporting. Sun's wife, He Fang, was also charged but released with a suspended sentence.