From: gaojeng@durras.anu.edu.au (J. Gao)
Newsgroups: aus.culture.china
Subject: China News Digest (U.S.), Tue, 11/3/1992
Date: 5 Nov 92 06:14:52 GMT
Organization: Australian National University
NNTP-Posting-Host: 150.203.22.8
Summary: CND
Keywords: CND

+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+   C h i n a   N e w s   D i g e s t  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                                (US Regional)
                          Tuesday, November 3, 1992

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| CND-US, normally 1 or 2 issues a week, is a supplement to CND-Global and |
| has  basically no overlap with the daily news.  CND-US provides in-depth |
| information concerning Chinese students/scholars in the United States.   |
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Table of Contents                                                 # of Lines
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1. Shen Tong: Accusation on Endangering Activists in China Groundless .. 105
2. Peers Say Shen Endangered Colleagues, Caused Arrests ................. 69
3. CND Exclusive Interview with Shen Tong .............................. 139
4. Press Release from Democracy for China Fund: Qian Liyun's Release .... 36
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1. Shen Tong: Accusation on Endangering Activists in China Groundless .. 105
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Reportted by: George Zhu, CND Correspondent
Source: CND, 10/30/92

NEWTON, Massachusetts. -- Four days after being deported by the Chinese
government, dissident student Shen Tong Wednesday flatly denied that he
endangered his fellow activists in China and lied about his role in the 1989
democracy movement, calling those charges "groundless".

Shen, a Boston University graduate student, returned to China in late July,
and was detained by police on September 1 in Beijing hours before he was to
announce the establishment of a branch office of the Democracy for China
Fund.

In a news conference Wednesday, Shen said pointedly: "It's not our team's
intention in any way during the planning time and during the operation to
endanger any activists in China."

"Everyone I met all knew in advance who I was and what I was trying to do,"
Shen said. "They were fully aware of the danger that they may face by simply
talking to me."

"There were 30 computer disks taken away from my house, 25 of which were
blank, and the other disks that were used were simply regular communications
between myself and the Newton office of the Democracy for China Fund,
nothing secret about inside organizations or covert operation in any
fashion," said Shen.

"The most important information that may endanger other people or other
organizations, most importantly underground organizations, were either
burned, destroyed or smuggled out," Shen asserted.

Shen's remarks were echoed by Marshall Strauss, who co-founded the Democracy
for China Fund with Shen nearly three years ago.

"About 80 hours of video tapes were taken by the French journalists during
the month they were with Shen Tong, and most of these tapes were safely
smuggled out of China prior to the arrest," Strauss said. "Approximately 15
tapes were taken by police which simply involved public meetings in Beijing,
in which there's no information that can lead them to anywhere."

Shen acknowledged that his two colleagues, Qi Dafang and Qian Liyun, were
arrested together with him, and he was told by police that "three others
have also been being questioned and interrogated."

"So a condition then I put on the formal record was that everybody related
to my political trip should be released unconditionally, immediately after
or in the same time when I was deported," Shen said.

However, when asked if he really believed the Chinese government would
follow his condition, Shen replied: "I don't think so."

Shen said he was asked to sign a statement before he was allowed to leave
China last Saturday, in which Shen said: "I realize my activities over this
one month period hurt the interest of the current government, so here I
acknowledge the Beijing police authority's conclusion after their
investigation that Shen Tong engaged in anti-government activities."

Shen said he never claimed he was on the 21 most-wanted list, but he
believed according to "sources from Hong Kong and China", he was on an
unpublished "60 student most-wanted list".  He stopped short of offering
further details.

While acknowledging that he left China three years ago on June 11th through
CAAC with a valid PRC passport and U.S. entry visa, he insisted he got help
from "many people including certain sympathetic government officials".  He
again did not elaborate.

CAAC, known as the Civil Aviation Administration of China, is an official
Chinese airline.

Strauss said Shen "has never claimed that he was a leader of the Tiananmen
movement".

Gong Xiaoxia, a Harvard University graduate student who was a board director
of the now defunct China Information Center, said: "It was impossible for
one to leave Chinese airports through normal channels if he was on the
government's most-wanted list after June 4th three years ago."

Gong was denied entry by the Chinese authority earlier this summer at the
southern Chinese border when she attempted to go back to China.  She has
since then petitioned Chinese leaders for her return, but so far without
success.

She accused that Shen misused the Center fund for personal long distance
call after he arrived in the United States.  "Just in a month his telephone
charge was more than 1,000 dollars, and he didn't pay for it," Gong said.
"The fund was all donations from ordinary people, this is simply
intolerable."

Dai Qing, a leading Chinese journalist and writer now visiting Harvard
University under a fellowship from Nieman Foundation, said: "From the
standpoint of a Chinese citizen inside China, I'd rather hope people like
Shen Tong not to bother me."

"One of the most important elements of freedom is not to interfere others,
not to bring troubles to others," Dai said. "Each individual has to bear his
responsibility."

Dai said the general public has "its right to inquire accounts of Shen's
non-profit Democracy Fund, and ask him to publish accounts and what he has
done since the establishment of the fund."

"As a writer and journalist, I'm not favoring any underground activities,"
Dai added.

Dai was expelled from the Party, detained and interrogated by police for
nearly a year after the June 4th massacre in 1989 because of her involvement
in the pro-democracy movement.

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2. Peers Say Shen Endangered Colleagues, Caused Arrests ................. 69
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_From: Waishing Choi <waishing@buengf.bu.edu>
Source: The Daily Free Press of Boston University, 10/7/92

Local Chinese political activists now say that Shen Tong, the Boston
University graduate student imprisoned for more than a month in China, not
only lied about his involvement in the student uprising in Tiananmen Square,
but that his reckless travel and meetings lead to the arrests of some of his
colleagues.

Shen was arrested a week after his arrival in Beijing August 31, hours
before he was scheduled to deliver a news conference.

"I do not condemn Shen Tong, I just don't like the way he works. He put
others in danger," treasurer for the China's Long March for Democracy Chung
Tse [Chung-chi Tse] said. "He should have known better. He prepared
everything to make himself more well-known."

Tse said he heard from sources in the Hong Kong Alliance, which runs the
underground railroads between China and Hong Kong, that every time Shen met
with people involved in the underground democratic movement, people were
arrested by the government soon after.

"I trust the Hong Kong Alliance," Tse said. "They have protected over 800
freedom fighters and kept them in hiding."

"Shen should have known he was monitored by the government and he should not
have visited these people," he added.  "They should have come to him at
their own risk, but Shen didn't give them a choice because he came to them."

But a biography released on Shen by his Democracy for China Fund, said he
scrambled to hide in safe areas from the army. According to the biography, he
attempted "to reason with the advancing troops... his life was saved by
civilians who pulled him away from the troops and secretly hid him in
several locations, moving him from day to day."

Ms. Gong Xiaoxia, Board of Directors member of the Newton, Massachusetts-
based China Information Center, said that Shen was irresponsible for
conducting "American politics" in China, and should have known his action
would lead to arrests.

Gong, who was prevented from returning to China last spring for her
involvement in Tiananmen, said Shen's arrest was based on his attempt to
open the Democracy for China branch without a required government permit.

Xian Xiaoji, a member of the government-approved Dialogue Committee
established to act as a liaison between students and the Chinese government
and of which Shen was also a member, said the government was using Shen to
find and arrest others.

In article in the Chinese community newspaper World Journal, Hunan
Independent Student Union chairman Tang Bo Chao said he was upset because
Shen did not follow plans they had made for his return.  This endangered
Tang's contacts and forced them to leave China.

Tang claims that he gave Shen the names and addresses of people who were
involved in the underground railroad.

He said that in many instances when Shen met with these people they were
arrested. Tang explained that after a Beijing university assistant teacher
met with Shen, he disappeared, adding that he believes the professor was
arrested by the Chinese government.

Controversy over Shen's involvement in the Tiananmen incident arose when
Columbia University assistant professor Stephen Ng charged Sunday that Shen
falsely represented himself and endangered other students when he returned
to Beijing this summer to establish a Democracy for China Fund. In a letter
to the Daily Free Press, Ng said that many people have been arrested or
disappeared shortly after their meetings with Shen, citing sources in China,
Hong Kong, and the United States.

Shen's Boston University colleagues came to Shen's support Monday, saying
that he did not lie about his role in the revolution and remains committed
to a democratic China.

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3. CND Exclusive Interview with Shen Tong .............................. 139
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Reported by: George Zhu, CND Correspondent
Source: CND, 11/2/92

[Note: The following is an excerpt of the interview with Shen Tong by CND
correspondent on October 28, 1992 in Newton, Massachusetts.]

CND: In your article in The New York Times following your detention, you
mentioned that some ex-political prisoners have been tortured and a retired
man starved to death in custody. Can you give me more details?

Shen: I interviewed some political prisoners released after 1989, I found
they have scars on their bodies, on their arms or legs. When I was in
Shaoyang, I learnt that a group of retired workers were on strike, because
their company stopped providing them with welfare due to reforms, and they
had been demanding the company for it for more than two years with no
answer.  As a result one old worker died from hunger. When I arrived in
Shaoyang, those workers were sitting on the streets in protest. These kind
of situations are very common in China.

CND: What do you think of the Bush administration's China policy such as on
MFN issue?

Shen: In principle, I think the West should maintain its economic tie to
China, but it should not abandon the principle such as human rights.  Most
importantly, the West should realize that without using those economic means
to impose those conditions, it's impossible to ensure that China in the long
run will gradually improve its investment environments and become a better
part of the global economy.  Thus by doing so, it's not only for the
principle of the Western countries, but also for their interests.  Therefore
Bush's refusal in the last three years to impose those conditions is wrong,
although his analysis is correct, like keeping ties with China, but what he
did is just inconsistent with his analysis. Moreover, his so-called
diplomatic way definitely is not as effective as legislative imposed
conditions.  As we can see, some people were released only when MFN was
debated, not when Bush sent his officials to China.

Another point, I want to acknowledge Bush was doing a right thing in signing
the Chinese student protection bill.  And the protection bill was also one
of my specific considerations in choosing the timing of this China trip.  My
trip was a test.  We all know clearly, the CCP does not want overseas
students to freely go back, it's only alright if you come back and do
nothing. My return was to test its policies, and obviously we were detained.
At the time Bush signed the bill, and safeguarded the interests of Chinese
students in the U.S.  Although it's very basic, it should be acknowledged.

CND: Were you in any Chinese government's most-wanted list after the June
4th?

Shen: I was not in the famous published 21 most-wanted list. I do not know
myself what I'm going to say for sure, but various sources from Hong Kong
and people inside China confirmed that I was on a most-wanted list of 60
students. The reason for me not in that published list was because I came to
the U.S. two days before they published the list. And actually what happened
was, the operation was so successful in rescuing me from Beijing that two
days after I left Beijing, the Beijing security bureau went to my father's
work unit and asked my family's address. They were going to take me. Because
at the time they published the warrant list, they found I left two days ago.

CND: When you left China three years ago following the June 4th, did you
receive any underground help?

Shen: I can't say it in a concrete way, you see, a lot people helped me, and
the government was so frustrated in unable to find them. They're still safe.
So at most what I can say is many people got involved and helped, even
including certain sympathetic government officials.

CND: Did you anticipate your detention before your news conference on
September 1?

Shen: First of all, in my mind before I went back, I was prepared to be in
jail.  On the other hand, during the operation, the principle was
unconfrontational and testing. So there was always a chance that we might
succeed. The press conference was something very unacceptable to the Chinese
government. But I did make moderation because the press conference was only
for Chinese press and it was to announce that we were preparing to legally
register the Democracy for China Fund, not as a chapter of this Democracy
for China Fund but just an organization in China. And the reason we were
doing it was to get response through the media from Chinese people about the
validity of this idea. The direct reason they arrested me was the press
conference.  They couldn't charge me in any way because I have done all
legally, all my activities in China were all legal.

CND: If by any chance they allowed you to announce the establishment of the
democracy fund, were you prepared to stay in Beijing?

Shen: That's why I worked out the arrangement with Qi Dafang and Qian Liyun.
What we were doing in Beijing included several things. One is to meet with
many people. We met about 20 people, all scholars and sensitive figures, to
get their response on this operation, the establishment of the democracy
fund. Second, we did a poll in which we asked nine questions to ask these
people about what they think on this idea.  The third way was a press
conference. So the first two things were in process, we had been doing that
for eight days.  Meanwhile we also wrote a petition letter on behalf of Wang
Juntao and was ready to circulate among dissident circles.  All of these
were already in process. I think the press conference was kind of too much
for them, so they finally took the action.  But if we can pass that stage,
and during this process we were talking to lawyers as well about legal
questions of how to organize such an organization according to relevant
existing laws, and if we succeeded in some fashion like establishing a local
chapter, very low profile, then I'd spend a couple of weeks to make concrete
financial arrangements, and Qi Dafeng and Qian Liyun would be in charge of
the office. I personally would come back to the States for a year or so to
make other arrangements and then go back again.

CND: Were you aware that the Chinese authorities might be monitoring your
activities in China?

Shen: Yes, obviously we had to pre-assume that, and we had plans for various
stages of the operation.  Though they claimed after they detained me that
they had been monitoring me all along, from what they knew it's not true.  I
think what happened was they were supposed to monitor me all along, but they
kept losing me, they were not doing a good job, not as good as we may think.
So there were times when I sensed they were close, one was while I was in
Changsha, we were making a call at a place where we made several calls
before. And by accident on the telephone I heard the tapping people talking
to each other. And a couple days later, Marshall Strauss was rejected a visa
in Hong Kong.  So by then we decided we should stop all the covert
operations. That's on August 7 or 8. That's in very early stage that we
decided it's impossible to do the underground part.  So the accusation about
the arrests of Social Democrats is ridiculous.

CND: Tang Boqiao was quoted as saying a Beijing University assistant teacher
disappeared after meeting with you. Do you have any information?

Shen: No. Actually I can't be 100% sure now since I already left for four
days. I didn't know any arresting in Beijing other than the two.  Actually I
had many phone conversations with Beijing U. young professors and I did meet
one personally. He was an advisor during the operation and he was a public
trouble maker whom the government wouldn't touch.  You know the situation,
there's a circle of dissidents who the government wouldn't do anything.

CND: What's your opinion on Toycott?

Shen: I very much support Toycott. In principle, if there only exists
Toycott, it certainly is not consistent with our principle in maintaining
economic tie and keeping door open to China. But from the entire political
point of view, it's coordinated with MFN. Because even if Toycott succeeds,
its direct damage to Chinese economy is not great, because it's only the
sixth in export.  Most importantly it's one thing that American people can
do personally, to let them not to forget June 4th, not to forget China,
whereas MFN status can only play a role politically.  Furthermore in last
three years Bush vetoed all the conditional MFN bills.  So you have to see
these two things together.

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4. Press Release from Democracy for China Fund: Qian Liyun's Release .... 36
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_From: <sdcadm@longhorn.Corp.Sun.COM>
Date: 11/2/92

Qian Liyun, one of two Chinese activists arrested with Shen Tong on
September 1, was released today. Her release occured at approximately 10pm
Friday, Oct. 30, Beijing time.  There was still no word on Qi Dafeng.

Speaking from her home in Beijing, Qian thanked the international community
for the pressure brought to bear on her behalf, noting that she was released
on the technical equivalent of "bail" and that she is still subject to
re-arrest, Qian said "I want to thank the international community for all it
did to achieve my release.  While I am now able to live at home, the
authorities have indicated they can again detain me so I am not completely
free." Qian added, "I very much want to have a reunion with my husband in
America."

Qian, 26 years of age, is the wife of Xiong Yan, one of the top 21
dissidents sought by Beijing authorities after the Tiananmen Square
massacre.  Xiong Yan, himself jailed for 20 months, is now living in the
Boston area.

"I am so pleased at the release of Qian Li Yun," said Xiong Yan on hearing
the news.  "I hope that the senators and congressmen and others who have
spoken up for my wife and my friends will continue to do so, so that she can
be really free and can come to America"

"We are, of course, delighted to learn of Qian Li Yun's release from prison"
said Marshall Strauss, Executive Director of the Democracy for China Fund.
"The real message of Shen Tong's release and now Qian Liyun's release is
that international pressure does effect the calculations of Beijing.  The
Chinese authorities would have us believe they do not care what the world
thinks.  But they clearly do care."  he added.

Qian Liyun, Qi Dafeng, and Shen Tong had been preparing to hold a press
conference in Beijing on September 1.  They were taken from the home of
Qian's mother, Li Yixian, hours before the scheduled event.  Qian was held
at the same hotel as Shen, the Red Flag Hotel, in an Eastern suburb of
Beijing, from the time of her arrest until September 26, when she was moved
to a prison.  It was from prison that she was released.

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