From: yjj@neptune.ctr.columbia.edu (Yuan Jiang)
Subject: Re:      Forward: Shen Tong? (V)
Organization: Columbia University Center for Telecommunications Research
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 02:36:12 GMT
X-Posted-From: neptune.ctr.columbia.edu
NNTP-Posting-Host: sol.ctr.columbia.edu

In article <Bw4w0n.32q@usenet.ucs.indiana.edu> "J. Cen [404] 727-4676" <PHSJJC@EMRYCC.BITNET> writes:
>Dear Netters:
>
>Local  Chinese political activitists 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 Tainanmen  Square,  but that  his  reckless
>travel  and  meetings  lead  to  the  arrests  of  some  of   his
>colleagues.
>

>
>Xian  Xiao Ti,  a  member of  the  goevrnment-approved  Dialect
>     [Xiaoji]                                          [Dialogue]
>Committee established to act as a liason 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

Hmm, I guessed wrong.  Prof. S. Ng is at Columbia health campus, which
is a distance from the main campus where Xiang Xiaoji and I are.  No
wonder I don't know him.  I later read his letter.  Yes, I believe
he was stating facts and did not actually attack Shen.  It was the
follow up comments and the article on Free Press(?) telling the lie
that Shen did not do much to the 1989 movement.

I admire very much what Mr. Ding and AHKUC have done after 6/4.  I don't know
what Shen did this summer and what damage he caused to the movement.
The fact is I know more about his activities before 6/4 and immediate
after 6/4 than what he did after that.

How a student leader contributed to the movement did not depend on
whether he/she was on the 21 most-wanted list.  I know many many
student leaders who were not known to people in HK or the US, but
they contributed a lot, much more than the famous WerKaixi who was
on the list.  These student leaders did not escape through the
"underground network" and ended up in jail.  Most of those who
were smuggled out by the "underground network" were those high
profile guys who might have done much solid work for the movement.
I hope HK Alliance people do not deny Shen's contribution to 89 movement
because Shen did not give them a chance to "rescue" him.  I don't
want to talk more about Shen's activities in 1989 except
those well known ones so that I'm not giving CCP any more evidence.
You are entitled
to tell your VERSION of the facts, which may not be the absolute
truth.  Here are the facts I know of.

Shen started as a leader of a student group discussing new ideas
before 1989.  He started
and served as the chief editor for Freedom Herold newspaper when the
protests started, probably the first one in the movement.  His English
was probably the best among the student leaders.  He was interviewed
several times by western journalists and was quoted by AP and etc.
Yes, he was later appointed to be the vice chief of the dialogue team.
Appointed by who?  By the students!  Was the dialogue team a tool for
CCP?  I believe the majority who are familiar with what happened then
know better.  I don't have to say anything.

He got his passport and visa before 6/4.  Has had long planned
to study in the US before 6/4.  His involvement in the movement
only delayed his plan to study abroad. 
Newsgroups: talk.politics.china