Monday, Oct 18

MIRO CERNETIG
China Bureau
Monday, October 18, 1999

Beijing -- China's security forces have detained dissident Sun Weibang, a democracy activist who has already spent more than a decade in prison for trying to set up a political party and for feeding students during the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.

The arrest, reported by the Hong Kong-based Information Centre For Human Rights, is part of an effort by Beijing to crush the China Democratic Party. In recent days, police have also been harassing the families of exiled Chinese dissidents. Beijing was apparently alarmed that democracy leaders outside of China were contenders for the Nobel Peace Prize, which was issued Friday to the international aid group Doctors Without Borders.

Mr. Sun was picked up by the police on Friday, hours after arriving in Beijing to visit the wife of democracy activist Xu Wenli, who is serving a 13-year prison sentence. Mr. Xu has also been a vocal leader of the China Democratic Party, which claims a few thousand members but has gained international attention for its attempt to democratize China.

The fate of Mr. Sun is not yet known, but his family fear he may be sent back to prison.

China's courts sentenced Mr. Sun to 12 years in jail for taking part in antigovernment "propaganda and incitement" during the Tiananmen pro-democracy protests. Mr. Sun, a restaurant owner in the coastal city of Qingdao, was deemed a counter-revolutionary for supplying some students with food during the protests. He was released on Feb. 5.

A decade earlier, Mr. Sun spent more than a year in prison for taking part in the Democracy Wall movement, when critics of the government hung posters on a Beijing wall outlining the shortcomings of the Communist regime.

The continuing crackdown on dissidents is part of a recent wave of repression by Chinese authorities, who are keeping a tight lid on public gatherings and organizations without official approval.

Over the weekend, officials also reiterated a warning to civil service and state enterprise employees to stop practising falun gong, a meditation movement whose members alarmed the government in the spring when more than 10,000 staged a protest in downtown Beijing. The authorities have been alarmed to find that many senior cadres, including military and police officials, have joined the sect, along with millions of ordinary Chinese.

Subscribe to The Globe and Mail

Gore struggles with Clinton shadow
Democratic contender considers banning President from campaign trail
by Andrew Cohen - Monday, October 18, 1999

Beijing detains veteran democracy activist
Arrest of Sun Weibang coincides with intensified crackdown on China Democratic Party
by Miro Cernetig - Monday, October 18, 1999

Grassroots group flays war on drugs as harmful, racist
$150-billion would have been better spent on prevention and treatment, U.S. report says
by AndrÉ Picard - Monday, October 18, 1999

Chechnya's leader calls for talks on Kremlin action
With Moscow's forces closing in on Grozny, fears are raised that military disaster awaits
by Ruslan Musayev - Monday, October 18, 1999