China Releases 3 Pro-Democracy Political Prisoners

HONG KONG —  In an effort to deflect human rights pressure from the United States, China has released three political prisoners jailed for their involvement in the 1989 pro-democracy movement, a U.S. human rights activist said here Friday.

“We shouldn’t draw too many conclusions from individual releases, nor should we overstate their significance. . . . There are still certainly hundreds, if not thousands, of imprisoned dissidents” in China, said John Kamm, a Hong Kong-based businessman who has become a prominent campaigner for an easing of repression in China.

The releases came in the last week amid growing concern in Washington that China is not living up to international human rights standards, which may jeopardize the renewal of Beijing’s low-tariff access to U.S. markets.

The U.S. State Department’s annual report on human rights, delivered to Congress on Tuesday, gave China some credit for making a few strides in 1993 and cited the release of some political prisoners. But the overall tone of the report was critical.

Among the men released was Xiao Bin, a worker from the northern city of Dalian who was sentenced to 10 years for giving interviews after the 1989 military crackdown in Tian An Men Square, in which he described large-scale loss of life in Beijing.

The other two dissidents released were Ding Junze, an assistant professor of philosophy at Shanxi University, who was sentenced to a 12-year term for participating in the 1989 pro-democracy movement, and Liao Yiwu, a leading poet from Sichuan province who received a four-year sentence for his role in the same protests.

“To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time that the Chinese have released any prisoner who was sentenced to at least 10 years for their involvement in the ’89 democracy protests,” Kamm said. “That’s a significant sign, and hopefully it’s a harbinger of other releases.”

Beijing has been under heavy pressure from the West on human rights issues since the army crushed the 1989 demonstrations.

But Kamm said it was not unusual for the Chinese government to release some prisoners before the Chinese New Year, which is a time for settling accounts and reuniting families.

“The Chinese New Year doesn’t begin until Thursday . . . so I think that some prisoners in Beijing will be eligible for a New Year’s release as well,” Kamm said.

“What these cases show again is that even for dissidents who have been jailed for long periods, it’s possible to intervene,” he said. “So even though China continues to arrest people, at least we can take heart in the fact that . . . occasionally it’s possible to secure their release.”