Reversed! UC Ban on Affirmative Action (in Bay Area News) Hot'n'Sour Dish: Bridget Jones' racist diary (in A&E) Emil Amok: Emil's International Incident, Part II (in Opinion)

China Charges Detained Scholar with Spying for Taiwan

Li Shaomin

By Elaine Kurtenbach/AP

Li Shaomin, a U.S. citizen who taught at the City University of Hong Kong, disappeared after crossing the border into China on Feb. 25 to see a friend.

Nearly three months later, Li’s wife Liu Yingli said she received a telephone call from China’s State Security Ministry informing her that her husband had been formally arrested on charges of spying for Taiwan.

“He is a scholar. What they accuse him of is pure nonsense,” Liu told The Associated Press. “I want the world to know my husband has done nothing wrong.”

Liu said she was informed about her husband’s situation on May 17. Meanwhile, U.S. consular officials in Beijing said they would keep lobbying for his release.

China has detained at least five intellectuals with foreign ties in a sweeping anti-espionage campaign that prompted a U.S. State Department warning to travelers linked to Taiwan or dissident writings.

U.S. officials in Beijing said they had been informed of Li’s arrest and charges and that they were pressing for his release on humanitarian grounds.

“We are very concerned by this development and will continue to express our concern about Mr. Li’s case to the Chinese government,” said a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy, speaking on routine condition of anonymity.

A U.S. consular official last met with Li on April 30. At the time, he was in “generally good health,” the spokesman said. An embassy official delivered clothing, books and letters for Li on May 16, but was not allowed to meet with him.

Li’s wife, Liu, said she hoped the U.S. government would take up her husband’s case at the highest diplomatic levels.

“I wish the American government would do more,” she said.

A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said his government had complied with local laws as well as consular treaties, but that he was not in a position to comment further on Li’s case.

“The details are not suitable for disclosure at the moment,” the spokesman, Sun Yuxi, said at a routine press briefing.

Liu said the family had hired a mainland Chinese lawyer for Li, but they did not know if the lawyer would be able to get access to him.

Last week, 104 Hong Kong academics issued a petition demanding that Beijing release Li. The appeal said the arrests of Li and other scholars had caused alarm, particularly among scholars living in Hong Kong who travel regularly to the Chinese mainland.

Li earned a doctorate in sociology from Princeton University in 1988, and he has taught at Beijing University. He has served as a U.N. adviser to China on the business applications of demographic data and has given seminars for the State Statistical Bureau of China.

Liu, also a business professor, said Li’s research and writings were motivated by a desire to promote the success of economic and political reforms in China.

“In a way, he is very critical but also constructive and from very good intentions for the good of the country,” she said.