Document 28 of 39.
Copyright 1998 Associated Press
AP Online
June 29, 1998; Monday
15:28 Eastern Time
SECTION: International news
LENGTH: 421 words
HEADLINE: Another Chinese Dissident Arrested
BYLINE: ELAINE KURTENBACH
DATELINE: BEIJING
BODY:
A democracy activist who was trying to set up an opposition political party
was detained Monday by Chinese police _ the latest dissident rounded up during
President Clinton's visit.
Plainclothes police showed up at Wang Youcai's home in the eastern city of
Hangzhou on Monday, according to dissident groups in the United States and Hong
Kong.
Wang had tried to register his
China Democracy Party with provincial authorities Friday but was turned away. He had
planned to try again Monday afternoon, the Hong Kong-based Information Center
of Human Rights and
Democratic Movement said.
His application marked the first time Chinese dissidents have openly tried to
gain government approval for an opposition party, the Washington-based
Free China Movement reported.
Wang, a student leader in the democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square in
1989, was at least the
sixth dissident taken into custody since Wednesday. He spent 21/2 years in
prison for helping lead the 1989 protests and has had repeated run-ins with
police ever since.
His detention came as Clinton left Beijing for Shanghai, China's financial
center. Clinton took up the
previous arrests with President Jiang Zemin, but Jiang afterward defended the
police action as important for security.
On this visit to China, Clinton has emphasized the need for the government to
allow more freedom. At Peking University on Monday, he said China needed a
freer
society to maintain its economic prosperity.
Clinton has refused appeals by Chinese human rights campaigners to meet with a
dissident, however.
A group of 125 Chinese dissidents urged Clinton on Monday to meet former
Communist Party leader Zhao Ziyang, who was ousted by party
elders for resisting the 1989 military crackdown.
Zhao has lived under house arrest since being purged nine years ago and remains
a potent symbol of a more tolerant era in Chinese politics. Last week, he
reportedly sent party leaders a
letter urging a reassessment of the protests.
In an open letter released Monday, the 125 dissidents said Zhao would have
pushed democratic reforms together with economic ones, and in the process the
corruption and unemployment that China faces now would have been less severe.
Four of the six dissidents detained in the
past week were arrested in Xi'an, Clinton's first stop, and released after he
left.
Authorities in Guilin have told the family of democracy activist Li Xiaolong
that he will not be freed until after Clinton tours that southern city on
Thursday.
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
LOAD-DATE: June 29, 1998
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