-HD- U.N. official asks about Tibetan cleric as China hints it may permit 2nd party -BY- Willis Witter -CR- THE WASHINGTON TIMES -DT- TOKYO -GR- Photo (color), Mary Robinson -TX- TOKYO - As U.N. human rights chief Mary Robinson continued a controversial tour of China, a group of dissidents reported yesterday that Beijing may be prepared to accept the nation's first legal opposition party. The group calling itself an organizing committee for the Chinese Democratic Party in the eastern coastal province of Shandong, issued a statement saying it had met in person with provincial officials. Instead of being rebuffed, they received a list of steps needed before their party could be legally registered. The measures included submitting a $6,000 deposit and a list of leaders. This indicates the Chinese government has made a ``significant policy change on Chinese citizens' rights to [free] association,'' the group said in a statement, which was circulated by the Free China Movement Network's Washington, D.C. office. Chinese authorities did not outright deny that a new political party may be allowed. But a statement from the State Council, or Cabinet, lambasted a Hong Kong- based human rights group that broke the news as ``misleading public opinion.'' Lian Shengde, a spokesman for the group, said the push for official recognition in Shandong, southeast of Beijing, was timed to coincide with Mrs. Robinson's visit. ``We saw this as an opportunity to make the [Democratic Party organizing] effort more effective,'' Mr. Lian said by telephone from his home in Virginia. Thus far, the visit by the U.N. Human Rights Commission chief has been marred with controversy. On Wednesday, police seized Chu Hailan, the wife of a jailed dissident as she stood quietly outside the Beijing hotel where Mrs. Robinson was scheduled to speak. After a severe beating during an eight-hour interrogation, she was released. A letter signed by 128 dissidents throughout China demanded that Mrs. Chu be compensated for her injuries. The dissidents in Shandong said they were told by local officials to meet four conditions before their application could be considered. Besides posting a deposit and providing a list of leaders' names, the group was told it needed at least 50 charter members and a permanent place of business. ``It is obviously much too premature to celebrate,'' the group said in a statement. ``We cautiously appreciate the positive gesture made by the Chinese government. . . . Any bit of progress made by the Chinese Communist Party toward relaxation and reform is welcome,'' the group said. The statement said it appeared Beijing had sanctioned the meeting in Shandong. ``Our judgment is that the decision is not rendered by officials on the local level. It is quite possible that the local government received directives from the summit leadership of the Communist Party,'' it said. This summer, dissidents in the neighboring province of Zhejiang attempted to register an opposition party - the first such attempt since the beginning of Communist rule in 1949. Police arrested about 20 activists as a result, including Wang Youcai, who was charged with ``incitement to overthrow state power.'' A spokesman for the human rights commissioner, who was visiting Tibet yesterday, hailed the news. ``That would be a major breakthrough,'' Jose Diaz told a news agency by telephone from the Tibetan capital, Lhasa. In a related development, Mrs. Robinson asked leaders of Chinese-ruled Tibet yesterday about a boy not seen in public since the Dalai Lama named him a high Buddhist cleric three years ago. Amid a discussion about human rights, religion and Tibetan-language education, Mrs. Robinson's query about the Dalai Lama's choice for Panchen Lama, Gendun Choekyi Nyima, ``raised eyebrows'' among the officials, said her spokesman Jose Diaz. The officials did not disclose the boy's whereabouts and repeated that he was with his family. -END-