China furiously protested a US State Department warning to American travelers of Chinese origin, saying Friday it was "irresponsible" and an attempt to sabotage Chinese Americans' relations with Beijing.
Beijing's response came the same day as word of the detention of an American writer -- the fifth Chinese-born intellectual with foreign ties to be held in a sweeping anti-espionage campaign. Observers say the detentions show a disturbing new pattern of seizing not only political dissidents, but anyone with access to sensitive information about the government.
The US State Department's travel warning, released Thursday, cautions Chinese-born Americans that they risk being detained in China if they have been involved in dissident activities or published writings critical of the Chinese government. It also warned of risks to those who have traveled to Taiwan or had contact with Taiwan media organizations.
Insisting the detainees were a tiny minority who had broken Chinese law, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue (章啟月) demanded Washington "correct the mistake and take measures to eliminate the negative effects created by the so-called warning," the official Xinhua news agency said.
"The announcement of the so-called `risk' is an attempt to sow discord in relations between Chinese Americans and others and China. This is extremely wrong and irresponsible," Zhang was quoted as saying.
Her statement followed reports of the detention of Wu Jianmin (吳健民), a US citizen, on April 8 on suspicion of espionage. Wu is the latest in a string of US citizens or US permanent residents detained in China on suspicion of spying.
The US Embassy in Beijing said police informed them of Wu's detention on April 14, saying he was under investigation for spying on behalf of Taiwan.
Authorities suspect Wu was involved in the publication of The Tiananmen Papers, a book about the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators, said Frank Lu, a former dissident who runs a human rights monitoring group in Hong Kong.
Xiao Qiang (蕭強), executive director of New York-based Human Rights in China, said the detentions of intellectuals with foreign ties show a new pattern of targeting not only known political dissidents, but also those with family or professional contacts providing them access to sensitive information.
That reflects Chinese nervousness about the leak of politically sensitive information, especially following the publication of The Tiananmen Papers.
"The pattern becomes clearer that the state security agencies recently have specifically targeted those types of people, not because of their political activities, but because of their capacity for getting information in China," Xiao said.
John Holden, president of the National Committee on US-China Relations, said the detentions risk disrupting ties.
"This is damaging a lot of good will and ultimately its going to effect the ability of people to conduct legitimate scholarly work that helps Americans understand China," Holden said.
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