Paroled scholar will likely return to the US this week

A US-linked Chinese scholar freed on medical parole will likely leave for the US this week, friends and family said yesterday.

Qin Guangguang (覃光廣), who was paroled by Beijing last week following pressure from Washington, went first to visit his sick mother in the southwestern province of Sichuan because he fears China will not allow him back once he leaves.

A friend said Qin told him he would probably leave for the US this week. Qin's sister said it may be as early as today.

Qin, 45, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on spying charges with Gao Zhan (高瞻), a US-based Chinese sociologist who also was freed on medical parole. She returned last Thursday to the US.

Qin had taught at American universities and was working for a pharmaceutical company in Beijing when he was detained in December.

He was convicted by a Beijing court of spying for Taiwan, but no details have been released.

Meanwhile, Amnesty International said it was concerned about another detained Chinese academic with US ties.

The daughter of 65-year-old Zhang Zhensheng asked US Secretary of State Colin Powell, who visited Beijing on Saturday, to intercede on her father's behalf during his meeting with Chinese President Jiang Zemin (江澤民).

Zhang was detained in 1995 and sentenced to 14 years in prison on espionage charges, Amnesty International said.

According to the group, Zhang's family believes he is being held in solitary confinement and suffers from heart disease, high blood pressure and severe back pain.

Zhang was a visiting scholar at Wayne State University in Detroit between 1980 and 1982, the group said. He advocated democratic ideas as a professor at a Chinese university when he returned.