Beijing released Gao Zhan (
But it's not time for a celebration yet. China is still a country with a dim view of human rights and its political leadership still holds sway over the judiciary. Foreign nationals, be they from the US or any other country, can still be taken hostage any time by the Chinese regime, just as its own citizens risk detention without trial for daring to think their own thoughts or speak their minds.
In this latest round of hostage-taking, several scholars, including Gao, Qin, Li Shaomin (
eigners. Especially, after the EP-3 surveillance plane incident in April, Beijing appeared eager to arrest US-based scholars as a form of retaliation. Li's arrest on May 15 cast a cloud of terror over all Americans living in China.
But Beijing's way of countering US unfriendliness has apparently backfired. It angered both houses of Congress. The House of Representatives voted unanimously to pass a resolution demanding the release of the scholars. The Senate's Foreign Relations Committee also demanded unconditional release of the scholars and warned that the arrests are not in Beijing's interests.
The arrests drew more condemnation from critics of China's human rights record, but they also provided Beijing with bargaining chips as it sought to host the 2008 Olympic Games. The arrests made the US reluctant to implement the Congressional resolution opposing Beijing's bid for the Games. China released Li two days after Beijing won its bid. It released the other scholars one by one before they became liabilities -- the last ones being released just before Powell's visit.
As always, China's human rights show was a low-cost, high-return venture. Beijing can create a hostage incident at whim, create a lot of domestic uproar over "spies" and "provocateurs" and then bargain hard for political or economic benefits with the countries seeking the release of their nationals or other detainees. It's hard to see any difference between Beijing's thuggish round-ups and a common kidnapping -- except in China the kidnappers are the police or security agents.
Beijing's release of a few scholars is simply a diversion -- and it's important not to be distracted by it. China's human rights problems go far beyond the detention of these academics. The persecution of Falun Gong practitioners and Christians, the iron-fisted rule over Tibet and suppression of the pro-democracy movement, are just a few examples of China's serious human rights violations. Unfortunately, China has gotten away for far too long with sweeping these problems under the carpet of "internal affairs." Any country trying to talk to Beijing about such matters is accused of trying to interfere in domestic affairs and threatened with the loss of access to China's fabled -- and fairy-tale -- market.
The release of Gao, Li and the others is certainly a relief. But any country that attaches any importance to the universal values of human rights should keep a close eye on China, and be willing to speak up whenever Beijing's words differ from its actions.
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