China expels US sociologist convicted of spying
China today expelled a US-based Chinese sociologist convicted of spying for Taiwan, a US official said.
Gao Zhan, who was convicted on Tuesday, left Beijing on a flight to the United States, said the official travelling with US Secretary of State Colin Powell in Vietnam. The official asked not to be identified further.
The release came two days before Powell is to arrive in Beijing on a visit meant to repair strained relations.
Gao had been sentenced to 10 years. But a court agreed to consider a request for medical parole in what appeared to be an attempt by Beijing to end a growing diplomatic furore over her case.
The US Embassy in Beijing confirmed that Gao was on a flight to Detroit, where she was to be met by her family and a State Department official.
Gao, 39, is a researcher at American University in Washington. She was detained on February 11 at the Beijing airport during a family visit to China.
Her husband and their five-year-old son were detained with her, but released after 26 days.
The incident caused an uproar in Washington because Gao’s son is an American citizen and Chinese authorities failed to inform the US Embassy of his detention, as required by treaty.
Gao’s release came a day after the expulsion of Chinese-born American business professor Li Shaomin, who was convicted of spying for Taiwan.
Gao was convicted by a Beijing court of helping Li.
According to her lawyers, she denied spying, and said that she gave Li academic materials as part of normal scholarly exchanges.
There was no immediate word on the status of Qin Guangguang, a third Chinese-born academic with US ties who also was sentenced Tuesday on spying charges.
The detentions of Gao, Li and other Chinese-born academics, writers and entrepreneurs over the past year strained relations with Washington and stirred unease among China scholars abroad.
The US Government issued a travel warning in April saying Chinese-born Americans risked detention in China if they had been involved in activities or published writings critical of Beijing.
Li, who teaches business at the City University of Hong Kong, arrived yesterday in San Francisco.
’’Thank you all, I’m very tired. I’m really glad to be home to see my family. And I would like to thank my Government for its support,’’ he said.
Li wouldn’t answer questions about his case.
The Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Hong Kong said security agents had seized the Chinese passport and US residency permit of Qin’s wife, preventing her from returning to the United States.
The US Embassy said it could not confirm the report.
