REPRESSION IN CHINA

The Herald Tribune, November 24 1995

China seems to think it can justify the detention of Wei Jingsheng, the country's most prominent dissident, by formally charging him with sedition instead of simply holding him in secret without accusation of criminal conduct. It is a pathetic and transparent effort to create the illusion that China is a nation governed by the rule of law.

With the Chinese leadership maneuvering for position in the power vacuum created by the long illness of Deng Xiaoping, the favored posture in Beijing these days is reaffirmation of dogma, from relations with Taiwan to the treatment of dissent. Recent meetings between President Jiang Zemin of China and President Bill Clinton and Vice President AI Gore may have eased the tensions that developed in relations earlier this year, but it is now clear that the White House's muted concern about Chinese human rights abuses has only encouraged Beijing to pursue a Stalinist policy of repression.

Mr. Wei's crime, under the twisted logic of Chinese law, is that he criticized the government for failing to adopt democratic political reforms once promised by Mr. Deng. In democratic countries that is called free expression. In China it is considered an effort to overthrow the government.

Mr. Wei gave up his work as an electrician and became a political essayist in the late 1970s. He was first arrested then and jailed for nearly 15 years because of his political activity. He was released in 1993 when Washington made an issue of his captivity, much of which was in solitary confinement.

In April 1994, after Mr. Wei resumed his campaign for democracy and Washington dropped the link between China's human rights record and its trade privileges with the United States, he was seized again. Until Tuesday he was held without charge in an undisclosed spot.

Chinese leaders like to lecture foreigners about China's constitution and the rule of law in China, contending that freedom of speech, publication and assembly are protected and that only criminal conduct is prosecuted. The point where speech becomes sedition, of course, is defined by the government, which makes precious little distinction between the two. Like the Soviet masters of illusion, Chinese leaders call tyranny democracy and intimidation freedom.

President Clinton and his administration must speak out clearly and forcefully against the prosecution of Mr. Wei, who seems headed for an inevitable conviction and another long prison sentence. Beijing is betting that American eagerness for a profitable trade relationship will wear down American concern for human rights. But buying good relations with China at the expense if Mr. Wei and the many other Chinese citizens who seek greater democracy is a deal Washington must decline.