THE WEIGHT OF THE STATE

Taking no chances, the government charges one of its most frequently jailed dissidents with sedition

("TIME" December 4, 1995 pg.41)

by Anthony Spaeth. Reported by Hannah Bloch/Washington, Jaime A. FlorCruz and Mia Turner/Beijing

Wei Jingsheng's relatives received an ominous call from the Public Security Bureau last week, asking them to gather at the home of his parents in northern Beijing. Once assembled, they were given a copy of an arrest warrant for Wei. When family members pressed for information on his health and whereabouts, a PSB officer mumbled, "I was only deputized to hand this copy to you."

Thus, with its usual grace in such matters, China brought the weight of the state down harder on one of the country's bestknown dissidents. Wei, 44, who was nominated for this year's Nobel Peace Prize by a group of former Nobelists, has been detained at an unknown location without charge since April 1994, bringing his total time in confinement to 16 years. The new arrest warrant formalizes his latest incarceration and adds the charge of sedition, which carries the death penalty.

The move comes as relations between China and the West appeared to be on the mend in the wake of President Jiang Zemin's successful though low-key New York City meeting with Bill Clinton in October. During November's Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Osaka, China announced a list of tariff reductions and other economic reforms aimed at easing Western opposition to its membership in the World Trade Organization. Wei's official arrest may have been aimed at appeasing hard-liners in China who felt that Jiang's regime had been too weak toward Chinese critics at home and abroad. On the other hand, the very improvement in China's international standing may have convinced Beijing that the world would look the other way while the country went after a troublesome critic. "This is the most hard-line, spit-in-your-face type of indictment to bring," says Andrew Nathan, chairman of the advisory committee of Human Rights Watch/Asia. Washington said it "regretted" Wei's indictment and would continue to push for h

is freedom.

A former electrician at the Beijing zoo, Wei was first arrested in 1978 after he put up a poster on Beijing's shortlived Democracy Wall calling for political reforms. Released on parole in 1993, he was seized again on April 1, 1994, after meeting in Beijing with John Shattuck, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights. The new charge against him said that Wei "conducted activities in attempt to overthrow the government" during his parole period.

Wei is almost certain to be found guilty, though many human-rights activists in Beijing and overseas doubt that he would be executed, assuming China does not want to risk serious international repercussions. His only hope for eventual freedom may be public pressure exerted on China leadeing up to the annual meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva next March.

But even if Wei were released, there is no telling when he-or one of China's many other dissidents-might find himself back in prison. "The government does not feel it has many cards to play in its dealings with countries like the U.S., so it may think it needs more people in prison," says a Beijing academic. "When China is forced to release people, it does. When it has no people to release, it takes in new ones." Other recent detainees:student leader Wang Dan, who hasn't been seen since police picked him up in May, labor organizer Liu Nianchun and Tiananmen Square activist Chen Ziming, who was rearrested in June after 13 months on parole.