Published by: World Tibet Network News, Monday, October 14, 1996

by Peter Lim

HONG KONG, Oct 14 (AFP) - Veteran Chinese dissident Wang Xizhe remained in hiding in Hong Kong Monday while local support groups made attempts to get him political asylum in the United States, a dissident source said.

Wang, 47, who arrived in the British territory at the weekend after going missing in China last week, was expected to leave Hong Kong on Monday or Tuesday, the source said.

However, there were fears that Wang's departure could be delayed after news leaked of of his arrival.

A New York-based Chinese dissident source said Western countries may now have second thoughts about giving Wang political asylum, fearing reprisals from Beijing.

Wang had been on the run since last Tuesday when fellow dissident Liu Xiaobo was sentenced to a term in a labour camp. The two had signed a joint letter demanding independence for Tibet.

Wang was said to be in hiding on the outlying island of Lamma, in a house arranged by the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of the Patriotic Movement in China, which reportedly assisted his escape.

Democratic legislator Cheung Man-kwong, an alliance spokesman, declined to comment, saying only: "We're concerned about his safety."

There were also reports that Wang was still in China, as his wife Su Guang told Hong Kong television she had received a call from friends that Wang was still in hiding in China.

Robin Munro, Hong Kong director of Human Rights Watch/Asia, told AFP late Sunday that Wang was in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong government officials remained tightlipped on Wang's case, while US consular officials could not be reached for comment.

The Xinhua news agency, China's de-facto government representative in Hong Kong, also declined to comment.

However, Weng Xinqiao, head of Xinha's culture and education department, told reporters late Sunday that if Wang had arrived legally, "his case should be handled legally. Otherwise, the Hong Kong government should handle it in accordance with the law."

Under Hong Kong's law, illegal immigrants must be deported back to the country from which they came.

More than 40 Chinese pro-democracy campaigners who have sought safety in Hong Kong are trying to gain political asylum in the West before the territory's handover next July. So far, only Canada has responded.

Chinese officials have made it clear that these dissidents could face prosecution after the handover.

Wang's friends released a statement, intended for the Chinese government, that they said had been by written by him last Thursday somewhere in eastern Guangdong province.

"I'm not afraid of your dungeon, but I don't want to let you shut my mouth," Wang said. "I don't want you to prosecute me with false evidence."

Wang also called on the authorities to release Liu Xiaobo with whom he wrote the letter calling for Tibetan self-determination. Liu, 40, was sentenced last week to three years in a "re-education through labor" camp.

Wang also urged the release of prominent activist Wang Dan. The 26-year-old student leader of the 1989 pro-democracy protests in Beijing is expected to be tried this week for subversion.

Wang Xizhe, a former factory worker in the southern city of Guangzhou, was released on parole on February 3 1993 after serving nearly 12 years of a 14-year term for sedition, forming a "counter-revolutionary group" and spreading "counter-revolutionary propaganda."