Published by: World Tibet Network News Saturday, November 29, 1997

Ottawa Sun November 29, 1997

OTTAWA -- Prime Minister Jean Chretien told Chinese President Jiang Zemin yesterday that Canada will accept 13 political dissidents if the Beijing regime will release them from prison and house arrest.

There was no immediate response from President Jiang, according to senior Canadian officials who were present for the meeting.

Nevertheless, Canadian officials hope that at least one of the dissidents -- perhaps Wang Dan, a key organizer of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests -- might be released once President Jiang returns home from his current tour of Canada.

Mr. Wang has served a little more than a year of an 11-year prison term he received after being charged with conspiring to overthrow the government. Chinese authorities released another famous dissident, Wei Jingsheng, within days of President Jiang's visit to the United States earlier this month.

Canadian officials said a list of 14 names was first given to the Chinese by Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy during a visit to Beijing last April. Mr. Wei was one of the people on the list.

Mr. Wei's release was mentioned by Mr. Chretien, who then made the point that China should be able to release at least one of the dissidents after President Jiang's Canadian visit, a senior official said.

Later, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Shen Guofang seemed to throw cold water on the idea of releasing any dissidents, describing it as an internal legal matter.

"The Canadian government has no right to demand the judicial department of China to release some people," Mr. Shen said. He also professed not to know anything about a list of dissidents.

Also on the list are journalist Gao Yu, serving six years for "stealing state secrets" after she published sensitive information that had appeared in Hong Kong papers; Liu Nianchun and Tiananmen Square hunger striker Liu Xiaobo (no relation), who are both in poor health in the midst of three-year terms in labour camps; Bao Tong, former secretary to disgraced leader Zhao Ziyang who was removed from office for sympathizing with Tiananmen Square student protesters; and Ngawang Choepal, a Tibetan musicologist from the United States whose 18-year jail sentence for "espionage" has outraged many U.S. Congressmen.

The subject of human rights seemed to dominate Mr. Jiang's morning on Parliament Hill during his first state visit to Canada.

In a meeting with Mr. Chretien, China agreed to co-sponsor with Canada an international seminar on human rights.

"I think this is a first for China . . . it's an unusual step," said Mr. Axworthy, the driving force behind the seminar.

"We want to get them out in the open and have a discussion."

Mr. Axworthy said representatives from other countries, including Indonesia and Cuba, would attend the conference in Canada, though he could not say whether well-known critics of China's human-rights policies would be allowed to take part.

Earlier, Mr. Jiang defended his country's human-rights record, including its handling of incidents such as the Tiananmen Square massacre.

Mr. Jiang, who was Communist Party boss in Shanghai at the time and is believed not to have been directly involved in the decision to use the troops, said Beijing authorities had to prevent "chaos."

Asked at a rare open press conference whether his government would listen rather than attack if workers and students demonstrated again as they had in 1989, Mr. Jiang said the Chinese constitution "very explicitly" guarantees freedom of assembly and the right to protest and demonstrate.

"[But it is] completely different when [such actions] are designed to cause complete chaos in government operations," he said.

"As for 1989, we have already given our explanations all around the world. I don't see the need to further repeat them here."

Canadian reporters pressed Mr. Jiang on human rights during the brief but pointed session. But Mr. Jiang, 71, did not appear ruffled, though he is never asked about such issues by the Chinese public.

When asked whether he understood why people were demonstrating, Mr. Jiang acknowledged he had noticed "at times, certain discord and noises".

"Of course, China accepts in general terms the principles of human rights, but in each country, there are [different] specific conditions relating to human rights."

Mr. Jiang said China is expanding democracy and building up its legal system, adding, in response to a question about the possible release of Wang Dan and other political prisoners: "All these matters will be dealt with according to the legal procedures of Canada."

Mr. Chretien refrained from publicly criticizing China's human-rights record, insisting that private dialogue is the best approach. "We discussed this matter very openly. I asked questions during dinner about Tibet, and he [Mr. Jiang] gave me his answer," said Mr. Chretien, without revealing what the answer was.

Senior Canadian officials said talk of human rights dominated most of Mr. Chretien's private conversation with President Jiang at a state dinner Thursday night. The subject was discussed for another 20 minutes in more formal talks yesterday morning.

Meanwhile, a small group of protesters -- most of them Tibetan exiles -- huddled together in a snowstorm that swept across Parliament Hill and yelled at an even smaller group of pro-China demonstrators gathered in another fenced area across the walkway that runs from the Eternal Flame to the Peace Tower.

Tsamcho Nylosang, one of the Tibetan protesters, said she came to Canada as a young woman and is now proud to be a Canadian citizen because she can freely practice her Buddhist religion here.

Now a nursing-home attendant in Trenton, Ont., Ms. Nylosang said she has voted Liberal in past federal elections, but she's having second thoughts because Mr. Chrtien is giving the red-carpet treatment to "a Chinese butcher."

The pro-China demonstrators were heard from too.

"We love our country [China]," said P.J. Chiu, loudest of the pro-China shouters, who has lived in Canada for 25 years. "We are here to greet the president of China, Jiang Zemin. We love Canada and we love China."

Mr. Jiang addressed last night's annual meeting of the Canada-China Business Council in Toronto. About 300 demonstrators gathered in front of the hotel where he spoke. In a mostly peaceful protest, they called on Canada to stop engaging in trade until China's human-rights record improves and Taiwan and Tibet are granted independence. A brief shoving match erupted between the protesters and members of a group of about 50 counter-demonstrators who said they support China.

Mr. Jiang meets Ontario Premier Mike Harris for breakfast this morning, his last official engagement in Canada before leaving for a state visit to Mexico.