Another scholar detained by China

By Mike Chinoy
CNN Senior Asia Correspondent

HONG KONG -- A Chinese-American teaching in Hong Kong has disappeared in mainland China, and is reportedly being detained by the Chinese State Security Bureau.

Li Shaomin, 44, an associate professor at the business school of the City University of Hong Kong, was apparently seized by security personnel when he crossed the border form Hong Kong to the Chinese town of Shenzhen on February 25.

After extensive inquiries, his family was advised by the U.S. Embassy in Beijing that Li was in the hands of the State Security Bureau. He is being held at an unknown location for unspecified reasons.

Li, a native of Beijing, received a PhD from Princeton University in 1988. He and his wife became American citizens in February, 1995.

He took up his teaching post in Hong Kong in 1996, after working for AT&T in the U.S. for nine years.

Friends and colleagues describe him as a strong supporter of democracy and human rights in China, but say he was not involved in any political activities recently.

He had been making frequent trips across the border with no problem, including a visit less than a week before he disappeared.

His apparent detention comes as the U.S. and China remain at loggerheads over the case of Gao Zhan.

Gao, a U.S. green card holder and professor at American University in Washington, D.C. was detained along with her husband and five-year-old son in February.

The husband and son were released and are now back in the U.S.

Gao remains in detention.

Shortly after U.S. President George W. Bush raised her case with visiting Chinese Vice Premier Qian Qichen last week, Beijing accused Gao of spying.

China analysts say the detentions indicate a much more aggressive approach by China's security apparatus.

The detentions come at a time when Beijing is worried about the challenge posed by the Falun Gong spiritual movement, and amid intense political maneuvering as the country's leadership prepares for a Communist Party Congress next year which will see a major reshuffle of top-ranking leaders.

China shuns U.S. calls to release scholar

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