China detains another U.S. scholar

Li Shaomin is the second Chinese-born scholar to be detained

In this story: Li's case Scholarly ties Spy charges Tough stance RELATED STORIES, SITES

By staff and wire reports

HONG KONG, China -- China has detained a second Chinese-born scholar with U.S. ties, further straining relations between the two countries.

The detention of Li Shaomin, a business professor at the City University in Hong Kong, comes in the wake of Washington-based scholar Gao Zhan being detained in China last month.

Just two weeks before Li's disappearance, Gao was arrested in Beijing along with her husband Xue Donghua and five-year-old son Andrew.

Gao's husband Xue is due to be granted U.S. citizenship on Friday morning at a special ceremony attended by members of U.S Congress.

The Congress are pushing to introduce a private bill to make Gao a U.S. citizen, a move China has rebuffed.

Li's case

Li was picked up by Chinese agents after crossing the border to the mainland city of Shenzhen on February 25.

Li's family was told by the U.S. Embassy in Beijing that Li had been detained at an unknown location for unspecified reasons.

The U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong confirmed an American citizen has been held in China since late February.

A consulate official has visited the detainee and been in frequent contact with his family but declined to name the detainee due to privacy laws.

Chinese Foreign Ministry and security officials in Beijing and Shenzhen have so far refused to comment on why he is being detained and where he is being held.

But Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy has confirmed Li's detention.

Scholarly ties

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

According to his home page on City University's website, Li has served as a U.N. advisor and lectured for the Chinese government.

He has been teaching in Hong Kong since 1996, after working for AT&T in the U.S. for nine years.

Li's father, Li Hongli, is a prominent scholar and a reformer close to late communist party secretary Hu Yaobang and ousted leader Zhao Ziyang.

Li senior was jailed for 10 months after the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre for supporting student protestors.

Li Shaomin's friends in Hong Kong describe him as a supporter of the pro-democracy movement but say he's been focusing on economic issues in China in recent years.

They say he had been making frequent trips to mainland China.

Spy charges

News of Li's detention comes amid rising Sino-U.S. relations over the six-week incarceration of Chinese-born Gao, a fellow at the American University in Washington, D.C.

Chinese authorities held Xue and Andrew for 26 days separately and failed to notify the U.S. Embassy, as Andrew is a U.S. citizen.

Beijing has accused Gao of spying.

President George W. Bush raised her case when Chinese Vice Premier Qian Qichen visited Washington earlier this month.

Tough stance

China analysts say both detentions signal a "turning point" in Sino-U.S. relations as Beijing takes a tougher approach on the U.S.

"There will be more cases like these in the future," says Lu Siqing, director of Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy.

"In general, China sees U.S. as the biggest enemy, especially after the 1999 Nato bombing of Chinese embassy in Yugoslavia," Lu told CNN.

"This (Li's) case is more serious than that of Gao Zhan, because Li Shaomin is a U.S. citizen while Gao Zhan is still a Chinese national. So you can see that after pressure from the U.S., China is adopting an ever harsher attitude," Lu said.

"That means more difficulties for U.S.-China relations," he added.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

China shuns U.S. calls to release scholar
March 29, 2001
Scholar's husband denies Chinese spying charges
March 28, 2001

U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong
U.S. Embassy in Beijing
Li Shaomin's home page

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