Trials set the tone for clearer Sino-U.S. talks

Li Shaomin departed Beijing on July 25 for San Francisco, after spending more than five months in Chinese custody

By Jaime A. FlorCruz
CNN Beijing Bureau Chief

BEIJING, China (CNN) -- China's legal system picked up uncharacteristic speed this week with a flurry of swift trials, convictions and a deportation.

Chinese authorities Wednesday expelled Li Shaomin, a U.S. citizen and professor, twelve days after a Chinese court found him guilty of spying for Taiwan.

Li's deportation comes one day after the same court found Gao Zhan, a U.S.-based sociologist, and two other alleged accomplices guilty of similar charges. Gao was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Although a permanent U.S. resident, she is a Chinese citizen and technically must serve her sentence in the mainland.

Her lawyers hope Beijing could let her out of China on medical parole because she suffers from an irregular heartbeat and breathing problems, just as it had allowed jailed dissidents to go on exile to the West.

By speeding up the scholars' trials, Beijing is hoping to keep U.S.-China relations on the upswing ahead of U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's visit to Beijing on Saturday.

Irritants

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Powell is expected to bring up these controversial human rights cases on top of his agenda during his meetings with Chinese officials. On the eve of the visit, his Chinese hosts are trying the clear away these irritants so the meetings can focus on other substantive issues.

Says Bates Gill, China expert at the Washington-based Brookings Institution: "It seems the Chinese would like to proceed and get back to business as usual with the United States in the wake of all the difficulties the relationship had in the past months. And human rights, of course, is a traditional bone of contention."

During the visit, Beijing is expected seek assurances from Washington that the U.S. will continue to adhere to a "one-China" policy, will not support Taiwan independence, and will not consider China its strategic enemy.

The crackdown on Chinese academics comes after months of tension between Washington and Beijing over Taiwan, global missile defense, and human rights. The ties soured on all fronts after a U.S. spy plane collided with a Chinese fighter jet in April.

Powell is expected to mend ties, build confidence and lay the groundwork for President George Bush' planned visit in October.

Domestic pressures

The spate of arrests is largely driven by China's domestic politics. Says Jerome Cohen, an expert of Chinese law and Gao Zhan's legal counsel: "At a time when leaders are vying for the top positions, nobody wants to be seen as too soft on the outsiders. Everybody wants to be seen as protectors of national sovereignty, protectors of state secrets."

But what is a state secret? What is public information? When is it legitimate fieldwork and when is it spying? The distinctions have blurred as China becomes more open and pluralistic.

The influxes of tourism, foreign investment and trade and freer flow information have accelerated the process. As Beijing stares down the challenges of unemployment, dissent and tensions with Taiwan and the United States, the police are under pressure to tighten their grip.

The court's severe punishments are largely meant for domestic consumption. Chinese authorities intend to show that they are tough, in spite of outside pressure, and will do whatever it takes to plug leaks.

They also wish to create a chilling effect among people with overseas ties. In the classic fashion of "killing the chickens to scare the monkeys," the police imposed severe punishment to inhibit people in China from cooperating with people from abroad.

Thus, the police hope to plug the leaks to their adversaries and Taiwan and the U.S.

Beijing's agenda

But Beijing has other pragmatic goals. Beijing is just as eager as Washington to keep the bilateral ties on an even keel. As the sole superpower and China's most important source of investment, trade and technology, the U.S. is simply too important for China to snub or antagonize.

President Jiang Zemin has made Sino-U.S. relations the centerpiece of his administration's foreign policy and he is keen to make it succeed as part of his political legacy.

That is why Beijing is now reluctantly releasing convicted academics. Ironically, for Li Shaomin and other Chinese scholars, the quickest way to freedom is a speedy conviction.