HONG KONG (AP) A Chinese-born American citizen who has spoken out against abuses in China's labour camps after spending years inside them was denied entry into Hong Kong, his wife and a local watchdog group said Monday. The decision generated fresh concerns that Hong Kong's freedoms were under threat, and the U.S. consulate said it had sought an official explanation.
Harry Wu a scholar who was imprisoned from 1960 to 1979 was held overnight at the Hong Kong airport before being put on a flight to Tokyo early Monday, said Frank Lu, a Hong Kong-based activist who releases information on Chinese dissidents. Wu flew in from Washington late Sunday to spend time with friends in Hong Kong, said his wife, Chen Ching-lee. A security official at Chek Lap Kok airport told Wu he was turned away because of ''safety problems,'' Chen said by telephone from a suburb outside Washington D.C.
The U.S. consulate said it demanded an explanation from Hong Kong about why an American citizen was barred. Americans do not require visas to enter Hong Kong and normally are admitted without incident. ''This could have the effect of limiting the freedom of association and the free flow of ideas,'' consular spokeswoman Barbara Zigli said. Citing privacy concerns, Zigli declined to discuss details of the case.
Hong Kong's government said all applications for entry are handled lawfully and the immigration director ''takes into consideration a range of factors including the overall interest of Hong Kong'' when deciding whether people can visit. Although Hong Kong has maintained Western-style freedoms following its return from Britain to China nearly five years ago, the territory has been accused in a few instances of keeping out foreigners for apparent political reasons.
The Falun Gong meditation [practice] which is legal in Hong Kong though outlawed in mainland China as an “[slanderous term omitted]”' complained about a year ago that some 100 overseas followers were turned away. They had hoped to protest a visit by Chinese President Jiang Zemin.
Wu was jailed as a counterrevolutionary for criticizing the 1956 Soviet invasion of Hungary and spent 19 years in labour camps. After his release he emigrated to the United States but returned to China several times in the early 1990s to secretly visit prison camps and document atrocities there. He was arrested in China in June 1995 and convicted of stealing state secrets then immediately expelled. His release was viewed as paving the way for a visit by then-first lady Hillary Clinton, as China sometimes shows leniency to dissidents around the time of visits by American dignitaries.
The private Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor questioned Monday whether Wu had been blacklisted. ''They say they won't comment on individual cases, but this is a very important case,'' spokesman Paul Harris said. Harris said that Wu was a world-recognized expert on China's labour camp system and has revealed abuses that Beijing would prefer that nobody know about.
''It is so sad,'' said opposition lawmaker Cyd Ho. ''It could be Harry Wu today but it could be anybody tomorrow. It hurts the rights and the liberties of the Hong Kong people.''
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