Asia: American doctor jailed in China for defending Falun Gong

February 21, 2003

Dr. Charles Xiangchun planned to spend Chinese New Year celebrating with his family. Instead he spent it in Yangsho Detention Center in Jiangsu Province, where he is being held on charges that he sabotaged television and radio broadcasts to protest the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China.

Li is the first United States citizen to be detained by the Chinese government for Falun Gong activities. He faces 15 years in prison.

Li denies the charges. His supporters in San Diego say that Li was not in the country when the alleged sabotage took place. They argue that Li's arrest on Jan. 22 at the Guangzhou Municipal Airport stemmed for his activities in this country on behalf of Falun Gong, a form of exercise and a movement construed by the Chinese government to be politically motivated.

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The U. S. State Department, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have also charged China with human rights violations against Falun Gong members and other dissidents. The State Department's Annual Report on International Religious Freedom charged that more than 200 Falun Gong practitioners died in China.

"We are very worried about Dr. Li," said Dr. Wang Wenyi, a pathologist who is helping organize support for Li in San Diego.

Last October, Li visited China without incident, so he had no reason to suspect he might be arrested this time according to his friend, David Gao, a research associate at EGEA Biosciences in San Diego.

"He got his visa to go to China so quickly. The arrest happened as soon as he landed. I think he was set up," said Gao, who worked for Li's company in Menlo Park before moving to San Diego.

Li, who manufactures Chinese medicines, received his medical degree in China before attending the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on a full scholarship where he received a master's degree in physiology. Before establishing his business in California, he worked as research assistant at Harvard University.

Li has been assured by the Chinese government that he will be afforded all rights under Chinese law, but, said Chen Shizhong, director of genetic systems at EGEA, "This is ridiculous. Charles Li is a U. S. citizen. Chinese citizens have no rights."