The Philadelphia Inquirer
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Monday, February 10, 2003

NATIONAL

By Joe McDonald
Associated Press

A Chinese court convicted U.S.-based dissident Wang Bingzhang on spying and terrorism charges today and sentenced him to life in prison, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Wang, 55, was arrested after police said they found him tied up in a temple July 3. However, pro-democracy activists suggested he was abducted in Vietnam by Chinese agents after he met with Chinese labor leaders in Hanoi.

Wang was convicted by a court in the southern city of Shenzhen of "espionage, [and] organizing and leading a terrorist group," Xinhua said in a two-sentence report. It did not give any details.

Wang was visiting Hanoi with two other dissidents when they were reported missing in June. Chinese authorities say they found them in southern China's Guangxi region, which borders Vietnam, while they were investigating a kidnapping case. Wang was formally charged Dec. 5.

The Chinese government has said the two other dissidents - Yue Wu and Zhang Qi - were cleared of involvement in Wang's activities.

Wang, a Chinese citizen, has permanent-residency status in the United States.

He was a medical student in China when he started speaking out against the communist government and was jailed twice. He went into exile in Canada in 1979. He lived in New York in the 1980s.

Wang slipped into China in 1998, saying he planned to organize a Chinese Democracy and Justice Party to press for free elections and civil liberties. He was caught and deported.

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