
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, May 27, 1993                   TAG: 9305270050
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: BEIJING                                LENGTH: Short

CHINA FREES DISSIDENT AFTER 12 YEARS IN PRISON

In a gesture perhaps aimed at influencing U.S. debate on China, one of China's longest-serving political prisoners was released Wednesday after serving 12 years of a 15-year sentence.

Xu Wenli, 49, a former electrician and editor who was one of China's most prominent pro-democracy activists in the early 1980s, was released from Beijing No. 1 prison and driven home.

The fate of political prisoners is directly linked to debate in the United States over whether normal trade relations with China should be made conditional on an easing of repression. The Clinton administration is proposing to Congress that such a linkage be made, but that it be done through an executive order rather than by legislation.

by CNB