Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 24, 1994 TAG: 9404240025
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BEIJING LENGTH: Short
The release of Wang Juntao comes less than two months before the Clinton administration must decide whether Beijing has made sufficient improvement in its human rights record to merit continued low tariffs for Chinese imports.
Revoking China's most-favored nation trading status would likely spark a trade war that could cost both countries thousands of jobs and billions of dollars.
A brief announcement from the Justice Ministry, released over the official Xinhua News Agency, said Wang was "released on bail according to law on account of the conditions of his illness."
Wang suffers from heart disease and chronic hepatitis B, a serious liver ailment, and had long asked for a release on medical parole. He was sentenced in 1991 to 13 years in jail on accusations he was an organizer of the Tiananmen Square movement.
The report did not say where he had gone for medical treatment, but his mother, Ge Yumei, said he left Saturday morning for the United States. A reliable source in Hong Kong, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Wang was heading to New York, where his wife is attending Columbia University.
Whether the Communist authorities will allow Wang to return is unclear.
by CNB