Publisher Freed; Mayor’s Taiwan Trip Back On

Mayor Michael A. Blanco, who vowed last week to boycott a trip to Alhambra’s sister city in Taiwan unless a jailed newspaper publisher was freed, said he plans to go ahead with the trip now that she has been released.

Lee Ya-ping, 62, publisher of the Monterey Park-based Chinese-language International Daily News, was arrested Sept. 17 while visiting Taiwan. The government charged that Lee violated its anti-sedition act by publishing pro-communist articles.

Lee, a Taiwan citizen with immigrant status in the United States, was released without bail. But she will be required to report to Taiwan authorities “whenever they want her,” said Anthony Yuen, editor of the paper. Lee faces arraignment on the original count as well as a charge in connection with the distribution of her paper in Taiwan.

“I am pleased that the Taiwanese government has chosen to cooperate with U.S. government officials,” Blanco said. The State Department, Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.) and Rep. Matthew Martinez (D-Monterey Park) had spoken out strongly against Lee’s arrest and demanded her immediate release.

Other community leaders planning to make the weeklong trip to Hsin Chuang beginning Oct. 7 are four members of the Chamber of Commerce, members of the Asian-American Friendship Assn. and Rep. Charles M. Calderon (D-Alhambra).