China Anger Grows Over U.S., Dissident

China on Wednesday escalated its criticism of the United States for inviting China’s leading dissident to a banquet in honor of Chinese leaders during President Bush’s recent visit.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman described as irresponsible “U.S. official remarks” made Tuesday and expressed surprise and “deep regret,” the official New China News Agency reported.

Chinese police officers physically blocked astrophysicist Fang Lizhi, China’s most prominent advocate of democracy, from attending the Sunday night banquet given by Bush. The next day, Bush expressed regret about the police action, and Chinese officials said they resented the invitation to Fang.

The controversy, rather than settling down, heated up after White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater defended Bush against charges that he had failed to press human rights issues strongly enough while in Beijing.

Fitzwater said Bush’s banquet invitation to Fang and a few other critics of the government had been intended to make a human rights statement.

“I suppose the proof is in the pudding,” Fitzwater said, “in the sense that China today is saying the United States is to blame for the diplomatic row, which is true . . . which is to say that the President invited dissidents to this banquet for a reason.”

Bush said Tuesday that the Chinese “may have a point” in contending that the flap might have been avoided if the United States had cleared the guest list with Chinese authorities. But he said he does not believe that he should have sought such approval. “I think they understand that,” he said.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry, without specifying which remarks had provoked its anger, responded sharply Wednesday.

Sees Disrespect

“Before the banquet, without consulting with the Chinese side, the U.S. side sent an invitation, bypassing the normal channel, to a certain individual unacceptable to the Chinese side,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman said, according to the New China News Agency report. “This act of imposing one’s own will on others can only be interpreted as support to this kind of people and disrespect for the host country. . . . We are surprised at the irresponsible remarks it (the United States) has made now, and express our deep regret.”

In recent weeks, Fang, 52, has led a campaign seeking amnesty for political prisoners, especially Wei Jingsheng, a pro-democracy activist who has served 10 years of a 15-year sentence for producing wallposters deemed counterrevolutionary and reactionary.

Wei is China’s most famous political prisoner, and Fang had expressed hope that Bush would raise his case with the Chinese leaders.

Fang launched his amnesty appeal with a January letter to senior leader Deng Xiaoping. Then, in a rare display of coordinated political activism in a society where dissent is still dangerous, 33 prominent Chinese writers, scholars and editors signed an open letter last month supporting Fang’s plea.

A few days later, a Ministry of Justice spokesman sharply criticized signers of the supporting letter. He charged, according to the New China News Agency, that “it is against China’s legal principles . . . to stir up public opinion in an attempt to overturn independent jurisdiction (of the courts) by soliciting signatures.”

Fang said Wednesday evening that he has not been contacted by U.S. officials or Chinese authorities since Sunday’s incident.

Told that a U.S. official had said that the banquet invitation was intended as a human rights statement, Fang said: “I think this is a good beginning. It shows they are beginning to take the same standard toward human rights in China as in the Soviet Union. It’s only a beginning.”

Since the Sunday incident, he has received many telephone calls “from friends afraid I would get in more trouble,” Fang said, “but right now I am still safe.”