China Dissident Arrives in U.S.; Status ‘Up in Air’

A Chinese dissident who had organized a petition calling for an amnesty of political prisoners has arrived in the United States after Chinese government officials put him on a plane out of the country.

“It is kind of up in the air what my status is now. Now it depends on how I behave overseas, I guess,” said Chen Jun, 31, who was greeted at San Francisco International Airport on Friday by about three dozen supporters and journalists.

Chen arrived with $100 in his pocket. His ticket was bought by the Chinese government.

He declined to characterize himself as having been expelled, saying only that “I was left no choice about whether to leave or stay.” Whether he can return to China remains unresolved, he said.

Earlier, officials in Hong Kong had refused to let Chen enter the colony, according to the dissident’s British wife, Jennifer Holdaway. Chen then boarded a Singapore Airlines jet for San Francisco.

Chen has a U.S. green card that gives him residency rights. He lived in the United States from 1984 to 1987.

Part owner of a Beijing bar, Chen helped organize a petition calling for amnesty for political prisoners, sent to Communist authorities in February by some of the nation’s leading intellectuals. Authorities rejected the plea, saying China has no political prisoners.

Chen also briefly helped publish a pro-democracy magazine in Shanghai in 1978. While in the United States, he contributed articles to the New York-based magazine China Spring, which promotes democratic reform.

The Chinese government considers it reactionary and has jailed several other people connected with it.

An official at the Shanghai Foreign Affairs Office said Chen left the country voluntarily. However, Holdaway said it “amounted to” expulsion.