Chinese Dissident Arrives in U.S.; Beijing Stand on His Return Unclear

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 to the United States 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, and was married during part of that time to an American woman.

Chen, who is part owner of a Beijing bar, helped organize a petition calling for amnesty for political prisoners, sent to Communist authorities in February by 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.

Holdaway said Chen and his father, He Weidu, were taken into police custody Wednesday when they arrived in Shanghai from Beijing. The father, a retired teacher, was released that night.

Chen was kept in custody until he was put on the plane, and other family members in Shanghai were denied permission to see him, Holdaway said. He was allowed to call her just before leaving.

She said Chen had hoped to leave for the United States in a few weeks for a prolonged stay and went to Shanghai to ask officials to return his passport, which was confiscated last year.

“He wanted to leave the country, but he didn’t intend to leave so suddenly or spend his last 36 hours here in police custody,” she said.