China’s Top Dissident Gets Sanctuary in U.S. Embassy : Planes Sent to Pick Up Americans

Leading Chinese dissident Fang Lizhi took refuge in the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, a White House spokesman said today, and there has been speculation that the Communist hierarchy may have left the beleaguered capital.

Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater said American Embassy staffers in Beijing have been in touch with mid-level officials in various Chinese government agencies “but have had no contact with top leaders.”

“There has been speculation the top leadership may have dispersed” to other parts of the country, he said.

Fitzwater also disclosed that Fang, an astrophysicist booted out of the Communist Party for his role in a 1986 pro-democracy uprising, has been in the U.S. Embassy in Beijing since Monday “for his safety.”

U.S. officials said new satellite photos revealed that perhaps as many as 350,000 troops have surrounded Beijing. There were reports of clashes between military factions supporting and opposing student demonstrators who were attacked in Tian An Men Square over the weekend.

Bush Dinner Invitation

Fang was one of several dissident intellectuals President Bush invited to a dinner in Beijing that he gave in honor of his hosts on the last day of his visit to China in February. However, Chinese security officers blocked Fang from attending the dinner.

Also today, the United States made arrangements for U.S. airlines to fly Americans home as thousands of foreigners jammed airports to escape spreading anti-government turmoil and the bloody crackdown on China’s pro-democracy demonstrators.

State Department spokeswoman Margaret Tutwiler said in Washington that arrangements are being made with United Air Lines and Northwest Airlines to supplement their regular service from China with charter flights.

Beijing residents heard gunfire erupt anew as a tank-led convoy of 40 army trucks left Tian An Men Square. Soon after, witnesses reported sustained small-arms fire somewhere between the Beijing Hotel and the Jianguo Menwai diplomatic compound, perhaps originating from near the Beijing railway station.

Foreign residents, shocked by the weekend events and the menacing presence of tanks outside their apartment compounds, began fleeing the capital.

‘Worsening Situation’

The U.S. Embassy told the estimated 10,000 Americans in China, including about 370 students, to leave as quickly as possible “because of the worsening situation.”

The Canadian and Australian embassies said they are evacuating family members and non-essential personnel, while British Ambassador Alan Donald advised all Britons to leave the country.

Witnesses at Beijing Airport said at least 2,000 people packed the departure area in late afternoon, willing to take any flight out and to sleep there overnight if necessary.

A foreign witness reported that soldiers in the trucks leaving Tien An Men Square under cover of darkness were firing their rifles into the air every 30 seconds or so.

A foreign student at the People’s University in the northwest of the city reported gunfire in the area that sounded as though it was from tanks or heavy artillery.