211 Pro-Democracy Protesters Released : China: Beijing says 431 are still under investigation. The figures leave hundreds unaccounted for.

China announced Thursday that it has released 211 jailed pro-democracy protesters, including several prominent academics, in a move appeared timed to head off possible U.S. trade sanctions.

Those released include Dai Qing, a leading journalist; Cao Siyuan, director of a social science research institute, and Li Honglin, head of the Fujian Provincial Academy of Social Sciences.

All signed petitions or otherwise showed support for the democratic reforms demanded last spring by hundreds of thousands of protesters in Beijing and other cities. The protests ended in June when the army opened fire on the demonstrators, killing hundreds and possibly thousands.

The official New China News Agency described those released as lawbreakers and said they were “given lenient treatment and released upon completion of investigations.”

It inserted the word “former” before the titles of Dai and the others, indicating they were fired while in prison.

“Coming back home was like a dream,” Dai said by telephone from her home. She said she was let out Wednesday. “After 10 months, my kitchen is like a stranger.”

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Margaret Tutwiler said: “We welcome this announcement. We are pleased that the official announcement provided the names of six of those released. We believe that the interests of all parties would be best served by a full public accounting of the number and identity of those detained as well as those released.”

Tutwiler added that China has not said how many people are still detained or imprisoned. According to unofficial estimates, 10,000 to 15,000 were detained nationwide at some point but most have been released, she said.

“The official announcement said 431 were still under investigation by Beijing public security organs but it is not clear whether all of these are imprisoned,” she said.

None of the six listed by the news agency is a student. The agency did not say if any student leaders were among those released.

Students at Beijing University said they knew of no students who had recently been returned to campus.

Campus sources in Beijing have reported that several student activists were released in the past few weeks, but none was a top leader of the pro-democracy movement.

The Chinese news agency quoted an unidentified spokesman for the Public Security Ministry as saying that only 431 “lawbreakers involved in the turmoil and rebellion are still being investigated.” It said some “are being dealt with by judicial departments.”

The figures still leave hundreds of people unaccounted for. China previously announced the release of 573 people during the winter. Arrests reported by the official media last summer alone totaled more than 2,000, and arrests continued during the fall and winter.

The releases came as debate begins in the United States over whether to renew China’s most-favored-nation trade status. The status, given to all but a handful of nations, reduces tariffs on goods exported to the United States.

As a socialist country, China’s status must be renewed each year. President Bush must issue his decision by June 3, and some Congress members have said they favor suspending most-favored-nation status as a protest of China’s human rights record.