The Look of Window Dressing : China’s release of two protesters and opening of oil fields are welcome, but far from enough

In a move to demonstrate that political repression is easing while economic opportunities are expanding, China has freed two protest leaders and opened undeveloped oil fields to foreign exploration and development.

China’s leaders apparently want to put on a good face--especially for the Clinton Administration--by addressing human rights. And it’s probably no coincidence that the International Olympic Committee is going soon to inspect Beijing as a possible site for the 2000 Summer Games. But are Beijing’s freeing of dissidents and its opening of oil fields mere window dressing?

The high-profile release of Wang Dan, 23, a former Beijing University student who was No. 1 on the police most-wanted list after army troops crushed the 1989 Tian An Men Square protests, was accompanied by an unusual meeting, between Wang and a group of foreign correspondents. Another student leader, Guo Haifeng, 27, a former Beijing University graduate student, also was released from prison. Both men were serving four-year terms and were scheduled to be released this summer.

Although the New China News Agency asserted that the release of Wang and Guo means that all students imprisoned for the 1989 protests have now been freed, this is almost certainly false. Times staff writer David Holley reports that there has been no indication that Zhai Weimin, No. 6 on the most-wanted list, has been released. Other participants have been imprisoned but, as far as is known, have never been freed. Thousands of others are being held for political or religious reasons.

Beijing’s release of the two protest leaders appears to be a calculated move to strengthen ties with the United States. President Clinton has said he will stress human rights in foreign affairs, and a big test of his commitment comes in June when China’s most-favored-nation trading status is up for renewal in Congress.

Beijing moved shrewdly to announce the prisoner releases on the same day that it announced the opening of the oil fields. In a major reversal of its oil self-reliance policy, China is opening a dozen areas with potential oil reserves of 8.2 billion tons to foreign exploration and development.

In a separate but almost certainly related development, Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen ruled out making concessions on Hong Kong Gov. Chris Patten’s democratic reform proposals but opened the door to discussing the colony’s political future.

Qian did not repeat, as of Thursday, an earlier demand that Patten drop his plans to give Hong Kong the right to elect the majority of the legislature before talks can begin.

The various moves by Chinese officials and the timing appear designed to appease concerns about China’s human rights record. Symbolic moves by Beijing are not enough. It could start by releasing all political prisoners.