Beijing Shows Videotapes of 4 Prominent Dissidents : China: U.S. senators had called for prisoners’ release. Government seems to have balked at the request.

Under increasing U.S. pressure to demonstrate progress on human rights, Chinese officials on Tuesday showed reporters videotapes of four prominent dissidents celebrating with their families in prison.

The brief tapes, intended to show that the prisoners are in good health and being treated humanely, included footage of 1989 democracy movement leaders Chen Ziming, Wang Juntao, Ren Wanding and Liu Gang. It was the first time that any of the celebrated prisoners have been viewed by foreign reporters since the men were sentenced in 1991.

All four were named in a Feb. 24 letter signed by 54 U.S. senators calling for their early release from prison on “medical parole.” The letter--which also named the imprisoned Bao Tong, the former Politburo political secretary accused of siding with protesters in the 1989 Tian An Men Square demonstrations--was presented to Chinese officials this week by John Shattuck, assistant secretary of state for human rights.

In what has become a diplomatic chess match between the United States and China over human rights, the Senate letter stated that the release of the five men for “urgent health reasons” would be viewed as a “significant and important humanitarian gesture.”

The phrasing is important because the Clinton Administration has demanded that China show “significant, overall progress” on human rights before most-favored-nation trading status will be renewed for China this June. MFN status is considered essential for the two countries to continue their rapidly expanding trade relations.

But by showing the tapes and claiming all five men are in good health, the Chinese government appeared to be rejecting the “medical parole” option of satisfying American demands.

Convinced that the Administration does not have the political will to endanger $27 billion in trade to make a moral point, the Chinese, so far, are taking an aggressive stance in the face of U.S. demands for human rights reform. “The China World (a luxury Beijing hotel) is full of American businessmen,” one senior Foreign Ministry official boasted earlier this week. “These friendly relations are something no force can stop.”

In the letter addressed to Chinese President Jiang Zemin, the U.S. senators repeated claims by human rights organizations that the five leading dissidents are each suffering from a serious medical condition:

* Chen Ziming, 41, a think tank director sentenced in 1991 to a 13-year term on charges of conspiring to subvert the government, was said to be suffering from skin disease, high blood pressure and heart ailments.

But Chen, accused by the government of being one of the “Black Hand” ringleaders of the 1989 movement, was shown in the video sharing a sumptuous meal that included plates of roast meat and seafood with his family. Wearing a burgundy pullover sweater, Chen--at what officials said was Beijing No. 2 Prison--was flanked at the table by his wife and mother.

* Wang Juntao, 35, Chen Ziming’s co-director at the Beijing Social and Economic Sciences Research Institute--who is also serving a 13-year sentence--reportedly suffers from hepatitis B and what human rights groups claim is a coronary condition. He smiled often as he was filmed in a small hospital room, equipped with a television set and decorated for the Chinese New Year holidays. With him on the tape, which officials said was made Feb. 10 at the Beijing 302 military hospital, were his mother, older brother, sister and sister-in-law.

* Civil rights activist Ren Wanding, 49, sentenced to seven years in prison on charges of engaging in counterrevolutionary propaganda, is said to be nearly blind and to suffer from intestinal, respiratory and back problems. He was shown, unsmiling, sharing an austere meal of fried fish and vegetables with his wife and daughter at the Beijing No. 2 Prison.

* Liu Gang, 32, a former physics student serving a six-year term for “conspiracy to overthrow the government,” was shown with fellow inmates at Lingyuan Prison in Liaoning province celebrating what authorities said was his Jan. 30 birthday. Asia Watch, a human rights organization, has reported that Liu suffers from skin ailments, arthritis and intestinal, respiratory and back problems. But in several scenes, he was shown digging into a birthday cake, smoking and laughing with friends.

Missing from the tapes was any sign of Bao Tong. Bao, 61, was the highest-ranking Chinese official jailed in the wake of the Tian An Men movement. Former chief aide to former Communist Party General Secretary Zhao Ziyang, Bao was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment on charges of divulging “state secrets.”

An official with the Chinese State Council who presided over the video presentation said prison authorities did not permit the filming of Bao, of whom the official said, “I heard that his health conditions are always quite good.”