China’s Leading Dissident Freed, Heads to U.S.

In a dramatic post-summit gesture, China freed its most famous political dissident, Wei Jingsheng, allowing the leading democracy advocate--imprisoned for most of the past 17 years--to leave China for America on medical parole this morning.

Under heavy security at Beijing’s international airport, Wei, 47, a perennial nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize for his writings on democracy and human rights, was escorted aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 88 nonstop to Detroit. Tension at the airport, bristling with Chinese state security police, U.S. Embassy officials and foreign reporters, mounted as the flight’s departure was delayed by nearly two hours.

The tension did not ease until the American aircraft and its famous passenger, who had consistently said he would never leave China for political asylum abroad even if it meant spending the rest of his life in jail, cleared Chinese airspace over the Russian Far East on a polar route to Detroit.

Wei, who has high blood pressure and a chronic heart condition, was expected to fly this afternoon from Detroit to New York, his ultimate destination, according to Agence France-Presse.

Family members greeted Wei’s freedom with great joy and relief.

Sister Wei Shanshan, contacted by telephone at her home in Germany, said she was “extremely happy” when a friend called her with the news from Beijing this morning. She said she was packing to catch a flight from Hamburg to the U.S. to meet her older brother.

“He has left for the United States,” Wei Xiaotao, his brother, told Reuters news agency. The family is very happy. He is in high spirits. . . . He wants to come back one day.”

International human rights organizations also celebrated the release, viewed as an important breakthrough in human rights.

“This is very good news,” said Law Yuk-kai, director of Human Rights Monitor in Hong Kong. “Any time China does anything good, it is good for the atmosphere in Hong Kong too.”

However, judging from his writings and despite his vow to return someday, the event is sure to be a bittersweet moment for Wei.

“We are very happy,” said Robin Munro, director of Human Rights Watch-Asia, “but there is also a tinge of sadness because [a] stalwart, long-standing dissident has been forced into exile. China has been robbed of another free spirit, and the country is as far away as ever from the political democracy he was fighting for.”

Despite his years of imprisonment, including periods of solitary confinement under extreme conditions that caused his health to deteriorate and his teeth to fall out, Wei considered himself first and foremost a Chinese patriot. Leaving China for exile abroad, he often said, would limit his effectiveness as an agent of political reform.

Wei was born in 1950, the first child of a couple with prominent Communist Party connections. His father, Wei Zilin, worked in the Communist underground in the 1930s. His mother, Du Peijun, was active in Communist student organizations in the 1940s.

According to Wei’s brother, their parents were able to visit their famous son in a Beijing hospital on the eve of his release.

Wei spent his childhood as a privileged offspring of the party elite, attending the best schools in Beijing and living in special compounds reserved for senior officials.

But his formal education was cut short by the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution. After joining the zealous ranks of the Red Guard, fervently devoted to the late Chinese leader Mao Tse-tung, Wei later used his family connections to enlist in the army.

During his stints as a Red Guard and a soldier, however, Wei became disillusioned with the one-party socialist ideology. Once engaged to marry a young Tibetan woman, Wei was concerned about anti-Tibetan prejudices in the Beijing regime. He was also shocked by the extent of abject poverty that he saw in the Chinese countryside.

By the end of the Cultural Revolution, Wei was convinced that the only way to effectively attack China’s problems was through democratic reform.

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Wei first rose to prominence during the brief 1978-79 interlude of free speech known as the Democracy Wall movement. His famous essay, “The Fifth Modernization: Democracy,” was posted on a wall reserved for public debate Dec. 5, 1978, instantly establishing young Wei, then working as an electrician at the Beijing Zoo, as a leading advocate for political reform in China.

The essay, like much of Wei’s writing, was remarkable because of its bold language directly challenging the Chinese leadership, including the late Deng Xiaoping. “Our history books tell us that the people are the master and creators of everything, but in reality they are more like faithful servants standing at attention and waiting to be ‘led’ by leaders who swell like yeasted bread dough,” Wei wrote.

After authorities cracked down on the Democracy Wall movement, Wei was arrested in 1979 and charged with “counterrevolutionary incitement.” He was sentenced to 15 years in prison after a dramatic trial at which he mounted his own defense.

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Wei served more than 14 years of that sentence, often under severe conditions that included efforts to break his will through torture and deprivation. He was released from prison a few months before his term was due to expire in September 1993 at a time when China was attempting to win international support for its bid to host the 2000 Olympic Games in Beijing.

After China lost its bid for the games, Wei continued to speak out and meet with foreign diplomats and journalists but was taken into custody again after only seven months of freedom. In November 1995, he was formally charged with “sedition” and sentenced to 14 years in prison.

Wei’s release had been widely rumored in the wake of the recent summit meeting in Washington between Chinese President Jiang Zemin and President Clinton.

However, the release had been foreshadowed as early as September: At a meeting with reporters at the 15th Chinese Communist Party Congress, Justice Minister Xiao Yang did not rule out the possibility of Wei’s release on medical grounds.

At a Sept. 17 news conference, Xiao said he felt that Wei’s family had exaggerated the severity of the dissident’s medical condition. However, he left the door open for Wei’s ultimate release.

“There are strict procedures for certifying medical parole,” Xiao said. “If Wei Jingsheng can really meet these requirements . . . then like other prisoners, he will have the opportunity.”

Xiao is now in the United States preparing to begin talks on Monday with U.S. Atty. Gen. Janet Reno about dissidents and allegations of Chinese influence in U.S. politics.

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Times staff writer Maggie Farley in Hong Kong contributed to this story.