Authorities Briefly Detain Chinese Dissident in Hong Kong

Immigration authorities released prominent U.S.-based Chinese dissident Wang Bingzhang early today, a Hong Kong-based human rights group said.

“This morning at 1 a.m., Wang was released by the Hong Kong immigration department and Wang is now in Macao,” said Frank Lu of the Information Center of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China.

Wang intended to leave Macao today for Taiwan, Lu said.

“Wang Bingzhang believes he was detained by Hong Kong authorities on the advice of the mainland [Chinese] government,” Lu said.

Wang, 50, was detained late Friday as he entered Hong Kong from Macao.

The exiled dissident was also detained in China in February when he sneaked in to try to set up a political party to challenge Communist rule. He was quickly expelled.

Wang, who was sent to Canada in 1978 to study medicine, has been a staunch critic of Beijing’s Communist regime over the past 15 years.

After obtaining a doctorate, he defected to the United States, where he founded the China Spring magazine and the Alliance for Democracy, the first organization of Chinese dissidents abroad.