U.S. Officials Protest American’s Detention

U.S. officials lodged a protest with the Chinese government after the detention of an American human rights activist who had been taking part in a dialogue between China and the European Union, the U.S. Embassy in Beijing said.

Sharon Hom, the executive director of New York-based Human Rights in China, was detained in a Beijing hotel by security officers for five hours on June 21, she said in a commentary that was published Friday in the Asian Wall Street Journal.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said Hom lied about her identity on her visa application, prompting the “relevant departments to question her according to the law in order to ensure the safety of the conference.”