The release of China’s most prominent political prisoner, Wang Dan, to the United States this week will increase pressure on U.S. President Bill Clinton to push for the release of more detainees in coming months, according to human rights activists.

In particular, as Wang Dan himself argued in New York Thursday after his brief stay in a Detroit hospital, Clinton should speak out on behalf of Chinese prisoners when he visits Beijing in June – a trip that has aroused controversy among human rights groups.

“I feel that Clinton should raise the question of political prisoners in China. Although there are many human rights questions in China, I believe this aspect stands out as the key one,” Wang Dan said at a news conference at the City University of New York (CUNY).

No other state has so many political detainees, he contended. According to Amnesty International some 2,000 people are imprisoned in China on charges of “counter-revolutionary” behaviour alone, and hundreds of others remain detained for seeking improvements in labour conditions or civil liberties.

U.S. officials and some activists pointed to Wang Dan’s release on medical grounds as the latest sign that Washington’s quiet pressure on Beijing is working to improve human rights conditions.

“Keep up the good work, Mr President,” said Joseph Birman, a CUNY physics professor and board member of Human Rights in China, in response to Wang Dan’s release. “There are thousands more pro- democracy supporters in prisons and in detention in China — they need your help now.”

Other human rights experts, however, are less sure that the situation in China is improving significantly. Many fear that the release of Wang Dan, famous for his key role in leading student demonstrators in pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989, could take the pressure off Beijing for its detention of less visible opponents.

“Wang Dan is far from the last of the Chinese prisoners unfairly detained after publicly calling for change, but he may be the last one whose name is widely known outside China,” argued Sidney Jones, executive director of Human Rights Watch/Asia.

“It would be wrong if the world’s concern for me and for a few famous dissidents were to draw attention away from the legion of less known Chinese political prisoners,” Wang Dan contended. “These include Liu Nianchun, Li Hai, Gao Yu, Liu Xiabo and many others.”

“Our task as human rights organisations is to get other governments to focus on the thousands of other nameless, faceless prisoners arbitrarily imprisoned in Chinese jails and work for their release,” Jones added.

Human Rights in China recently submitted to U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright a list of 158 names of prisoners detained for participating in the 1989 democracy movement in an effort to prod Clinton to secure further releases.

That may be an uphill task. Wang Dan’s medical parole — and the release of longtime prisoner Wei Jingsheng last November on similar grounds – has helped spruce up Beijing’s image before Clinton’s crucial visit this summer. Following Wei’s release, and with rumours of Wang Dan’s parole spreading, the Chinese government easily fended off over the past month efforts to question its human rights record at the Commission on Human Rights in Geneva.

Some rights groups, however, said that political arrests continue to be carried out, and that, as Amnesty International put it, “one release this year does not amount to a trend.”

Nor did Wang Dan believe his own case was a clear-cut victory. “My feelings right now are mixed,” he admitted. “On the one hand, I am naturally delighted to breathe free again…But on the other hand, I feel disturbed at having been forced to leave my country, to live separately from my family, relatives and friends and all of my compatriots, without knowing when, if ever, I will be allowed to see them again.”

The Chinese government, he noted, conditioned his medical parole on the grounds that he leave the country. Although he had resisted that offer when he was released briefly in 1993 (before being detained again in 1995), Wang Dan argued that this time, he was convinced he could campaign for democracy more effectively abroad and that he could resume his education.

Aside from a recurrent cough caused by asthma, Wang Dan added, he had no outstanding health problems. The student leader – arrested shortly after China cracked down on the pro-democracy movement in a brutal massacre at Tiananmen Square on Jun. 4, 1989 – said he already had begun inquiries about pursuing his studies in the United States.

One of the consequences of Wang Dan’s medical parole is that, like Wei Jingsheng, he still is alleged to be guilty of crimes against the state.

Ironically, Wang Dan is willing to give a fair hearing to China’s new premier, Zhu Rongji, a noted economic reformer. “Compared to others of the top leaders, (Zhu) is more popular and more effective,” he said, adding that he wished the new leader “would go beyond economic matters and have influence on political matters, from which he has so far stayed away.”

Yet Zhu may have his own limitations on how far he can go to improve China’s system, he added, noting that the premier himself was once a victim of Maoist China’s ‘anti-rightist’ campaign.

The important thing, Wang Dan concluded, is for outside forces to continue to press Beijing on democratic and human rights reforms. “The outcry of world opinion has always been immensely important inside China,” he argued — as his own release shows.

The release of China’s most prominent political prisoner, Wang Dan, to the United States this week will increase pressure on U.S. President Bill Clinton to push for the release of more detainees in coming months, according to human rights activists.

In particular, as Wang Dan himself argued in New York Thursday after his brief stay in a Detroit hospital, Clinton should speak out on behalf of Chinese prisoners when he visits Beijing in June – a trip that has aroused controversy among human rights groups.

“I feel that Clinton should raise the question of political prisoners in China. Although there are many human rights questions in China, I believe this aspect stands out as the key one,” Wang Dan said at a news conference at the City University of New York (CUNY).

No other state has so many political detainees, he contended. According to Amnesty International some 2,000 people are imprisoned in China on charges of “counter-revolutionary” behaviour alone, and hundreds of others remain detained for seeking improvements in labour conditions or civil liberties.

U.S. officials and some activists pointed to Wang Dan’s release on medical grounds as the latest sign that Washington’s quiet pressure on Beijing is working to improve human rights conditions.

“Keep up the good work, Mr President,” said Joseph Birman, a CUNY physics professor and board member of Human Rights in China, in response to Wang Dan’s release. “There are thousands more pro- democracy supporters in prisons and in detention in China — they need your help now.”

Other human rights experts, however, are less sure that the situation in China is improving significantly. Many fear that the release of Wang Dan, famous for his key role in leading student demonstrators in pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989, could take the pressure off Beijing for its detention of less visible opponents.

“Wang Dan is far from the last of the Chinese prisoners unfairly detained after publicly calling for change, but he may be the last one whose name is widely known outside China,” argued Sidney Jones, executive director of Human Rights Watch/Asia.

“It would be wrong if the world’s concern for me and for a few famous dissidents were to draw attention away from the legion of less known Chinese political prisoners,” Wang Dan contended. “These include Liu Nianchun, Li Hai, Gao Yu, Liu Xiabo and many others.”

“Our task as human rights organisations is to get other governments to focus on the thousands of other nameless, faceless prisoners arbitrarily imprisoned in Chinese jails and work for their release,” Jones added.

Human Rights in China recently submitted to U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright a list of 158 names of prisoners detained for participating in the 1989 democracy movement in an effort to prod Clinton to secure further releases.

That may be an uphill task. Wang Dan’s medical parole — and the release of longtime prisoner Wei Jingsheng last November on similar grounds – has helped spruce up Beijing’s image before Clinton’s crucial visit this summer. Following Wei’s release, and with rumours of Wang Dan’s parole spreading, the Chinese government easily fended off over the past month efforts to question its human rights record at the Commission on Human Rights in Geneva.

Some rights groups, however, said that political arrests continue to be carried out, and that, as Amnesty International put it, “one release this year does not amount to a trend.”

Nor did Wang Dan believe his own case was a clear-cut victory. “My feelings right now are mixed,” he admitted. “On the one hand, I am naturally delighted to breathe free again…But on the other hand, I feel disturbed at having been forced to leave my country, to live separately from my family, relatives and friends and all of my compatriots, without knowing when, if ever, I will be allowed to see them again.”

The Chinese government, he noted, conditioned his medical parole on the grounds that he leave the country. Although he had resisted that offer when he was released briefly in 1993 (before being detained again in 1995), Wang Dan argued that this time, he was convinced he could campaign for democracy more effectively abroad and that he could resume his education.

Aside from a recurrent cough caused by asthma, Wang Dan added, he had no outstanding health problems. The student leader – arrested shortly after China cracked down on the pro-democracy movement in a brutal massacre at Tiananmen Square on Jun. 4, 1989 – said he already had begun inquiries about pursuing his studies in the United States.

One of the consequences of Wang Dan’s medical parole is that, like Wei Jingsheng, he still is alleged to be guilty of crimes against the state.

Ironically, Wang Dan is willing to give a fair hearing to China’s new premier, Zhu Rongji, a noted economic reformer. “Compared to others of the top leaders, (Zhu) is more popular and more effective,” he said, adding that he wished the new leader “would go beyond economic matters and have influence on political matters, from which he has so far stayed away.”

Yet Zhu may have his own limitations on how far he can go to improve China’s system, he added, noting that the premier himself was once a victim of Maoist China’s ‘anti-rightist’ campaign.

The important thing, Wang Dan concluded, is for outside forces to continue to press Beijing on democratic and human rights reforms. “The outcry of world opinion has always been immensely important inside China,” he argued — as his own release shows.