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U.S.-Based Scholar Held During High Level Visit [CND, 03/22/01] China has held a US-based scholar on charges of threatening state security, its Foreign Ministry confirmed Wednesday. The news came at a sensitive time, as Chinese Vice-Premier Qian Qichen had just arrived in Washington for bilateral talks, the South China Morning Post reported. Gao Zhan, a Chinese citizen who is a sociologist at the American University, was detained at Beijing airport on February 11, as she returning home to Washington DC with her family after visiting relatives. Her husband, Xue Donghua, and her five-year-old son Andrew, were also detained. Mr. Xue and their son were released on March 8. Both parents were permanent residents of the US and their son is an American citizen. The family were separated, and the boy was kept in a kindergarten, even though his grandparents were living in Beijing. Spokesmen for both the US embassy in China and New York-based Human Rights in China said Chinese police failed to notify the American embassy, even though a bilateral consular agreement required notification if an American citizen is held for more than five days in China. It's unclear, however, whether the embassy has lodged a formal complaint with the Foreign Ministry. According to Mr. Xue, he was repeatedly interrogated about his wife's research and her visits to Taiwan. She had written about women's role in democracy in Taiwan. Mr Xue also said he was told that he could see his son only if he testified against his wife. He still has no information concerning his wife's whereabouts. Human Rights in China has written a letter to President Bush and Secretary of State Powell that they raise the case with Chinese Vice-Premier Qian Qichen, who has just arrived for a visit. The State Department has called for the immediate release of Gao. This is not the first time US-based Chinese scholars have been detained on vague state security charges while visiting or doing research in China. In 1999, Song Yongyi, a librarian from Dickinson College in Pennsylvania, was held for more than six months while doing research on the Cultural Revolution. Hau Di, who was a former military official in mainland and an expert on Chinese missiles program at Stanford University, was arrested upon returning to China after receiving assurances that it was safe to return. He was sentenced last month to prison on charges of leaking state secrets. (MA Lin)