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Chinese-American Scholars Fearful of Becoming Victims [CND, 04/22/01] The U.S. government issued an advisory to warn Chinese Americans of possible danger if they plan to take a trip to China, Reuters reported on Saturday. "I'm thinking of either cancelling my trip or meeting my mother somewhere else, like Hong Kong. Even without seeing [the warning] I'm already making my own judgment," said a historian of Chinese origin at a US university, who had planned to visit his mother in China soon. The advisory issued on Thursday notified Chinese-born US citizens or permanent residents that Beijing was apparently preying on those who criticized Beijing or visited Taiwan. It warned that several American citizens and US residents of Chinese origin have been detained by Chinese Ministry of State Security. Two were charged of spying or damaging national security. The State Department disclosed later on Thursday that US citizen Wu Jianmin had been retained in custody by Chinese authorities for alleged spying. Human Rights Watch believed that Wu was held for his possible involvement in helping compile the Tiananmen Papers from secret documents of internal discussions by leaders during the 1989 pro-democracy movement. This week, about 400 Chinese scholars from 14 countries, Taiwan and Hong Kong sent an open letter to President Jiang Zemin, stating the detentions "a gross violation of China's criminal procedure law." One mainland-born historian applying for US citizenship said he and his colleagues had made trips to Taiwan and the mainland without any problems after the detentions took place. "We don't understand the exact reasoning behind the recent arrests," he said. "In the bigger context I think relations between the US and China are tense and, who knows, we individuals may become little pawns in this big game." (ZHOU Haosheng)