Intelligence

DATE=07/21/01

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=GAO TRIAL (L-ONLY)

NUMBER=2-278492

BYLINE=KIRK TROY

DATELINE=BEIJING

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: A U-S-based scholar is set to stand trial in Beijing for espionage next week, just days before a visit by U-S Secretary of State Colin Powell. As Kirk Troy reports from Beijing, the trial is expected to finish before Secretary Powell arrives in the Chinese capital, where he hopes to ease strained relations between the two countries.

TEXT: The espionage trial for Washington-based academic Gao Zhan is set to begin on Tuesday, according to her lawyers. Analysts don't expect her to receive a rarely granted acquittal from a Chinese court, but are

hoping she will be deported following the trial.

Mrs. Gao is a permanent resident in the United States, but is still a Chinese citizen. Her detention caused a diplomatic uproar earlier this year, as authorities also detained her five-year-old son, who is an

American citizen, for weeks without notifying the U-S embassy.

In a similar case, another scholar, Li Shaomin, was convicted last week of espionage, and sentenced to be deported. Mr. Li is a U-S citizen.

U-S Secretary of State Colin Powell will arrive in Beijing next week, and has said he hopes to ease tensions between the two countries. The arrests of Mrs. Gao and Mr. Li have strained Sino-U-S relations in recent months,

and ties were more severely damaged by the U-S spy plane incident last April.

Mrs. Gao faces a possible sentence of three years to life imprisonment if convicted of spying.

(Signed)

NEB/KT/TW