Intelligence

DATE=8/1/2001

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-278851

TITLE=CHINA-US ACADEMIC (L) CQ

BYLINE=LETA HONG FINCHER

DATELINE=BEIJING

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

/// EDS: REVISING INTRO OF 2-278844, TO SAY CHINESE BORN AMERICAN ///

INTRO: A human rights group says Chinese authorities have charged another Chinese born American academic with harming state security. As Beijing Correspondent Leta Hong Fincher reports, the indictment is the latest in a series of legal actions brought against U-S connected scholars this year.

TEXT: The Hong Kong-based rights group, Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy, says China has formally indicted American scholar Wu Jianmin.

/// LU ACT IN CHINESE, UP AND UNDER ///

Frank Lu, the group's head, says Mr. Wu has been

charged with endangering national security. Mr. Wu was detained April 8th in the southern city, Shenzhen and has since been held in nearby Guangzhou.

Mr. Lu says the academic taught at a Communist Party school and was a state journalist in the 1980s before he left for the United States.

Chinese authorities reportedly suspected Mr. Wu of contributing to The Tiananmen Papers -- a new book that claims to outline internal Communist Party debates about the 1989 bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators.

Last week, China deported two other U-S-connected

scholars ahead of a Beijing visit by Secretary of

State Colin Powell. Both had been convicted of spying for Taiwan but deny engaging in any illegal activity.

China has been known to release controversial detainees ahead of important diplomatic meetings.

/// 2nd LU ACT IN CHINESE, UP AND UNDER ///

Mr. Lu at the Information Center in Hong Kong says Mr. Wu will likely to go on trial before President Bush visits China. But he says he believes Mr. Wu will eventually be released so the Chinese can give the impression that human rights are continually improving. (signed)

NEB/HK/LHF/JO