U.S. Department of State

Daily Press Briefing

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QUESTION: The Stanford University has gone public on the arrest of the Chinese scholar, Hua Di, who's a green card holder. They say the State Department has also been protesting to the Chinese authorities on this. Do you know anything?

MR. FOLEY: I don't have a lot of information for you on that today. What I can tell you is that we're certainly aware of the arrest in China of physicist Hua Di on charges of revealing state secrets. Mr. Hua is a Chinese citizen who has lived in the United States or had lived in the United States since 1989 and worked at Stanford University, as you say.

Our embassy in Beijing has discussed his case with Chinese officials and has also been in touch with Stanford University regarding the matter. We are concerned about reports of health problems that Mr. Hua has had. We do not know the exact basis of the Chinese Government's charges against him, and we're seeking further information about the situation. I don't have more information myself to share with you at this point.

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(The briefing concluded at 1:40 P.M.)

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