Friday, January 12, 2001

Supporters of a Canadian citizen freed from a Chinese labour camp say KunLun Zhang's future remains clouded because of unresolved questions about the former Montrealer's safety, and China's ongoing persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.

The Chinese government's surprise announcement on Wednesday that Mr. Zhang had been released early from the notorious Wancun work camp was widely viewed as a reaction to mounting pressure in Canada and around the world for the 60-year-old sculptor to be returned to his home in Jinan. With a Team Canada trade mission to Beijing scheduled for early February, the federal government was being warned, even by Liberal MPs, of the potential "embarrassment" if Mr. Zhang was still being held in a detention camp because of his spiritual beliefs, while Canadian politicians toured Chinese factories.

But a darkly worded statement from the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa - which announced that Mr. Zhang was released only after he agreed to "break away" from Falun Gong - continues to worry his Canadian supporters. A group of them gathered last night outside the Embassy to push for his "unconditional release" and an end to China's 18-month crackdown against the meditation and exercise practice declared illegal in July 1999.

Mr. Zhang is basically still under house arrest," said Lucy Zhou, Falun Gong spokeswoman in Ottawa. "We believe his phone calls are being monitored and we really can't be sure his safety is guaranteed. We also don't know if the Chinese government will allow him to come to Canada.

His daughter, LingDi, Zhang, a University of Ottawa student, said she has called her father several times since his release and that he is "very weak" and not yet willing to conduct a media interview. She said the suspected monitoring of his telephone and media reports about his case in Canada make the family wary of exposing him to further trouble with Chinese authorities as he struggles to recover from his ordeal.

But Ms. Zhang said her father made it clear he did not denounce Falun Gong and that during his imprisonment, he was subjected to electric shock torture and "believed he was going to die."

Montreal MP and international human rights lawyer Irwin Cotler, who took on the case and championed the cause of Falun Gong inside the Liberal caucus, said "a convergence of factors" appears to have led to China's startling reversal. He cited the determination of Mr. Zhang supporters in Canada to publicize his plight, the lobbying work of human rights organizations around the world, the growing chorus of Canadian MPs from all parties critical of China, and the "quiet but persistent" interventions of Foreign Affairs Minister John Manley and Canadian consular officials in China.

Mr. Cotler also believes Chinese officials feared the imminent "internationalization" of Mr. Zhang story.

"China was about to get on the docket in the international court of public opinion," said Mr. Cotler, who was visiting family in Jerusalem when Mr. Manley alerted him Wednesday that Mr. Zhang had been released. "This would be an embarrassment to China and I think they realized it was in their best interests to release Mr. Zhang."

Mr. Cotler added that the Chinese government's suggestion that Mr. Zhang renounced Falun Gong prior to his release is predictable propaganda.

"I've never known a country that has released a political prisoner to acknowledge they were innocent," he said. "It comes with the territory."

Mr. Cotler said serious questions continue to surround Mr. Zhang's situation. "I hope he would be returning to Canada, in terms of his physical safety."

Mr. Zhang, who lived in Montreal from 1989 to 1996, returned to China with his wife ShuMei to take care of her frail and elderly mother.