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China Denies Entry to Dissident's Wife


The American wife of a democracy activist detained in China says she has been denied entry by Beijing authorities, despite holding a valid visa. The woman had traveled to China in hopes of hiring a lawyer for her husband.

Fu Xiang, a naturalized American citizen, says she was detained for two hours upon her arrival at the Beijing airport Wednesday, then expelled from the country.

Nicolas Becquelin, with the Hong Kong office of the group, Human Rights in China, says Ms. Fu's husband, Yang Jianli, has been in detention for almost a month, and barred from seeing his relatives. "The very reason that Fu Xiang, Yang Jianli's wife, went to China is simply to get news about her husband, because the Chinese authorities have not been releasing news about his whereabouts and the charge under which he is detained," Mr. Becquelin said.

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Kong Quan says he has no information regarding Ms. Fu.

But Mr. Kong told reporters in Beijing Thursday that "a man calling himself Yang Jianli used another person's passport to enter China." He says "Chinese police are now trying to verify the man's identity."

Mr. Becquelin, of the rights group, says Ms. Fu flew to China with the hope of hiring a lawyer for her husband.

Mr. Yang, a mathematician and U.S. permanent resident, was reportedly detained in April in the southwestern province, Yunnan. The rights group says Mr. Yang was banned from his homeland in 1989, when he gave money to pro-democracy protesters at Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

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