China holds, mistreats US man on secrets charges

[November 19, 2009]  BEIJING (AP) -- Sometime into his long detention by China's feared state security agents, American geologist Xue Feng told U.S. consular officials he wanted his previously unpublicized detention -- and the abuse he suffered there -- made public in hopes that the outcry would win his release.

But his wife and former employer balked.

So two years after disappearing into custody, the University of Chicago-trained Xue remains held at an unknown location in Beijing, charged with stealing state secrets.

More than an instance of abusive, intransigent Chinese justice, Xue's case raises disturbing questions about the quiet lobbying foreign governments, companies and the families of detainees often use, believing it more effective with an authoritarian Chinese leadership.

[Associated Press; By CHARLES HUTZLER]

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