CHINA: A flurry of diplomatic moves ahead of the visit of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Beijing this weekend appears to have led to the release of a prominent activist in China, while Washington has backed down from censuring China's human rights record at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.
Rebiya Kadeer, a Chinese Muslim businesswoman and one-time hero of the Communist Party who was imprisoned on national security charges, has been released. She flew to the United States yesterday.
Her release came as US government officials in Geneva said Washington had decided against proposing a UN resolution critical of China's human rights policy because the situation is said to be improving here.
It is common practice for China to release prominent prisoners ahead of visits by high foreign officials.
Political figures in the United States had actively sought Ms Kadeer's release, and the timing, just days before the arrival of Ms Rice, was no accident, activists said.
Ms Kadeer was arrested in 1999 on charges of violating national security by sending Chinese newspapers to her husband, a US-based activist who is pushing for independence for their predominantly Muslim region of Xinjiang, in the northwest of the country.
Her initial eight-year sentence was reduced by one year in 2004. She had 17 months left on her sentence but was freed on medical parole, according to the American activist John Kamm, who helped to secure her release.
Before her arrest Ms Kadeer had been held up by Beijing as a role model for the impoverished Muslim minority.
She owned a department store, ran a charity that helped Muslim women start their own businesses, attended a UN conference on women in Beijing in 1995 and served as a senior government adviser.
Beijing says members of the Muslim community are fighting a separatist war in the province and were part of a broader Islamist movement.
However, the US State Department last month issued a stern report that said Beijing had used the global war on terrorism to crack down on peaceful opponents and committed other persistent abuses.
Beijing has proved very adept at avoiding public censure over its human rights record at the 53-nation UN Commission of Human Rights.
Last October the secretary of state Colin Powell said the United States and China had agreed to hold talks aimed at resuming their dialogue over the issue of human rights.
China, however, later broke off the dialogue when Washington sought a commission resolution criticising Beijing's human rights record. China won a vote 28-6, with nine abstentions, that derailed the US proposal.
In 2003 the United States decided not to table a resolution because it said it had seen improvements in the situation.
In a separate incident, a Chinese journalist and poet has reportedly been convicted of disclosing state secrets in connection with an article he wrote. He now faces a prison sentence that could range from 10 years to life.
Reuters adds: A bomb blast in southern Afghanistan killed at least five people yesterday as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made a one-day trip to the country, pledging long-term US commitment to an Afghan transition to democracy.
Ms Rice said Afghanistan had made great progress since US forces helped the Afghan opposition oust the Taliban militia.