by Tom Myers

In the latest phase of the four-month crackdown on dissent in China, authorities continue to arrest and charge people they deem to be detrimental to the Chinese government and its people. Chinese authorities recently arrested a 19-year old man in Beijing on charges of attempting to subvert state power. Wang Yingzheng was booked on this charge, a crime that could land him in jail, a crime he could serve 10 years for in Xuzhou in the northern Jiangsu province.

According to Dawa Tsering of The Office of Tibet, Wang, a recent high-school graduate, had been in custody since February 26 when police arrested him as he was photocopying an article he wrote on corruption. People outside of China fear the sentence Wang may be given because subverting state power is a serious crime in China.

Frank Lu, Director of The Information Center of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China said, "I fear Wang will be sentenced to a lengthy prison term because subverting state power is a grave crime in China." Wang wrote in his article that deep-seated corruption within the communist party disqualifies it from the right to lead the country.

Wang's arrest is the latest step in a crackdown that began in November during attempts to form China's first opposition party, the China Democracy Party. The crackdown has landed three men in jail for prison terms of 10 years or longer. Wang is specifically accused of helping one of the party's founders, Qin Yongmin, a veteran dissident who was sentenced in December to a 12-year jail term. The arrest comes amid an important visit to the United States by Premier Zhu Rongji. Moreover, a group of US Senators are also meeting with Chines leaders to discuss congressional concerns about US - China relations, according to Dr. Ngwang Rabgyal of The Office of Tibet. Craig Thomas, chairman of the subcommittee on East Asian and PAcific affairs, said the Chinese were in denial about the state of those relations. Thomas, who has backed engagement with China, said, "The disturbing thing for me is that progress [on human rights] that went on for the last 10 years, has slacked off."

Thomas added that he believes the Chinese leadership is extremely concerned about domestic unrest. The Tibetan Information Network [TIN}, charged that about 25 percent of the 1600 political prisoners being detained have been abused since 1987. A report on human rights in Tibet charged that one in 33 Tibetan male political prisoners and one in 20 female prisoners held in prison since 1987 has died of maltreatment.