Obama Administration Starts to Publicly Raise Issue of Detained US Citizen Xue Feng
EmailOn Tuesday President Obama brought up various human rights cases with Chinese President and Paramount Leader Hu Jintao, a senior administration official tells ABC News.
One of those cases was that of Xue Feng, a US citizen born in China whom the Chinese have been holding for two years, charged with procuring state secrets for foreign entities.
Dr. Xue, a geologist, was detained in November 2007 after trying to purchase information about the Chinese oil industry. In generation the Bush and Obama administrations kept his case quiet, in the belief that Xue had better chances of being released without a big public spectacle.
But with that approach not meeting with much success, the Obama administration is starting to wage the battle more publicly, letting it be known that President Obama raised his case with President Hu.
In addition, a spokeswoman for the US Embassy in Beijing raised Xue's case today in an interview with AFP, calling for his release, and disclosing that US ambassador to China Jon Huntsman raised Xue's case with Chinese vice-foreign minister a few days ago.
"We encourage China to grant Dr Xue humanitarian release and immediately deport him back to the United States," Stevenson said. She said the Embassy has visited Xue more than 20 times to monitor his treatment and convey messages from his family, who live outside Houston.
-jpt
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Now how about demanding any information Chinese have about POWs and MIAs from the Korean War and Vietnam? I don’t care if Kerry and McCain say the issue is closed or that by now any would likely be dead anyway. The families have the right to know.
Posted by: Ed | November 20, 2009, 11:31 am 11:31 am
Certainly the President raised this issue privately while in China, but could not bring himself to do it publicly, for fear of causing the chinese communist regime to ‘lose face’.
At least he didn’t bow down in front of the portrait of Mao at T square.
Maybe on his next ‘summit’.
Posted by: J House | November 20, 2009, 11:54 am 11:54 am
but could not bring himself to do it publicly, for fear of causing the chinese communist regime to ‘lose face’.
J House | Nov 20, 2009 11:54:06 AM
This isn’t a partisan issue, this is the AMERICAN president taking the best course of action to help an AMERICAN citizen. Bush’s administration pursued the best appearing option at the time, it hasn’t worked so the Obama administration has moved to plan B. Showboating with a face to face public denouncement would gin up domestic support for the President but force a hardening of the Chinese position to save face. Even this level of denouncement is high risk and only being taken after the more conventional tracks tried by Bush and Obama administrations have failed.
Posted by: jhw539 | November 20, 2009, 12:07 pm 12:07 pm
Maybe, if Dr. Xue Feng were a cute young female “journalist”, Bill could fly over and save Barack’s butt again.
Posted by: Krakatoa | November 20, 2009, 1:16 pm 1:16 pm
China routinely charges people w/ the ambiguous & overly broad crime of violating “state secrets.” China defines state secrets as virtually anything, even publicly available information. China also sometimes classifies something a state secret after the fact so one can violate the law w/o realizing that something is a state secret. Even newspaper articles have been called a state secret by the CCP regime. China is not a country governed by rule of law but a country that uses law to justify oppression. But when someone raises a claim that Chinese officials are violating the law or the PRC Constitution, the CCP ignores them b/c the CCP is above the law.
Posted by: Wangchuk | November 20, 2009, 3:41 pm 3:41 pm
Now that the trip has ushered in a new era of American engagement perhaps . What a crock .
Posted by: nat turner | November 21, 2009, 1:58 pm 1:58 pm