In D.C., Chinese dissident hopes for arrest

— -- BEIJING - Exiled Chinese dissident Wu'er Kaixi once held the second spot on China's list of "most wanted" student leaders for his role in the Tiananmen Square protests.

On Friday, Wu'er plans to turn himself in to officials at the Chinese Embassy in Washington D.C., for a chance to return home.

Wu'er, who has lived in exile for 23 years, hopes to copy fellow dissident Chen Guangcheng's dramatic and much-publicized journey "in a reverse way."

Guangcheng fled house arrest in China last month, was smuggled into the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, and may leave China to study in the USA under a deal agreed to by the Chinese and U.S. governments.

"I'm looking for an opportunity to see my parents - even if it is a prison visit - and a chance to have a dialogue with the Chinese government," Wu'er said Thursday.

Wu'er, 44, escaped China in 1989 after authorities crushed the pro-democracy movement centered on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. Now a citizen of Taiwan, Wu'er said that a Chinese police warrant for his arrest remains valid. His parents, in their 70s and in poor health, have repeatedly been denied permission to travel abroad to see him, he said.

During two earlier, unsuccessful attempts to turn himself in to Chinese authorities — in Macau in 2009, and Tokyo in 2010 — "I managed to become the 'most unwanted'," said Wu'er. "I hope the Chinese Ambassador [in D.C.] will be inspired by U.S. Ambassador Gary Locke, just like he took in Chen Guangcheng."

"There is a good chance this path will fail again, but I hope the repeated exposure to the Chinese government's absurdity can raise some kind of awareness, and the awareness can lead to concern, and concern can become pressure from the world," he said.

Beijing appears more interested in recovering regular criminals, and corrupt officials, than exiled dissidents such as Wu'er. A court in Xiamen, southeast China, sentenced former fugitive Lai Changxing to life in prison Friday for running a huge smuggling operation, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. From Canada, Lai fought a 12 year extradition battle until he was deported last year.

Wu'er Kaixi "has every right to challenge the Chinese authorities," said Yang Jianli, a veteran activist who runs the U.S.-based pro-democracy group Initiatives for China. "It is egregious for the Chinese government to separate the family for so long and this is just another case of how the Chinese government treats its own citizens. The world community should not trust governments who do not trust and mistreat their own people."