Li Shaomin GS '88, a business professor at Hong Kong City University who had been detained by China on charges of espionage, was released this summer after five months of captivity.
Li, an American citizen, was detained by Chinese security forces on Feb. 25 in Shenzhen, China, and was officially accused of spying for Taiwan on May 15.
On July 14, after a three-hour trial in Beijing, Li was convicted of espionage and sentenced to be deported from China.
The trial occurred the morning after the International Olympic Committee accepted Beijing's bid to hold the 2008 Olympic Games despite concerns about China's human rights record. The judgment was also two weeks before U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's scheduled visit to China.
Li maintained his innocence throughout the five-month process, but decided not to appeal his sentence, he said in an e-mail.
Li was accused of collecting intelligence for a group called the Taiwan Three-Principle Reunification Alliance. The alliance is a Taiwan-based non-governmental organization that sponsored academic activities, Li said. Though Li conducted research for the alliance, the materials he collected were not state secrets, he said.
Li returned to the United States on July 25, traveling to Washington, D.C., to reunite with his wife and daughter and meet with members of Congress who had supported his release.
However, Li's return to the U.S. was "necessarily brief" as he was informed by Hong Kong City University that he needed to return to Hong Kong by July 31st so to retain his teaching position, according to Salvatore Cordo, the president of Friends of Li Shaomin, a U.S.-based group that coordinated efforts to help Li.
Li was questioned for five hours upon his entry into Hong Kong. "It was by no means assured that he'd be admitted," said Cordo, who is a former colleague of Li. But Li was eventually allowed to enter, in part because of the presence of U.S. Embassy officials and members of the Hong Kong press, Cordo said.
In recent months, Li has spoken out against his detention and what he said is the Hong Kong government's less-than-enthusiastic support of his release, even writing a column in the Wall Street Journal.
While Li was in detention, U.S. government officials and members of the University community advocated his release.
President Bush mentioned the Li case in a telephone call with Chinese President Jiang Zemin. Additionally, in June the U.S. House of Representatives, in a 379-0 vote, called on Bush to make the release of Li and other academics detained in China a top priority.
At the University, more than 250 students signed a petition asking that China treat Li fairly. Princeton University Amnesty International and Friends of Li Shaomin sponsored a rally during last spring's Reunions that drew over 100 alumni, students and other community members. At the rally, U.S. Rep. Rush Holt and University officials and professors spoke out against Li's detention and asked for his release.
Li is now in the middle of his first semester of the academic year, Cordo said. Though The New York Times reported last month that armed guards had been posted outside Li's office, most of the overtly negative attention has died down, Cordo said.
"Shaomin's doing well, or as well as can be expected," he said.
This summer, days after Li's trial, Cordo wrote an e-mail to people who had worked for Li's release: "Shaomin's awful experience should help us better cherish what America offers us the responsibilities we bear in defense of our freedom collectively and individually."
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