BUSH TEAM LOBBYING CHINA TO FREE STANFORD GRAD

By KARL SCHOENBERGER
MERCURY NEWS
January 15, 2005

A State Department document released Thursday by supporters of Jude Shao, a Bay Area entrepreneur jailed in China on tax charges, reveals for the first time that the Bush administration is putting pressure on the Chinese government for Shao's release on human rights grounds.

Shanghai-born Shao, a graduate of Stanford Business School and a naturalized U.S. citizen, was sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2000 on a tax-fraud conviction related to the Shanghai subsidiary of his San Francisco-based China Business Ventures, a medical-equipment trading company.

Shao maintains his innocence and claims he was held incommunicado after his arrest in 1998 and denied the opportunity to collect evidence for his defense before his trial.

The State Department document, a letter made available by the Free Jude Shao campaign led by Shao's Stanford classmates, said that when President Bush attended the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Chile in November, he "raised his concerns over human rights in China overall." And it said James Kelley, assistant secretary of state for East Asian affairs, "raised Mr. Shao's case with senior Chinese officials."

The letter, signed by Paul V. Kelly, assistant secretary for legislative affairs, was addressed to Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, one of three members of Congress who urged the White House to bring up Shao's case when Bush met Chinese President Hu Jintao at the summit in Santiago, Chile's capital. Lofgren was not available for comment.

"I think this is a very positive sign, a result of all the support we're getting Capitol Hill to put Jude's case on the administration's agenda," said Chuck Hoover, a Los Angeles businessman and Shao's former roommate at Stanford. "Because of their efforts, there are senior-level government officials working to get Jude out."

Shao has filed several appeals to the Chinese Supreme Court attempting to introduce evidence he believes will win his freedom in a retrial. His family in Shanghai filed an application in July seeking early parole on medical grounds, citing a heart ailment that Shao developed during his six years behind bars.

Medical parole is a common explanation when Beijing releases political prisoners under pressure from international human rights groups. But it rarely occurs without high-level diplomacy between U.S. and Chinese officials reviewing China's human rights record, advocates say.

Lofgren was joined by Reps. Mike Honda, D-Campbell, and Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, in urging Bush to bring up Shao's case at the APEC summit. Lofgren's office faxed a copy of Kelly's response letter to Hoover in December, but the transmission failed and it wasn't recovered until this week.

Contact Karl Schoenberger at kschoenberger@mercurynews.com or (415) 477-2500.