China has rejected a visa application by a US congressional commission to visit the mainland next week on official business, despite the group's official sanction by the State Department and Congress, and an invitation by the US ambassador to Beijing Clark Randt, in what some observers view as a major Chinese slap to Washington, the Taipei Times has learned.
Members of the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, which has been critical of many of Beijing's actions, had applied for visas under their official passports issued by the State Department to meet with US and Chinese officials in Beijing as part of the commission's preparation for a biannual report on US-China relations due to be issued this spring.
But the authorities in Beijing on Wednesday refused to grant the visas, insisting the group travel on tourist visas under conditions that could have landed the members of the commission in Chinese prisons, a commission member said. The commission refused, and the trip was scrubbed.
The commission still plans to visit Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong, and will be in Taipei during the presidential election, sources say.
It would have been the commission's second trip to China. The first, in 2002, came before the commission issued its first report on China's economic, military and political situation, which was highly critical of China's military buildup and other activities.
It is uncertain why China took such a hard line toward the second trip, commission members say. It might be that the Beijing authorities simply do not like the commission and what it has been saying and doing.
The denial of the visas comes to light in the wake of the appearance of Hong Kong's leading pro-democracy advocate, Martin Lee (
But commission members could not say whether the two events were directly linked, noting that China was "jerking around" the members on the visa issue well before the hearing or the Lee trip was scheduled.
In refusing to allow the group to travel on official passports, China laid down the following conditions for travel on non-official tourist visas, according to a letter the commission sent to Senate Majority Leader William Frist, a copy of which was obtained by the Taipei Times.
"1. That we state that we are not coming to China as members of the Commission; 2. that we state that are not conducting activities as members of the Commission; and 3. that we vow not to conduct activities that interfere in the internal affairs of China and Hong Kong."
Commission members view the first two conditions as insulting enough. But the third condition, they noted, could land them in prison, since China could view any effort to gain information or talk to Chinese people as interfering in the country's internal affairs, a serious crime that could carry long prison terms.
"We found that complying with these conditions would be inappropriate behavior for appointees of the Congressional leadership and would not allow us to effectively carry out our work on behalf of the Congress," commission chairman Roger Robinson and vice chairman Richard D'Amato wrote to Frist on Wednesday.
"We believe that accepting these conditions would threaten our standing as official representatives of the Congress, and moreover, would undermine the respectability of our Commission and the Congress," the letter added.
"Despite repeated attempts to negotiate a reasonable compromise," the letter to Frist said, "including offers to accept any category of visa on our official passports and not to travel under the name of the Commission, we regret to inform you that the Chinese Government refused to respond to our visa request prior to our communicated travel deadline of March 2."
The following day, China set down the travel conditions and the commission had to drop plans for the trip.
The commission was set up by Congress in 2000 as part of a authorization bill for defense spending for fiscal year 2001. The idea was to keep an eye on China's economic and military postures and how they might affect the United States and US-China relations.
In its 2002 report, the commission warned about China's military buildup, especially its missile buildup across the Strait from Taiwan and called for increased military operational integration between Washington and Taipei recommendations that infuriated Beijing.
It is understood that the commission is still trying to find an acceptable way to make the China trip at a later date.
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