Hua Di, research associate
at international security center, arrested in China
BY KATHLEEN O'TOOLE
Colleagues of Hua Di, a
senior research associate at the Center for International
Security and Cooperation, have confirmed press reports of
his arrest in China where he awaits trial on assorted
charges related to allegations of leaking state secrets.
Hua, who first came to
Stanford in 1980 as his country's first military fellow,
has been a research associate at CISAC since July 1989
where he worked on the center's Project on Peace and
Cooperation in the Asian-Pacific Region, headed by
Professor Emeritus John Lewis. Hua, a former high-ranking
official in China's missile program, worked with Lewis to
write a history of that program which they published in
1992. He is a permanent resident of the United States and
had plans to become a citizen this year, Lewis said.
Hua was arrested in the
Peoples Republic of China on Jan. 6 when he went to
Beijing to participate in a family memorial service,
Lewis said. There was no publication of the arrest,
however, until last weekend, first in a Chinese language
newspaper in the United States.
Several of his colleagues
have written letters to leaders in the Chinese government
on his behalf, according to center co-directors Scott
Sagan and Michael May. "Hua Di is a valued colleague
who has published important scholarship in leading
academic journals since his arrival," they said in a
statement on behalf of the center, which consists of
scholars and former policymakers from the United States
and other countries who conduct unclassified research on
global security problems. "We will continue to press
for Hua Di to be permitted to return to the United
States."
Lewis said he has made six
trips to China since January hoping to secure Hua's
release. "U.S. officials have also made
representations on Hua's behalf to the highest
levels," he said. Those who knew of the arrest
decided not to make it public, he said, because "we
all came to conclusion that our main goal was to get Hua
Di's release. We handled it this way after lots of soul
searching and constant review."
In a statement released to
reporters, Provost Condoleezza Rice noted that
"Stanford University was the first American
University to receive scholars from the PRC, and always
has dealt openly and honestly, adhering to the highest
standards of scholarly exchange of information.
"Professor Lewis has
provided evidence of the fact that the source materials
for publications written by him and Mr. Hua all either
were provided by approved Chinese authorities or already
were available through the Stanford University
library," she said. "Stanford values Hua Di as
a colleague and scholar, and we hope for his immediate
release."
Now that the arrest has
been made public, Lewis said he was working to make the
truth about Hua's work known "because the truth
should cause him to be exonerated."
Hua "went to China
with full assurances from the Ministry of State Security
that he would be OK," he said. "He was well
aware of the possibility of charges being leveled against
him while he was in the United States, so he went to Hong
Kong in September last year and was given a thorough
clearance by the Ministry of State Security." Hua,
63, returned to the United States for medical treatment
because he is suffering from cancer, Lewis said, before
going to Beijing to attend the memorials in January.
Lewis said that Hua was
"one of three people authorized at the highest
levels in China to give me material on the history of the
strategic weapons program." The history Lewis and
Hua produced together was well received by the Chinese
military, he said. "They were very complimentary and
saw it as helping China's position to be understood in
the West."
Key parts of the work,
Lewis said, were based on materials that had been placed
by someone else in the Hoover Archives. The history
included information on the numbers of missiles, which,
Lewis said, now seems to be the basis of some of the
charges against Hua, but those numbers were also
published in other sources.
Hua has not been allowed
to see a doctor or his family since his arrest, Lewis
said, but a lawyer was recently assigned to him. Lewis
has prepared many pages of documents to assist the lawyer
in Hua's defense. SR
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