Martin Fackler
SHANGHAI, China (AP) -- A Chinese author who posted articles on the Internet saying his country was feudal and approaching an economic collapse has been put on trial for subversion, a court official said Wednesday.
Tao Haidong's trial began last week at the Intermediate People's Court in Urumqi, capital of China's ethnically restive northwestern region of Xinjiang, said a court official. He gave only his family name, Meng.
Human Rights in China, a New York-based monitoring group, said Tao disappeared in July near his home in Urumqi. He could face years in prison if convicted, Meng said.
The trial highlights the Chinese government's ambivalent relationship with the Internet, which it wants to harness as a commercial tool but restricts as a forum for political discussion. Human rights groups say more than three dozen people have been arrested for online dissent.
Meng and other court officials refused to disclose more details of Tao's case. But a state-run newspaper in Xinjiang, Urumqi Metropolitan News, reported Tao was accused of receiving $500 from a foreign organization to post subversive articles on Chinese and overseas Web sites.
"Tao Haidong Betrays His Country for $500,'' the headline said.
Tao's writings slandered the Communist Party by predicting that China's economy was near collapse and describing the nation as the modern world's largest remaining bastion of feudalism, said an editor at the newspaper. She asked to be identified by only her family name, Fan.
Tao, 45, served two months in a labor camp in 2001 for editing a book that included calls for more democracy, according to Human Rights in China.
The rights group also reported Wednesday that police in Shanghai have sentenced the leader of an underground Christian church to 18 months in a labor camp.
Police raided Xu Guoli's home on Dec. 8 while he was holding an unauthorized church service for more than 20 Chinese Christians, the group said.
Police arrested all present, though everyone but Xu was soon released. Police confiscated printed materials, tapes, a computer and even stools upon which worshippers were sitting, the group said.
Human Rights in China described Xu, also known as Philip, as an important leader in Shanghai's underground church. It said he had previously served six years and four months hard labor for conducting unofficial worship in private homes.
Local police refused to comment. Shanghai city's Religious Affairs Administration Committee said they did not know of the case.
China's government has frequently targeted unauthorized religious groups, some of them Christian but most linked to such traditional religions as Buddhism. China says it has religious freedom, but only allows government-approved organizations to practice.
