China blocks Wang Dan from HK visit during Olympics

Saturday, August 23, 2008

HONG KONG, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Exiled student leader and dissident Wang Dan has been denied permission by China to travel to Hong Kong for a trip during the Olympic games, several rights groups in the city said on Saturday.

Wang, who is now exiled in the U.S., had applied unsuccessfully for a visa at the Chinese consulate in Los Angeles for a trip to Hong Kong where he was invited to attend a forum organised by several religious and human rights groups.

Wang who now travels using U.S. travel papers, had held a valid Chinese passport up until 2003, but Chinese authorities have repeatedly refused to renew it since.

"We had hoped to have Wang here to exchange his views with local students," said Reverend Chu Yiu-ming, the Chairman of Homecoming, an advocacy group for exiled Chinese dissidents.

"We feel great regret at this ... it is absurd that his request was rejected," he added.

Wang, who has a PhD from Harvard, was one of the most visible leaders of the student-led democracy movement in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989, which ended in a bloody crackdown by Chinese troops who opened fire on the crowds.

A group of other prominent Chinese dissidents including Yang Jianli have been blocked from travelling to Hong Kong recently, given increased sensitivities by Chinese authorities during the Olympics period.

"Wang Dan as a Chinese citizen should have the right to return home," said Lina Chan with the Justice and Peace Commission which also invited Wang to the former British colony.

Hong Kong, which was promised a high degree of autonomy upon its return from British to Chinese rule in 1997, is however home to several high profile dissidents including human rights activist Frank Lu and labour activist Han Dongfang.

(Reporting by James Pomfret; Editing by David Fox)