China, Vatican row flares up

8220;Because the damage was minor and Li confessed to his wrongdoing,8221; police in northern Hebei province8217;s Xushui county released him six days later, Zhu said without elaborating.

Fides, news agency of the Vatican8217;s missionary wing, reported on Monday that Li was taken to a special prison and then set upon by female agents who tried to force him into sex. Police videotaped the incident to try to blackmail him, Fides said.

The allegation by some foreign media that when in custody Li was forced to have sexual intercourse and forced to join the patriotic Catholic association was sheerfabrication with ulterior motives,8221; Zhu said.China8217;s communist government kicked out foreign missionaries, forced Catholics to sever ties with the Vatican and put their churches under the patriotic catholic association in the 1950s.

Loyalty to the Vatican has never been eliminated and over the past 20 years as economic reforms loosened social controls, Catholicism has experienced a strong resurgence. Foreign scholars estimate that Catholics worshipping outside state control number eight million, double the count of those in the official church.

Earlier, AP reported from Washington that the United States was disturbed by reports alleging that 8220;an underground Roman Catholic priest in China was arrested, tortured and subjected to sexual abuse8221;.

State Department spokesman James P Rubin said on Wednesday that US concerns about the case will be raised with the Chinese government. 8220;It is the strongly held view of the United States that Chinese citizens be allowed to worship as they choose and that Chinashould respect internationally recognized fundamental freedoms,8221; he said.

He said the human rights dialogue the United States has with China will resume in Washington on January 11-12.

On Tuesday, Chinese officials had denied knowledge of the case, which involves the Rev Li qinghua.

Rubin also expressed concern over the fate of a Chinese military expert who worked as a Stanford University researcher and has been under arrest in beijing for a year. He said the arrest of Hua Di could have a chilling effect on US-Chinese academic exchanges.p8220;We are also concerned about his reported health problems and we are seeking further information about the situation,8221; Rubin said.