Clinton’s China policy worked for Wang

WASHINGTON, April 20: The White House has hailed the release of China’s most prominent political prisoner, Wang Dan, but faced charges of selling out over human rights to Beijing’s Communist leaders.

President Bill Clinton is expected back in Washington today from a summit of American leaders in Chile, but his spokesman Barry Toiv was quick to translate Wang’s release by Chinese authorities into a triumph for Clinton’s China policy. Since he was elected to a first term, Clinton has shifted ground from hardline opposition to Beijing’s Communist rulers to a policy of active engagement with China. Clinton travels to Beijing in June for a state visit and analysts noted that Wang’s release will reduce the pressure on the President from those opposed to his push for closer ties with China.

Speaking in Santiago, Toiv said, "We are very pleased."

"This is something the President has been working very hard on," Toiv added, noting that Clinton talked about Wang’s release when Chinese President Jiang Zemin visitedthe United States in late 1997. Dissident Wang was a senior leader of the June 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations, brutally crushed by the Chinese Army with heavy loss of life.