NZ man risks death penalty in China

A New Zealander who has been jailed in China could face the death penalty for alleged violent terrorism.

Sun Gang, aged in his 40s, went to China to promote democracy, according to a fellow member of the China Federation Foundation.

But he and a fellow traveller, Benjamin Lan of the United States, are accused of being embroiled in violent terrorist acts.

The detentions have made headlines in Asia and North America.

The Agence France-Presse yesterday quoted diplomatic sources in Beijing as saying the pair "could potentially" be sentenced to death if charged with terrorism.

The agency said Muslims from a northwestern Chinese province were reportedly executed for terrorism, although one US-based dissident, Wang Bingzhang, was only jailed for life when convicted of terrorism and spying this year.

A spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Zhang Qiyue, said authorities had the evidence to back serious charges.

"Under the instruction of hostile foreign organisations, they engaged in violent terrorist activities," she said. "National security organs in Beijing have ample evidence to prove it."

The China Federation Foundation is a low-profile democracy movement founded in California last month that claims to have several hundred members. It said the pair were arrested by secret police on May 12.

They were in China to promote democracy and survey the Sars disease, a foundation statement said.

Spokesmen for the New Zealand and United States Embassies in Beijing both told the Herald yesterday that they were yet to clarify what charges the men would face.

New Zealand authorities appeared to know little about Gang, and Chinese dissidents in New Zealand said yesterday that they did not know him.

The men appear to have been born in China. They have been detained in Beijing.

A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Emma Reilly, said it was not clear when Gang flew to China or when he was last in New Zealand.

Diplomats often help detained New Zealanders to contact family members, but Emma Reilly said she believed that Gang had asked for no such help.

"We have seen him and visited him," she said. "He has been offered assistance. He is in good health and has legal representation."

The US spokesman said his countryman was taken into custody on May 14, and the Chinese notified the US embassy on Sunday.

The embassy requested access on Monday, and access was granted on Tuesday, the spokesman said.