UNITED States human rights official John Shattuck is under pressure to protest at China's secret blacklist of exiled dissidents during his visit to Beijing this week.
Mr Shattuck, who arrives in the Chinese capital on Friday, is already armed with a long list of human rights complaints, including the treatment of Tibetans, and concern China's eugenics programme may lead to forced abortions.
But Hong Kong-based human rights activist Robin Munro said yesterday the US had little choice but to add the recent revelation of a blacklist of 49 dissidents, who were barred from re-entering the country, to the agenda of his meetings with mainland officials.
'Since over 80 per cent of those named on the list are currently resident in the US it is all the more important that Mr Shattuck asks some searching questions about why dissidents are being secretly exiled,' he said.
The list - published below - outlines how the exiles should be treated, if they try to return to China.
Nineteen are listed as liable for immediate arrest, including former student leaders Chai Ling and Wu'er Kaixi, as well as Yan Jiaqi, a former aide to ousted Communist Party chief Zhao Ziyang.
Border guards are instructed to refuse entry to a further 11 dissidents, and immediately return them to their country of exile. These include labour activist Han Dongfang, who is now in Hong Kong after being expelled from China in 1993.
