bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Ella Lee

Stella Lee

Spy-case scholar Li Shaomin was allowed back into Hong Kong last night after being questioned for almost five hours by immigration officials at Chek Lap Kok.

Dr Li, 45, convicted of spying for Taiwan and ejected from China last week after more than four months in detention, flew back to Hong Kong with his wife and daughter on a Continental Airlines flight from New York, which arrived just before 4pm.

He said he was looking forward to returning to his teaching post at City University, where he is an associate professor in marketing. The university has not yet said if it will allow him to resume his work although it said he remains on the teaching staff.

'I feel great. I feel home. I am glad that I can finally sleep in my own bed at home after the five-month ordeal,' Dr Li said after hugging his elderly father.

Asked about the decision to allow him into Hong Kong, he said of the immigration officials involved: 'I think they made the right decision . . . the concept of 'one country, two systems' holds in my case.'

Dr Li, his wife Amy Liu Yingli and their daughter Diana, aged eight, landed at 3.40pm.

They were taken to an interview room inside the restricted area of the airport where Dr Li was questioned about basic personal information. Officials told him his stay was conditional on him not breaching his visa requirements, sources said.

Dr Li said they were treated 'nicely'. He said officers did not ask him about what happened on the mainland. His wife said they were given dinner and when her daughter said she wanted to have some McDonald's food, immigration officers bought her a takeaway from an airport outlet.

Dr Li said it was 'just some procedures' he needed to go through with the Immigration Department and that for most of the time they were just left waiting for the decision.

The family was finally cleared to enter Hong Kong just before 9pm. They were accompanied by two US consular officials during their questioning.

Dr Li's daughter said she was happy to see her father home. 'I feel proud,' she said. His wife also said she was very happy to see her husband able to return. 'I am glad because finally this is the end.'

Asked if she was worried they would have entry problems as they flew to the SAR, his wife said: 'What should I be worried about after having gone through five months of the ordeal we have gone through?'

Dr Li's father, Li Honglin, 76, who spent 10 months in detention in Beijing for sympathising with pro-democracy students in 1989, greeted them at the arrivals hall. 'I hope we can have a quiet and peaceful life from now on.'

Dr Li said he would need some time to rest and he would then return to City University. 'I look forward to meeting my colleagues.'

A government statement last night said: 'The HKSAR Government will not allow anybody in Hong Kong to undertake espionage activities and jeopardise the interests of Hong Kong and the State.' Referring to Dr Li's case, a spokesman said it was not the Government's policy to comment on individual cases.

'We will act in accordance with the law and strictly enforce the Immigration Ordinance,' he added.

It is understood the immigration officer who questioned Dr Li stressed to him that he must not contravene his visa requirements or do anything that undermined the interests of Hong Kong, or his visa could be revoked at any time.

Dr Li's arrival came just a day after he told the Sunday Morning Post  he planned to return this week to go back to his teaching job at the university.

Dr Li was arrested on the mainland in February and convicted of spying for Taiwan and ordered to be expelled at a closed trial in Beijing on July 14.

Fellow detained scholars Gao Zhan and Qin Guangguang were also convicted of spying and freed last week.

Legislator Margaret Ng Ngoi-yee said: 'The SAR Government has made a good decision and respected the 'one country, two system' principle. This has avoided some huge damage being made to the SAR and put many academics researching China more at ease.'

Law Yuk-kai, director of Human Rights Monitor, said he hoped Dr Li's entry would put an end to the controversy. 'This is a difficult but correct decision,' he said.

stella@scmp.com



'I feel great. I feel home. I can sleep in my own bed,' says Li Shaomin after being quizzed at airport for nearly five hours