I haven't mentioned the words Zhou Enlai, says author

THE woman at the centre of an international mystery over suggestions she is the daughter of China's founding premier, Zhou Enlai, yesterday urged Beijing not to punish her relatives on the mainland.

Speaking from San Francisco, Ai Bei, 36, told the Sunday Morning Post : ''My relatives and friends have no idea about this book. They are all irrelevant to this. Any government or individual should not interfere with their lives.'' Ai's recent book, a portrayal of the life of a Chinese premier's illegitimate daughter, has sparked widespread speculation in Hong Kong that Zhou was her father, fuelled by her refusal to confirm or deny whether it is a biographical account. It is being serialised in the popular Chinese-language Sunday Weekly.

There are fears the book, Father Sounds So Heavy, will spark a controversy similar to the one over the BBC documentary on late Chinese leader Mao Zedong, when it is published in Hong Kong in June.

Zhou, who died aged 78 in 1976, was one of China's most respected political figures.

The most controversial aspect of the book is the suggestion that the late premier had an extramarital affair resulting in the birth of an illegitimate daughter. Zhou had no known legitimate children but raised the present premier, Li Peng, as an adopted son.

''I have never said who I am,'' Ai said. ''I said this is a novel. But if anybody thinks this is a biography, I don't mind what they say.'' The author claimed she had been under strong pressure over the book.