AUTHOR Salman Rushdie has joined leading international writers and the anti-censorship group Article 19 in a call for the Beijing Government to allow dissident poet Bei Dao to return home to China. Bei was turned back at the Chinese border last week after he tried to re-enter China to see his family following five years in the United States. He was interrogated for 12 hours about his activities abroad before being released after refusing to divulge the names of any members of the Association for Human Rights in China, of which he is an honorary member. Article 19 is planning to write to the Beijing Government in protest. The International Parliament of Writers (IPW), based in Strasbourg, France, and headed by Rushdie, warned: 'Just as Western governments are forgetting about Tiananmen and renewing their trading links with Beijing, we now have proof that the regime has not changed and, five years on, it is still taking a hard line against its dissidents.' The IPW was formed two years ago to shelter and support writers and journalists who feel the wrath of repressive regimes in their own countries.
