美国会国际关系委员会致信上海总领事了解被大陆扣押的美国公民

【明慧网二零零三年二月十五日】

2003年2月14日

道格拉斯 G. 斯彼尔曼先生
美国使馆上海总领事

亲爱的道格：

我再次感谢你和所有同僚们在接待国会代表团最近对上海进行访问所获得的巨大成功。我不止一次听到[国会国际关系委员会]主席海德表达他对[上海]领事馆，在人力资源有限的情况下， 做出杰出贡献的深刻印象。再次[向你]表示感谢。

今天， 我受[国会国际关系]委员会主任汤姆·慕尼的意旨给你写这封信， 提出对一件涉及领事和人权的相关事宜，[国会国际关系]委员会主席的芝加哥的选民和全美各地的民众纷纷呼吁主席关注这一事件。[国会国际关系]委员会在过去的两周内源源不断地收到民众的电话、传真、电子邮件，数量之大、关切之深，乃史无前例、闻所未闻！这就是涉及美国公民Charles Li在中国新年前夕被捕一案。主席海德在芝加哥的选民们对此案件如此关切，以致冒着暴风雪驱车从芝加哥开到华府亲自向主席陈情，表达对这一案件的深切关注。此外，两天前，我和东亚及太平洋分会的主任杰米·玛考米克就此案件照会了Charles Li 的未婚妻符泳青女士和曾被中国政府扣留的澳籍公民、法轮功修炼者南希·陈女士，听取了他们对此案的陈述。在会谈中，我们得知，Charles Li 现在已经移至美国驻上海领事馆的司法管辖中。

[国会国际关系]委员会要求你，在隐私法的允许范围内，提供Charles Li 被扣留的最新消息：他现在的处境、他的健康状况、领事的会见、他尽早获得自由的前景。

李先生的未婚妻符女士说，她已经收到领事馆直接打来的电话，很显然，李先生已经对她豁免了他个人的隐私权。她(符女士) 目前对李先生被扣留一事感到非常焦虑，系在情理之中。我们褒扬你事关此案充份照会符女士，并鼓励你继续保持这样的努力。

此事刻不容缓，请多关照，不胜感激！

真诚的

丹尼斯 P. 海尔滨
国会国际关系委员会

英文原文如下：

February 14, 2003

Mr. Douglas G. Spelman
Consul General
U.S. Consulate/Shanghai

Dear Doug:

I want to convey to you once again appreciation for the excellent job you and all your staff did in making the recent Congressional Delegation's visit to Shanghai an outstanding success. I have heard Chairman Hyde say on more than one occasion how deeply impressed he was by the Consulate which, with limited staff resources, provided exceptional support. Thanks again.

I am writing to you today, at the direction of our Committee Staff Director, Tom Mooney, to raise an issue involving consular and human rights concerns which has been brought to the attention of the Chairman not only by his constituents in Chicago but by concerned persons throughout the United States. The Committee has received a continued series of phone calls, faxes and e-mails for the past two weeks at an unprecedented level. The case being raised is the detention just before Chinese New Year of U.S. citizen Charles Li. One group of Chairman Hyde's constituents was so concerned over the case that they drove through a snow storm from Chicago to Washington, D.C. to make their concern personally known to the Committee. In addition, Jamie McCormick, Staff Director for the East Asia and Pacific Subcommittee, and I met with Charles Li's fiancee, Ms. Yeong Ching Foo, and Nancy Chen, the Australian citizen and Falun Gong practitioner who was detained in China, two days ago to be briefed on the case. We were advised in that meeting that Mr. Charles Li has been moved and is now in the jurisdiction of the U.S. Consulate in Shanghai.

The Committee therefore requests that you provide us with current information on Mr. Charles Li's detention, his current whereabouts, the status of his health, consular visitation, and prospects for his early release, to the extent you are able under the provisions of the Privacy Act. Mr. Li's fiancee, Ms. Foo, stated she has been directly called by the Consulate, so Mr. Li apparently waived his privacy rights with regard to her. She is naturally very distressed by Mr. Li's detention and we commend you for keeping her fully appraised of the situation and encourage you to continue to do so.

Thank you for your prompt consideration of this matter.

Sincerely,

Dennis P. Halpin
Committee on International Relations