China announced Thursday it had released 211 jailed pro-democracy protesters, including several prominent academics, in a move that appeared timed to head off possible U.S. trade sanctions. Those released include Dai Qing, a leading journalist; Cao Siyuan, director of a social science research institute; and Li Honglin, head of the Fujian Provincial Academy of Social Sciences. All signed petitions or otherwise showed support for the democratic reforms demanded last spring by hundreds of thousands of protesters in Beijing and other cities. The protests ended in June when the army opened fire on the demonstrators, killing hundreds and possibly thousands. The official Xinhua News Agency described those released as lawbreakers and said they were ``given lenient treatment and released upon completion of investigations.'' It inserted the word ``former'' before the titles of Ms. Dai and the others, indicating they were fired while in prison. ``Coming back home was like a dream,'' Ms. Dai said, contacted at home by telephone. She said she was let out Wednesday. ``After 10 months, my kitchen is like a stranger.'' She declined to speak further, saying she would be arrested again if she talked to a reporter without permission. ``We welcome this announcement,'' said State Department spokeswoman Margaret Tutwiler. ``We are pleased that the official announcement provided the names of six of those released. We believe that the interests of all parties would be best served by a full public accounting of the number and identity of those detained as well as those released.'' Ms. Tutwiler added that the Chinese government has not provided information to date on how many people remain as detainees or as prisoners. According to unoffical estimates, 10,000 to 15,000 were detained nationwide at some point but most have been released, she said. ``The official announcement said 431 were still under investigation by Beijing public security organs but it is not clear whether all of these are imprisoned,'' she said. None of the six listed by Xinhua was a student. Xinhua did not say if any student leaders were among those released. Students at Beijing University said they knew of no students who had recently been returned to campus. Campus sources in Beijing have reported that several student activists were released in the past few weeks, but none was a top leader of the pro-democracy movement. Xinhua quoted an unidentified spokesman for the Public Security Ministry as saying only 431 ``lawbreakers involved in the turmoil and rebellion are still being investigated.'' It said some ``are being dealt with by judicial departments.'' The figures still leave hundreds of people unaccounted for. China previously announced the release of 573 people during the winter. Arrests reported by the official media last summer alone totaled more than 2,000, and arrests continued during the fall and winter. Few trials have been publicized, although 20 executions have been reported in the official press. Sources have reported that several leading dissidents still in jail have finally been charged after months of detention, despite Chinese legal requirements that charges be filed within 45 days. The releases came as debate begins in the United States over whether to renew China's most-favored-nation trade status. The status, given to all but a handful of nations, substantially reduces tariffs on goods exported to the United States. As a socialist country, China's status must be renewed each year. President Bush must issue his decision by June 3, and some congressmen have said they favor suspending most-favored-nation status as a protest of China's human rights record. China has said suspension would set bilateral relations back 20 years. It has insisted it will not yield to foreign pressure, but last week it ended 14 months of martial law in the Tibetan capital in what was widely interpreted as an effort to placate critics. Martial law had been imposed to quell demonstrations against Chinese rule. Prominent protesters from Beijing's democracy movement who remain in jail include Wang Dan, a Beijing University history major who was one of the top student leaders, and seven other students named on a student most-wanted list last summer. Five students on that list are known to have escaped China, and the rest are believed still in hiding. Also still in jail are Liu Xiaobo, a university lecturer who took part in a hunger strike during the last days of protest, and Ren Wanding, an accountant who gave pro-democracy speeches during the movement. He was also jailed four years in the early 1980s for having helped lead an earlier democracy movement.
