Two Chinese dissidents back in Taipei from Hong Kong

Aug 2, 2008, 22:28 GMT

Taipei - Two overseas-based Chinese dissidents who flew to Hong Kong Saturday to try to protest China's holding the Beijing Olympic Games were denied entry and deported to Taipei Saturday night, press reports said Sunday.

Pan Qing and Qin Jin, who have New Zealand and Australian citizenship respectively, came to Taiwan a few days ago to visit friends, and flew to Hong Kong Saturday morning to join a march to protest China's holding the Olympics, the Central News Agency (CNA) reported.

They were detained at the Hong Kong International Airport until Saturday evening and were put on a flight bound for Taipei.

Hong Kong airport authorities said the pair were denied entry according to Claus 13 of Hong Kong's immigration law.

Pan is the chairman of the China Freedom & Democracy Party while Qin is the vice chairman of the Federation for a Democratic China.

They said they will hold activities to demand China honour its pledges made to the International Olympic Committee and quickly improve human rights.

The two, who have been barred from returning to China, had planned to go to Hong Kong to protest China's breaking its pledges to improve human rights made when Beijing won the right to host the 2008 summer Olympics.

Since 2006, the China Freedom & Democracy Party has collected 10,000 signatures from inside China for a petition which demands China 'stop holding the wicked Olympics, but should take action to improve its human rights.'

In the run-up to the August 8-24 Beijing Olympics, China has tightened control to bar government critics from entering China and disrupting the Beijing Olympic.