China releases US-based writer

The Chinese authorities have released a US-based poet and magazine editor, Huang Bei Ling, more than two weeks after his arrest.

Police escorted him to Beijing airport and onto a plane bound for the United States.

No formal charges were brought against Mr Huang, but official statements said he'd been held in connection with illegal business activities.

The US ambassador to China made a public expression of concern over his detention, and several leading American writers including the playwright Arthur Miller and Susan Sontag signed a letter calling for his release.

Mr Huang said he thought he'd been freed because the authorities wanted to avoid complications before the Chinese president's forthcoming visit to the United States.

Huang Bei Ling is a Chinese citizen but lives in Boston, where he edits a literary magazine Tendency.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service