China charges four academics

The news came from a Hong Kong-based group

The Chinese authorities have charged four intellectuals with subversion, according to a Hong Kong-based human rights group.

The Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said Xu Wei, Yang Zili, Jin Haike and Zhang Honghai had been detained last March for setting up a discussion group to look into China's political reforms.

The arrests coincided with a general clampdown by Beijing with at least five academics with foreign ties being arrested since the beginning of the year.

Two of them have now been charged with spying.

Charges

There has been no official confirmation of the latest arrests.

Li Shaomin: Charged with spying

The Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said the four intellectuals had set up the "New Youth Study Group", which had reportedly attracted many university students.

The Hong Kong group said the detainees' families had not been given details of their alleged crimes, which can carry a jail sentence of up to 10 years.

Last week, Beijing formally charged US scholar Li Shaomin with spying for Taiwan, nearly three months after he was first detained

A professor in business studies at Hong Kong's City University, Mr Li is originally from China but has been a US citizen for the past six years.

US concern

The US authorities have voiced serious concern about the case.

China and the United States are already embroiled in a bitter row over the fate of Gao Zhan, a political science researcher at the American University in Washington DC, who was detained on a visit to Beijing in March.

The latest developments are likely to complicate US-China relations even further.

The two countries are already at odds over the spy plane incident, US military aid to Taiwan and President Bush's missile shield plans.